Ghost

Ghosts are common enemies found in Silent Hill 4: The Room, appearing in each world and are a frequent nuisance, as they cannot be killed or disposed of in a truly permanent way. The Ghosts are the tormented souls of Walter Sullivan's numerous victims, who roam in his worlds. They appear out of walls, leaving gooey spatters of blood as they emerge, and then float around after Henry Townshend with the intent of killing him. Even being near them is harmful to Henry, as he suffers intense headaches and even takes damage over time, much like being near the haunting of his apartment. They also attack by reaching into Henry's chest and grabbing at his heart, doing even more damage this way. Ghosts make zombie-like groaning noises, and appear as rotten, undead reflections of their former selves.

Evading Ghosts
There are some items aimed specifically at fending off Ghosts. The first is the Saint Medallion, which negates the Ghosts' damaging presence. However, they break after extended use, and are also used to clear hauntings. The second is the Silver Bullet, which can be fired from the handgun. They instantly render a Ghost immobile, which then collapses for a time. However, with only three in the entire game, they are quite rare to find. The third item effective against Ghosts is the Sword of Obedience. When used on a downed Ghost, the sword impales the ghost and renders it immobile for the rest of the game or until the sword is removed by Henry. It is best to use these swords on particularly troublesome Ghosts. When pinned, Ghosts make various gurgling sounds. Also, an item called a Holy Candle can be found. When placed on the ground and lit, all ghosts are repelled by the candle, making it easier to launch an offense on the ghost. The candle can be used multiple times but will eventually wear out.

Types
There are two "series" of ghosts, Old Types and New Types, with Old Types being more prevalent. Old Type Ghosts are Walter's victims from a time before Henry moved into the apartment. They behave, for the most part, much like each other and are more or less interchangeable and equally threatening. There are only four New Type Ghosts, which are all characters Henry met the first time in each world, who met a grisly fate at Walter's hands. They are each quite different from each other and are menacing in their own respects.

Old Types
There are a total of 6 Old Type ghosts that appear, though Walter had many more victims than this. (For more information on each character, see Walter's list of victims.) The ghosts are:


 * Victim 1 (Jimmy Stone)
 * Victim 4 (Steve Garland)
 * Victim 10 (Eric Walsh)
 * Victim 12 (Peter Walls)
 * Victim 13 (Sharon Blake)
 * Victim 14 (Toby Archbolt)

All these ghosts behave similarly, save for Victim 4 (Steve Garland) who attacks with his trowel, which is faster but does less damage, and does not grapple with Henry.

New Types

 * Victim 16 (Cynthia Velasquez): After Cynthia is stabbed to death by Walter, she appears as a Ghost in the Subway World. Victim 16 uses her long hair to tangle up Henry, slowing his movements and making him easier to grapple and damage. To complicate matters, when she is floored she will slither along the ground wildly, making Henry's stomp attack almost useless. She's also one of the most prevalent Ghosts, as she appears quite frequently in other worlds if not dealt with early on.
 * Victim 17 (Jasper Gein): Jasper is immolated in the Forest World, in the Wish House Orphanage, and appears later as a screaming, flaming Ghost. Victim 17 uses the candlestick he clung to in life as a weapon, making him faster and slightly more dangerous. It is difficult to deal with him and not be injured in return.
 * Victim 18 (Andrew DeSalvo): Met in the Water Prison, he is drowned by Walter in an execution room. Victim 18 is the only Ghost that must be pinned with a Sword of Obedience, as he holds a key needed to continue forward. Andrew is a fat, water-bloated Ghost, who in addition to traditional Ghost abilities, can slam his girth into Henry to knock him down and deal a great deal of damage in the process. His tolerance for damage is also quite high, making a Silver Bullet recommended for dealing with him.
 * Victim 19 (Richard Braintree): Richard is killed by an electric chair in the Building World, where he is later encountered as a very violent Ghost. Victim 19, rather than floating through the air, actually walks on his own two legs. However, he has the ability to teleport instantly from one location to another, making him difficult to damage in many situations. In addition to this, his teleport maneuver makes him sometimes difficult to hear coming. He attacks Henry with a crowbar, which deals more damage than most enemies, and sometimes stops for several moments in order to convulse and shake as if being electrocuted. As such, he's a very dangerous Ghost, and is often a high nominee for a Sword of Obedience.

Walter Sullivan
Victim 11 (Walter Sullivan): Walter himself is also a Ghost, though a much more collected and corporeal one. His face is spattered in blood in his Ghost form, and often makes himself known as a large threat. He attacks Henry in certain rooms, using a variety of weaponry at his disposal. His most common arsenal is a single pistol and a copper pipe, which he also uses during his final confrontation. The pistol and pipe both inflict a good amount of damage, but his pistol is by far more dangerous, and running in a zigzag pattern is advised when he appears. He sometimes trades in his pipe for a chainsaw, which deals considerably more damage. Other times he wields two pistols, though he's only slightly more dangerous than he is with one, due to his increased rate of fire.

Walter, much like normal Ghosts, can be attacked and eventually forced to the ground, and after a few stomps he will collapse motionless. However, he rises up and collects himself far more quickly than his victims. He can often be heard laughing as he opens fire on the protagonist as well.

Creator commentary
"I wanted to accentuate the individuality of each separate ghost in a realistic fashion, because I thought that there was nothing scarier than being attacked by a human being. The distinguishing characteristics of each ghost were determined from the start, so I designed their external appearances."

- Jun Inoue

"The creatures are manifestations of things from Walter’s subconscious mind, and the ghosts are the people who Walter has killed, trapped in this world and wandering about. So to the murder victims, Walter’s world is this hazy, indistinct realm that they don’t yet really understand, which is why they break through walls, etc."

- Masashi Tsuboyama