Every Town - Virginia’s Most Gruesome Urban Legend – The Truth Behind The Bunny Man

Episode Date: June 28, 2024

He murdered, broken peoples car windows and threatened countless individuals who were just unlucky enough to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. When you see this psychopath, you’ll know it right away. It’s likely he’ll be carrying an axe. And he always dressed head to toe in a grown mans rabbit suit earning him the nickname The Bunnyman. 👀 Watch This Episode On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/scarymysteries 🎧 Our Other Podcast Scary Mysteries: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZooEZMoZ421WdsOVJhVkT 💀 Exclusive Videos, Podcasts & Perks: https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries  👁 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg 👁 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald 👁 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial 🗣 Business Inquiries, questions and comments hit us up at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love true crime, grab your favorite mug and pour yourself a dose of creepy true crime every single morning with a morning cup of murder. This short daily show is the perfect podcast to incorporate into your morning routine because in less than 15 minutes, you'll hear about a true crime that took place on a day's date in history. Each day's dark history lesson will kickstart your morning with intriguing tales of murder, abduction, serial killers, cults, and everything in between.

With over 20 million downloads, Morning Cup of Murder has something for every true crime lover. One listener describes the show as a small package with a powerful punch of crime. Another writes that the show is an absolute delight in the morning. Support yourself a piping hot cup of murder every single morning with Morning Cup of Murder. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every town has a dark side. When the sun goes down and the moon comes up over Fairfax County, Virginia, a madman comes out to claim his victims. He's been reported to the police by hundreds of people who have either spotted him or had a terrifying encounter face to face with this guy.

Everybody who lives within a 100-mile radius of this part of the U.S. has grown up hearing stories about the man who lives in the woods and shows up in fields under bridges and on people's porches. He's murdered, broken people's property and threatened countless individuals who were just unlucky enough to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. When you see this psychopath, you'll know it right away. It's likely he'll be carrying an axe, and he always is dressed head to toe in a grown man's rabbit suit, earning him the nickname, The Bunny Man. Hey guys, it's Andrew, and thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of Everytown, where today we're headed down to Fairfax County, Virginia

to investigate the true story behind Virginia's most gruesome and enduring urban legend. It's truly a frightening one, because while most urban legends are comprised of unproven and even outright false stories, this one has a whole bunch of truth in it, proven facts that show there's definitely something strange going on just south of D.C. And so let's head over there now and find out where the fantastical meets up with the real world and the strange and terrifying urban legend of the Bunnyman. Fairfax County, Virginia is made up of several affluent suburbs,

located just to the southwest of Washington, D.C. It's rich and its history, of course, because of that. And fun fact, every February they hold the Chocolate Lovers Festival, or if you love chocolate, I'm guessing you'd have a pretty good time there. It's home to the CIA headquarters, Dulles International Airport, and actor and comedian Jason Siddakes. But underneath all that, hidden away, is a dark story that some say originates almost as far back as the Civil War. The legend of the bunny man can change a bit depending on who you ask, but like I said, this whole thing is roots and some very real events, so let's start there so we can get our bearings. The verified events all began on October 19.

of 1970, when a young couple had a very frenzied encounter with what can only be described as a crazed man dressed in a rabbit costume. U.S. Air Force Academy cadet Robert Bennett and his fiance were returning that night from a local football game, and they decided to stop by to visit a relative in the town of Fairfax who lived on Guinea Road. This place was mostly farmland, though it was being developed. What was supposed to be just a routine visit quickly turned into something, deeply unsettling. Close to the home, they parked their car across the street along the edge of a nearby field. It was a crisp but comfortable night, but before he could even cut the engine, something creeping past the back of the car caught Robert's attention through his rearview mirror.

He wasn't sure what he had seen, but it was large enough for him to be on alert. In the quiet of the night, with just the engine humming, He turned to look over his shoulder to get a better look, when suddenly the front passenger's window was shattered into a thousand pieces, sending glass spraying all over his wife to be. Stardled, she let out a brief scream that stopped when a man began furiously shouting at them, accusing the couple of being on his private property. He used some harsh language, but essentially the gist was that they needed to leave.

Bennett didn't need an explanation. He was terrified and threw the car in reverse. and then sped away before they could even fully understand what had just happened. As they sped down the road, it was then that they noticed an axe lying on the car floor. This man had slammed it into the side of the car and let it go, breaking the window in a fit of uncontrollable rage. And they had it right for the police station. Once there they gave their statements, which is when some confusing and odd details emerged.

Bennett, above all else, insisted that the most frightening part, of the whole ordeal, is that this guy wasn't just belligerent with anger. He was wearing some sort of white suit with large rabbit ears. He was dressed as a bunny. Contradicting this to a certain degree, his fiance claimed the man was just wearing a white hood covering his head. She wasn't so sure there were bunny ears at all, but Bennett knew what he had seen. And during time to distress, memories can become distorted, so who knows what it is they actually saw. Regardless, though, it was still an intense situation. They also both agreed that they had seen the man's face,

though they couldn't determine his race or the minute details like eye color and the darkness. So ultimately, short of seeing the bunny man themselves on the road, was impossible for the police to locate the man. And it wasn't like they were all that jumpy to get on the case in the first place. I mean, the authorities weren't sure what to make of this story. They didn't even know if it was real, because it certainly had. didn't sound like it. Likely, after the couple left, they had a few laughs. After all, it was close to Halloween, so strange things tend to happen. Teens pull pranks. However, this wasn't the only time

the crazy bunny man would be seen. Just 10 days later, another encounter, and this one right on Guinea Road as well. In the evening of October 29th, Paul Phillips, the overnight security guard at a construction site, he was making his rounds when he came across a scene that was like something out of the Texas chainsaw massacre. While making his way around the property, Phillips spotted among the half-built houses of Kings Park West, a person standing on one of the porches, staring right at him. And Phillips immediately felt a sense of dread wash over him. He raised his flashlight, and that's when he could tell the man was wearing an outfit. A costume that combined gray, black, and white fur. This guy looked like a macabre representation of a rabbit. He didn't want to, but it was his job to

look after the place, so Phillips cautiously approached. He called out, but the bunny man gave no verbal answer. Instead, he just pulled out a long-handled axe from behind his back and began chopping at one of the newly built porch posts. Then his ominous threat came out, and it was very similar to what Cadet Bennett experienced, he said, You are trespassing. If you come any closer, I'll chop your head off. According to what Phillips witnessed, this axe-wielding porch chopper appeared to be around 20 years old, stood five foot eight or nine inches tall,

and weighed in at around 175 pounds. Details, he says, he took note of, and remembered clearly, as he knew he was going to have to help identify this man if he did, in fact, to make it out alive. Being unarmed, Phillips figured his life was worth more than the paycheck, so he just backed away, went right to the cops to let them take charge. Because of the two reports, within just a few days, the Fairfax County authorities were now compelled to address what was happening on Guinea Road.

Extensive investigations were launched, they talked with neighbors, but no one knew anything. They were never able to find any traces of a person with an axe. let alone one who was dressed up as a rabbit. Then in the weeks that followed, an unusual phenomenon seemed to sweep over the entire community as more than 50 people would go on to reach out to the police, claiming to have witnessed the creepy person now being called officially the Bunny Man.

The reports multiplied like a plague of terror. Even well-respected media outlets, like the Washington Post, couldn't resist covering the sightings. Headlines such as Man in Bunny suit sought in Fairfax, the rabbit reappears, Bunny Man seen, Bunny Report's multiplying,

and Bunny Man strikes again, flooded the pages, fueling a sort of collective hysteria. One of the most disturbing reports suggested that the Bunny Man and devoured a neighbor's cat after it was found torn apart by its owner on the front lawn,

adding a sinister and tangible touch to the growing legend. As the story spread, the line between reality and fiction and blurred. Was everyone really seeing this man and who the hell was he? Or did they just want to be part of the sensational story, be it consciously or subconsciously?

The community was engulfed in a climate of full-on paranoia, fearing that if they encountered the mask figure, maybe they wouldn't be lucky enough to get away. Ultimately, nothing came from all these stories in the early 70s. No one was caught, while the cases were officially closed. presumably, the Bunnyman was still out there waiting. And so this solidified the legend as we know it. From there, over the years that followed,

stories surrounding the Bunny Man would become more embellished, each retelling more terrifying than the last. Like it or not, the Bunny Man was now ingrained into the folklore of all the towns in and around Fairfax County. And no matter what your age was, if you were there and out and about after dark, you'd always keep an eye out for the Bunny Man. Even though back in the 70s, during all these sightings,

no one other than the cat was killed. Often in its retelling nowadays, there's murder involved. And you would think that this is just for entertainment purposes as a way to spice up life around the campfire. However, as it turns out, the legend of the Bunny Man goes back much further than many people realize, all the way to the turn of the century. And in those cases, well,

people didn't escape him. The legend of the B-Man actually goes way back with its roots sprouting in the dark corners of Virginia's history. It's sad to have actually truly begun around the end of the American Civil War when an insane asylum was built in Fairfax County to house those with issues that society was ill-equipped to manage during the time. The locals were pretty unhappy with the idea of having a sanatorium for criminals and mentally ill individuals in their neighborhood, and over time, public pressure forced the institution to close. By the early 1900s, there were no patience left in the building. But during one of the last transfers, several inmates managed to escape when their bus crashed, and they all scurried off into

the surrounding woods. Although most were captured without major issues, two patients, Marcus Loster and Douglas Griffin remained at large, hiding out in the dense forest. The Police searches yielded only bizarre clues, one of which were several partially devoured and mutilated rabbit remains, showing them signs that the men were out there catching and using the bunnies as a main source of food. Then one day, at the entrance of the Colchester Overpass, an old railroad bridge crossing in Clifton, Virginia, which sits in the southwestern portion of Fairfax County, officers discovered the hanging corpse of Marcus, with a note attached to his body that read, You'll never find me, no matter how hard you try.

Although it was never proven, it was suspected that his companion Douglas Griffin was the one responsible for his murder. This story mainly faded away into the history books, and wouldn't be well known to many outside Virginia. Nothing strange happened for quite some time in the area after that, but the story of Marcus and Douglas was brought back into the spotlight around 30 years later, what can only be described as the most gruesome of all the crimes that the Bunnyman committed. In the 1940s, a group of six teens looking for a little scare

and while aware of the story of the body found down by the bridge, decided to head over there on Halloween night to see if anyone was around. It was a perfect place to get spooked on such an evening. However, they got much more than they were prepared for. As the story goes, the next morning all six kids were not in their bedrooms. They would all be discovered supposedly hacked to pieces with an axe and left all around that railroad underpass. Once again, a note was found, and it appeared like the Bunnyman was alive and well and never left those woods. He claimed in it to have been responsible for the dispatching of the six, as well as adding that no one would ever capture him,

suggesting that perhaps something more paranormal might be at play here beyond just a mere mortal. And since that tragedy, the overpass became more commonly referred to as the Bunnyman Bridge, and stories of sightings and supernatural occurrences have circulated ever since. After what had happened in the 1970s, when he reemerged and the media sensation took over this little area of the world, in 1973 Patricia Johnson, a student at the University of Maryland, decided to look into how exactly this whole urban legend came to be. Ultimately, she uncovered all the stories we just talked about, though she documented at least 54 variations of the two original Bunnyman incidents, the originals being from the early 1900s and the one from the 1940s. Many versions retained the basic storyline, but differed in details such as location and how the specific events played out.

Since all these stories have come to light, the Colchester Overpass, aka the Bunnyman Bridge, has become a magnet for those seeking to get a glimpse of whoever or whatever is causing such a sensation in the area. Its sinister association with the legend of the Bunnyman has transformed it into a coveted destination for both ghost hunters and explorers of urban legends looking to find the truth or even just a little adrenaline rush. Interest in visiting this place, always peaks around Halloween, of course, when the attraction of all things on the dark side become seemingly irresistible, regular folks. So much so that starting in 2003, local authorities have been forced to implement strict access controls in the area during those dates to regulate the flow of visitors.

On Halloween night of 2011, right after the release of a little horror film entitled Bunny Man, where the main killer is a man dressed up in a bunny suit, over 300 people flocked to the bridge. In facing such an influx, officers were forced to establish a traffic control operation, that lasted for 14 hours, denying access to all those seeking adventure onto the mythical Bunnyman Bridge. And clearly, the legend has caught on to a certain degree. It even reaches as far as England now. They have their own variation that sprouted up where it's rumored that some detainees at the Wembley police station were assaulted in their cells by an attacker dressed in a disturbing bunny suit. And one of the more unsettling versions, it's claimed that when the station was

closed, an old locker was forced open, and inside they discover the blood-stained bunny costume. But how real is all of this in actuality? Well, the story it appears is really a case of life imitating art. In this particular case, the art is the creative storytelling of an escaped lunatic who killed his hospital mate and draped him from an overpass, and then 30 years later, a group of kids were killed when they went to go check out the legend themselves. The life portion of this is what happened in the 1970s, because those were documented, real occurrences. It was a real-life person who dressed up as the bunny man and scared a whole lot of people. And he got his inspiration from those earlier tales, only to create his own

version of the story, and now they've all been lumped together into one bowl of soupy weirdness. Jim Waters, a native of Northern Virginia, has his own theory, which feels pretty accurate. According to him, it's possible that behind these incidents in the 70s lies a young resident from one of the old farms located near the developing community of Kings Park West. Water suggests that this boy, custom to the vast forests of the area, might have acted threateningly, dressed in a rabbit costume, in an attempt to scare off the workers and people. he saw as invading his territory. As for the original hospital,

as it turns out, there was no lunatic asylum anywhere in Fairfax County, ever. There were no locals clamoring to shut it down because it never existed, which means no escape patients hiding in the woods eating rabbits. And this story was the true beginning of the urban legend, and it was just a scary story to tell. Likely it originated from some sliver of reality,

like a wild animal got into somebody's rabbit pen in the area and gobbled them up, and then from there people were off and running. And there were also no dead teens hacked to pieces in the 40s, though that does add a messed up layer to the whole thing, which is the point. In reality, there's several stories during different errors of teens showing up to the bridge on Halloween night, but none of them are true. And these tales were just good old-fashioned warnings from parents. stories that have been handed down since language was invented,

and this was about the bad things out there that can get you if you misbehave as a way to keep their children from getting into trouble around all Hallows Eve. Well, throughout history, there have been numerous cases of serial killers and individuals with severe psychological disorders, adopting twisted identities, donning masks, and even being inspired by actual urban legends. The true Bunny Man appears to be someone, who didn't like people moving into his area and did not want things to change around him.

Everything else about the Bunny Man, by all accounts, is just another story to tell. A way to pass the time and freak out your friends and family. So that's it for this week's episode of Everytown. I hope you guys enjoyed it and you learned something. If you did like this podcast and there's a lot more content we have for you guys to check out, you can always watch this episode on our Scary Mysteries YouTube channel, or go listen to the Scary Mysteries podcast for two new episodes each and every week. If you want exclusive darker content from us,

consider checking us out on patreon.com slash scary mysteries. We have an entire library you can check out. Plus, it's free for seven days. Thanks for tuning in today. Remember to come back next week for another episode filled with scary, strange and mysterious stories. Because you never know. Maybe your town will be next.