The Epsilon Program Explored - Pt. 2

[Cave]

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The most explored myth in the history of San Andreas

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Part 2

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WARNING: This is a very long, but interesting post. You have been warned!

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I am only doing this because some people liked the previous one, and some people have asked for it.

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The barber shop

The barber in Queens in San Fierro, just across the street from Ammunation, is surely talking a lot about Epsilon.

He says things like:

  "Oh yeah, that's a whole load of Kifflom!"
  "Epsilon smiles on you!"
  "There you go, uncle-brother."
  "Wow, like Kifflom and everything"
  "Life is a circle, friend"
  "Let Epsilon tame(?) your .......(?)"
  "Kifflom and ka-poo(?), uncle-brother!".

It doesn't seem like any of these contains clues or instructions to anything.

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In part one, I posted about an italian forum, which had someone posting he was a rockstar official, and he talked about the epsilon program.

Unconfirmed rumours

A person with the nick jblend made a post in some forum, saying he's a Rockstar official, stating the following information;

"If you see the number one, then you're on your way. Only true believers of Kifflom (praise!!!) can enter the portals. So Keep listening to the trees and I am sure that you'll find your path. If you learn the true meaning of Kifflom (praise him!!!) then you can enter the golden portals of Puertas Amarillas Valley."

The topic was met by hundreds of replies, but jblend himself never wrote again. This single posting has being refered to on numerous forums, creating the wildest discussions. There is NO proof this is anything more than just some nitwit having a laugh, still lot's of discussion forum participants actually has made this the shining star of their hunt - even though it was not supported by any pictures or other kinds of proof.

This is just an example of one small posting turning out big, with lot's of rumours descending from it, making the myth busters spend hunting time based on useless information.

Here's another one, that has caused alot of discussion:

"How much is your soul worth?

We’ve put a price on salvation and it’s a price worth paying. In fact, we’re running a special. While other major religions tithe 10%, we tithe 8.75%. But if you join Epsilon now, you’ll only be tithed 8.125%. The government takes 33% of your income and what do you get for it? If you answered nothing, you’re on the right track to making yourself a whole person and finally understanding how the universe works, and all that for this special, one time only, low price. Finally a religion that is easy to understand. In this day and age, can you afford to spend weeks combing through cryptic text written thousands of years ago when people lived to the ripe age of 23 and were forced to slaughter goats? The Epsilon Tract is easy to understand – it’s still being written. And trust us, it will be in simple, easy to understand bullet points. Salvation is here and you don’t need to be intelligent to understand very obvious point – saving souls is like saving money. So you should do it exactly the same way! Kifflom! Brother-Uncle, Sister-Aunt! KIFFLOM – HAPPINESS IS YOURS! KIFFLOM! The future, as told by a descendant of Kraft, hasn’t happened yet, but it will, and will you be ready? Make your commitment now. What level of salvation are you ready for?

AZUR $10,000

For the person that wants to be saved, but not that much, let us suggest the AZUR pinnacle- Raise your left hand and recite the words: “Take me to my father-father, brother-uncle. Kifflom.” We’ll do the rest. Because we all know, there is Kifflom and there is Kraft, and both be praised. Then send $10,000.

TOPAZ $25,000

TOPAZ level salvation is for the person who wants a better life, wants a cleaner soul, and is prepared to shop around for a great deal. The TOPAZ level Epsilonist receives all of the benefits of AQUAMARINE level participation, minus some of the conjugal rights, especially on Thursdays.

AQUAMARINE $79,000

It’s a small price to pay for personal fulfillment. At the AQUAMARINE level, you gain all of the riches of your AZUR and TOPAZ brothers and sisters, however you will be given a special lapel pin and invited to more parties.

TURQUOISE $100,000

All the TURQUOISE level, complete enlightenment will occur. It’s not new age! The music is terrible and makes people into suburbanite eunuchs! We’re looking for a new wage. For $100,000 all of the mysteries of the universe will be yours, including a PIN code to enter the Epsilon compound in the hills overlooking San Andreas. TURQUOISE members will take weekly meeting with the Honorable Cris Formage in a relaxed setting with everyone wearing only robes that are easily disrobed."

This is just nonsense made up by someone familiar with the Epsilon, knowing it would probably be taken seriously by the hunters. I haven't found any reliable source for this, maybe except the orignal post made by jblend, and jblend is pretty obvious not a Rockstar employee.

Let's say I made a post saying "My uncle works at Rockstar, and he told me that there really is something in the woods - there is a tree in the wood that is not solid, and if you walk into it, you will open some secret features in the game.". How likely is it that it would start off armys of GTA players spending hours upon hours walking into trees? Very much, I guess. Not because the post would be actually convincing, but because people want to believe. Just like me and you, they think it's fun to participate in these hunts, methodically testing rumour after rumour. And wouldn't it be great to actually find something, to be the first one to find it?

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The Truth

Truth, the old hippie, is one of the more interesting peeople in the game. He seems to have accurate knowledge about government secrets and the presence of aliens on earth, but even though he talks alot, he is not giving you much information.

An interesting incident though, is when you drive him around in San Fierro in the mission "Wear Flowers in your Hair", He first directs you to the hospital, where a grey van suddenly starts off. While watching this, he tells you think of a 'yellow rubber duck', as to prevent someone to read your real thoughts. He then directs you to the police station, where the same van appears again. He seems to have got something confirmed by these sightings, but he won't tell you what this was about.

Anyhow, Truth seems focused about aliens and governmental conspirations, so this probably has nothing to do with Epsilon. Never the less, in the earlier mission Body Harvest, where you are first introduced to Truth, he gets you to steal a combine harvester from The Farm - the farm that is marked out as the cult location in the map that followed your GTA SA game.

The mission really doesn't seem to have any connection with the Epsilon cult. There are groups of "survivalists" working there, you kill them, and steal their combine harvester. When you later enter The Farm after this mission, there is still a combine harvester and a tractor working on the fields there, but no people walking around.


An image of "The Truth".

As R* themself has marked out this farm as the cult location, I can't really see why Truth should send you to just this farm for no other reason than to steal the combine harvester. There are several farms closer to where you start the mission, so it would be logical if it was a reason you where sent to just this farm. I therefore guess it really isn't any special reason, I guess the R* designers working on this missons, wasn't aware of the connection. As to what we found so far, it's just that the windows turn blue at night, and it is called the cult loction on the printed map, that makes this a special place.


An image from the mission you do with The Truth.

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Talk of the town

Around San Andreas you can hear people speak of the Epsilon cult.
Especially the backpackers, they seem to be members of the cult, and speaks only of this. Also some of the barbers seems to be members, while other characters don't seem very positive about the cult. You often have to bump into the backpackers to get them talking, but my impression is that they only use part of their sentences when bumped - you have to follow them to hear it all.

I even used the "Recruit anybody into your gang" cheat, and brought a backpacker with me to the farm, but nothing unusual was said or done.


An image of the backpacker, mostly seen around Verdant Bluffs.

Backpacker talk:

"Are you looking for spiritual answers?"
"Before I read the tract, I was lost"
"Can I interest you in some religion?"
"Careful, brother-uncle"
"Careful, careful"
"Cris Formage saved my life"
"Dinosaurs are a lie - FACT!"
"Do you need spiritual guidance?"
"Find out!"
"Have you ever read the Epsilon tract?"
"Have you ever taken a karate lesson for free?"
"Have you thougth about the answers to the universe?"
"Hello sister-aunt"
"I haven't spoken to my parents since....(?)"
"I lie with nine ....(?) every week"
"No, it's a terrible lie"
"Partner sharing is an intricate part of Cris' vision"
"Something big is happening in American religion"
"Take care, ....(?) darkness"
"The world's beautiful, so are you"
"They should all read the Eplison tract"
"Yes, it's all thanks to epsilonism"
"Watch out, brother-uncle!"

(Not all of them are here.)

Girlfriend talk:

"Those Epsilon nut-jobs freak me out" (Katie)

Ammunation talk:

"There are cultists everwhere, friend"

Misc. pedestrian talk:

"They are all around us"
"They won't probe me again" (referring to aliens?)

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The trenchcoat guy

The trenchcoat guy is mainly found in Tierra Robada, and also is one of the suicidal photographers in Flint County. He is mentioned here because he talks a lot about UFO's and aliens, but I will not dig much into this character here.

The trenchcoat guy kinda looks like one of the characters in the movie Red Rock West (not unlike the Rockstar North name). The game San Andreas is set in 1992, which was also the year this movie was released. The trenchcoat guy might be a reference to the Red Rock West movie.

On the WTCR radio station a women from Liberty City calls in to Area 53, and says she had saw a ghost cowboy outside of her house.


An image of the trenchcoat ped, only seen in Bone County.


A table of the various actions by the trenchcoat ped.

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The red truck

The red truck has been the uttermost target for many hunters. The directions given on www.epsilonprogram.com is clear:

"Travel through the dawn to the pass pictured in our brochures. Look for a red truck with a dent on the right fender. Raise your left hand and recite the words: "Take me to to my father-father, brother-uncle. Kifflom." We'll do the rest. Because we all know, there is Kifflom and there is Krant, and both be praised. Blindfold required."

Most of these directions are very inaccurate. It could be any pass in San Andreas, nobody has found the brochure picturing the pass, CJ cannot raise his arm, he cannot be directed to say what you want him to, and there is no blindfold to be found. You can buy an eyepatch from Binco, but this is not a blindfold, since it doesn't blind more than one eye. Also, San Andreas is full of cars dented from traffic accidents that happen around you all the time. There's also the two skin variations of the Glendale and the Sadler, that has the beaten-up look already when they spawn..

All in all this information is very useless, as you really can't use any of it to hunt somthing concrete, maybe except the dented truck. There has been many and thorough searches for this car, but nobody has documented the finding of a car like this, that actually makes anything unusual happen. There's lot's of red and/or dented trucks to be found both parked and driving around all of San Andreas, but the "red truck with a dent on the right fender" is one of the most definite clues, and therefore one of the most hunted. We can be pretty sure that if it really was a truck to be found, someone would have found it already.

Here's one of the dented trucks, a Sadler, that is placed around in San Andreas. Just like with all the other ones, nothing happens around it, and nothing special happens when you get inside it - it's just another car. Both the Sadler and the Glendale have two skins, one ordinary skin, and one beaten-up skin. If you drive one of the beaten-up cars to a repair shop, it is reset to it's original skin, a beaten-up car, just like you first found it.


An image showing the red truck and its location in the desert.

No red truck - or other kind of car - that seems to be any different from the other cars has been found, a sign has been found that might be a hint. In Red County, you'll find a large signpost saying "Truck Terminal Red County", with the word "Truck" and "Red" on top of each other on the left side. If there is any special place you could expect to find the special red truck mentioned on www.epsilonpogram.com, it might be here.


An image showing the truck terminal sign in Red County.

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The 4 AM series - busting a fake story

These series of picutres and a following recipe was found on an Italian forum.


A series of images that were taken by someone claiming that he experienced the strangce event.

There's a flat one-story building located a bit west of the abondoned airport strip, and you should be there by exactly 4 AM (04:00) at night (dawn).

This is the translated description I found on this website:

"It is said that you must follow the exact time of day, and have the correct clothes and equipment to make this happen.

• The first square tells you what to wear and what to look like, what gun to use.
• The second square tells you the location (notice the red marker on the radar on the first square).
• The third square is the red truck with the dent on the right fender.
• The fourth square is the truck moving by itself. (remember, "take me to my brother-brother e.t.c).
• The other squares show the truck moving to the Epsilon headquarters (or you have to drive it i dunno).
• The last square shows the Kifflom man getting out of the car".

The translated description is a bit vague. It could of course depend on that the original Italian description is vague too.


Why these series pictures of is interesting
• There should be no cars appearing in this place.
• It is not possible to manipulate a car appearing like this, unless driven by CJ.
• The pictures is not reversed to make it look like a passenger is a driver.


Why it's most probably a fake
• Why aren't there more pictures?
• There's no explanation given of why the picture set stops.
• There's no description of what happens after the last picture.


This in itself is a strong indications of that this is a fake - so I decided to do a remake of this events.
And it was rather easy to make.

By using the cheat "Recruit anyone" (on PC, type the letters "SJMAHPE") , I was able to bring a game character of my choice to the current building (or anywhere else). By using the commands "G" (follow) and "H" (stay) I was able to place the person anywhere where I wanted, and then move the car to any position. By pressing the button to enter the car, but then abort it the second CJ had opened the car door, I could then place the recruited person right next to the open door, to make it look as if he had just climbed out of the car, and then make him walk towards me in the last picture.


A series of images of a cleverly self made Epsilon event, made using cheats and Photoshop.

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Epilogue

Random glitches in the game may have caused some sightings of strange things, that might have been interpreted as UFO's, Bigfoot or other phenomens. Somebody has reported it in some GTA forum, being the seed to rumours that have become myths as more and more players fetches interest.

It's therefore important that rumours are being well investigated, to be confirmed as either very likely to be a hint to something more, like the red truck and the cane, or an actual thing happening, like the so-called ghost cars rolling down the hills in Back O' Beyond, and the UFO lights seen on the night sky.

Myself, I think it's fully possible that there are more secrets in the game than we have found, but if you try to think like a game developer... Why is it so difficult to find more about these secrets? How secret should they be?

I guess it's most likely that the Epsilon website is put up merely for fun, without being clues to anything more. Same goes for the radio interview - it's not meant to be more than just an entertaining thing on the radio. But yet... Why is there a cane weapon in the game? It's not part of the mission play, and why so many of them? The description on the Epsilon website also contains the instruction "Look for a red truck with a dent on the right fender". This should be a reference to what to look for in the game, why else would it say so? Of course, they might have written this just to fool, knowing it will be well noticed by us hardcore GTA-fans.

I guess R* is grinning large. Not many games have had this great interest from the players, after all the missions are done with. Of course there are all the side missions, races, girlfriends and other fun stuff to do to reach a 100% of game completion, but I don't know about any other game that has caused the forming of players in hunting teams with dedicated myth hunting sites.

And what the heck is so fascinating about this Epsilon cult thing, that stupid people like myself loose their head totally, and spends hour upon hour trying to hunt what's not even there? Then spend new hours making an honours degree about my waste of time activies? I'm just asking, and I know for sure that hunderds of you guys out there ask yourself the same question. Well, I guess it's because deep inside we all know, there is Kifflom and there is Krant, and both shall be praised.

If something really is out there, I hope this can be a tool for other hunters, to reach our only goal:
"To reveal the full truth about the myth of The Epsilon Cult."

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End of Part 2. - Expect Part 3 soon, which will include a bunch of theories from several different websites.

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