This is one of the signs of an apocalypse, right?

Update: Rockstar has now clarified that it was in fact a bug, not some elaborate teaser.

"The issue affecting some players in Red Dead Online that was causing reduced numbers of animals in session and other knock-on effects has been resolved," the developer noted in a statement we received earlier today.

The "knock-on effects" in question would be the piles of dead horses players had been coming across, which have been - thankfully - removed. Read on below for the original story.

Original story: Over on Reddit, user MYNAMEISHENDRIK found himself in a version of Red Dead Online that was no longer populated by NPC people or animals. Other people are having similar issues, and some have discovered a pile of dead horses that is appearing in Valentine.

The mass horse grave in the video below - where the bodies seem to be burned up - is one of a few different videos floating around of this phenomenon.

As Polygon has noticed, there has been a raft of glitches and issues involving town's populations disappearing and horses not coming when you whistle for them that are tied into this.

Red Dead Online - Dead Horses In Valentine / May 2019 Watch on YouTube

Those horses are, as the game's name would suggest, both red and dead. Coincidence? Or something more? Unfortunately, it sounds like it was just a glitch, with Rockstar telling Polygon that the issue has already been dealt with.

Red Dead Online is nearing the end of its beta period; expect new role-playing options, missions, and poker possibilities.

In the mean time, we'll be on the lookout for any more spooky goings-on or mass graves popping up unexpectedly.