I confess, I never heard of this legend until a friend of mine from Virginia started talking to me about it last Saturday.  Bunny Man doesn't exactly strike fear or curiosity at first glance.  But, you have to dig deeper into this legend.  It seems the Bunny Man legend got started due to a couple of incidents that took place in Fairfax, Virginia back in 1970.   The legend itself has spread all over the Washington D.C. area.  As you have probably surmised, there are different variations of the legend.  That happens when the story is told over and over and by various people.  Most of the story variations take place in the Colchester Overpass area or, as locals refer to it, "Bunny Man Bridge."  This legend got started when a bus carrying convicts flipped over in Fairfax, Virginia.  All of the convicts on the bus died except one, Douglas J. Grifon.  His body was never recovered.  For many, he is the Bunny Man who has wreaked havoc in the Fairfax area.

The first incident reported was on October 19, 1970.  An Air Force Academy Cadet and his girlfriend were visiting relatives in Burke.  They both came back from a football game on that night and talked near the car in which they came.  Long story short, someone smashed in the front passenger window.  It was a man in a white bunny suit, with long bunny ears, as the couple described to police.  They also found a hatchet on the car floor.  The second report was only ten days later when a security guard noticed a man on the porch of an unfinished house on Guinea Road.  He also was wearing a bunny suit with long ears.  He was chopping at the porch with an axe.  The Bunny Man threatened the security guard, according to the report.  Both incidents were closed by police due to lack of evidence.

Over the years, locals have found hundreds of cleanly skinned, half-eaten rabbit carcasses hanging in trees in the Fairfax County area.  Police started conducting searches of the area and found the remains of a man named  Marcus Wallster hanging in a tree in a similar fashion as the rabbits.  Now, the police started their search for the missing convict, Douglas J. Grifon.  In one version of the story, police actually locate Grifon.  But, he is killed by an oncoming train where the original transport crashed.  This version of the legend continues that on Halloween, dozens of half-eaten rabbit carcasses are found on the Bunny Man Bridge.  There are other versions of this legend, of course.  But, this one seems most popular.  My friend says some nights, you can actually see an apparition on Bunny Man Bridge, particularly on winter nights.  As I said earlier, I'd never heard of this legend before.  But, since this blog has taken a turn toward the supernatural, the paranormal, urban legend and unusual, I thought I would make a post about it today.


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