Kettenstadt

The town of Kettenstadt, as seen from the roof of the Villa.

Kettenstadt is a town located in an unspecified part along the border of modern-day Germany in Silent Hill: The Short Message.

History

During the 1930s in Germany, Kettenstadt was a town that attracted many wealthy German and Japanese entrepreneurs who seeked to make the town an economically prosperous place. The Witch of the Far East was one of the Japanese immigrants who used her power of clairvoyance to guide the entrepreneurs to potential investment opportunities. Following the economic boom, Kettenstadt would enioy its success as a border enclave and the witch would come to be greatly respected by the inhabitants. During this period, the witch would be diagnosed with an unknown illness. However, in 1947, there was a major fire disaster that spread throughout their industrial parks, losing the majority of their factories. Some of the townspeople and researchers believed that this was the work of a mayor's party group as they were threatened by the witch's rising prominence and used the fire as a cover in their witch hunt. Following the disaster, the witch would be later found dead, apparently having committed suicide by jumping from the hospital's rooftop.

Following her death, the mayor's party managed to regain their influence in the town. However, Kettenstadt would be subjected to continuous economic decline which is blamed on the witch, believing that she had placed a curse on the town with her death. Much of the details surrounding the Witch Hunt would become lost to time and treated as conspiracy theories due to the lack of concrete evidence. The economic decline would persist to the modern day, with any incidents of bad luck being blamed on the witch's curse. Over time, this blame would be placed on the Hindenburgs, who were closely related to the witch.

In 2008, there were plans to revitalise the town with the help of Japanese corporations and Chinese investment firms. However, following the 2008 global financial crisis, they were forced to reconsider due to the economic recession in the wake of the Lehman Brothers bank collapse, leaving a lot of housing complexes destitute. 12 years later, there was another plan to rebuild Kettenstadt, but in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been considerably less interest from foreign investors.

During the time period of impoverishment, the decay affected a lot of residents and families, both teens and adults alike. This led to an increase in cases of child abuse, suicide and dysfunctional families, with the amount doubling that of developed nations in Europe. Overtime, Kettenstadt's population would rapidly decline. Believing the town to be uninhabitable, the youths abandoned en masse in search of better prospects elsewhere. However, some of them would resort to suicide due to their hopelessness situations, with most of them found dead in abandoned apartment complexes, notably The Villa. This decay would affect the families of Maya Hindenburg, Anita Planert and Amelie- with Maya being further subjected to bullying and a hate campaign due to her family's association, Anita subjected to abuse by her mother Krysta, and Amelie despairing at being unable to attend her dream university due to her family's poor income. Despite the Villa's reputation as a suicide hotspot, the building remains easily accessible to graffiti artists and people alike.

The presence of a dense fog heavily implies that Kettenstadt might be one of the areas suffering from the Silent Hill Phenomenon.

Locations

• The Villa - The town's abandoned and dilapidated apartment complex where the story takes place.
• Kettenstadt High School - One of the town's local high schools which Anita, Amelie and Maya attended.
• Planert House - The local residence where Anita, her younger brother and Krysta used to reside.

Trivia

• "Kettenstadt" translates as "city of chains" in German.
• Prevention of youth suicide and mental health issues in the young in the face of a sustained increase in cases is a very present and often discussed concern in modern Germany.

References

v · e · d Silent Hill: The Short Message
Characters
Major Characters
Anita Planert - Maya Hindenburg
Other Characters
Amelie - Krysta Planert
Monsters
Sakura Head
Locations
The Villa - Kettenstadt
Terms
Flashlight - Radio - Real World - Fog World - The Silent Hill Phenomenon - The Witch of the Far East - Otherworld - Monster - Robbie the Rabbit
Archives
Memos - Puzzles - Soundtrack