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That being said, the West isn’t as simple as it seems, from the fact that it’s in the middle of a steady decline into civilization, to the occasional supernatural creatures and insane humans. It’s time to take a look at some of the rarest random encounters the player might come across in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Updated on October 28th, 2021 by Hodey Johns: With a game as large as Red Dead Redemption 2, it should surprise no one that players continue to uncover more secrets as time goes on. Now that it has been years after the release, the most deeply hidden secrets and encounters have largely been uncovered. Still, these are encounters so rare that most players will never find them unless they know exactly where to look. The main plot of the game won’t take gamers to any of these areas. Several more encounters have been added to this list after years of exploring the paths less taken in this big, beautiful world.
15 The Smell Of The Grease Paint
The player initiates this stranger mission by entering the saloon located at the Van Horn Trading Post, where Arthur will meet two members of a theater troupe. After a little bit of a scuffle between the three characters, Miss Marjorie encourages Arthur to see if he can find a missing part of their act, a man named Magnifico.
After retrieving him following a lengthy chase, the player can return to the saloon, watch the magic show Magnifico performs, and get $40 in the process.
14 The Ghost Train
At 3 AM on the tracks that cross the border from New Hanover to Lemoyne, this spooky train will sometimes appear to players who ride their horses. The train is purely spectral, but players who ride into it will find that their horse gets spooked by the affair.
This rare sighting doesn’t always appear and doesn’t appear consistently after a certain point in the story, unlike the location of the Bull Gator which is permanent after completing certain missions. It’s just a matter of luck and timing.
13 Getting Assaulted
Not every encounter in the game is wonderful and spectacular. Amidst finding useful items like the medieval knight helmet, there are also plenty of terrible interactions when going off the beaten path. The worst of them is in the swamps of Lemoyne, when a stranger invites the player character in for food.
The invitation is a trap and he assaults the character while he is unconscious. The type of assault is obscured, but it’s heavily implied to be grotesque in nature. Thankfully, gamers can return to the assailant’s house and get a measure of their dignity back with some justifiable revenge.
12 The Man In The Mirror
There is plenty to do in New Austin besides find Dutch’s mother’s grave. There is a chain of discoveries that has to do with Lucifer, the Strange Man from Red Dead Redemption, and the Moon family. To this day, gamers aren’t sure if they’ve completed the entire chain.
But during one of the most notable steps, players will find the Strange Man, silent and stuck in a mirror. They can “run into him” visually, but he doesn’t interrupt movement. Look away from the mirror and he entirely. There are rumors that this is the devil himself, substantiated by some of the writings in the room.
11 The Devil’s Imposter
In a secret area called the Devil’s Cave, not too far away from where the gorilla Easter Egg is located, the voice of the devil warns adventurers not to continue trespassing. The lighting is ominous and, when coupled with the last entry, it begins to look like there are two devils in this game.
Patient players are rewarded with a confession of a robed man who admits he isn’t the devil but wishes that he was. It’s one of the more jarring encounters in Red Dead Redemption 2, but it is nice to be able to dispel a long-standing rumor.
10 Drinking The Witch’s Brew
In an isolated area, players will come across a makeshift hut, complete with several tonics and a big cauldron. There is also a crow at this location that doesn’t fly off when the player advances toward it. The witch is nowhere to be seen.
One time only, players may drink from the cauldron, which restores all cores but also knocks out the player and has them wake up in a faraway place. There are two options, both of which are creepy: either the character moved in their while asleep or somebody else moved them.
9 Aberdeen Pig Farm
The Aberdeen Pig Farm is one of the more disturbing locations in the game, featuring an interesting dinner with a stranger. In Scarlet Meadows, located in the Lemoyne area, players will find a small farmhouse out on the range.
The family who lives inside might be based on the Bloody Benders, a family of wild-west serial killers. Arthur can have dinner with the family, and if he decides to have the drink he’s offered, he’ll wake up in a ditch full of corpses in the forest.
8 The Serial Killer
There are a series of corpses littered around the world of Red Dead Redemption 2, and when Arthur decides to look for the man responsible, things get complicated.
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After visiting all of the sites, Arthur would have gathered enough information as to the possible whereabouts of the killer, Lucky’s Ranch. There, after inspecting a knife, Arthur is confronted by the killer. He can then take the killer to a sheriff for a reward.
7 Bigfoot Returns?
Back in the first Red Dead Redemption game, the player would be able to encounter sasquatches in the northern part of the map. Although there were mostly just rumors abound during the early days of the game, it appears that there are plenty of mythological creatures featured in Rockstar’s title.
One of them is more Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) maybe? There’s a creature living in a cave near the bones of a giant that the player can’t see but can talk to.
6 Meteorite
While the game, unfortunately, doesn’t delve into science-fiction too much, there are a couple of places where things that aren’t too far off happen. One of the most interesting examples is the fact that the player can come into contact with a meteorite that’s landed on Roanoke Ridge.
There’s also technically a third meteorite in addition to the two that have been found, although so far, it is still undiscovered.
5 Pleasance
Pleasance is probably not the most accurate way to describe what occurred in the town. Arthur will come to find out that in the abandoned town lived a population of humans who had been infected by some sort of mysterious plague, the source of which is yet to be determined.
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There was also a massacre of ten people that had happened before the plague set in. The village exists now as a ghost town, which Arthur can explore.
4 The Braithwaite Secret
The Braithwaite family definitely isn’t without their problems and the Van Der Linde gang has done their fair share to make sure those problems keep accumulating. The story gets even more complicated when Arthur discovers a shed near their manor, in which they’re hiding a terrible family secret.
Gertrude Braithwaite is the product of years of incest in the Braithwaite family lineage and has been imprisoned in an outhouse, where she’s continued to deteriorate in solitude.
3 A Bright Bouncing Boy
Even the man who interacts with the player to give out this stranger mission has a rather spooky and old-timey name, going by the title of Marko Dragic.
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While the mission starts out with Arthur merely helping Marko to use his remote-controlled boat to take down a couple of waves of ships, it is later revealed that the man has been building a robot, which ends with his demise. The mission ends when Arthur hunts down the robot which killed his creator.
2 UFO
Although a lot of the science-fiction parts of Red Dead Redemption 2 are understated, there are a few. One of the rare examples of the game delving into the genre in a really strong way is the appearance of an unidentified flying object.
Not only does this UFO exist, but there’s also an entire cult devoted to the worship of such objects. Players can see it by going to Hani’s Bethel at 2 AM. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to bring down these UFOs, even with weapons inspired by reality.
1 The Vampire
Hidden in the New Orleans-inspired city of Saint-Denis, there is something not quite human. It makes sense, given the real-life counterpart’s spooky history, and the bog-like surrounding area. Around the town, players can find messages and graffiti scrawled on walls that need to be viewed.
If someone then goes to the alleyway south of the Saint-Denis Cathedral, they will see a creature there, feeding on a corpse. The creature can only be found, however, between 12 and 1 AM after uncovering several clues first. Maybe stick to shopping for nice clothes instead.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was released on October 26, 2018, and is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
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