Robot Creation
In order to trigger this easter egg, you have to complete the main story up to Chapter 4 and have completed already the side mission "The Joys of Civilization". Head to Saint Denis and look for Marko Dragic between 6 AM and 6 PM in-game time to start the stranger side mission "A Bright Bouncing Boy". He is located by the lake in one of the parks there.
The first part of the mission is pretty straightforward. You just need to control his toy boat and shoot all the ships and avoid the mines. Afterwards, Marko will thank you for your help and invite you to visit his lab at Doverhill.
His lab is located at the very northern part of the map above Brandywine Drop. You can only trigger the second part of the side mission after 24 in-game hours from doing the first part of the side mission. There also needs to be a thunderstorm when you visit the lab at night.
This time Marko will ask you to go out in the middle of the thunderstorm to place electric conductors in specific areas in order to gather enough electric energy. The procedure is pretty straightforward as well, just follow his instructions on where to put the conductors. Afterwards, he will ask you to climb the electric array outside to turn on all the switches. Notice that once you flick a switch, another might go off. In order to light all of them, flick the middle one first, then the right one, then lastly the left switch. Once done, head back to the lab to trigger another cutscene. The electric current gathered will be enough to power up a robot inside the lab, but will only be able to take a few steps before falling flat on its face.
After completing the stranger side mission, you can return to Marko's lab after at least 48 in-game hours to discover that he has been murdered and the robot is missing. Pick up the Electric Lantern on the floor which is a necessary item in order to locate the missing robot. The Electric Lantern will glow bright red and orange when you face the direction where the robot is. The robot can be located near the top of the mountain in Colter where the main story started in Chapter 1. You know you're getting near when you see the robot footsteps on the snow.
Strange Statues
To trigger this easter egg, head to north of Valentine on the Window Rock mark on the map just below Branite Pass and Whimyard Strait. Check the ancient paintings there. Arthur will sketch the painting on his journal.
Next, head on to a cave a little northeast of Bacchus Bridge where you'll find the strange statues. There are eight statues in total, one on the center and the 7 other statues circling around it. After inspecting them, Arthur will add these as well on his journal.
There are buttons underneath the 7 statues and in order to get a reward, you need to push them in the following order:
- Push the button on the statue directly west of the center statue (assuming the center statue is facing south).
- Push the button on the statue directly north of the center statue.
- Push the button on the statue southeast of the center statue.
- Push the button on the statue south of the center statue.
If you do it correctly, the center statue will reveal 3 bars of gold amounting to $1500 when sold.
Strawberry Moonshine Still
At Strawberry, there is a general store with an illegal operation underneath. If you go under the porch you can find a basement window where you will have the option to peek. You will discover the store owner's illegal moonshine still and the game will alert you that you now can rob him. Enter the store and hold the store owner at gunpoint and Arthur will force him to open up his basement and take him there.
At the basement you can find a couple of supplies like Baked Beans, Canned Peas, Canned Peaches, Canned Fruit, and Valerian Root. If you antagonize the store owner by pressing X or B (for PS4 and X1 respectively) while holding the left trigger then he will tell you a stash of cash hidden at the wall. You will get $50 from the stash of cash.
Robbing the store will not get you any bounty but take note that while looting the basement will not reduce your honor, looting the store upstairs will reduce your honor rating.
The Dead Bear Hunter and The Antler Knife
This easter egg can be found in the northwestern part of Big Valley near Hanging Dog Ranch. You can find a dead bear over a corpse of a hunter who seems to have managed to kill the bear with his knife but ultimately lead to his death as well. This scene seems to be a reference to a bear fight scene in The Revenant movie. You can pick a rare weapon here, the Antler Knife from the dead bear's neck.
The Frozen Couple and The Panoramic Map
On the hills above Lake Isabelle located at Grizzlies West northwest of Mt. Hagen you can find a very sad figure of a couple who froze to death in each other's arms. If you inspect the corpses, you can pick up a panoramic map that they were holding. The panoramic map seems to lead a perspective point from up above Mt. Shan with the five lines pointing to the major towns in the game: Valentine, Saint Denis, Rhodes, Blackwater, and Strawberry. Mt. Shann is located north of Strawberry just above Hawks Eye Creek and between S and T on the map.
If you climb at the southeast peak of Mt. Shann, close to where the Bigfoot skeleton is, you can see carvings on the rock similar to the lines drawn on the panoramic map, with a compass on the upper left which is telling to look southeast. You can also notice a really short sixth line on the carving which is cut out on the panoramic map. Currently, this puzzle of the panoramic map has yet to be solved.
The Incest Couple at Aberdeen Pig Farm
Northwest of Bluewater Marsh at Lemoyne there is a house on a pig farm where a very hospitable couple lives. They will invite you inside their house for a dinner. If you accept the invite, you can explore the inside of their house while waiting for dinner. You'll discover bones of a human on a closet upstairs.
While having a conversation with them over dinner, you'll find out that the couple are actually brother and sister. If you accept the drink, Arthur will be poisoned and pass out, the couple will rob all of his money and will be left on a graveyard. Once you wake up, you can go back to the house and kill the incest couple to get back your money.
If you choose to refuse the drink and leave however, you can go back the next day in which the wife will offer you to taste the stew that she is cooking. Accept it and Arthur will pass out and end in the same way as before. Before you taste the stew, on the room beside the kitchen you can see the husband writing a journal in which he narrates how they killed their parents when they found out about their incest relationship and opposed it.
The King of the Forest
At the northeastern part of the map, north of Brandywine Drop, you can find a hermit at a top of a tree who claims that he is "the king". He will tell you to go away and if you don't he will start throwing rocks at you. Coming back to him up to 2 times will give you some amusing dialogue from him. Pointing your gun at him will make him hide inside the tree. If you manage to kill him you can loot his body for a measly $0.40.
The Nevada Hat and A Goodbye Note From Robert Elliot Patchen
If you head into Ambarino region at Whimyard Strait right under Granite Pass, you can walk inside the cliffs and into the waterfall. Here you can find a Nevada Hat as well as a letter from Robert Elliot Patchen, who might be the former hat's owner. He was a popular stage performer who even got featured on a cigarette card (which can be found in Rhodes) who seems to be suffering from depression. The letter narrates how Robert couldn't take it anymore that he was always portraying support roles, particularly a father, grandfather, or a gardener rather than taking the lead role due to his gray receding hairline. It is implied that he took his own life after writing the letter.
The Pinhead and Magnifico
This easter egg pertains to the stranger side mission "The Smell of The Grease Paint". This mission should originally be in the original Red Dead Redemption game but was cut in the final version of the game for undisclosed reasons. However, players found that the audio files for this mission were still intact in the PC version.
This stranger side mission can be triggered in a saloon in Van Horn Trading post where a theater artist named Marjorie is arguing with Bertram the pinhead one of her actors. When Bertram becomes out of control, Marjorie will ask you to subdue him. After doing so, Bertram will apologize to Arthur and Marjorie will ask you to find Magnifico, another member of their theater group.
You can find Magnifico southwest of Van Horn Trading post, camping in the woods. He will repeatedly disappear in a cloud of colored smoke so chase him until he eventually run into Marjorie and Bertram. Once reunited, Marjorie will invite you to watch their next show in Saint Denis for free. After watching the show, speak to the vendor to receive a reward of $40 for you efforts.
The Plagued Town of Pleasance
Just east of Bluewater Marsh in Lemoyne territory above the letter O on the map, there is a deserted little town called Pleasance, with a sign that says it was established in August 1883, which was fairly young considering the events in the game happened in 1899.
When you get to the graveyard, there are a bunch of graves of people who died due to different reasons - some were killed by gunshot, some were killed by knife wound, and some committed suicide or were just found murdered. Interestingly, all of them died just 1 month after the founding of the town. When you inspect the town further there is a barn with a message plastered on the door that says "STAY OUT PLAGUE". There is also another house in here with a message at the door that says, "ILL WITH SIN!" There is no way to enter the buildings and houses whatsoever except for an old empty school where you can pick up some health items.
It is implied that the townspeople killed each other or committed suicide due to the plague and it is believed that this is a reference to the TV series "The Walking Dead" wherein the first episode, there is message at the door of hospital's cafeteria that says "DON'T OPEN DEAD INSIDE". Inspecting the church or the graveyard will make Arthur sketch the empty town on his journal.
The Time Traveller
On a cabin at Big Valley northwest of Strawberry and west of Hawks Eye Creek, you'll meet a man named Francis Sinclair. He has a birth mark on his face around his right eye and he's wearing futuristic clothes that are not present during Arthur Morgan's time. He's also using patterns of speech that Arthur can't understand. Talking to him will trigger the side stranger mission "Geology For Beginners" in which he'll ask you to look for strange rock carvings all over the world. Here are the locations of the rock carvings:
- At the very top of Mt. Hagen
- Near an overpassing bridge at Whimyard Strait north of Branite Pass, just at the letter H on the map
- On a cliff near Dakota River, northwest of the letter C of "Cumberland Forest" on the map
- On a mountain near Bacchus Station, just at the letter S on the map
- North of Hawks Eye Creek near Mt. Shann's peak at West Elizabeth, just at the letter T on the map. It's on the the same trail where you found the Bigfoot skeleton
- On a cliff northwest of Flatneck Station near Dakota River
- On a rock ledge south of Moonstone Pond
- Southeast of Roanoke Valley, slightly northeast of Deer Cottage and west of the letter N on the map
- North of Annesburg, there is lake named Elysian pool, it is on a huge rock near the southeastern shore
- At a shore southwest of Lake Owanjila, west of Strawberry
After getting the locations of all rock carvings, send the details to Francis Sinclair through post office at any town. After 24 in game hours, you'll receive an invitation from Francis Sinclair to come back to his cabin for your reward. When you get back to Francis Sinclair's cabin, you'll meet a woman with a baby. Upon asking her, she says that her husband who is named Tom just died before giving birth to her baby. The baby's name is Francis and has a distinguishable birth mark on his face similar to the adult Francis earlier.
Looking around on his cabin you can also see a mural on the wall detailing all of his time-travelling adventures. You can also see some figures that are very similar to the Epsilon Cult of the Epsilon Program mission in Grand Theft Auto V. When you visit www.epsilonprogram.com, an in-game website of Grand Theft Auto V, in one of the tenets (the 8th tenet in particular) it reads, "Aliens exist and are present on earth. If you have a birth mark, you may be descended from Kraff, the famous Emperor of the 4th Paradigm." Apparently, Francis Sinclair's birth mark is similar to the ones from Kraff's descendants, making him a descendant of Kraff as well.
Tiny Church
This easter egg is located southeast of Lagras in Lakay, just north or the letter Y on the map. Here you can find a tiny church in the middle of the swamp. Inspecting the structure from the side will make Arthur sketch it on his journal.
Two-headed Woman
If you roam around outside of Manzanita Post southwest of Blackwater in the region of Great Plains, you'll come across abandoned circus wagons. One of them has a label "Twin Beauties in One Body" and inside you will find a skeleton of what seems to be a two-headed woman. It is believed that this easter egg is a reference to a TV series titled "American Horror Story: Freak Show" which casts Sarah Paulson as the two-headed woman.
