Arthur Morgan of Red Dead Redemption 2 is a lifelong criminal, but some NPCs in the game are hiding secrets even darker than Arthur's past deeds. The difference is that while Arthur's past has been consistently criminal, many of these NPCs put up a respectable front. That makes the reveal of their darkest secrets more shocking once the player makes their discovery.
Even though there are a few rather creepy areas in Red Dead Redemption 2, most players probably don't expect anything disturbing to come from most NPCs. After all, most of them seem to be a simple pastiche of life in the old west just before the 20th century. That doesn't stop a few of them from having well-hidden secrets that the player is unlikely to stumble upon without a bit of detective work. Unlike RDR2's scary vampire Easter egg, many of these characters are ones the player likely wouldn't suspect to have such dark secrets. It can be scary to discover how these seemingly law-abiding people could have secrets that would unnerve even hardened criminal Arthur. A few cases inch closer to something that would be expected from a horror game.
Valentine's Sheriff In RDR2 Had An Affair That Ended Horribly
Early in the game, after bringing in Valentine's first bounty, the player will find Sheriff Malloy speaking to a woman named Moira, and he seems startled when Arthur interrupts them with the bounty. As it turns out, she and Sheriff Malloy are having an affair while both are married to other people. This would be obvious to see from Malloy's reaction to Arthur accidentally interrupting their talk, and could be seen as a quick, funny, and awkward moment. However, an easily missable RDR2 story detail takes an extremely dark turn.
If the player walks around the sheriff's office and stands on the walkway outside the second floor, they can hear an argument inside between Moira and Malloy. Moira wants to break off their affair for fear of being caught, and Malloy is steadfastly against the idea. As tensions rise further, Moira gets angry, telling Malloy that he's not as good as he thinks he is. The conversation then ends with a few choking sounds coming from the room, and Moira is never seen again. Although it isn't explicitly shown, it's quite clear that Malloy murdered Moira.
After this, Malloy will continue with his usual routine like nothing happened. It's quite possible that he used his position as sheriff to cover up the murder, and the people of Valentine have no idea that their town is being watched over by a murderer. Unlike Dutch's killing of Micah at RDR2's ending, there's no evidence that Moira did anything to deserve her fate. Even if Arthur kills him, he'll respawn later. Malloy gets away with his crime, and proves to be no better than those he arrests on a daily basis.
The Gunsmith Of Rhodes In RDR2 Kidnapped A Man
This is a mystery that can be discovered if the player knows where to look, but they could also easily pass it right by. It also involves a shopkeep that the player is liable not to think anything more of than anyone else they buy from. The owner of the gunsmith in Rhodes has a disturbing secret of his own, and it's surprising that he managed to keep it as long as he did. If the player walks along the side of the gunsmith, then they'll find a young man that the owner kidnapped calling for help from the basement window. The situation is thankfully nothing like RDR2's creepily brutal Skinner Brothers, but it's still unsettling in its own way.
As it turns out, Jasper Feeney, the gunsmith's owner, had a son who he sincerely loved and wanted to pass his business on to. This can be seen by the name of the gunsmith, "Jas. Feeny & Son". Sadly, his son fell into a river and was washed away by the rapids. In his grief, Jasper ended up kidnapping a young man he believed bore a resemblance to his deceased son and kept him in the basement while insisting that the man was his actual son. With some convincing from Arthur and his gun, Jasper will admit to his crimes and let his captive go free once more.
The story of Jasper Feeney is one of the most unexpectedly sad and disturbing moments in the game, and it's not even a part of the main storyline. Arthur lost a son himself before RDR2, creating an odd distinction between him and Feeney. On the bright side, at least Feeney seems repentant after the scare Arthur gave him, and probably won't pull the same stunt again.
The Manzanita Post Settlers In RDR2 Are Probably A Murderous Cult
Manzanita Post is one of the lesser-known areas in Red Dead Redemption 2, likely due to it being in Tall Trees, and therefore inaccessible until the epilogue. It's a small community that primarily consists of a group of Norwegian settlers. Because of how little there is in Manzanita Post, it seems to be completely inconsequential. As it turns out, the settlers have a terrifying secret that makes them look less like an innocent community and more like the Murfrees of RDR2's Roanoke Ridge.
There are two documents that John Marston can find at Manzanita post, a newspaper article and a page from a journal. The article details the murder of a woman, her husband, and their young child, and mentions that she belonged to a religious community that had abruptly vanished. Even more damning is the page, where one of the settlers wrote about being wracked with guilt and unable to forget the victim's screams. At this point, it becomes clear that the settlers of Manzanita Post are the cult that murdered that family in Norway, and they fled the country after the fact, eventually ending up in Red Dead Redemption 2's Tall Trees area.
The documents are both written in Norwegian, so a player can miss out on them unless they look up the translation. Even though John can read Chinese in RDR2, there's no telling whether he knows any Norwegian, so he may not understand it either. For extremely minor characters who don't even show up in the postgame, the Manzanita Post settlers might be one of RDR2's most unexpectedly frightening figures. One can only hope that they don't end up killing again in Tall Trees.
Red Dead Redemption 2 manages to pull off a lot of chilling moments, making it one of Rockstar's scariest games. Even though the story brings seriously scary figures like Micah Bell and Colm O'Driscoll into focus, even characters irrelevant to the story can turn out to be quite creepy in their own right. In Red Dead Redemption 2, there are a lot of disturbing secrets that the player may not realize.