Red Dead Redemption 2's roughly 50-hour campaign takes players through snowy mountaintops, alligator-infested bogs, and vast prairies. Once players have completed the title's story, they'll gain access to Blackwater and the desert region of New Austin in the southwestern region of RDR2's map. While there's little in the way of extra side quests in the arid part of RDR2, Rockstar Games sprinkled several peculiar Easter eggs throughout the area to reward fans willing to leave no stone unturned.

Many of these secrets are hat-tips to bits of lore found during RDR2's campaign and references to the original Red Dead Redemption, and they can be easily missed if players don't stop and smell the tumbleweeds now and then. Some lurk in the trees, while others require players to search derelict buildings that have been swept away by the sands of New Austin.

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A majority of the following Easter eggs are there to make gamers scratch their heads, while others reward unique items and earn a spot in RDR2's notebook. Players aren't required to find any of these to achieve 100% completion of RDR2, still, longtime fans of Rockstar's Western adventure series will undoubtedly be interested in mysteries hidden in New Austin. Here are eight of the weirdest secrets hidden in RDR2's desert.

RDR2 Desert Secrets: Man In A Tree

Weirdest Secrets Hidden In RDR2's Desert Head Art Man In A Tree Location

The first is found south of MacFarlane's Ranch towards the San Luis River. Players will find a group of trees in the area and begin to hear a man shouting at them to leave. The person yelling is a hermit living in a small treehouse he's built. He won't stop screaming until users either leave the area or shoot out the floorboards of the treetop cabin - but that will cause the hermit to fall to his death.

RDR2 Desert Secrets: Whale Bones

Weirdest Secrets Hidden In RDR2's Desert Head Art Man In A Tree Location Whale Bones Location

If players travel directly west from Fort Mercer, they'll run into the massive Sperm Whale skeleton that's comically out of place in such dry terrain. This secret isn't a part of RDR2's dinosaur fossil side mission but is just there to raise questions that Rockstar hasn't answered. A similar pile of bones can be found west of Lake Owanjila in West Elizabeth. Both whale remains are found somewhat near bodies of water, which has led players to believe it was the developers teasing that the landscapes of RDR2 were once covered in much more water thousands or tens of thousands of years ago.

RDR2 Desert Secrets: Fertility Statue

Heading south from Thieves Landing will lead users to an abandoned cabin with a single white shirt hanging on a clothesline in its front yard. Inside the house, players can search the chimney to find a Male Fertility Statue. Fans have determined that the shack belongs to Seth Briars, a major character from RDR1 who's allegedly the owner of the shirt hanging outside.

RDR2 Desert Secrets: Donkey Lady

Weirdest Secrets Hidden In RDR2's Desert Head Art Man In A Tree Location Whale Donkey Lady Location

South of Armadillo, there's a donkey skull attached to the remains of a woman who was tied to a mill and left for dead.

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This might seem like yet another disturbing RDR2 Easter egg, but it's actually a callback to a famous glitch from the original Red Dead Redemption, as the 2010 game spawned an NPC with a woman's body but the face and A.I. of a donkey.

RDR2 Desert Secrets: Zhou Yi's Camp

Weirdest Secrets Hidden In RDR2's Desert Head Art Man In A Tree Location Whale Zhou Yi Location

Just barely northeast of Armadillo, players will find a ransacked camp with the remains of a man. Searching the area will lead them to find a Chinese Skull Cap and a letter that reveals the dead man was named Zhou Yi. He was a traveler from China searching for his lost cousin Zhou Ming, a minor character in RDR1 protagonist that John Marston encounters during an optional quest.

RDR2 Desert Secrets: Hearse Accident

Weirdest Secrets Hidden In RDR2's Desert Head Art Man In A Tree Location Whale Hearse Location

Directly north of MacFarlane's Ranch, players will run into the disturbing remains of a hearse crash. The coffin it was carrying lies open on the ground, and the hearse's driver was hanged from his carriage. There's no note or evidence to explain what caused the accident. Rockstar gives users the freedom to decide what could have happened.

Could the coffin have contained valuable that bandits robbed, or did something supernatural take place? Many fans have theorized that the hearse was carrying the Saint Denis Vampire. It then rose from the dead, murdered the driver, and began its reign of terror on the other side of RDR2's map.

RDR2 Desert Secrets: Chelonia Camp

Weirdest Secrets Hidden In RDR2's Desert Chelonia Location

One of RDR2's main story quests introduces Arthur to a turtle-obsessed cult known as the Chelonians. Rockstar doesn't do much to explain where the strange religious sect came from, but its origins become slightly clearer when players travel northeast from Tumbleweed to Cholla Springs.

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That's where Red Dead Redemption 2 players will find a ravaged campsite with what appear to be the first Chelonia settlers in the region. There's also a lockbox underneath a cabin in Gapetooth Ridge, southwest o Tumbleweed, that contains a Turtle Shell Trinket. This suggests the Chelonians could have hailed from an unmarked region north of New Austin and made their way east.

RDR2 Desert Secrets: Dead Missionary

Weirdest Secrets Hidden In RDR2's Desert Missionary Location

The area surrounding Tumbleweed appears to be a sacred ground for many religions, not only the Chelonia cult. If users head southwest of Tumbleweed, past Gapetooth Ridge, they'll encounter a robed skeleton resting against a rock. A note on the remains reveals that the skeleton was a Christian missionary who died during his travels 100 years ago. He wrote that he was following a call from God he heard from the east, and if players backtrack towards Gapetooth Ridge, they'll find an abandoned church, which is presumably where the missionary was traveling to.

Those are only a handful of the countless Easter eggs and secrets lurking around every Red Dead Redemption 2 stable. Rockstar is known for scattering in mind-blowing secrets, like UFO sightings that only appear during certain times of the day and crossovers from its other games like Grand Theft Auto in its Western adventure. Many of these can be naturally stumbled upon as players progress through the title, but many of the ones found in New Austin require a keen eye and a sense of exploration.

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