While playing GTA 5, you may come across clues related to what has become known as “The Infinite 8 Mystery.” It is actually the in-game story of a serial killer, Merle Abrahams.
In Sandy Shores, you can find a newspaper clipping with the headline “Suspected Killer Merle Abrahams Dies in Prison.” It is dated December 2004, and deals with events even further in the past. The clipping reveals details about the eight murders known as the Infinity Murders. They were attributed to Merle Abrahams, and while he never confessed, “he did admit to a weird obsession with the number 8.”
Our walkthrough of the Infinite 8 Mystery starts at 09:04 in the above video.
There is also a burnt out house in Sandy Shores that has “Go away Merle Abrahams. You’re a wrong un” written on one of the outside walls, along with the number 8. This is believed to be a message written by the man’s neighbors to try to drive him away. When the house was set on fire, he was forced to leave.
Merle’s obsession with the number 8 led him to believe he needed to kill eight people to perform a certain ritual. Inside the house, a message states, “There will be 8.” Beneath it are five tally marks. This suggests he had killed five of his victims already. Above the message is a simple drawing that may look like Mount Chiliad, but is actually a northern part of the game map.
Another message waits in the back of the house. This one reads, “8 is just infinity stood up.” It draws a comparison between the number 8 and the infinity symbol: ∞ . It also suggests a link between Merle’s ritual and Ouroboros, an ancient symbol of a snake biting its own tail. Ouroboros represents infinity and is sometimes depicted with the snake in the shape of the infinity symbol.
It is not yet known where Merle went after he left the house, but signs point to the desert.
A rock in the desert marks the completion of the ritual. The number 8 is written all over it (and by this point they look significantly like infinity symbols), and it is marked with the following poem:
One is done
Two was fun
Three tried to run
Four called Mom
Fives not alive
Six is nix
Sevens in Heaven
8 won’t wait
Eight is the only number not written out in the poem, as the symbol is important to Merle. The final line, “8 won’t wait” may be another reference to infinity.
Another message in the desert says:
They want me they can have
But they’ll never get my people
Even though I shall leave them sign enough
Where they put me
This suggests that Merle knew the police were about to catch him. He wouldn’t confess (as the newspaper clipping confirms), but he would leave clues in the prison about the location of his victims, though the police would never understand them.
Scribbled beside the message is “8 won’t,” which calls back to the poem’s final line, “8 won’t wait.” The full meaning of this is still unknown.
Merle was arrested, and he did indeed leave a clue. A wall in the prison is marked with the 8-infinity symbol, as well as the following message:
Where water meets land and fire once spewed forth
There the Infinite 8 will stay
Until I return
It is accompanied by a more detailed drawing of the map from the “There will be 8” message, including the islands in that area. The full meaning of this message is still unknown, beyond the implication that Merle had put the eight bodies somewhere to wait for him to complete the ritual.
If you dive into the water around the islands, you can find 8 corpses, wrapped and hidden in the ocean — the Infinite 8, Merle’s victims awaiting his return, although he died in prison.
What was Merle’s ritual, and why was the number 8 so important to him? That is still unknown, although one theory holds that a song on the GTA V soundtrack, “9 Is God,” connects to the mystery, and that Merle believed he could become a god through the ritual.
