Whispering Oaks Motel

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Whispering Oaks Motel
State	Griffin County, Georgia
Campaigns	Dark Carnival

"Damn truck's blocking the highway!"

―Nick

"We can cut through the motel..."

―Coach

The Whispering Oaks Motel is a classic American interstate highway motel comprising a reception block and two wings of bedroom units on two floors enclosing a large central car park and swimming pool area. It is located on Whispering Oaks Boulevard just southwest of Interstate 16. It is a setting for a major part of The Highway, the first chapter of the Dark Carnival campaign in Left 4 Dead 2.

History

A conventional mid-budget tourist motel whose construction and architecture date it to the late 1960's or early 1970's, The Whispering Oaks Motel is located between Rayford and Whispering Oaks Amusement Park in Griffin County. Its primary purpose was to provide amusement park visitors with convenient overnight lodging in the form of 32 rooms and 24-hours-a-day access.

In terms of market position, its facilities are such as to offer comfortable but fairly basic accommodation for budget conscious families and couples. The motel evidently traded profitably as, apart from damage associated with the Infection, its facilities are well maintained and in good order.

The motel features what appears to be a dining/kitchen area so light breakfasts, free coffee (and possibly other meals) could be served to guests before they left for a day at the amusement park. Its sole point of competitive difference is an attractively sized outdoor swimming pool with a diving board and a sun bathing patio area. Like most motels and hotels, ice and vending machines are located near the bedroom units, which are in turn equipped with cable and color TVs, twin beds, phones and air-conditioning units against the hot and humid Georgia climate.

At the rear of the motel, a crazy paving path leads to a romantic viewing area allowing motel visitors the opportunity to take in an area of native riverside bush fronting the Whispering Oaks Amusement Park's impressive vista on the distant skyline.

The presence of a chain-link fence around most of the motel's boundary suggests that the owners were security conscious; however, an ungated swimming pool, the presence of a diving board and an unfenced cliff at the rear of the motel hints that the motel's operating company was taking commercially unjustified liberties with its public liability insurance policy.

Current Status

At the start of the Infection, the motel was closed and CEDA set up an evacuation center at Whispering Oaks Amusement Park. Around this time, the military took an interest in the motel, most likely as a screening and control point for refugees fleeing along Interstate 16―at least that is as much as can be inferred from the presence of barriers blocking off the surrounding roads and channeling foot traffic towards the motel.

When the infected overran the area, CEDA and the military authorities evidently evacuated the motel and amusement park, although either by omission or design, the park's searchlights were left switched on. These lights, together with the Interstate billboard, are the beacons that draw the Suvivors towards the park―and thus the motel complex.

On the basis of the visual evidence found at the motel, it is apparent that sentinals were posted up on the billboard overlooking the motel as well as on the motel roof. Civilian weapons found at these locations (and elsewhere) suggest that the military presence was short-lived (although a military Humvee was left behind) and that the people involved towards the end were most likely defensively organized refugees.

Most telling is the large number of incinerated corpses found in the swimming pool. This suggests a high level of organization and leadership was in place at some point.

Overall, the motel's Infection history can be reconstructed in the following sequence: The motel was closed in the immediate wake of the Infection; CEDA took over the amusement park as an evacuation center and the military set up barricades and occupy the motel as a screening facility; the first Infected were detected at the motel and the military burnt their corpses in the drained swimming pool; Infected numbers rose; the amusement park and motel were hurriedly evacuated; a few as yet uninfected refugees arrived at the motel from Interstate 16 and set up a defensive perimeter whilst they attempted to heal and rest, but they either turned or were overrun leaving their weapons and supplies behind. The Survivors arrived on foot after being forced to abandon Jimmy Gibbs Junior's stock car.

Gallery

Notes

• This is the third hotel/motel setting that the Survivors have to go through in the two games. First being the Harbor View Hotel and the second being The Vannah.
• A hunting rifle is always found on top of the billboard, which makes an ideal area to snipe the infected.
• No military firearms are found at the motel despite there being a Humvee and military corpses in the parking lot.
• There is always an alarmed car in the parking lot.
• Nick will comment on the burnt bodies in the pool.
• The light source of the parking lot is primarily from two spotlights mounted atop a Humvee in the parking lot.
• Some of the rooms are supplied with pills, weapons, first aid kits, and ammo.
• The Survivors are seen walking by the motel in the Left 4 Dead 2 trailer
  • In the video when the survivors walk by the Whispering Oaks Motel sign, it says "Closed until further noticed due to sickness" (similar to the convenience store in Riverside in Death Toll) whereas in-game, it says "Cable TV, Free Coffee, Pool" and on the other side it reads, "Open 24 Hours, Free Coffee, Pool"

Locations in Left 4 Dead 2 Dead Center The Passing Dark Carnival Swamp Fever Hard Rain The Parish Savannah Rayford Griffin County Wilsons Gas Station Ducatel New Orleans The Vannah Rayford Park Whispering Oaks Motel Earl's Gator Village Burger Tank Waterfront Market Whitaker's Gun Shop Jazz Club Whispering Oaks Amusement Park Village En Marais Ducatel Gas Bar REV. LeClaire's VOODOO Shop Save 4 Less Rayford Historic Underground Tour Kiddie Land Plantation House Ducatel Sugar Company Bienville Park Liberty Mall Rayford Port Tunnel of Love Ducatel Diesel Bus Station The Screaming Oak Impound Lot The Peach Pit Saint Roches Cemetery Jazz Club Veterans Memorial Bridge