Haunted Wheelchairs

[DarkReign27]

It's strange when you actually see the ghost sitting in the chair I noticed they made the ghost look very blocky in that one room, always reminded me the Silent Hill 1's Grey Children a resemblance there but ah the games should not be mixed I don't think. For it being related to SH2 and 4 though, I'm not sure it could be anything could be a reminder of Mary from 2 somehow with her sickness, Eileen's injury, Walter might have been to many hospitals in his life and his mentality about his mother. I saw it as setting for just the Hospital too, I can't see it being Alessa like some say it's just an opinion since I've seen 2 and 4 as linked entirely like separated from 1 & 3 I didn't think Team Silent wanted to have the games interlink with plots or timelines I saw SH2 is like part 1 and SH4 is part 2. Never know though 100% I'm just say'n

Mmm dark chocolate me now hungie.

[in zero]

I think they just decided, "well, if they aren't afraid of wheelchairs by now after SH1 and 3, we will MAKE them afraid of wheelchairs by turning them into enemies".

DARK CHOCOLATE!

[Xev]

I thought the wheelchairs were silly for sure. They were used just because its an SH thing I think and SH4 developers just wanted to utilize them in a different way than ever before. Which, they do make traveling around certain parts of St. J's harder but its also annoying. 1 & 3 they have a place more than 2 & 4. I think maybe theyre another way to say Walter is in control of that world, like he's controlling the chairs. Humpf I dunno.

Also, Alessa wouldnt even have used a wheelchair much would she? Isnt it more a hospital icon in general rather than Alessa? A hospital bed would represent her more clearly and in a more disturbing way. Both are used I guess though so whatever.

It would have been very scary if a chair just *appeared* with a dead body in it as you walk by and have it grab you and pull you down in the chair for a minute then fade away again. Quickly - and only happen once or twice during a game.

I picked Dark C but as a kid I used to love white chocolate. Is that even "real" chocolate?

[Aerith Gainsborough]

White Chocolate! People give it some love!

Also, Juri's theory makes a lot of sense. I go with that one.

[Haoie]

Ha, those wheelchairs.

Once you get over the initial surprise, they're very funny.

[PoemOfTheLastMoment]

Wheelchairs are a common thing to find in any hopsital,period.
It wouldn't have made sense if there were no wheelchairs present in that level.
Well, what we can assume is that the wheelchairs ARE possessed. There are many possibilities as to what could be possessing the wheelchairs, but Alessa sure isn't one of them. It could either be Walter who's using his own powers to stop Henry from progressing OR it could be the spirits of the patients in the rooms at the sides. There are rooms on both sides of the corridor with the haunted wheelchairs and all those rooms ARE empty.

[WelcomeToNowhere]

^But those rooms are uninhabited. No-one can enter the Other Worlds without the permission of Walter, their supreme overlord. And the only people he allowed into the Other Worlds were the ones he planned on killing. Sooooo... that would mean he'd be letting in random ghosts so they could haunt the hospital for no reason?

[mikefile]

I oftenly observe that Walter's otherworld is conceived as a completely controlled world. Yes, it is true that Walter monitors most of it and that the organization of his otherworld serves the function of the ritual. However, we must not forget that is an otherworld, although separated from Alessa's otherworld/otherside (that's why the 'Alessa's influence' interpretation doesn't really work). And the otherworld responds to someone's fear and delusion by constructing a very meaningful and symbolic manifestation, either by constructing a genuine symbol or by linking it to another aspect: ghosts, people, etc.. So, Walter is not in complete control of the world and does not put ghosts or posessed chairs as he likes.
I also agree with JuriDawn's simple explanation and I believe that hopelessness is emerged by the otherworld inside the hospital, so it could connect Walter's hopelessness to the general aspect of how hopeless patients are in a hospital.

[WelcomeToNowhere]

There's also the whole concept that there are something like eighteen people's souls trapped in the Otherworld by the time you reach the Hospital. It's certainly possible that one of them had a crippling fear of hospitals, and the wheelchairs manifested as a reflection of that. Like someone on the last page said, wheelchairs are very emblematic of hospitals.

Also, like I said before, anything we decide is just speculation without any Word of God to go by, and at this point, there's likely to be none forthcoming. :/

[Mephisto]

Some of the rooms aren't empty, you know.

You can see a shadow in a chair in one of the rooms, and when you grab some important item the shadow stands up and vanishs. Clearly a ghost.

I remember it was a male ghost and it seemed he had no hair at all. Who was bald? Jimmy Stone, Steve Garland and Joseph Schreiber. But nah, I don't believe that ghost is either of them.

It's Walter's world, maybe such random ghosts entered because of him. He was a psycopath afterall. I don't doubt he murdered other innocents outside the ritual agenda.

Or maybe (and that's more likely) those ghosts are just constructs from his Otherworld. Not real people.

[LeriSuccubus]

I think it might be a nod to the 1980s movie "The Changeling."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3GdPWzKfiE

2:12 for the scene I'm talking about.

[WelcomeToNowhere]

Wow, I like the looks of that! It's got that whole malevolent "I hate you because I'm a wheelchair" vibe that you get in the game, and it's suitably relentless and creepy. Maybe this is one reason why it's in there. Good work, Leri!

Aw, shit, I lost The Game. :/

[LeriSuccubus]

It's a really good movie, too. I recommend it because you'll find all the popular things about a ghost story. Great ending.

[Lucignolo]

Dark chocolate...i like the strong flavour..

[JuriDawn]

Dude, the poll is just a joke. The actual topic of this thread is the wheelchairs. Bumping a thread without actually contributing to the discussion is considered spam. Please don't do that again.

[Rafael]

well eileen's body was not exactly what i'd call healthy, so i think eileen used one of those wheelchairs

[WelcomeToNowhere]

^She was probably wheeled into the hospital on a gurney, then got stitched up and put in casts; after getting found and rescued by Henry, she limped out of the hospital along with him. It would make sense, except it just doesn't add up chronologically--there was no time for her to use one, and the wheelchairs even appeared before you found her.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think there were some in the Building World before you visit St. Jerome's Hospital...

[mikefile]

^ Wheelchairs appear in the Building World, but during the second visit. Therefore, they make their first appearence the hospital.

[HeartlessBastard]

Wheelchairs are inanimate so... killing them is impossible anyway. Wheelchair in the spooky Otherworld of SH, makes it super invincible.

The world "inanimate" just gave me a epiphany:
The wheelchairs represent Walter's mother. Makes sense, because Walter wants to free his mother from his earthly bounds. Shes in a her soul is stuck in a apartment represented by the wheelchair, an inanimate object.

Edit: I love all kinds of chocolate. But the ones with nuts are god's blessing.