The Terrifying True Story Of The Bunnyman, Northern Virginia’s Most Gruesome Urban Legend

**Kazimiera** · 01-09-2018, 02:43 PM

The Terrifying True Story Of The Bunnyman, Northern Virginia’s Most Gruesome Urban Legend

Source: https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-ab...lectionId=2139

The legend of Virginia's Bunnyman might sound like a cute tale of rabbits and whimsy. It's anything but. In reality, the true story of the Bunnyman is one forged from indecency, mystery, and violence. Long have the tales of the Bunnyman Bridge floated around the towns of Northern Virginia, and the stories always change a little in the telling. What we do know, however, is that some urban legends turned out to be true, and there really was a man who inspired the rest of this grisly urban legend.

There are many Virginia urban legends out there, but what sets this one part is that it's a mix of many genres. It's a ghost story, it's a true story, there's a geographical mark on a map you can visit, and there are even copycats out there who have kept the stories alive. How much of it is true and how much of it is a myth remains in hot debate.

Don't let the name fool you, this story is not for the faint of heart. So, read at your own risk, and you might want to steer clear of the Bunnyman Bridge.

There Really Was A Man Dressed Like A Rabbit With An Axe

Unlike many urban legends that have surfaced over the years, this one definitely has a basis in actual events. In 1970, a couple was driving and parked near a train overpass bridge for a moment to get their bearings. As they did this, a mysterious and threatening figure appeared out of nowhere. This figure, according the the police report, yelled and drove the couple away with threats of violence. When the police report was written, the couple said that they didn't get a very good look at the person who threatened them. They said that he was dressed in white or light clothing and that he might have had something on his head. Over the next few days, weeks, months, and years, this report became interpreted as their attacker having rabbit ears. This is where the story all begins.

Everything beyond this is undoubtedly a mixture of truth, speculation, and myth. But that doesn't make the tale any less intriguing.

He Chased A Couple And Threw A Hatchet At Them

Let's look a little more in depth at the first time people became aware of the Bunnyman. One night in October of 1970, Air Force Academy cadet Robert Bennett was driving with his fiance in Northern Virginia. The pair stopped on the 5400 block of Guinea Road in Fairfax, a location near his uncle's house, and they were sitting in their car when things started to get weird. A man dressed in white, supposedly with bunny ears, approached out of the darkness. He began to scream at the couple that they were on private property, that he was going to report them to the police, and that he'd gotten their license plate number. This would have been merely off-putting except for what he did next.

All at once, the man hurled a hatchet right through the windshield of the car, nearly hitting the pair. As you might guess, they quickly sped off to a police station, hatchet still in the car. Bennett recalls helping pull bits of broken glass out of his date's hair as they explained to the police what had happened. The police later began looking for a man in a bunny outfit, although, at that time, they couldn't find anyone suspicious in the area. The Bunnyman legend was solidified.

He Had A Serious Problem With Trespassing

There is another police report that mentions the notorious Bunnyman of Virginia, and this one shares a few striking similarities with the first tale. Ten days later, right around Halloween, a construction company near the area became the Bunnyman's new stomping grounds. A security guard named Paul Phillips was on duty, when he came across a man dressed in black and gray with bunny ears, similar to the initial report from the couple. He was vandalizing a house, and when Phillips approached, the oddly dressed man is reported to have said:

“All you people trespass around here. If you don’t get out of here, I’m going to bust you in the head.”

This man seemed to really have issues with people trespassing, even if he was the one destroying other people's property. Again, when the police went looking for him, they didn't turn up much. But once that story hit the papers, the floodgates opened. The Fairfax County Police got over fifty reports from people who had claimed to see the Bunnyman, some more credible than others. Whether this was in the spirit of Halloween pranks, or if some of these reports were legitimate, is impossible to say.

The Man Was Supposedly Sent To An Asylum

But who exactly is this mysterious Bunnyman? That's where all the accounts seem to really differ. One of the most common genesis legends of the Bunnyman is that he's the spirit of a crazy man who escaped from an asylum way back in 1904. A group of criminally insane people were being transported by bus to a new facility. The bus unexpectedly crashed, and everyone inside was killed... except for one man. This man escaped, vanishing into the night, and he was never seen again. His name was Douglas Grifon, and his memory, and perhaps ghost, lived on long after his escape. He began to kill people and animals (mostly rabbits), but he was never recaptured, and his ghost is supposedly what attacked the couple that October night.

Of course, 1904 is a little early for buses to be common in transporting asylum inmates, and there were no asylums in the area in 1904, but this is still the story which persists most often.

He Supposedly Died Evading Capture

In some versions of the urban legend, the story doesn't just stop with him escaping and never being seen again. After the body of a man Grifon allegedly killed was found, police decided it was time to bring him in. They searched the train tracks by the bridge near Fairfax Station, and quickly came across the Bunnyman near where the asylum bus had originally crashed. They began to chase him, but soon heard the sound of an oncoming train and had to get out of its way. Rather than running from the train, however, Grifon put himself directly in its path. As the train struck him while all the police watched, he let out a burst of devilish laughter. Although his body was never recovered, police assumed he was killed by the train. That makes the bridge his final resting place, and is the reason his rabbit-clad spirit still haunts the area.

He May Have Mutilated Wild Animals

If these legends are true, what besides allegedly wearing bunny ears earns the killer the moniker of "Bunnyman"? Part of this may have to do with the reports that he began mutilating wild animals. Torn up livestock and forest creatures were supposedly found by locals, as well as police, first indicating that a wild animal was on the loose.

However, after weeks passed, the kill count continued to rise, with the majority of the bodies being rabbits. It became obvious that Grifon was feeding off of live, raw rabbits in order to survive while evading the police. He was also dismembering them, as if enjoying the act of killing. These mutilated rabbits, more than strange, rabbit-like attire and costume ears, became the reason he was known as the Bunnyman.

The Man May Have Mutilated His Victims' Bodies

In some legends, the spirit, or perhaps the somehow living Grifon, didn't stop with killing one person or just a few animals. Even after his run-in with the train.

On Halloween Night in 1905, a tale goes that a bunch of kids went to the bridge to drink and enjoy the holiday. By morning, they were found dead, brutally so. Their throats were slashed, their abdomens gutted, and their bodies were hanged from the bridge for passing cars to see. Their killer was said to have never been caught. This type of murder happened again in 1906, and the one girl who was said to have witnessed the crime was tried and convicted for the murders. This trend persisted, with mutilated teens being hung from the bridge every decade or so, until 1973. There is a distinct lack of evidence that these murders actually happened, however, but in stories they are attributed to the dastardly Bunnyman.

His Ghost May Still Haunt The Bridge

Even now, his legend still lives on in infamy. According to local lore, you can still see the spirit of both of the initial victims and the Bunnyman at the bridge, specifically on Halloween night. If you go there on October 31st, believers say you will find a group of kids near the bridge, having a good time the way they supposedly did in life. They all leave a few minutes before midnight, vacating before a more sinister spirit appears.

Then, right before midnight, you will see rabbits near the bridge, again signaling his coming. Then a light, perhaps from the train that struck him down, will appear above the bridge, followed by the figure of Grifon himself. At midnight exactly, he will appear under the bridge and his soul will glow brightly, blinding you. If you don't run at this point, he may kill you, slashing and eviscerating you the same way he did his victims in decades past.

The Couple Attacked By The Bunnyman Kept His Hatchet

Interestingly enough, the Bennetts are happy enough to corroborate that the hatchet throwing portion of the legend is very much true. Robert Bennett and his now wife have answered many questions about their run-in with the Bunnyman over the years, and they still even have a piece of evidence to prove his existence: the very hatchet itself. After they filed a police report, they were able to keep the hatchet as a dark souvenir, a reminder of what they lived through.

Over the years, friends of the Bennetts have mounted the hatchet on a wooden plaque, like it is in a museum, as you can see in the photo. The metal inscription on it reads: "Our Hare-Raising Experience - 1969." The year written may be one year off according to police reports, but the Bennetts still claim that this is the same axe that nearly did them grave harm. At least they have a sense of humor about it instead of recurring nightmares of being decapitated.

It Is Illegal To Walk On The Train Tracks There

Unfortunately, the popularity of the Bunnyman myth has made it a hot spot for paranormal investigators and curious kids. This is incredibly problematic since the train tracks above the bridge are still live, and the bridge is so narrow that it is difficult to move out of the way if a car were to come. This can lead to injuries, and even deaths, even if they aren't directly at the Bunnyman's hands.

Because of this, especially around Halloween, police keep a very close watch on the bridge. They set up checkpoints on nearby roads, turning away any kids or enthusiasts who are headed to check out the bridge. This has lead to suspicions and conspiracy theories, but it's really meant to keep people from being hit by cars and trains. In fact, it is flat-out illegal to trespass on the train tracks there, as posted signs confirm. So it's best you stay away, not just to avoid the possible ghost, but also to avoid the actual police.

The Story Partially Inspired Donnie Darko

Luckily, many people have been enticed by the Bunnyman legend without having to resort to trespassing (which the Bunnyman hated anyway). Music artists have written odes to the urban legend, and there was even a slasher film in 2011 called Bunnyman about his murderous ways. There are T-shirts you can buy locally that have his name or likeness on the front, and there is even a local brewery that produces a Bunnyman themed beer.

Perhaps most notably, one famous cult science fiction horror film took some inspiration from the story: Donnie Darko. The film takes place in a Virginian suburb, and while the creator Richard Kelly mentions the novel Watership Down as an inspiration for writing the story, part of it is also from the Bunnyman myth. After all, Frank is a rather mysterious and sinister character, and wears a large distressing rabbit costume. We can only hope that the real Bunnyman didn't wear anything quite so creepy.