Special encounters are occurrences where the player will come across exceptionally bizarre and often rare events. The Fallout series is one of the franchises most well known for strange and hilarious interactions like these. In fact, the earliest Fallout games even have multiple classifications for them. Despite having similar names and functions, "random encounters" and "special encounters" differ a bit.
Random ones are more common and tend to be a bit more generic: ambushes, skill checks, AI doing odd things. Special ones, however, are unique and rare situations that are hidden in the game's files and only revealed when certain criteria are met. They are considered some of the weirdest, most hilarious, and potentially the most deadly out of all events one can come across while exploring the wastelands.
10 Giant Footprint
Prior to the release of the first game in the series, Fallout was supposed to be a vastly different kind of game. One with magic, time travel, and even dinosaurs. When exploring the mostly deserted world, it is possible to come across something that looks like a tremendously huge footprint similar to that of a theropod dinosaur; like a monstrously enlarged T-rex. However, there are no other footprints to go along with this one and there is no explanation for why it is here in the first place. The bloody corpse found in the center of this titanic indentation holds nothing more than a Stealth Boy.
9 Crashed Whale
These grisly remains can be found in Fallout 2 and appear as one of the many pop culture references injected into this series. Near the whale's mangled corpse one will find a flowerpot of petunias, making it incredibly obvious that this is a reference to the famous scene from the book (and movie) The Hitchhike's Guide to the Galaxy. For those unfamiliar with the reference, a device called an 'Improbability Drive' can sometimes transform objects. In this case, two missiles were shifted into the forms of a whale and a pot of flowers, both of which entered orbit and fell to the ground in a spectacularly violent landing.
8 Maud's Muggers
When the Fallout series made the transition from 2D to 3D, a lot of things were understandably changed. One of these changes was that special encounters were lumped in with random ones and treated the same by the game's coding. However, in Fallout: New Vegas there is a perk called 'Wild Wasteland' that increases the potential for more interesting encounters to be found. One of these can be encountered when the Courier leaves Cerulean Robotics. If they have the required perk, three elderly women in dresses armed with switchblades and rolling pins will launch an assault. This trio is known as Hell's Grannies, which are mentioned in passive dialogue when passing various NPCs in Freeside. This is a reference to the hilarious Monty Python sketch of the same name.
7 Alien Ship
Since most examples of advanced technology in this post-apocalyptic era can be less than refined, this metallic vessel will stand out if the Vault Dweller spots it in Fallout. The round spaceship was clearly one that crashed into Earth, though was not destroyed. The intact hull can be found semi-submerged in the dead soil of the desert with two alien skeletons resting nearby.
Each of these skeletons will have interesting loot: one with an alien blaster and the other with a velvet painting of Elvis Presley. The former item makes sense, but the painting does not. Unless one is familiar with the old myth that the famous singer was abducted by aliens.
6 Guardian Of Forever
These ruins from Fallout 2 are actually a portal into the past. When crossed, the Chosen One can travel back before the events of the first Fallout game to initiate the inciting incident of breaking Vault 13's water chip, which leads to the main quest. This, however, does not cause any major changes to Fallout 2's gameplay. It should be noted that while in the past, the player can pick up the unique energy weapon known as the Solar Scorcher.
5 Game Over, Man, Game Over!
In New Vegas, there are a few radio stations that one can listen to as they travel the mostly barren landscape. One of these is the NCR Emergency Radio channel, which gives the Courier reports on the happenings of in-game events from around the map. During the climactic battle for Hoover Dam, a broadcast will be sent out containing the panicked screams of an NRC soldier falling to the might of Caeser's Legion. In the process, the poor soldier quotes a line from the 1986 movie Aliens. The character from the movie who says these lines, William Hudson, is mentioned as well in-game, as the player can find a corpse with this name upon their uniform's tag near some Legion centurions after the conflict at the dam subsides.
4 Unusual Call Box
This is one of the most conspicuous references in the series. A blue police call box, which is a British structure that both civilians and police officers use in emergencies if a non-cellular phone is required, shows up in the middle of the wasteland with no explanation.
If the Vault Dweller tries to investigate, the box will disappear and leave behind a motion sensor. In appearance and function, this is very similar to a TARDIS spaceship from the renowned sci-fi television series Doctor Who.
3 Mad Brahmins
Brahmins are the most common form of livestock found in the wastelands of Fallout 2, and most of the time they are either harmless or beneficial. They simply amble about and eat what meager vegetation the drylands can provide. However, there is one particular herd that can be found that are anything but harmless. This group of mutated bovines will charge at the Chosen One while mooing incessantly until they make contact with the player, which will then cause them to explode violently and disgustingly. However, if one takes them all out, they will respawn at the center of the area, though won't be initially hostile. If the player has sufficient firepower, they can farm these cattle for 480 experience points per group slaughter.
2 Hovering Alien Ship
Likely referencing the alien ship found in the first Fallout, this one in New Vegas holds similar intrigue and treasure. The Courier can find this spacecraft north of the Horowitz farmstead. From the three alien corpses that one can find, the player can loot a unique alien blaster and 100 power cells for it as well as two tri-beam laser rifles and a bunch of energy cells.
1 Sacred Head Of The Vault Dweller
This giant talking head is arguably one of the strangest encounters in the entire franchise. Found randomly in the wild of Fallout 2, the Chosen One can bump into them and have a debate that will last 12 in-game hours. Afterward, the great head will give the player a Monument Chunk, which is a powerful chem that temporarily boosts Strength, Agility, and Damage Resistance.