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After re-reading Johnson's paper several times I finally
noted that she heard the tale for the first time around
Halloween 1970. Having no better leads I began a systematic
search of the Washington Post for October of
that year in hopes of finding the previously cited news
article. I was elated (and not a little surprised) to
find the following:
Man in Bunny Suit Sought in Fairfax33
Fairfax County police said yesterday they are looking
for a man who likes to wear "white bunny rabbit
costume" and throw hatchets through car windows.
Honest.
Air Force Academy Cadet Robert Bennett told police that
shortly after midnight last Sunday he and his fiancee
were sitting in a car in the 5400 block of Guinea Road
when a man "dressed in a white suit with long bunny
ears" ran from the nearby bushes and shouted: "You're
on private property and I have your tag number."
The "Rabbit" threw a wooden-handled hatchet
through the right front car window, the first-year cadet
told police. As soon as he threw the hatchet, the "rabbit"
skipped off into the night, police said. Bennett and
his fiancee were not injured.
Police say they have the hatchet, but no other clues
in the case. They say Bennett was visiting an uncle,
who lives across the street from the spot where the
car was parked. The cadet was in the area to attend
last weekend's Air Force-Navy football game.
When I began this project the aspect that puzzled me
most was the bunny suit. I expected to find that the
legend was spawned by an event that was strange or in
some way notable, but I never suspected the Bunny Man
really was a "Bunny Man." I was even further
surprised to find a second appearance recorded two weeks
later:
The "Rabbit" Reappears34
A man wearing a furry rabbit suit with two long ears
appeared — again — on Guinea Road in Fairfax
County Thursday night, police reported, this time wielding
an ax and chopping away at a roof support on a new house.
Less than two weeks ago a man wearing what was described
as a rabbit suit accused two persons in a parked car
of trespassing and heaved a hatchet through a closed
window of the car at 5400 Guinea Rd. They were not hurt.
Thursday night's rabbit, wearing a suit described as
gray, black and white, was spotted a block away at 5307
Guinea Rd.
Paul Phillips, a private security guard for a construction
company, said he saw the "rabbit" standing
on the front porch of a new, but unoccupied house.
"I started talking to him," Phillips said,
"and that's when he started chopping."
"All you people trespass around here," Phillips
said the "Rabbit" told him as he whacked eight
gashes in the pole. "If you don't get out of here,
I'm going to bust you on the head."
Phillips said he walked back to his car to get to get
his handgun, but the "Rabbit", carrying the
long-handled ax, ran off into the woods.
The security guard said the man was about 5-feet-8,
160 pounds and appeared to be in his early 20s.
Two documented appearances by a bunny-suited figure
in the same Fairfax County community. Was this the Bunny
Man or just copy-cats acting out stories they had heard
from somewhere else? I again turned to Johnson's paper
for clues. As mentioned earlier 14 of her tales mention
a couple in a parked car being attacked, but nine of
these specifically mention a hatchet being thrown into
the car. Of the five mentioning vandalism, two describe
"columns" being chopped. The story told by
17-year-old G. Taylor was particularly revealing. She
related:
"I think it was last year or maybe before that.
I came home from school. I was listening to the news.
I had just gotten in and I heard there was a man and
a woman sitting in a car. It could have been teenagers,
but they were just parked and all. And all of a sudden,
they looked up and there was this bunny. You know, this
giant bunny just ran out of the woods, you know, from
behind the trees and all. And he ran in front of the
car. And he had a hatchet, and he threw it through the
car and just turned around and went back away. They
were just shocked. They just sat there and watched.
Then an old man came out of the house and warned them
to get off of his property. You know, they tried to
explain and everything but he just wouldn't listen.
And then, they took it to the police afterwards. And
the police, you know, went back and all and asked him
if he had seen anything. And nobody had seen it. Until
a couple of days later, then a lot of people were saying
that they had seen the bunny man. And then, after that,
the police tried to investigate, but they couldn't get
anything. And then they found these places that sell
costumes and all. And they found that it hadn't been
but three people that had .. Uhm .. Bought costumes.
Then they, you know, long put theirs away and brought
them back and all. And it wasn't them. And nobody every
found out about the bunny man. It just went on for a
couple of weeks and then it died out."35
Miss Taylor's recollections are important for a number
of reasons. First, she identifies the television news
as her source of information. Second, she accurately
relates the hatchet thrown into the occupied car, the
teenage couple, the accusation of trespassing, and police
involvement. Third, she states that it went on for "a
couple of weeks" then stopped. Lastly, she identifies
the time frame to within six months. The October 22
news story is clearly the origin of the tale she told.
Moreover, although the story had mutated noticeably
in 22 years, many of Johnson's 53 other versions also
contain recognizable elements of the October 1970 incidents.
Newspapers accounts and oral reports can be revealing,
but neither can be trusted to be completely accurate.
It was time to look for more trustworthy records.
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33Man in Bunny Suit Sought in Fairfax. Washington
Post. Oct. 22, 1970, B2.
34The "Rabbit" Reappears. Washington
Post. Oct. 31, 1970. B1.
35Johnson, P.31.text
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