Silent Hill 2 Remake: Toluca Prison Gallows Puzzle Guide

The Gallows Puzzle found during the Toluca Prison section of Silent Hill 2 Remake is one of the most confusing puzzles in the game. Faced with several poems that must be completed and several nooses around the area, players must become judge, jury, and executioner by reading the crimes and motives of 6 criminals and making a judgment call on their guilt. Not only is completing each poem a hassle but pulling the right noose can be just as confusing. Luckily, I have been able to break down everything that must be known to progress past this unsettling obstacle. This guide will show players how to solve the Toluca Prison Gallows Puzzle in Silent Hill 2 Remake.

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How to Solve the Toluca Prison Gallows Puzzle in Silent Hill 2 Remake

The Gallows Puzzle is found at the east end of the Yard part of the 1F Main Section of Toluca Prison. In order to start this puzzle, you will first need to complete the Weights and Scales Puzzle also found in the Yard. This puzzle will take you all throughout the prison and is the driving force for exploring the area. Check out Gameranx’s full guide on how to solve the Toluca Prison Weights and Scales Puzzle.

Once that puzzle is done, the statue that stands over the scales will drop the Execution Lever. Go up onto the wooden platform and you will find a slot where you can put the lever. Once the lever is placed and pulled, the two engravings of Pyramid Head that are on either side of a hanged man will move, revealing 6 poems.

Each poem tells of a crime committed. These poems will change depending on your Puzzle Difficulty. Under these poems are tablets with second halves of the poems. Your job is to match the tablets with the poem that it completes.

Now this is where the puzzle gets weird. On every difficulty besides Light, each poem has multiple possible second halves with one version painting the criminal in an innocent light while the other proves the criminal’s guilt. On Hard, some of the second verses can even be applied to multiple poems.

Here are all the poems and possible second halves for each difficulty:

Light Difficulty Poems

• Gallows #1: Hallowed was the place, this one set ablaze.
  • Answer: T’was the home of evil, it had to be razed. [INNOCENT]
• Gallows #2: This one took from others, T’was a sinful deed.
  • Answer: Stealing not to eat, but to feed his own greed. [GUILTY]
• Gallows #3: This one, he did kidnap, his beloved daughter.
  • Answer: In a fit of anger, bloody end he brought her. [GUILTY]
• Gallows #4: This one broke the lock, to steal, I’ll tell you plain.
  • Answer: One more place to plunder, One more wrongful gain. [GUILTY]
• Gallows #5: This one dared to take his own mother’s life.
  • Answer: Did it just for pleasure not over a strife. [GUILTY]
• Gallows #6: This one clenched his fist, and has pulled no punch.
  • Answer: Turned against his bully, turned his brain to mulch. [INNOCENT]

Standard Difficulty Poems

• Gallows #1: For your grace I do not plead, For the flames I did set free, Sisters shrieked, and children cried, No one made it out alive.
  • Possible Answer #1: Though the young ones’ deaths I mourn, Their tormentors are no more, On young souls the nuns did prey, Took their innocence away. [INNOCENT]
  • Possible Answer #2: I watched them burn, I heard them cry, I felt a soothing warmth inside, It felt so good, I cannot lie, And for my bliss, they had to die. [GUILTY]
• Gallows #2: The wealth of others I did take, The seventh statute I did break, And yet my deeds I don’t regret, I had my reasons, that is that.
  • Possible Answer #1: The reason, if I have to say, Was to survive another day, To them, it was a loaf of bread, To me, a cherished step ahead. [INNOCENT]
  • Possible Answer #2: What were those reasons you might ask, The truth allow me to unmask, I see. I crave, I need, I take, ‘Tis all the sense it needs to make. [GUILTY]
• Gallows #3: I took the child you are quite right, Carried her off into the night, She did not scream, she did not bawl, I was her father, after all.
  • Possible Answer #1: Forgive me, child, for I have failed, To save you from her wretched ways, She whom I loved, who gave you life, A monster hiding in plain sight. [INNOCENT]
  • Possible Answer #2: My only daughter, joy of days, They wanted to take you away, Hush, little baby, and be still, If I can’t have you, no one will. [GUILTY]
• Gallows #4: Once the sun had ceased its reign, I cut through the rusty chain, Pushed the door open, snuck within, and Filled my pockets to the brim.
  • Possible Answer #1: So my guilt is plain to see, I had robbed the pharmacy, Yet, I did so not for gain, But so I could ease the pain. [INNOCENT]
  • Possible Answer #2: I departed with great haste, Leaving not a single trace, Ever faithful to my creed, All is right, which feeds my greed. [GUILTY]
• Gallows #5: Mommy dearest, mommy sweet, Your love for me was so deep, “Why, oh, why?”, you shouted out, When my knife pierced through your heart.
  • Possible Answer #1: You broke my legs, I couldn’t walk, You pulled my teeth, I couldn’t talk, You fed me pills to slow my mind, I took your life ‘fore you took mine. [INNOCENT]
  • Possible Answer #2: You were, oh, so kind to me, Filled my heart with joy and glee, In the end, it was for naught, “Why, oh, why?”, you ask. Why not? [GUILTY]
• Gallows #6: I waited long, I bid my time, I waited to commit my crime, The man appeared, he saw me not, A bloody end is what he got.
  • Possible Answer #1: In truth, he was less man than beast, And on my flesh and soul he’d feast, My will to live he’d try to break, There is so much a man can take. [INNOCENT]
  • Possible Answer #2: In truth, I did not hesitate, As my blade sealed the poor man’s fate, He knew the rules, they are quite clear, Go against me, your end is near. [GUILTY]

Hard Difficulty Poems

• Gallows #1: Under veil of nightfall, in the ink of dusk, A blazing inferno engulfs the wooden husk. Screams of the innocent fill the night sky, He, who hell let loose, now watches them die.
  • Possible Answer #1: Death of the blameless, a damnable sin, Wracked with guilt, his soul withers from within, Yet among the pure, the vile also would also dwell. Demons dressed in piety, they perished as well. [INNOCENT]
  • Possible Answer #2: A contorted chill dances on his spine, As their souls fly forth on Thanathos’ sigh. No sign of regret, not a tinge of guilt, But a fiery urge to destroy what God built. [GUILTY]
• Gallows #2: In twilight’s grasp, a thief emerges sly, Through the veils of night, his purpose veiled, awry. His nimble fingers, like whispers they, glide, In the goods of others, his needs doth reside.
  • Possible Answer #1: With hands atremble, he seizes what he must, A wretched dance, fueled by hunger’s thrust. Poverty’s embrace fuels his misdeeds, Thieving to survive, the barest of needs. [INNOCENT]
  • Possible Answer #2: His avarice driving every cunning theft, No conscience stirs, no remorse is left. Not a hunger’s pang, nor a desperate need, but a heart consumed with relentless greed. [GUILTY]
• Gallows #3: In shroud of twilight, a tale doth unfold, Where the shadows dance, their secrets are told. A shadowy figure, his motives unclear, Steals his own kin, one he should hold dear.
  • Possible Answer #1: A cruel twist of fate, an outcome unsought, The little one perishes, it was all for naught. The kidnapper’s tears his motives reveal, From a monstrous mother the child he did steal. [INNOCENT]
  • Possible Answer #2: A tragic fruition, a mother’s despair, Her heiress undone by the one she once loved, Forsooth, it was not love that guided his clasp, But a spiteful avarice one struggles to grasp. [GUILTY]
• Gallows #4: In clandestine steps, darkness as his guide, The man ventures deeper, where riches doth hide. An unseen intruder with motives untold, His hands eager to touch, to grab and to hold.
  • Possible Answer #1: Amidst the moon’s glow, a desperate truth, The man’s life of pain and in peril, forsooth. Sealed within these walls, his salvation lies, Steal and live on, the ultimate prize. [INNOCENT]
  • Possible Answer #2: Beneath moonlit guise, a villain’s design, He trespasses where treasures brightly shine. With a selfish hand, with greed as his creed, Claims the spoils, indulging every single need. [GUILTY]
• Gallows #5: With her senses falling, she looks, mouth agape, At the one who forced her spirit to escape. Cold steel pierces vein, a sanguine flood, Gazing back at her, her own flesh and blood.
  • Possible Answer #1: ‘Twas a twisted fate that forced the man’s hand, A son at mother’s mercy, his life in hell he’d spend. Forsooth, not all killings are ones of ill will, For the choice was clear, ’twas either her, or him. [INNOCENT]
  • Possible Answer #2: As the spark of life from her eyes did flee, The man held his gaze with wicked glee, An unfeeling sigh the man’s lips doth escape, A thirst for more bloodshed begins to take shape. [GUILTY]
• Gallows #6: In shadows cast, the hunter lies in wait, His violent intent cloaked in a veil of fate. An enigma unfolds, motives undefined, As the prey approaches, their fates intertwine.
  • Possible Answer #1: Desperation’s grip suffocates the air, The attacker’s past, a tale of despair. A victim turned assailant, a tragic decree, On this night of judgment, pain sets both men free. [INNOCENT]
  • Possible Answer #2: The victim’s eyes wide with terror and fright, The attacker’s nature now comes into light. Vicious is his cause and marred with dark pride, A show of brute strength, for all to abide. [GUILTY]

With all of the poems now complete, look at the writing above all of the tiles and it will tell you to choose the criminal who is the least guilty. To do this, you will need to go up to one of the nooses around the area and interact with the one that corresponds with the poem describing the most innocent victim. If you pick wrong, you will be dropped into a room with a lot of monsters and will need to get to the ladder at the end of the room to return to the Yard and try again. If you pull the right noose, James will be dropped down into the Morgue and can continue making his way deeper into Toluca Prison.

That was a lot to cover, but you can now solve every version of the Toluca Prison Gallows Puzzle in Silent Hill 2 Remake. Stay tuned to Gameranx for more news, updates, and guides for Silent Hill 2 Remake as well as other great games in the future.