The Air Force was scanning for bombers over our skies. At this point, even though the story had evolved a bit, I recognized the tale from my own youth. “If you know how I could get a 26-foot fiberglass Green Monster statue made for Flatwoods, let me know,” Gibson said. [6], Black Easter Bunny at Quarter Horse Directory, Black Easter Bunny at Quarter Horse Legends, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_Easter_Bunny&oldid=917185447, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 1952 Champion Quarter Running Three Year Old Filly, This page was last edited on 22 September 2019, at 17:24. The story also received wide recognition after being featured on national television. Police Officer Cluck credibly testified that based on his training and experience, a rabbit carrying a basket of colored eggs in an Easter-prone neighborhood… He then stole money from the home and fled. 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. Fairfax Herald, Mar. Bugs Bunny becomes a superhero who does battle with a rabbit-hating cowboy and his horse. 43The "Rabbit" Reappears. While Fairfax County began to look seriously at land use planning issues in the 1950s, the first countywide Comprehensive Land Use Plan was not adopted until 1975. By the 1980s the Bunny Man had become an even more sinister figure with several gruesome murders to his credit. I wish to thank the following individuals for their assistance with this project: Ruth M. Alvarez, Curator of Literary Manuscripts, University of Maryland Libraries Still finding no evidence of his family, the police were finally notified.5 An intensive search of the area was organized involving Fairfax County Police, Washington Detectives, and Boy Scouts. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. That may be. Racing career. She had no names and only a vague idea of a time frame. (1949). She declared she would 'turn him up' as he declared, and he became excited and choked her. And then, they took it to the police afterwards. In 1952 she was named Champion Quarter Running Three Year Old Mare. Then it prompted a U.S. Air Force UFO inquiry, part of a project called Project Blue Book that dispatched a handful of investigators around the country to look into such claims. And nobody every found out about the bunny man. Was this the Bunny Man or just copy-cats acting out stories they had heard from somewhere else? One bunny suit. The program called Scariest Places on Earth, broadcast on the Fox Family Channel, included a segment entitled "Terror on Bunnyman's Bridge" in the 2001 broadcast season.3. Decked out in a festive float, she handed out candy from a safe distance to neighborhood kids. It also became a local legend, a Southern spook story that defined the tiny village of less than 300 people for more than six decades. Hare Do Second, Lorton Prison didn't come into existence until 1910, and even then it was an arm of the District of Columbia Corrections system, not Virginia's. Opening with a strangely tall and lithe Elmer Fudd hunting Bugs Bunny in the woods with a high-tech rabbit detector, the cartoon suddenly and unexpectedly segues into a theatre, completely changing the direction it seemed to be heading in. I was extremely frustrated to find that the page containing the referenced article was missing from the original paper. With any hope of a quick resolution gone, I turned to examining the paper itself. An investigator sent by the Commonwealth of Virginia to interview Ruben concluded that he was not responsible for the crime, but extradition papers were filed anyway.21 On September 26 Ruben was escorted to the scene of the crime by Sheriff Allison, Commonwealth Attorney C. Vernon Ford, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Wilson M. Farr, Dr. Swetnam, and acting counsel for the defense F. D. Richardson.22 After being unable to locate the scene of the attack or the tree where the body was left, Ruben denied killing Eva. Two children were allegedly murdered by a local hermit for trespassing, and their bodies left hanging from a covered bridge. The encounter made the local and national news, scaring a wider swath of people. When any children talked to him and asked who he was, he told them he was the Easter Bunny. The Museum has artifacts, including a chunk of the oak tree that the Monster had floated out from behind. The aspect of the story which gets the most attention are the alleged murders. Even though Fairfax County was a rural farming community until well into the 20th century there were over 550 individual mentions of killings in the study period. "37 The officers found no rabbit and the case was turned over to Investigator W. L. Johnson of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. You know, they tried to explain and everything but he just wouldn't listen. Said development was extensive in 1970, too. Which Is the Funniest Pair of Looney Tunes Characters? Washington Post, Feb. 28, 1949, A1, 7Fifty Years Behind the Badge, Fairfax County Police Department, 1990. Catherine Ridgeway lived another eight days before succumbing to her injuries. The Bunny Man was said to be responsible for the deaths of two disobedient children in the Clifton area. 46Telephone interview with William L. Johnson, December 5, 2001. “But they are seduced by the story.”, Why? “Those people were the most scared people I’ve ever seen,” said local newspaper publisher A. Lee Stewart, in that 1952 news story. © 2020 A&E Television Networks, LLC. He had scratches on his face and hands, was wearing freshly laundered clothes, and claimed to have no memory of the events between his leaving Camp Humphries and his capture. In this respect, 'Hare Do' is similar to the equally weak 'Stage Door Cartoon' which also saw Bugs and Elmer abruptly shift their chase from the woods to the theatre. Fairfax Herald, Nov. 29, 1918, P.3, 26Hall Acquitted. Was this review helpful to you? It’s not necessarily that millions believe in UFOs, says behavioral psychologist Clay Routledge. The story made the local news, then got picked up by national radio and big papers all over the country, said Andrew Smith, who runs the Flatwoods Monster Museum and the Braxton County Convention Visitors Bureau. March 14, 1971. Fairfax Herald, Jan. 28, 1938, P.1. Maryland Folklore Archive, Box 32. She was a wonderful mare.”[6] Black Easter Bunny was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Association's (or AQHA) Hall of Fame in 2002. Fairfax Herald, Jan. 19, 1951, P.1, 12Makes Admission. Fairfax County Police Department. Neighbors placed colorful eggs in their windows, on their doors or even in their yards. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Martha Robertson, Assistant County Archivist, Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax Herald, Aug. 9, 1918, P.3. Upon finding that he was not at home, Boersig attacked and beat Minnie Ridgeway into unconsciousness and then likewise bludgeoned her daughters Loretta, 7, and Catherine, 5. 2http://www.castleofspirits.com/ghoststories/classic/clifton.html. “They got tired after 100,000 interviews,” Smith says. Fairfax County Public Library, There is a story that a man dressed as a bunny haunts the residential neighborhoods around our nation's capital. The defense was provided by Walter T. Oliver. (Photo courtesy of The Flatwoods Monster Museum). He had turned 5 years old by the time he died. And nobody had seen it. “As far as for myself,” he says, “It doesn’t matter to me whether people believe, or don’t believe.”, READ MORE: The First Alien-Abduction Account Described a Medical Exam with a Crude Pregnancy Test. And he ran in front of the car. Johnson's informants told 54 variations of the story. Being forced to watch helplessly while the face of your community changes around you can elicit strange behavior in some people. The October 22 news story is clearly the origin of the tale she told. The available newspapers record many murders, but few shocked Fairfax like the ferocious and senseless attack on Mrs. Minnie Ridgeway and her two young daughters. The Kids Saw it Too. With him resided his eldest daughter Caroline, her husband William K. Jerman, and his younger daughter Eva. Miss Taylor's recollections are important for a number of reasons. How do these stories gain credence? Until a couple of days later, then a lot of people were saying that they had seen the bunny man. “Mrs. 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. They created the Monster museum. Many of the tales collected by Patricia Johnson in 1973 clearly derive from the events as reported in the newspaper and the television news of that period. And the monster with the claw-like arms? When Steve Brodie jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886 he needed a rabbit's foot for good luck. Holober later confessed to investigators that he had planned the murder for three weeks and had not intended to report the disappearance of his wife, but changed his plan when the car got caught in the mud.7 The case came to trial on January 16, 1950. It was time to look for more trustworthy records. Friz Freleng's 'Hare Do' is an oddly nondescript cartoon from its half-hearted title to its erratic plot. "29 This paper was compiled as part of the course work for a class entitled Introduction to Folklore (English 460). Call it “cosmic loneliness,” Routledge says. It was dusk when they saw it. Then they, you know, long put theirs away and brought them back and all. He had recently been released from an insane asylum, but was found that he was nowhere near the scene of Eva's murder.17, The next suspect to emerge was a soldier who deserted from Camp A. 2001. “The universe is a mighty big place,” says Joan Bias, news editor at The Braxton Democrat, a local newspaper. By 1973 the so-called "Bunny Man" had been reported in Maryland, and the District of Columbia. And it wasn't them. The Virginian-Pilot reported the news on Thursday, although the animal died in November after an illness. Telephone interview with William L. Johnson, December 5, 2001. Gibson doubted too, though he’s since sold 1,000 of his 12-inch-tall ceramic Green Monster figurines in just the last two years (at $30 apiece). At 10:30 p.m. on October 29, 1970 six officers responded to 5307 Guinea Road for "a subject dressed as a Rabbit with an Ax. Delta makes landfall in Louisiana, bringing hurricane conditions and life-threatening storm surge.
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