Midwich Elementary School

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This article is for Midwich Elementary School seen in Silent Hill and its film adaptation. For the school in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, see Midwich High School.

Midwich Elementary School is a school located on the southwest side of Old Silent Hill, on Midwich Street. Alessa Gillespie was a student here for about a year or two around 1975. Alessa was rejected and bullied by her classmates for possessing witch-like powers.

Midwich is an important location in the first Silent Hill game. Midwich Elementary School was also featured in the film and comic series.

Appearances

Silent Hill

The school appears as the first major building in Silent Hill that Harry Mason explores, in a bid to find his adopted daughter, Cheryl Mason, who left clues to her next possible location in the form of scrawls from her sketchbook.

During Harry's visit to the school, he encounters the Grey Children (or Mumblers in the non-North American versions), as well as an assortment of various riddles and puzzles. These include playing a piano and burning a hand. After collecting a Gold Medallion and Silver Medallion, Harry places them in the clock tower in the courtyard and traverses to the to the Otherworld version of the school.

Midwich Elementary is the first building Harry visits that undergoes a complete Otherworld transition, though this is done during Harry's travels through the clock tower, so the transition itself is subsequently unseen. In the Otherworld, the school is covered in rust and blood, and there are corpses everywhere. Harry must find a way to enter the basement boiler room and defeat the Split Head. After its defeat, the Fog World returns and Harry hears bells ringing in the distance, leading him to the Balkan Church.

Alessa's classroom is revisited in Nowhere.

Midwich also served as an integral part of the Silent Hill demo, which was dubbed 'battle mode'. In this mode, Harry would simply need to escape the school by finding the Lobby Key; an element that would later be replaced with the Split Head boss battle, as well as a few other minor alterations.

Silent Hill 3

Heather in Alessa's classroom.

In Silent Hill 3, Heather Mason does not physically enter Midwich Elementary School; however, the chapel has a room that resembles Alessa's classroom. This is the manifestation of Alessa's memories and emotions. It is also learned that Claudia Wolf was a friend of Alessa's, and possibly attended the school with her.

Silent Hill (film)

Alessa being teased by her classmates.

In the film, the school is run by the local religious cult, and its headmistress is Christabella, the cult's priestess. Religious symbols and quotes are found in every part of the school, representing the firm beliefs of the Brethren.

Instead of Alessa's desk being pushed to the center, like it was in Silent Hill 3, Alessa's is put in with everyone else's, but is in very poor condition. The word "WITCH" has been etched into the wood multiple times by other students, and are shown to often surround Alessa and tease her at her desk.

The Otherworld school in the film.

The film initially follows the first game by having Rose Da Silva enter the school looking for her missing daughter, having been led there by a drawing of the school she finds in Sharon's sketchbook, only to find clues as to Alessa's life. There, Rose learns that the child she has been chasing is Alessa, not her own, and she sees Dark Alessa's handprints etched into the dirt on Alessa's desk. After chasing Dark Alessa into a bathroom on the second floor, the school shifts to its Otherworld version. However, Rose is unable to deal with the Otherworld's enviroment and creatures and later escapes with the assistance of Officer Cybil Bennett.

During a flashback depicting Alessa's suffering at the hands of the cult, Rose learns that Alessa was sexually assaulted by a school janitor while trying to hide from her teasing classmates. It is also in the bathroom that Christabella convinces Alessa's mother that her child must be "purified", which later turns out to mean "burned alive".

A real world version of the school is seen when Christopher Da Silva and Thomas Gucci visit there, in search of Rose. While there, Rose and Chris pass through the same space at the same time, but neither can see or hear the other, due to the two of them being in different versions of reality.

Dying Inside

Lauryn LaRoache is drawn to Midwich Elementary by her sister's evil spirit. Once there, she is forced to help her sister fight in a struggle for control of the darkness covering Silent Hill.

Students

• Alessa Gillespie
• Claudia Wolf (unknown, however, because Claudia was raised with Alessa, it is a strong possibility)
• Emilie Anderson
• Lisa Garland

Teachers

• K. Gordon - K. Gordon was one of Alessa's teachers, as revealed in her notebook in Silent Hill 3. In the first game, Harry finds her house key and uses it to enter her house to progress through the town.
• T. Moore
• L. Ranaldo
• S. Shelley

Trivia

Dean Koontz's Phantoms.

• In one of the bathrooms in the Otherworld version of the school, a corpse can be found close to some writing on the wall. Written is "Leonard Rhine 'The Monster Lurks.'" This is a homage to Dean Koontz's Phantoms, specifically "Timothy Flyte 'The Ancient Enemy.'"
• The design of the elementary school was heavily based on the school in Kindergarten Cop.
• In the film, a symbol similar to the Seal of Metatron can be seen in the Otherworld version of the school when Dark Alessa appears at her desk.
• The corpse found in the bathroom in the game inspired the janitor monster seen in the film.

The "Hell is coming" sign, seen to the right.

• The teachers, listed on a memo in the reception area, are named for the members of Sonic Youth.
• The school shares the same name as the school from the film Village of the Damned.
• In the reception area of the school, there is a health cabinet that bears an obscured sign which reads, "NOTICE: Hell is coming."

Gallery

For a complete list of images of Midwich Elementary School, see Midwich images.

Silent Hill

Harry prepared to attack Grey Children.

Harry attacked by Grey Children in the Otherworld.

Otherworld school reception.

Otherworld school library.

Otherworld.

An Otherworldly room in the school.

Alessa's school desk.

Alessa's classroom.

Concept art of the music room.

Concept art of the clock tower.

Silent Hill film

Midwich's sign in the film.

School entrance.

A classroom in the Fog World.

The corridor outside of Alessa's classroom.

The school's staircase.

The Otherworld version of the school's bathroom.

The Fog World in the school.

Dark Alessa in front of the bathroom.

Alessa's classroom.

Rose running in the courtyard.

Midwich Elementary School in the Real World.

The female bathroom.

Rose in the abandoned school.

Rose searches the main office.

Back in the Fog World version of Midwich.

Rose runs through Alessa's classroom.

The school bathroom in the Otherworld.

The change undergone by the school as the Otherworld takes over.

Midwich Elementary School in the Otherworld.

Midwich Elementary School in the Otherworld.

The Creepers swarming the school.

The Creepers approach Rose in Midwich.

Dark Alessa drawing.

Midwich Elementary School in the Otherworld.

School filming location.