Red Dead Redemption 2 has one of the most detailed worlds of any video game in recent years, and fans are still combing through its wild west frontier to find out the truth behind many of the strangest mysteries in the game.
One such Red Dead Redemption 2 mystery is at once creepy and fascinating. There's a mysterious man in the tree house who could be a spooky throwaway detail, but fans who have solved the mystery show how it’s a testament to Rockstar’s commitment to its fans, as well as connected to another mystery in Red Dead 2 mystery, the Donkey Lady.
The Man in the Tree House
There’s a man who lives in a tree house who can be found in the New Austin territory, just to the North East of where the “N” in "Austin" lies on the Red Dead world map. If the player approaches, the man will screech “go away” in a creepy high-pitched voice, as well as growling, howling, and telling the player to “get away from” him. If the player shoots the treehouse, the boards will break, and the man will fall out from the bottom and die when he hits the ground.
The player can then get a good look at him. He has a wide nose, a split lip, a very hairy face, and eyes which slope upwards under sharp cheekbones. He’s not a pretty sight, and paired with his high-pitched screams, many players were at once disturbed and intrigued by this mysterious Red Dead character. There is no way to get up to the tree to see him, however, which means that any player who gets to this stage has already caused the character’s death. The mystery, however, does not end there.
The Donkey Lady and the Cougar Man
The Donkey Lady point of interest can also be found in New Austin to the East of Mercer Station and North West of Lake Don Julio in Two Crows. At the point of interest is a run-down farm and the skeleton of a woman tied to a horse mill, where it appear she was forced to work to death. Upon closer inspection, the scene becomes even more grizzly, though.
The woman has a skull resembling a donkey’s, as well as a slight vestigial tail. In all actuality, The Donkey Lady is a reference to a famous glitch from the original Red Dead Redemption where a human woman would spawn with the in-game skeleton of a donkey, and so could be treated as such in the game.
The glitch became well-known in a viral Youtube video by user WhereDaBootz called “The Incredible Donkey-Lady” where the player rode around on a human woman’s shoulders and was even able to make her gallop like a horse. However, it wasn’t the first funny Red Dead Redemption video by the user to become popular.
WhereDaBootz’s first video is called “The Infamous Cougar-Man,” and shows a cougar that spawned in-game with a human model, causing the model to glitch out and the NPC to act just like a cougar in Red Dead. This is the basis for the man in the tree house. Like a real cougar, he has a surprisingly high pitched cry, he lives in a tree, he has a parting in the middle of his lip, and cat -ike eyes and facial features. This theory is confirmed by the game’s files, which list him simply as “cougarman”.
Some Red Dead Redemption 2 mysteries, as spooky as they are, also serve as a reminder that Rockstar is constantly engaging with and referencing its own community in its games. The Donkey Lady and the Cougar Man may pass many players by, but it shows just how much the developer looked towards its fanbase when developing Red Dead Redemption 2 and its many Easter eggs.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.