Devil's Pit

"Wherever this thing goes, it can't be worse than back there... can it?
 * —Murphy upon getting in the sky-tram"

Devil's Pit is a gorge located in south-eastern Silent Hill, appearing in Silent Hill: Downpour and Anne's Story. John Sater was an ex-tour guide. Murphy Pendleton traverses the canyon to get into Silent Hill; however, he must first play the game Jail Break to get a ticket to ride the sky-tram to Devil's Pit. Murphy cannot progress further without completing the area.

History
Some of the Earth's oldest rocks lie at the bottom of Devil's Pit. Thousands of feet thick, the rocks are made out of sediments. About 200 million years after they formed, colossal geologic forces lifted them up into a range of mountains that may have been up to five miles high.

Eventually the mountains eroded into a plain by millions of years of rain, wind and frost. About one billion years ago, that plain rose into a second mountain range. Then, these new mountains were worn away again.

Later, the entire region sank beneath an inland sea, where fossils of primitive shellfish on the seabed eventually hardened to form shale. Afterwards, the region was elevated again into a high plateau, and the earlier seabed now became the surface with the ancient rocks at the bottom.

Information
According to JP, the gorge is so deep that the Empire State Building could be placed inside of it and it wouldn't even reach halfway to the top.

The gorge itself is a rather large area, mostly viewed by tourists and newcomers into Silent Hill. JP states that families used to come to the Devil's Pit constantly, and that the favorite attraction, especially among children, was the train ride in the mines below the gorge. The sky-trams, one of which Murphy rides, run through the area, sliding right above the deepest part of the gorge. There are several small decks built into the gorge that allow tourists to lean over and see inside the chasm without fear of falling inside.

JP is seen on both terraces. On the first, he plays with small coins that he eventually tosses into the gorge. On the second, he contemplates, then commits suicide by jumping into the depths of the canyon, unable to live with the fact that he was responsible for the derailing of the roller coaster-like train which caused the deaths of eight children.

The mines under the tourist area were used to obtain bedrock and limestone according to the automated voice that plays during the train ride. It seems to have been a yearly project that was quite successful. Murphy can find a note in the mine explaining that the mining crew dug into a monster-infested area underground which caused them to become hostile and kill several workers, effectively ending all operation in the mines. The train ride to Silent Hill is located deep inside the mine. This ride takes Murphy up into the higher area of the mine before dropping him off at the main entrance to the attraction on a hill beside the town.

Devil's Falls
According to the informational signs that are scattered across the attraction, the Devil's Falls are the second highest continually-flowing single-drop waterfall in North America. It plunges 1,419 feet to the subterranean river below.

During the spring runoff, the Devil's Falls flow at a rate of 300 cubic feet per second, or 2,400 gallons every second.

The Devil's Falls feed an underground river system that flows through over 20 miles of limestone caverns until they empty into nearby Toluca Lake. The Gillespie Coal & Iron Company put the power of Devil's Falls and the underground river to good use, using the flowing water to power various mining systems.

Bat's Lament Falls
The tallest waterfall in Devil's Pit is called Bat's Lament Falls. It was named by the natives of the area after a rare species of bat indigenous to the area, known as the Weeping Bat. Weeping Bats spend the entirety of their lives in Diyu's Tusk Cave located toward the bottom of the Pit.

The Weeping Bats were named by the natives, who observed that the bats secrete a special fluid from their eyes that deters unwanted parasites from infesting their ocular cavities. The natives believed the bats were weeping, saddened by being imprisoned in such a deep, dark chamber.

The Weeping Bats have been known to be unpredictably aggressive and very protective of their offspring, often attacking larger creatures that also reside in Devil's Pit. However, no attack against a human has ever been reported.

The creatures that are introduced in Devil's Pit are named after the Weeping Bat.

Cave of Tears
This dark cavern was originally called Diyu's Tusk Cavern.

The cave contains the largest stalagmite in all of North Eastern America and was first discovered by Chinese immigrant miners in 1863. The Chinese miners believed the giant stalagmite to be a large tusk protruding from Diyu, which literally translates to "earth-prison" in English, and is considered the realm of the dead in Chinese mythology - hence the name Diyu's Tusk.

The cave is also the lifelong home to the Weeping Bat. As a result, the cavern is also often referred to by locals as the Cave of Tears.

Devil's Pit Mine
When the Gillespie Iron & Coal company established the Devil's Pit Mine in 1816, electric power had not yet been invented. In the early years of Devil's Pit Mine, mine carts were used as a transportation tool for moving materials in out and out of the Pit during the mining process. The mine carts rode on steel tracks and were initially pushed and pulled by either animals or humans, later replaced by engines.

Due to the precipitous angles, inclines and declines of the Devil's Pit tunnels, it was unavoidable that the tracks would have sharp, hazardous, and often even deadly turns.

Humans working in the mines were warned to avoid riding aboard the carts whenever possible, as the death rate for such a journey was estimated at 40%. Quite simply, this meant 4 out of every 10 miners who hitched a ride aboard a mine cart met an unfortunate end.

As the mining operation expanded and dug deeper into the earth, hauling ore, equipment and men to the surface via man and animal power became impractical. A new system was needed.

The miners began to use the power of the underground river and Devil's Falls to power simple machinery like waterwheels for hoisting ore to the surface on pulley systems. As the operation grew more complex and ambitious, so too did the machinery. By the mid-19th century, Devil's Pit utilized one of the most sophisticated and earliest applications of hydroelectric power.

This collection of waterwheels, cogs, gears, and troughs was used to transfer the natural power of the underground river to various mechanical systems. This was the engineer's control hub, which allowed him to redirect the water's flow, via a series of wooden troughs, which in turn powered various mechanical devices such as the main elevator, a flood control pump, and even an early electrical generator.

The elevator was one of the first its kind, using an ingenious system of gears and waterwheels to take men and equipment to the upper caverns.

The Devil's Train
Jokingly called the Devil's Train by the miners that once worked in Devil's Pit, the mine train has since been converted into a ride for visitors. Equipped with an audio commentary, the Devil's Train provides the passengers with an in-depth, educational tour of Devil's Pit, including an interactive re-enactment of much of the Pit's rich history that utilizes animatronic miners.

Historical Park
The gorge was named a historical park by the Silent Hill Historic Preservation Society in 1945.

Trivia

 * If Murphy took money from the register at Devil's Pitstop, he can use it to look through the binoculars on the tourist platform. Looking through these, Murphy can look at the tram he took to enter the Devil's Pit, causing a hand to press against the glass window of the tram and leave behind blood, even though Murphy rode the tram alone. If Murphy looks at the terrace where JP stands later using the lower binoculars, it will appear to be raining and a man in a wheelchair will be static, rolling across the deck. A hanged man can also be seen below the deck, possibly alluding to JP's fate.
 * On the lower platform, there are flowers and candles, most likely a memorial for the children that died in the train accident.
 * According to JP, when Murphy first meets him, the Devil's Pit is 490 meters deep; however, when Murphy meets him a second time he claims that if the Empire State Building were to be placed in the gorge it wouldn't reach halfway to the top. These statements contradict each other as the Empire State Building is 443 meters high meaning that it should almost reach the top of the gorge.
 * JP stating that the pit is 490 meters down is likely a script error as a sign found behind JP states that the bottom of Devil's Pit is 1,607 feet (490 meters) above sea level, and that the platform is 3,350 feet (1,021 meters) above sea level, making the pit at least 1,743 feet (531 meters) deep.
 * The Gillespie Iron & Coal company may had been founded by Dahlia Gillespie's ancestors (hence the name).