This was kind of how I interpreted her comment: "After the young people moved away, The Order thought they had been taken away by the Gods. Apparently, people used to be taken away by the Gods all the time." I agree with you that the young people got weirded out by The Order and went somewhere less crazy, but before that, it wasn't uncommon for people to randomly disappear. Before Alessa, maybe other people could influence Silent Hill in the same way Alessa eventually would, but that's getting into highly speculative waters, so I'll just stop there.That's possible, but I think she meant they literally moved away. If they disappeared, I think she would have said so. When people disappear in a small town the people of the town don't assume they moved away.
Well, the town does call out to people in strange ways. But like I said, the town will show you what you subconsciously want to see. So if you go to Silent Hill looking for a nice vacation, it will give you a nice vacation. If you go to Silent Hill looking a nice place to live, it will give you a nice place to live. If you go to Silent Hill looking for punishment because you killed your wife, well...that's another story.If the town was abandoned, that would kind of disqualify it as a prime vacation spot. I can't imagine James and Mary checking in an abandoned hotel and hanging out pretending it wasn't.
We'll never really know what Laura actually sees, but it can't be anything too crazy or else she wouldn't be so calm and composed. Whether she sees people or not is interesting fodder for debate, but I think it's safe to say she sees a relatively normal-looking town.Laura never mentions seeing other people while in Silent Hill, none that James doesn't meet himself anyway. She simply doesn't see the monsters, and likely not the physical obstacles, that James encounters.
I have my own theory about Laura that would probably help elucidate my purposely vague comments, but this isn't the Silent Hill 2 board.
When? I don't remember any.It could perhaps be, though Alessa does appear outside of the dark Otherworld. Several times.