10 terrifying fun facts about P.T., 10 years later

It’s the tenth anniversary of the greatest horror game that never was. The playable teaser for the canceled Silent Hills, better known as P.T., is one of the most well-regarded horror games out there despite being able to be completed in under 20 minutes. In fact, it’s one of the best PS4 games in history.

Now that it’s been ten years since its release, there are tons of secrets and easter eggs gamers have uncovered. Each new bit of information makes the game even scarier than before, and that’s no small feat. Here are the most terrifying fun facts about P.T. in honor of its ten-year anniversary.

10 spooky fun facts about P.T. for its 10-year anniversary

1. A legendary collaboration

Most fans are well aware that Hideo Kojima, the mind behind the Metal Gear series, was the director behind P.T., and was meant to direct Silent Hills. However, he wasn’t the only mastermind behind the teaser. Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro also worked on P.T. with Kojima. He is well known for creating terrifying creatures such as the ones in Pan’s Labyrinth and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. It certainly made for a horrifying triumph.

2. You’re never alone

Throughout the game, the player is stalked by a terrifying ghost commonly referred to as Lisa, presumably the murdered wife. She has some of the best jump scares in gaming, but as modders like Lance McDonald have found, she’s around more than we initially thought. 

After picking up the flashlight in the bathroom, Lisa’s model actually follows you for nearly your entire playthrough, staying directly behind you so you’re never able to see her. You can check it out in this Twitter clip. You can spot her twitching shadow often but not catch sight of her. No wonder the radio was telling players to look behind you. 

3. 204863

Players will quickly find a radio in the hallway loop, where a radio broadcaster gives players all sorts of details and clues. One of the most puzzling is the repeating of the number 204863.

What does this number mean? While there are many theories about it (including the date being Kojima’s birthday), dabura667 posted a theory on the GameFAQs board that the number is actually a Japanese anagram. Using the numbers, it roughly translates to “ofuroba miyo”, meaning “look at the bathtub”. What’s the player supposed to find there? We don’t know, and we’re not sure we want to find out.

4. Rattling the door

Most players will remember the three scripted encounters where you’re guaranteed to see Lisa — when she appears standing in the hallway, when zooming in on the gap in the bathroom door, and when she’s looking down on you after the window crashes on the floor. All other times you see her are randomized. However, thanks again to Lance McDonald, we know that there’s a fourth spot where Lisa is guaranteed to appear. 

This is when you’re locked in the bathroom, and the door is rattled by someone trying to get in. By breaking the camera away from its locked first-person view, McDonald found that this is actually Lisa and not just an effect. She eerily shambles down the hallway, jostles the door, and continues on her way. Even though in normal gameplay, you can’t spot her, it’s awfully unsettling just knowing she’s out there.

5. Lisa doesn’t want you outside

Speaking of boundary-breaking, you’ll get an unpleasant surprise if you use it to break out of the hallway loop. By going outside, you’ll drop off the world and then get jumpscared by Lisa taking down the player. This is completely unexpected, and the development team likely added this as a gotcha moment to scare boundary breakers. I don’t think I would recover if I didn’t know about this and tried it myself. 

6. That’s gross

The hallway radio often drops hints about what happened to Lisa and the cause of the endless hallway nightmare. A father murdered his pregnant wife and children, then took his own life with a garden hose noose. However, if you listen closely, when the radio is describing the father’s suicide, a darker voice can be heard underneath it that says that the dad hung himself with an umbilical cord. 

The game alludes to there being multiple realities, and it’s possible that in one of the realities, this is how the father/murderer died. Either way, that couldn’t have been pleasant for the CSI team to find. 

7. Gouge it out!

One of the many puzzles is found early in the game, where you interact with a photo of Lisa on the table. Do so, and a bloody hole will appear on Lisa’s eye with the words “gouge it out!”. Obviously, this implies that Lisa’s eye was ripped out. This isn’t the last we see of her eye, though. 

Later in the game, when you’re moving fast in the infinity hallway, eyeballs can be seen endlessly twirling in the picture frames. This is likely Lisa’s eye that was gouged out, showing that now she’s always watching you.

8. Inspiring a whole new generation of horror

Despite only being a teaser, P.T. has made a huge mark on gaming, inspiring countless other horror games. Not only is there an easter egg referencing the teaser in Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, but games like Spooky’s Jumpscare Mansion and Visage take inspiration from the character design and labyrinthic hallway. Some even argue that the playable teaser inspired Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil 8, with elements like claustrophobic corridors and first-person being in the games.

9. I’m not saying it’s aliens, but…

The radio continues to scare you as you progress further into the game, becoming distorted and even demonic. At one point, the radio begins chanting in Swedish. Thanks to translation, though, it turns out it’s actually a reference to The War of the Worlds radio play, whose broadcast in 1938r sent listeners into a panic, believing aliens were really arriving to conquer us.

The radio in the game says that the broadcast was true, and that “They are here on our Earth”. Aliens have always been a part of the Silent Hill series, with tons of secret UFO endings across the games. It’s awesome that this easter egg even made its way into P.T.

10. The limited window of release

While it’s famous for its incredible direction, P.T. is also known for its rarity. Originally released in August 2014, after Kojima’s firing from Konami and the subsequent cancellation of Silent Hills, it was announced that the game would be removed from the PlayStation Store. In May 2015, P.T. was excised entirely and never made available again. 

If you didn’t download it during the few months it was available, you wouldn’t have the chance to do so anymore. While several fan projects have made it available, they’ve been taken down by Konami due to legal issues. There’s nothing scarier than a masterpiece you cannot experience.