Alan Wake 2: How to solve the Bunker Woods Beach Nursery Rhyme

When you are exploring Bunker Woods in Alan Wake 2, you will be able to get to the beach-like shoreline in the area, where you will find a nursery rhyme. 

This nursery rhyme is one of the creepiest ones that I have found in Alan Wake 2 so far, though you will get rewarded with a very useful Charm for Saga’s charm bracelet when you have completed it. 

With this in mind, we are going to be looking at where to find the Bunker Woods beach nursery rhyme, as well as how to solve it and what Charm you will receive as a reward once it has been solved. 

Where is the Bunker Woods beach nursery rhyme in Alan Wake 2?

Once you have progressed in the story of Alan Wake 2 whilst playing as Saga, you will be able to explore previously flooded areas that open up. The shoreline of Bunker Woods is one of these areas, and it is where you will find this particular nursery rhyme. 

The waters in the flooded areas will recede once you have completed the section of the story set in the Valhalla Nursing Home whilst playing as Saga. When you have beaten Cynthia and rescued Tor, you will have the chance to explore. This is the perfect time to find this nursery rhyme. 

You can get to the location as shown on the map relatively easily if you are traveling straight from the nursing home. The thick black line on the map depicts the direct routes between the woods, the nursing home, and Bright Falls. Following them will lead you to whichever of these areas you want to go to. 

If you travel from the nursing home and take the route that leads to the town of Bright Falls, you will have to go past the shoreline anyway. Head in that direction once you leave the Valhalla Nursing Home, and you should be able to find the nursery rhyme when you get to the beach area. 

What is the Bunker Woods beach nursery rhyme in Alan Wake 2?

As I said before, this is definitely one of the creepier and more eerie nursery rhymes in the game, which is saying something because most of them are kind of creepy anyway. This rhyme tells the story of a child whose mother has turned into something quite monstrous. It reads as follows:

“To the beach a Child went wandering
Pretty, shiny rocks she’s gathering
But from the water a Monster rose
A horrible beast with a pointy nose
A flapping wing and dragging toes!
But the Child was wrong, it was her Mother all along
On a boat grabbing a towel that’s already gone”

Another cheerful nursery rhyme, as we are used to at this point, but the outcome of this one is all the more disturbing. 

What dolls do you need to solve the Bunker Woods beach nursery rhyme in Alan Wake 2?

To avoid having to backtrack, it is useful to know which dolls you will need as well as where you can find them beforehand. You will need three dolls for this nursery rhyme: the Child doll, the Mother doll, and the Monster doll. Let’s take a look at where you can find them. 

The Mother Doll and the Child Doll

You can find these two dolls in the same place in the Watery Lighthouse trailer park. Once you have progressed enough in the story for the floodwaters in the trailer park to have receded (which you will have needed to do to reach the Bunker Woods beach nursery rhyme anyway), you will be able to go to the wharf at the far end of the area. Near the wharf is a bench, where you will find both dolls. 

There is a nearby nursery rhyme at the end of the wharf that needs these dolls to be solved, so you should have them in your inventory if you completed it and remembered to pick the dolls back up afterward. 

The Monster Doll

This is another doll that can be found in the Watery area, though it is on the opposite side of the map, way up to the north. The Monster doll is found in the ranger cabin in the north of Watery. 

Much like with the Mother and the Child dolls, there is a nursery rhyme in the ranger cabin area that can only be solved if you have the Monster doll, so you should have it with you if you figured it out earlier in the game. 

If you already completed the nursery rhymes by exploring the lighthouse trailer park and the ranger cabin in Watery, then you should have the dolls to hand. If you didn’t, then you are going to have to trek back to Watery to pick them up so that you can solve the beach nursery rhyme in Bunker Woods. 

It’s so much easier to collect them as you go so you don’t have to keep going back and forth, so if you are trying to complete as many of the nursery rhymes as possible, I would advise searching all the areas that can be explored whilst you are in Bright Falls, Cauldron Lake, and Watery. 

How to solve the Bunker Woods beach nursery rhyme in Alan Wake 2

To solve this puzzle, you will need to put the Monster doll on the wave chalk drawing to represent the monster in the story rising from the water. The Child doll needs to be put on the chalk drawing of jewelry, to represent them collecting the shiny rocks whilst at the beach. The final doll that needs to be placed is the Mother doll, and she sits on the boat chalk drawing as the mother is said to be on the boat during the nursery rhyme. 

How to collect your reward for solving the Bunker Woods beach nursery rhyme in Alan Wake 2

When all three dolls have been placed in their correct position, the environment around Saga will change and there will now be some shadowy footprints leading away from the nursery rhyme. Follow the footprints past the eerily placed teddy bear, and they will lead you to the reeds on the shoreline. This is where things go from creepy to straight-up horror-fueled combat, as two disturbing Taken will emerge from the reeds to fight you. 

These Taken are particularly horrific in nature. They have a twisted design, with two torsos and multiple arms. You know that cartoon CatDog with the main character that has two top parts of their body rather than legs? Yeah, that’s what this is. Just imagine it on a less cute and more terrifying scale. 

You will have seen these kinds of Taken during your time at the Valhalla Nursing Home, but that doesn’t make them any less horrendous. They are shielded by the Darkness, so make sure that you have plenty of charges on your flashlight and that your ammo is well stocked and your gun reloaded. 

The Taken have red glowing markers on them that show their weak spots, but shooting them won’t make them immediately go down. It does weaken them, though, so aim for them when you can. Be sure to dodge and use your ammo carefully, and you should be able to defeat these Lovecraftian horrors. 

Once the Taken are no more, keep following the shadowy footprints, and you will come to an overturned boat near the reeds at the edge of the shoreline. The Charm will be on the floor next to the boat. Along with the Charm in the orange box, there is also a red and white supply box that you can loot next to it. 

What is the reward for solving the Bunker Woods beach nursery rhyme in Alan Wake 2?

The Charm that you will get for solving this nursery rhyme—and defeating the nightmare-inducing horrors that come from the reeds—is the Valhalla Nursing Home Charm. This is an incredibly useful Charm for Saga, especially if you are prone to getting yourself hurt. The Charm will increase the effectiveness of both trauma pads and painkillers in the game. 

There are a few different health items in the game, with painkillers and trauma pads being the most common. Trauma pads restore a fair amount of health, but painkillers will only restore a small amount. Using this Charm means that you don’t have to worry about only restoring a bit of your health if you happen across painkillers rather than a first aid kit. If you are a shoot first and think about how much health you actually have kind of player, then this Charm is a must. 

Final thoughts on the Bunker Woods beach nursery rhyme in Alan Wake 2

I stand by my point that this is one of the creepier nursery rhymes in Alan Wake 2, mostly because of the hellish Taken fight. It’s terrifying, but it amped up the horror and made everything all the more atmospheric, so I can’t be too mad at it… even if those monsters are going to haunt my nightmares for a while. 

The Charm that you receive is worth the nightmares too. The focus on health that the Charm has is sure to be appealing to those who like to make sure that their health is topped up at all times.

Thanks to the useful nature of the Valhalla Nursing Home Charm and the memorable yet disturbing boss fight, this is definitely a nursery rhyme that I would suggest seeking out and solving.