Red Dead Redemption 2 just became relevant again in the most unexpected way. After seven years of players combing through every inch of Rockstar’s massive Wild West world, a brand new mystery has emerged involving spider webs, telegraph poles, and cryptic symbols that only appear at specific times. What makes this discovery remarkable is that it’s been sitting in the game since the 2018 launch, completely untouched and undocumented until late December 2025.
How It All Started
The mystery began when three players, goldenplaysterraria, pariah87, and Reddit user FL4VA-01, noticed something strange near the Heartland Oil Fields. Between 3am and 4am in-game time, a spider-like symbol appears carved into a telegraph pole south of Cumberland Forest near Cornwall Kerosene and Tar. Above the pole, players spotted a spider web with a feather attached that only spawns for exactly one hour before vanishing completely.
What happened next is where things got genuinely clever. When players overlaid the spider carving onto Red Dead Redemption 2’s map, they discovered the spider’s eight legs aligned perfectly with eight different telegraph pole locations scattered across the Heartlands region. Each leg pointed to a specific spot where another spider web would appear, but only during narrow time windows throughout the night cycle. The game files label these webs as spiderdream, giving the mystery its official name.
The Eight Webs and Their Timings
Tracking down all eight webs requires patience because each one spawns during a different hour of the in-game night. Five webs appear with black feathers, while three feature red feathers. The southwest web near Cornwall Kerosene spawns between 3am and 4am, while various peripheral locations show their webs between 2am and 3am. Players can shoot the feathers free from each web, similar to the dreamcatcher collectible quest that many veterans will remember from their first playthrough.
YouTube channel Strange Man, which specializes in documenting Red Dead mysteries, broke down the discovery in detailed videos that have racked up hundreds of thousands of views. The creator confirmed with multiple community members that these spider webs have existed since the game’s original 2018 launch on consoles, meaning they’ve gone completely unnoticed through the PC release in 2019 and countless hours of collective playtime across millions of players.
The Central Web and Telegraph Pole Trail
About two weeks after the initial discovery, players found a ninth web at the very center of the spider pattern. This central web only appears between 1am and 2am and contains a clear message woven into its design. The web displays the letter N and a telegraph pole symbol, essentially telling players to head north to the nearest telegraph pole. Following these directions leads to another pole that can be shot at, revealing hidden carvings under its bark that point to yet another location.
This kicked off a trail of telegraph poles, each requiring players to shoot them at specific spots to reveal the next clue. The poles contain directional hints and symbols that guide players from one location to another across the map. One player named Fn 2K02 is credited with discovering the central web mechanic that unlocked this entire phase of the puzzle. The community collaboration happening in real-time across Reddit, YouTube, and Discord servers shows just how engaged the Red Dead fanbase remains despite the game’s age.
The Current Dead End at Fort Wallace
The trail eventually leads to a final telegraph pole that reveals one last cryptic message when shot. This pole displays a guitar symbol accompanied by the letters NW, indicating a northwest direction. Following that path brings players to Fort Wallace, a military installation in the Grizzlies region where two guitars can be found. One sits in a high south tower, while another is located elsewhere in the fort. Fascinatingly, one of these guitars points directly back toward the original spider-carved telegraph pole near Cornwall Kerosene and Tar.
This is where the mystery currently hits a wall. Players have tried everything they can think of at Fort Wallace, shooting the guitars, playing them at specific times, standing in particular spots, but nothing has triggered a conclusive ending to the puzzle. The community is meticulously mapping every guitar location in the entire game, searching for connections that might unlock the next step. Some theorists believe there’s more to discover at Fort Wallace itself, while others think the guitar clue points somewhere else entirely that hasn’t been identified yet.
Connections to Other Rockstar Mysteries
This isn’t the first time Rockstar has hidden elaborate puzzles in their games. Grand Theft Auto 5 featured a similar spider web mystery on Mount Chiliad that players spent years trying to decode. Some community members believe the RDR2 spider webs might be connected to that GTA mystery, possibly serving as a developer signature or cross-game Easter egg. The timing and appearance of these webs, crudely drawn with lines rather than standard 3D models, echo the visual style of other obscure Rockstar secrets like the Butcher Creek pentagram.
Red Dead Redemption 2 already contains numerous collectible mysteries with complete solutions, most notably the 20 dreamcatcher locations that reward players with the Ancient Arrowhead. There’s also the Strange Statue Puzzle that requires solving abstract clues to earn three gold bars, and various other paranormal secrets scattered throughout the world. What makes the spider web mystery different is that it genuinely appears unfinished or unsolved, with no definitive reward or conclusion discovered yet despite extensive investigation.
Why This Matters for the Community
For Red Dead Redemption 2 fans who’ve spent years waiting for new single-player content that never arrived, this discovery represents a genuine moment of excitement. Rockstar has been completely silent about single-player DLC despite player demand, focusing instead on Red Dead Online before eventually abandoning that as well. The last major update for the online mode happened months ago, leaving the community starving for anything fresh to engage with.
Some optimistic players are joking that this could be Rockstar’s elaborate way of teasing single-player DLC, though realistically that seems extremely unlikely. With GTA 6 launching later in 2026 and commanding all of Rockstar’s attention, revisiting seven-year-old Red Dead content doesn’t make business sense. Still, the mere existence of an unsolved mystery breathing new life into the game has brought players flooding back to explore, theorize, and collaborate on solving whatever Rockstar left hidden in the code.
The Hunt Continues
Reddit communities like r/reddeadmysteries are working overtime compiling theories, testing hypotheses, and sharing findings. One popular theory suggests the mystery might require specific weather conditions, time of day combinations, or story progression checkpoints that haven’t been properly tested yet. Others believe there are additional telegraph poles or web locations that simply haven’t been discovered, possibly requiring obscure triggers to make them visible.
The fact that PC players with access to game files confirmed these webs have existed since launch adds credibility to the mystery being intentional rather than a random glitch or leftover development asset. Rockstar is famous for including secrets that take years to uncover, and this spider web puzzle fits perfectly into that tradition. Whether it leads to a significant reward, a simple Easter egg message, or connects to broader Rockstar universe lore remains to be seen.
FAQs About the RDR2 Spider Web Mystery
When was the Red Dead Redemption 2 spider web mystery discovered?
The mystery was first uncovered in late December 2025 by three players: goldenplaysterraria, pariah87, and Reddit user FL4VA-01. Despite being in the game since the 2018 launch, it went completely unnoticed for seven years.
How many spider webs are there in the mystery?
There are nine spider webs total. Eight peripheral webs are located where the spider symbol’s legs point on the map, plus one central web that contains directional clues to continue the puzzle.
What times do the spider webs appear in RDR2?
Each web appears during specific in-game hours between 1am and 4am. The central web spawns from 1am to 2am, the main spider pole web appears from 3am to 4am, and the other peripheral webs show up between 2am and 3am.
Where is the mystery currently stuck?
The puzzle trail leads to Fort Wallace, where a guitar symbol and NW direction point players to two guitar locations. Nobody has been able to trigger the next step or find a conclusion to the mystery from this point.
Is this mystery connected to GTA 5?
Some players theorize a connection to Grand Theft Auto 5’s Mount Chiliad spider web mystery. Both feature similar visual styles and cryptic elements, possibly serving as cross-game Easter eggs or developer signatures.
What do you get for solving the spider web mystery?
Currently unknown. The mystery remains unsolved, so players don’t know if there’s a reward, Easter egg message, unique item, or achievement tied to completing it.
Can this mystery be completed on all versions of RDR2?
Yes, PC players with access to game files confirmed the spider webs exist in the original 2018 console release, meaning they should be accessible on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and current-gen versions.
Who is Strange Man and why are they important to this discovery?
Strange Man is a YouTube channel specializing in Red Dead mysteries and Easter eggs. They created detailed video guides documenting the spider web discovery and credited the original finders, helping spread awareness to the wider community.
Conclusion
The Red Dead Redemption 2 spider web mystery proves that even games dissected for years can still hold surprises. Rockstar’s attention to detail and love of elaborate secrets means there might be other undiscovered Easter eggs lurking in plain sight, waiting for the right combination of curiosity, timing, and community collaboration to reveal them. Whether this particular mystery leads somewhere significant or simply exists as one more layer in Rockstar’s legendary puzzle-making doesn’t really matter. What matters is that thousands of players have a reason to boot up RDR2 again, explore its gorgeous world, and participate in something genuinely exciting seven years after launch. Fort Wallace awaits, and somewhere in that military fort or beyond, the final piece of this spider-themed puzzle is hiding. The race is on to solve it before everyone gets distracted by GTA 6 later this year.