The tale of the Bunny Man goes back many many years. Originally it didn't start until 1931,
after many murders had already been committed.
For verification of the story, you can visit the
"Old Clifton Library" located in Clifton, Northern
Virginia, USA. What I am about to tell you is
entirely true, although I've never seen the
Bunny Man, everyone in Clifton believes it to be
true.
(Quick reference to help you understand the story)
Back in 1903 deep in Clifton, there used to be
an Asylum buried deep within the wilderness
of Clifton. Pretty soon after the civil war
people started inhabiting the area,
population-wise around 300 or so. It was a very
small town. Nonetheless people didn't like the
idea about having an Asylum miles down the
road, so they all got together and signed a
petition stating for the Asylum to relocate
elsewhere. The petition passed and anew Asylum
was built which is now known as "Lorton Prison", a
temporary facility until convicts are
appropriately sentenced.
In Fall of 1904 the
convicts were gathered and piled into the bus
which was to transport them to Lorton. Somehow
during the drive not too far from where they left,
the driver had swerved to avoid something and the
bus had started to tip and soon was rolling in a
terrible collision course.
Most of the convicts were injured but had managed
to escape the bus and had fled into the night
woods. Later on the next morning a local police
investigation had begun, and they had begun
rounding up the escaped convicts. Hours turned
into days, days into weeks, weeks into months.
Every one was recovered after 4 months, except for
2 people, Marcus A. Wallster and Douglas J.
Grifon. During the search for both men the police
randomly found dead rabbits half eaten and
dismembered every now and then along their search.
Finally they were to find Marcus dead himself by
the Fairfax station Bridge (now known as Bunny Man's Bridge). In his hand he held a
man-made hammer/knife like tool, made with a sharp
rock and a pretty sturdy branch as a handle. They
thought nothing and cared not of how he died, only
that he was apprehended and no longer had to worry
about him.
They had a name for Marcus, but later on they
would realize they had named the wrong person the
Bunny Man.
Still searching for Douglas, they kept
on finding dead half-eaten bunny's every-so-often
while the search went on. Finally they were to
name Douglas the Bunny Man from then on.
3 Months
passed by and the police had given up their search
in April 7th 1905. Everybody assumed the
Bunny Man was dead by now, if not gone, so they
went on with their small town lives. Come October
people started seeing dead bunny's reappearing out
of the blue, and starting to fear the unseen.
Halloween Night came around, and as usual a bunch
of kids had gone over to the Bridge that night to
drink and do whatever kids their age in the 1900's
did. Midnight came around within minutes and most
of the kids had left, only 3 of them remained
at the bridge.
Right at Midnight supposedly a
bright light back from within the Bridge, where
the kids were and less than a couple seconds later
they were all dead. Throats slashed with that same
type of tool that was found by the other Escapee
Marcus. Not only were there throats slashed, but
all up and down their chest's were a long slashes
gutting them. To top it off the Bunny Man hung
both of the guys from one end of a bridge with a
rope around their neck, hanging from the overpass
with their legs dangling in front of the pass of
cars.
The woman were hung the same way, on the
other side of the bridge. This happened on
Halloween in 1905. After that, they didn't see or heard
anything from him for another year.
Halloween 1906 was approaching and parents as well
as the teens in Clifton still remember the
incident that had occurred one year ago at the
bridge, his bridge, Bunny Man's Bridge.
That night
7 teens were left remaining right before midnight
at the bridge. Thinking little of it, six
remained inside the bridge while 1, Adrian Hatala
had remained a good distance from the bridge
hoping to have enough time to escape if the same
thing happened again. At midnight she witnessed
only this, a dim light walking the railroad track
right before midnight, stopping right above the
bridge at midnight, then disappearing at
the same as a bright flash was inside the bridge.
She heard the deafening sounds of horrific screams
coming from inside the bridge that lasted only
seconds. 5 seconds later, they were all hung from
the edge of the bridge, same style as the corpses
a year earlier.
Horrified she ran home, she didn't tell of
everything she saw, just spattered
words here and there that some of the folk put
together to come up with her story. No one
understood it, or even believed her. They charged her with
the murderer, and locked her up in the
Asylum of Lorton. In 1913 the same thing happened
with 9 teenagers this time, Halloween night again.
Adrian was still locked up. They
dropped her sentence, but it was too late. The
insanity had finally conquered her. Even if she
was released, she was too far gone to have a decent
life, so she spent her remaining years in the
Asylum until she finally died in 1953 of shock.
No one knows what exactly she died in shock from,
but supposedly she had died in her dreams,
dreaming of that one dreaded night. Perhaps the
Bunny Man had finally gotten to her.
More murders were to take place however, although
after the murders in 1913 most people stayed clear
of the bridge on Halloween. 1943 rolls
around, and 6 teenagers go strolling out on
Halloween night. A couple hours later, all of
them dead, same way as all the others.
Investigations took place, but as usual nothing
was discovered.
1976 the same situation occurs, this time with
only 3 people.
The only other incident that occurred since then
was in 1987, twelve years ago. Janet Charletier
was enjoying the night with her 4 friends.
Halloween night had finally come and they had gone
driving out to enjoy the night after invading the
children's candy bags. They had settled around 11
at the bridge, waiting for midnight to come. They
didn't believe in the myth so they decided to see
it for themselves and were bound to be the only
ones who actually withstood the Bunny Man.
They had waited around 55 minutes or so, almost at
midnight, until Janet started getting a little
scared. They all had been pulling pranks on
each other, (jumping out the bushes and screaming),
so she was already a little worked up. Midnight
hits, while she is completely freaked out. She's
almost out of the bridge when the lights get
really bright inside the bridge. When that
happens her body is halfway outside of the bridge.
She see's her skin start tearing at her chest but
nothing is piercing her skin. She manages finally
to exits the bridge. Completely horrified she hits a
hanging body and knocks herself out. When she
awakes she finds out her hair has turned white and
she has been bleeding. She was lucky that the cut
had just started, and wasn't very bad at all. She
left and never returned to the bridge again.
She
has been seen sitting on a swinging bench on her
balcony every morning just staring in the direction
towards the bridge a couple of miles down.
To
this day, you can still find her on that bench
every morning. From then on the story dwells
untouched, and unmoved.
Halloween night, you will find a bunch of people
hanging around the bridge, drinking, smoking up, but within minutes of midnight,
everyone leaves. It's been like that for the past
5 years that I have visited the bridge on
Halloween night. Even if its not Halloween night,
any night you go there, you feel the presence of
death awaiting, awaiting the night sky of
Halloween yearning for more blood to be spilt in
the name, in his name, Bunny Man.
O.k, so there's the tale. Here's the short myth.
Halloween Night comes around. Nothing happens
until midnight. Right before midnight supposedly
a bunny or two enters the bridge. Right before
midnight his soul (a dim light) walks the tracks
above the bridge. When Midnight hits, his soul
stops right above the bridge (dead center), and
disappears, only to reappear inside the bridge.
From then on it's his soul which lights up the
whole area, so brightly that you can't even see
him. That's when he instantly kills you by
slitting your throat and slashing your chest, only
to hang you at the edge of the bridge. You can
even see the rub marks that have worn away at the
rock where the body's were swinging. Who ever is
inside the bridge ends up dead.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and
remember, everything except for the actual myth
has been in Clifton's records since the date it
happened. The Old Clifton library still stands,
containing those records on Microfish (however you
spell it). I have looked it up myself, and its
still a mystery. I'm thinking of taking this to
unsolved mysteries. Let me know if you have any
comments.
Timothy C. Forbes, Virginia, USA
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THE CLIFTON BUNNY MAN
The Bridge has a 1 lane car road passing
underneath a dual railroad track above it within
the woods along a gravel road.