r/reddeadmysteries • u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One • Nov 27 '18
Investigation Manzanita Post: A Comprehensive Investigation
I'd like to start off this post by saying, yes, I know there have been investigations done on Manzanita on this subreddit previously, however I may have discovered that only after getting all of the work done for this post... I swear that I have not read, or taken any content from, any of those posts.
Alongside that, a tremendous thanks to /r/RedDeadRedemption Discord User Rayleigh for the translation help and image creation.
So let's get started. First off, the base line facts:
Manzanita in RDR2 is a small group of Norwegian Immigrants who appear to have settled the area themselves, there is one accessible property in the Post, a small cabin housing a Husband and Wife. Note: Despite this, the cabin is up to purchase in RDR1.
The husband and wife are, of course, Norwegian as well, and seem to be rather normal on the surface, just like all of the other settlers. At first glance, it is a new settlement on the rise.
So with that, we shall now get in to the juicier parts of this investigation.
Upon entering the home, you will (most likely) be greeted by the friendly husband and wife, who seem to welcome you with open arms into their home. They even let you take things from their drawers and containers and do not seem to mind. Keep that in mind, because...
It isn't all normal in this cabin. Upon inspection, you will be able to find a loose floorboard with a picture hidden inside. It is a family portrait, a husband and wife and their infant son. Flipping it over will reveal the Norwegian word "Uren!" (Impure!) scrawled on the back. The residents don't even seem to mind you taking this image.
Then you get to the chimney, and upon searching it, you will find a Norwegian Journal Page. Upon finding this, the residents will then, and only then, run out of the building, and the man will yell "What have I done?!" in Norwegian. The page is obviously a confession, that is plain to see, but what he was confessing to is the confusing part. Here is the translated journal page. Again, all credit to Rayleigh.
Important Thing to Note:
- He refers to "Father" telling him it was the only alternative, the meaning of this will be revealed in the final verdict.
So once I found all this I decided it was definitely worth more of a look than I first thought. I tracked them both down and hogtied them and brought them back to the Cabin. Nothing was found upon looting the wife, however, looting the husband rewarded me with a Norwegian Newspaper Clipping...
Important Things to Note:
The Murder of a Man, Woman, and Infant Child. Sound familiar?
The Woman being a part of a "Religious Community" who immediately disappeared following the Murder.
The Woman being from Norway and the Man being from North Africa.
Now I think it's time I get into my Final Verdict of all of this. It goes as follows...
The "Religious Community" that the woman was a part of is now the small settlement of Manzanita Post. This is evidenced by the "Father" (Priest) saying that there was no alternative, as well as the sudden disappearance of the Community after the Murder. The Portrait in the cabin floorboard, and the journal page, only support this claim.
The Baby in the family portrait is now shown to be Mixed Race, (Mother Norwegian, Father North African) which is why it was considered to be "Uren!/Unpure!" by the rest of the Community.
So, with that last bullet point, I think you know what I am getting at here. The Settlers at Manzanita are completely guilty for the murder of a man, woman, and their infant child, which are the same shown in the Family Portrait found in the cabin. This claim is evidenced by the "Father" saying that there was no other alternative, and the guilt truly portrayed by the man who wrote the journal page. (That Father line is turning out to be pretty crucial, eh?)
Despite all of this, the only one with true blood on their hands seems to be the Man living in the small cabin. This may or may not be true, it's the one part that I am definitely not certain on yet. I suppose that the entire group could have blood on their hands too. I would love to hear any theories you all have on this.
So, without any doubt, I can say that the Religious Community murdered these three because of the mixed race relations, and immediately fled to the remote area of Tall Trees to attempt to put their past behind them. The rest of their story will be decided by you, if you choose to carry it on.
But with that, my investigation concludes. I hope you all enjoyed it, and I hope I didn't accidentally plagiarize too much :p. Thank you for the read!
Side Note: If this post goes over well, I may continue this idea with an investigation on all things creepy in Roanoke Ridge. Please let me know if you are interested!
UPDATE V2: The Roanoke Ridge investigation is done! I spent all day searching the entire region for any and all things mysterious and creepy, now all that's left is one edit to make tomorrow morning and then the clips, and screenshots will go up alongside it. It may be a bit different from anything else on here but I hope you guys love it.
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u/Satsloader PS4 Nov 27 '18
10/10 . Quality post and not another ridiculous Missing Princess theory. A++ good sir, will read posts again.
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Nov 27 '18
I was thinking the same thing. Now I can use this as reference material on mine. God bless you u/TheNextAnubis
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 27 '18
Thank you so much! I’ve got another post on Roanoke Ridge in the works, I’m excited to see if that one allows me to still carry on this little “series” idea.
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u/Satsloader PS4 Nov 27 '18
Awesome partner. Which part of Roanoke?
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 27 '18
Pretty much all of it. I'm going to be doing a lot of exploration trying to find any little mystery in that region. I think it will be a bit more challenging than this post but, hey, I guess that will prove if this really deserves to continue as a series or not.
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u/AlongCameA5P1D3R Nov 27 '18
The Father of course could just be the Killers father
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 27 '18
Of course, yeah. I just theorized it to be a priest because of the whole Religious Group thing.
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u/AlongCameA5P1D3R Nov 27 '18
I need to finish my second play through so I can go back there and check it out
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 27 '18
It’s definitely worth looking into. It was chilling as I wrote this and slowly pieced it all together. Almost felt like a side mission.
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u/SterlingKato Nov 27 '18
Nice work Partner. Been finding stuff like this all through out my gameplay. I encourage you to check out Saint Denis Dr office and read the names that hang above the offices
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 27 '18
Thanks man! I’ve been loving the spooky side of this game so far. I’ll make sure to head there tomorrow as well.
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u/bOLNHd Nov 27 '18
Can you do any of this with the new Austin glitch as Arthur? I'm intrigued .. just not mr marston yet
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 27 '18
I have not tried it, however it is not tied into any mission, so you should be free to go ahead and find it!
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u/bOLNHd Nov 27 '18
Update on Roanoke ridge? No rush just want to make sure I didnt miss your post. Thanks man
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 27 '18
No problem at all, I appreciate the interest! All of the investigation is done, I spent just about all day exploring the entirety of Roanoke, and I found seven mysteries to write about (obviously the entry for each one is pretty small, but I've done my best to fit detail in.) The writing of the post itself is almost done, and then I will just have to upload the clips and screenshots of my findings.
Expect it to be posted some time tomorrow!
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u/bOLNHd Nov 28 '18
Nice! It might answer some questions about some things that I've stumbled across. I've so many questions lol. I always seem to get distracted by a butterfly when I find myself trying to play detective. The amount of detail in this game is just insane.
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 28 '18
Thing is about this next one, I didn’t go into a lot of depth on all of em because I was trying to cover things I found in the whole region. That same reason is why I might have (accidentally) missed some things, but I think the lineup is relatively good, and once that is posted, I’ll be back to stuff more lke this Manzanita Post... post.
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u/bOLNHd Nov 28 '18
I get it, theres a ton over there.. the wolf man, the viking items, the drunk stranger with the horror story about the Indians, the tree hermit, etc, etc. Even the 3 brothers treasure in annesburg. Haven't gotten beyond the newspaper clipping on that one, but I've heard theres a poem about it in a mine. Looking forward to any and all of what you've found.
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 28 '18
Actually, none of those are focuses in the post I made. Some I chose to leave out because I figured there were enough posts on it (same thing I am doing with IKZ), and some I left out because, I figure, if there is a good enough response to it, a part two may be in order. Depending on what everyone says.
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u/bOLNHd Nov 28 '18
Even the ikz thing is new to me lol. I've only just found this sub, so a lot of the lore is still unknown to me. Surprising how many things I've stumbled across, even more surprising how many things I've missed.
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 28 '18
It's a pretty great place isn't it? I'm relatively new as well but I jumped right into writing. There's just so much hidden in this game that I wanted to document it as well. Speaking of which, Strange Occurrences at Roanoke Ridge is now up!
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Nov 27 '18
[deleted]
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 27 '18
Wow, that's pretty disturbing. The only Norwegian I ever heard them speak in was when they ran out of the cabin.
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u/xCoffeeBreakx Nov 27 '18
Very well done man, I really enjoyed the read. Gosh, R* really nailed it with all those details and 'secret' stories.
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u/darthmarticus17 Nov 27 '18
Please do every mystery in Red Dead
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 27 '18
I'll try my best! I'm hoping this series will go on for a long while so I should be able to cover quite a few :)
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u/buzzkillington123 Nov 27 '18
Theres a photograph i found in the floorboards of one of the houses at manzanita post. is that relevant or important to something?
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 27 '18
Yeah, that's the family portrait I had mentioned a couple of times. Sad stuff once you realize what happened to them.
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u/Sovereign_Mind Nov 27 '18
ROANOKE RIDGE PLEASE!!!!
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 27 '18
Beginning the Investigation tomorrow! It may be a little while until this one is done, as I’ll be covering as many smaller mysteries in Roanoke as I possibly can, but I’m very excited!
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u/project137 Nov 27 '18
Great post man, this is how it needs to be done. Please do more! 10/10
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 27 '18
Thank ya! I wasn’t sure if turning this into a “series” would be plausible but by now I think it is guaranteed to happen! :D
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u/UghImAWriter Nov 27 '18
I like what you did here and this style, good idea
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u/teamgingersnap Jan 13 '19
I know this is really late, but I literally just now looted the chimney and came upon this whole thread. Thank you and I’m definitely going tie them all up and throw them into a river
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u/generalzee Nov 27 '18
Fantastic work.
Do you think this in any way ties into the Eugenics "Preachers" in Saint Denis? And what about the town of Pleasance? Could that have been a slave or mixed-race colony wiped out by these religious purists? Some of the houses there say "Unclean Sinners" and "Ill with Sin." Could these cultists be the ones responsible?
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u/TheNextAnubis Xbox One Nov 27 '18
Thanks!
I haven’t actually seen those preachers in Saint Denis, either that or I heard them and just kept going on with my day, so I can’t be sure on that. Pleasance, I believe to have been taken out by a plague of some kind (evidenced by the barn there) and the “Unclean sinners” and “Ill with sin” could be some sort of Old West Graffiti.
However with such little being known about Pleasance, there really is no way to tell. I do also think that the Manzanita settlement committing murder was a one time thing. When you’re just walking around there they certainly don’t seem sinister until you discover their secrets.
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u/generalzee Nov 27 '18
The Eugenics guy is down by the circle in front of the train station handing out pamphlets. You can argue with him if you'd like.
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u/TotesMessenger Nov 27 '18
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u/Bravo315 Dec 05 '18
Does anyone remember the significance of Manzanita Trading Co. in Red Dead 1? I remember a train now runs through it and it's expanded, but don't remember any Scandanavians residing there particularly.
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u/adamlechamp Dec 06 '18
Great post. Just wanted to add that I also found a Norwegian newspaper clipping after fighting the hunters in that post-Epilogue writer mission. I dont read Norwegian but I think it's the same article that describes the murder of the Moroccan guy and his wife
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u/Manermzb Nov 27 '18
I was exploring Tall trees today and found a group of norwegians that had been scalped by the skinners. When lotting the body of a female victim I found a “piece of norwegian newspaper “. Couldn’t translate it tho. If you want to find them: near the cabin where the writer lives ( the one who gives you missions in the epilogue) you hear a man screaming. If you follow the screams you will find the bodies of the norwegian settlers