Creepiest Things We Found In Red Dead Redemption 2

It's no big secret that Red Dead Redemption 2 is really good.

Rockstar spent eight years working on the next game in the Red Dead franchise, building a huge open world full of plain-spoken folk, rich magnates, dusty towns, burgeoning cities, and a 40+ hour campaign with more side missions than you can shake a gun at. And the attention to detail in Red Dead 2 is unparalleled. With so much time to get the game ready, Rockstar made sure everything in Red Dead 2's world felt alive. With so much to do and see, and with so many variables at play, it's certain that no two people will ever go through the game and have the same exact experience.

You can, however, seek out some of the scarier things others have discovered in Red Dead Redemption 2.

For all of the everyday things you'll see in Red Dead 2's take on the Wild West, you can also find some things that are definitely out of place. Ghosts. Vampires. Mutants. They're all here — if you know where to look. Below, we'll tell you all about them. But be warned: there are definitely some spoilers ahead.

Ready? Here are the creepiest things we've found in Red Dead Redemption 2.

Let's take stock of when exactly Red Dead Redemption 2 takes place. The story starts in 1899, and you'll find a lot of the turn-of-the-century Old West everywhere you look. There are still horses, buggies, and steam trains. The people of RDR2 still do their business in outhouses. It all seems so plain that, when Rockstar inevitably throws something out-of-period at you, it has a far bigger impact.

Take the UFOs, for example.

Hit a cabin north of Emerald Ranch and you'll find a small cabin with a letter inside — an apparent suicide note from a cult leader which speaks of "the second hour under the half moon." If you happen to visit that same cabin at 2 a.m. on a half-moon evening, you'll see something that definitely doesn't belong in Red Dead Redemption 2's Old West: an unidentified flying object, hovering brightly in the sky.

Imagine being Arthur in that situation! You have enough to worry about, with the law after you and your gang struggling to get by in whatever camp you happen to be in. And now there's this scary alien stuff, too?

Unfortunately for Arthur, he can potentially find some things that are a lot more creepy.

If you happen to find yourself in Scarlett Meadows in the middle of the night, you could have quite the frightful sight in store. All you have to do is hover around the Lemoyne welcome sign until the clock strikes 3 a.m. When it does, start trotting over toward the train tracks — and make sure you have a clean pair of pants on.

Arthur's horse will start to act disturbed, whinnying and bucking. And then you'll see it: a real, bona fide ghost train, chugging translucently across the tracks.

This isn't the first supernatural encounter that Arthur will have in Red Dead Redemption 2; at least, not if you're dedicated to tracking down everything on this list. But if this is the first paranormal activity you experience in the game, it's truly a sight to behold. You don't get anything out of it — there isn't an in-game item tied to finding the ghost train, for instance, nor will you unlock an achievement or trophy. But simply seeing the train is enough.

Like so many things you'll come across in Red Dead Redemption 2's otherwise simple Wild West, it just doesn't belong.

Ready to see something really grisly? Jump on your horse and head west-northwest of Strawberry, toward the edge of the map. Among the tall trees, on the side of a hill, you'll take in a sight that could've very well existed during the time of Red Dead Redemption 2, but is still unsettling to see.

It's what remains of a pagan ritual, complete with half of a decomposing corpse on a spike.

Once you fight off the urge to vomit, you'll likely have a lot of questions about what you've found. What religion is this, exactly? Who — or what — was this person sacrificed to? Is there more to this story? At this point in time, we've not really found any links between the pagan ritual here and any other unexplained occurrences in the game. If nothing else, though, the ritual site does serve as a reminder that Rockstar likes to throw you curveballs — if not in the stories the studio weaves, then in the environments you explore while playing.

Some things can be unsettling even when they aren't scary in the traditional sense. Sure, ghosts are always going to make your hair stand on end. A man you can see in a reflection that isn't actually there? Also really disturbing. But some of the creepiest moments you'll experience in Red Dead Redemption 2 are the ones you don't fully understand. Like the girl you'll see at Emerald Ranch in the evening.

Make your way to Emerald Ranch, and sometimes, you'll catch a glimpse of a young woman staring straight out a second-story window, seemingly in your direction. Without the context of the related side missions, you're bound to be a little shaken by the sight.

But the additional details make it even more strange. Through NPCs in the world, and by investigating a bloody, closed-down saloon and a tombstone, you'll learn that Emerald Ranch is run by Eugene Wegner, who keeps his daughter, Miriam, locked away. Miriam once had a lover named Joshua who was killed, and sure enough, the name on the tombstone you find is Joshua Burgess. It's believed that Eugene murdered his daughter's lover in the saloon, and now keeps her as a prisoner in her own home.

Why is Miriam being held this way? Is Eugene innocent and now just being overprotective, or is there more to the tale than we've been able to glean? Sometimes it's what you don't know that scares you the most.

When you enter the town of Rhodes for the very first time, you'll get a little bit of backstory on the feud between the Braithwaite family and the Gray family, and you'll likely come away thinking that the Braithwaite family sounds like a crappy bunch. Buddy, you don't know the half of it. Make your way south of Rhodes toward Braithwaite Manor, and then head toward the southwest corner of the manor located on the shore. It's there you'll see something you won't be able to unsee.

In a secluded area of the property, you'll find a boarded-up, chained-up outhouse with a crying girl inside. Zoom in on this girl and, if the light hits the right way, you'll catch a glimpse of why she might have been locked up by the Braithwaites: she's horribly disfigured.

Unfortunately, you don't get any hint as to who this girl might be. But if nothing else, it cements the fact that the Braithwaites definitely have some skeletons in their closets.

Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn't have an Undead Nightmare spin-off like the first game did — at least not yet — but you can get pretty darn close to it by visiting Bayou Nwa's Lakay Swamp late at night. It's here you'll find what the Red Dead 2 community is calling the Night Folk — some inbred swamp residents that will have you hearing Deliverance banjos in no time.

Randomly encountering the Night Folk isn't an experience all to itself, fortunately. You won't be scaring yourself to death for nothing here. By coming across the Night Folk for the first time, you'll actually unlock a brand new quest called "A Fine Night For it," in which you'll learn more about the Night Folk from an old man and, eventually, help him clear these terrors out of the area.

You'll get some pretty good loot for your troubles, including a machete, a Perfect Muskrat Pelt, and a gold tooth. You can at least sell two of those for some coin. And the machete? Well, who knows what other creepy things you'll come across as more is discovered in Red Dead Redemption 2. You'd better hold on to that.