Though it may be pushing seven years old, fans are still finding new and bizarre secrets in the world of Red Dead Redemption 2. In its endeavor to create its most realistic, immersive open world to date, Rockstar spared no expense. The result is a game filled with quirky, memorable characters, beautiful naturalistic vistas, and strange, enigmatic mysteries that remain unanswered to this day.
The majority of these secrets are hidden in plain sight, though many players may never discover them unless they take the time out to look. This is most true with the abandoned town of Pleasance. Situated between the rolling plains of Scarlett Meadows and the foreboding mire of Bayou Nwa, players might ride through this ghost town a half dozen times and never stop to investigate it further. But taking the time to get off the horse and look around reveals one of the darkest stories of Red Dead Redemption 2.
Red Dead Redemption 2: The Mysteries of New Austin Explained
Though it unlocks after the main story ends, New Austin holds many nostalgic easter eggs for Red Dead Redemption 2 players willing to look for them.
Nearly Seven Years Later, Pleasance Remains One of RDR2's Most Creepy Mysteries
As it appears in the game, Pleasance is a long-abandoned settlement on the outskirts of Bayou Nwa; a decrepit echo of a town that was once home to a modest population of Lemoyne’s citizenry. There’s an unsettling air of mystery about any ghost town, but a recent discovery on Red Dead Redemption 2’s subreddit had fans seeing the whole town in a foreboding new light.
It appears the residents of Pleasance never actually left but instead are located in a graveyard inside the town. A handful of graves litter the overgrown cemetery, but one striking feature of the grave markers is a big reason to take a deeper look at the town. Every tombstone has the same date of death listed; everyone in Pleasance died violently on the exact same day. Causes of death mostly include gunshots and stabbings, but whatever happened on September 17th 1883 was nothing short of a massacre.
What Happened to Pleasance in Red Dead Redemption 2?
By the events of Red Dead Redemption 2 in 1899, Pleasance had been abandoned for nearly 16 years. Anyone that follows true crime content will attest that piecing together a case that cold is nigh impossible, and indeed there are no concrete answers as to what precisely happened in 1883. But Rockstar left fans with plenty of clues to piece together a few different possible sequences of events.
The first clue to note about the Pleasance mystery is the timeline of events. A decomposing sign on the outskirts of town welcomes visitors to the settlement and reveals it was founded in August 1883. The town lasted maybe a month before it was laid entirely to waste. Whatever happened that led to the massacre hit the community hard and fast, which leads to the first most likely theory surrounding the fall of Pleasance: disease.
In several places around town, there are messages written across boarded-up doors and windows. Ominous warnings are scrawled around town reading “Unclean with Sin,” “Ill with Sin!” And “Stay Out Plague!” Give the impression that the town was abandoned due to illness, but the violent ends of the citizens of the town reveal that this was not entirely the case. It could be that a novel disease was ripping through the town and the afflicted were killed to prevent further spread or as mercy killings if the disease was severe enough to warrant it. But as with all the mysteries in Red Dead Redemption 2, things may not be as they apparently seem.
Was Pleasance a Town of Devil Worshipers?
Importantly, the church in town doesn’t have any notable religious iconography. There are no crosses, religious symbolism, or anything that would serve as an identifier of any established religion anywhere in the town. This would have been an extreme oddity given the time period and location, and Rockstar has proven time and again its dedication to historical detail and making the game feel as authentic as possible. If these symbols were omitted, it was for a reason.
Some have speculated that this, along with the numerous references to sin in the graffiti, is indicative of some sort of occult activity such as devil worship going on in Pleasance. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time the Red Dead series leaned into supernatural elements. Proponents of the occultism theories claim that the town either destroyed itself in an act of ritualistic violence, or outsiders from the nearby town of Rhodes came in and disposed of the unsavory characters who dared venture so close to their land.
Other theories surrounding the town implicate the Night Folk, as the town is right on the border with their territory, but these theories don’t hold as much water. While such a brutal act is in line with how the Night Folk are seen to act in-game, small details about the massacre don't really fit with their M.O. The gravestones indicate that guns were used in a number of the killings, and the Night Folk are never seen to use firearms in any encounter, favoring silent weapons like bows and knives. Also, the fact that there were any bodies to bury is very much unlike the behavior exhibited by the Night Folk, who are seen taking the bodies of their victims away to create gruesome displays of carnage throughout the swamp.
It’ll never be precisely clear what happened to the people of Pleasance or why the settlement barely lasted one month before being rendered a ghost town. And that’s the beauty of the world Rockstar created. In real life, mysteries don’t always get solved and tied off with a neat little bow. Sometimes, the best one can hope for is to find a satisfying theory explaining away the lingering questions. Even for a game that strives for realism and immersion, this might just be one of the most realistic things about Red Dead Redemption 2.
Red Dead Redemption 2
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 95 /100 Critics Rec: 93%
- Released
- October 26, 2018
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Engine
- RAGE
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- N/A
WHERE TO PLAY
America, 1899. The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs. Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed. After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him. From the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America at the dawn of the modern age.
