GTA V has a huge number of hidden details and jokes. Here are the ones most worth tracking down, with where and when to look. None of them count toward 100% completion, although the UFOs are one of its rewards.
UFOs and aliens
UFOs after 100%. Once you’ve reached 100%, UFOs appear in the sky. One sits above Fort Zancudo, and from 3 to 4 AM a green light spins on one of the base’s buildings to mark its spot. Another hangs above the Beam Me Up area in Sandy Shores. A third hovers over Mount Chiliad, but only at 3 AM in a storm.
The sunken UFO. You can see this one before you reach 100%. It’s underwater and covered in plants, north of Paleto Bay and Procopio Beach. There’s also a mock-up UFO stuck in the roof of Bishop’s WTF?! on Vinewood Boulevard.
The alien in the ice. In Ludendorff, under the train bridge you pass in the Prologue, you can go down the bank and on to the frozen creek. An alien is frozen under the ice. You can also find it in Bury the Hatchet.
The ghost on Mount Gordo
Between 11 PM and midnight, a woman’s ghost floats on the eastern peak of Mount Gordo, with the word “JOCK” written in blood below her. She vanishes if you get too close, and reappears when you back off. Stay and you may hear her. A newspaper story hints that she’s Jolene Cranley-Evans, the late wife of the actor and politician Jock Cranley.
Bigfoot
You can play as Bigfoot by eating golden peyote plants, and you’ll fight a Beast if you eat them in the right order. There’s a smaller Bigfoot joke in Predator. Zoom in on the heat signature in the bottom right of the thermal scope, and Sasquatch appears to be standing there for a few seconds.
The Infinity Killer
Around Blaine County and the Grand Senora Desert, you can follow traces of a serial killer named Merle Abrahams, who was obsessed with the number 8. A newspaper clipping in Sandy Shores says he died in 2004 while awaiting trial for killing eight joggers. His burned-out house is on Cholla Springs Avenue, with messages scrawled on its walls. If you follow the clues, you’ll find his victims.
The Mount Chiliad mural
Inside the cable car station at the top of Mount Chiliad, a mural shows a UFO, an egg and what looks like a jetpack. Players searched for years, but there’s no jetpack to find in Story Mode. It was an idea that never made it into the game. The symbols under the observation deck do relate to the UFO, though.
Underwater wrecks
The sea around San Andreas is full of wrecked planes, ships, a military vehicle, a submarine and more. Some have weapons, armor, health packs and even briefcases of money, so they’re worth a dive. There’s also a whale skeleton off Banham Canyon. See Submarine Parts and Nuclear Waste for more reasons to go down there.
References to other GTA games
- Follow the damn train: numbers by the highway at the RON Alternates Wind Farm spell out a line from a famous GTA San Andreas mission. A Gold Medal goal in Derailed is called “Better than CJ”.
- Niko Bellic: a framed picture of him is in the Yellow Jack Inn, and wanted posters of him are around the map. Jimmy sometimes looks at his Lifeinvader page, too.
- Roman’s taxis: on one Downtown Cab Co. fare, the bikers stand by two cars with plates that read NIKOB and ROMANB.
- CJ: a book on Lester’s shelf called Surveillance has a picture from GTA San Andreas on its cover.
Smaller things to look for
- A snowman: you can see it through a gap in a door at the Fridgit warehouse in East Los Santos.
- A rolling ball: shoot the orange ball off the Big O juice stands in Vinewood Hills or Grapeseed, and it rolls away.
- A wrecked tank: there’s a T-34 in Rogers Salvage & Scrap.
- Family reactions: shoot at another character’s house, or steal their car, and they’ll call or text you about it.
- Hunting photos: Cletus asks for pictures of your kills, but you can send them to other people, too, and they’ll respond.
- Black phone: dial 1-999-367-3767 for a small bang and a black phone. It counts as a cheat.