Beef Jerky

"It's meant for dogs, so I think I'll pass.
 * —Heather examining the item"

Beef Jerky is an item exclusive to Silent Hill 3 and also plays a role in the comic series.

Silent Hill 3
Commonly found in Silent Hill 3, beef jerky comes in packets of four strips each. One strip at a time can be placed on the ground with the "Use" command in the inventory screen, or the player can equip the beef jerky as a supply item and put down a strip by pressing the "Use Supply Item" button (R3 by default on the PS2 version) without first going to the inventory screen.

Beef jerky has no purpose in the game other than to briefly distract a few types of monsters that Heather Mason encounters. When placed on the floor close enough to a monster's patrol route, lured monsters will, assuming they are not actively chasing down Heather, go to the beef jerky and gradually consume it. After a brief time, the lured monster(s) will finish consuming the beef jerky and return to their patrol. Another possible method to distract monsters with beef jerky is to place a strip on the ground in a room with distractable monsters, leave through a door, and then return to the room, which will possibly result in those monsters eating the beef jerky.

During the window of time a distracted monster is eating beef jerky, that particular monster will not usually notice Heather if she slips past (walking or moving in caution stance past them is recommended), or otherwise she can mount a surprise attack. The maul's overhead swing attack is generally recommended for killing monsters distracted by beef jerky since it has a high chance of knocking a distracted monster down with the first hit and leaving it open to follow-up attacks until killed. If a distracted monster is not knocked down with the first hit, it will be free to move and attack Heather or even alert other monsters in the area.



As there is a limited amount of ammunition and health items littered throughout the game, adopting a more careful and defensive tactic such as this may allow Heather to take less damage and/or consume less supplies over time. It should be noted that even one strip of beef jerky placed in one location can sometimes distract more than one monster at a time, so putting two or more beef jerky strips close together is normally a waste of the item. However, given that beef jerky only works on three types of monsters in the game and is useless on monsters alerted to Heather's presence, players may want to exploit any opportunity to successfully use this item.

The label says "Bell Bland Beef Jerky", rather than "Bell Brand Beef Jerky". This is likely because in the Japanese language, the letters "R" and "L" are interchangeable. The same type of spelling error can be seen on the sign above the front door of Brookhaven Hospital in Silent Hill 2.



On a side note, there are large hunks of meat occasionally placed throughout the game (most often seen in the Otherworld versions of the Central Square Shopping Center and the Hilltop Center) that act like permanent versions of the beef jerky item. They will distract certain monsters that are nearby but cannot be completely consumed, giving Heather a chance to slip past any monsters distracted by it.

Distractable monsters
As a general rule, beef jerky and meat hunks will only distract monsters who can get their heads to the floor when not knocked down.



Double Head: These monsters will find beef jerky and meat hunks on the ground fairly attractive, but if one starts howling or is alerted to another Double Head's howl, neither will work on them as long as they are alerted.

Numb Body: All varieties of this monster can be distracted with this item. Although they are drawn to it, Numb Bodies do not have visible mouths or any other visible anatomical features that might be used for eating solid food, and so the game developers simply made distracted Numb Bodies kneel down and "stare" at beef jerky on the ground until it disappears. Numb Bodies are not encountered in any rooms with meat hunks, so their potential attraction to meat hunks remains an unanswered question.



Slurper: As scavengers, both varieties of this monster are very attracted to either beef jerky or meat hunks on the ground. If attacked while consuming either food source, Slurpers will normally try to play dead, but this usually means one can keep just hitting them again and again until they truly die. The overhead swings of the maul or pipe are recommended for this tactic. So strong is their attraction to beef jerky that a group of Slurpers distracted by a single strip will not intervene if one of their members is attacked and/or killed by Heather while the others are still distracted.



Comics
Beef jerky is used in the comic series mostly as a form of comic relief.
 * Dying Inside - One of Lauryn LaRoache's friends is eating some beef jerky before he dies.
 * Among the Damned - One of the residents of Sanctuary mentions that among their supplies is an unearthly amount of beef jerky.
 * Dead/Alive - An Insane Cancer-type monster gives a dog, who is unafraid of it, beef jerky.