The Bunny Man of Fairfax

 By Evan Natale

In Fairfax county, there is an urban tale that likes to spring up every October, that being of The Bunny Man. Most variations keep the similar theme of a man in a bunny suit threatening people who come to his bridge, a railroad overpass near Clifton, Virginia, typically with the weapon of choice being an axe. Usually the backstory of the Bunny Man is that either he is an escapee from a local mental asylum, or that he is the spirit of a patient from an abandoned mental asylum. In another rendition, the reason why he is attracted to that bridge is because that is where a bus on its way to an Asylum crashed, causing either him to escape and ‘hunt’ in that area or that is where he died and now is haunting that area. In either case, rabbit corpses would occasionally appear, dangling from the nearby trees.  

The origin of the urban legend stems from two news stories that were written in October of 1970 in the Washington Post. The first story was an Air Force cadet telling about how he and his fiance were attacked while trying to park their car. They claim that a man in a bunny suit came out of nowhere and flung an axe into their windshield. Following this a week later, a police officer saw the Bunny Man on top of a newly built house, hacking away at the roof’s support, then when the officer turned his back, he ran away. 

The legend would grow to a point that in 2011 a direct to dvd indie slasher movie that was made called “Bunnyman.” that the director would go on to make 2 sequels. In these movies The Bunnyman would proceed to go on to kill a group of teenagers. In 2014, a local band from Fairfax, Mantua Finials, made a rock opera album based off of the story entitled “The Legend of the Bunnyman”.

Works Cited:

Pugh Kari. “Bunny Man Bridge: The scary truth behind an infamous urban legend” Insidenova, https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/bunny-man-bridge-the-scary-truth-behind-an-infamous-urban-legend/article_a27c7000-dca4-11e8-ad84-af51d935cbcb.html, 30 October 2021,

 Conley Brian A., “The Bunny Man Unmasked” Fairfax County Library, https://research.fairfaxcounty.gov/local-history/bunnyman, 22, October 2022

Kelly John, “With ‘Legend of the Bunnyman,’ a local band celebrates a quirky urban myth” Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/with-legend-of-the-bunnyman-a-local-band-celebrates-a-quirky-urban-myth/2014/06/02/0252e9e6-ea65-11e3-93d2-edd4be1f5d9e_story.html, 2 June 2014

Links for Further Research: 

https://research.fairfaxcounty.gov/local-history/bunnyman

The Witch Of Pengo?.. Poongo?...Pungo.

 By: Christopher Brown 

Mother of 3 kids, herbalist, farmer, and contains warts on her or his body… Witch? These characteristics describe Grace Sherwood. Grace Sherwood was a middle-class woman who lived in Princess Anne, Virginia from 1660-1740. Grace was not only one of the selected few of people who were convicted for being a witch, but also the last person to be convicted of being a witch in Virginia. 

Grace Sherwood had been accused of being a witch on multiple occasions. Some of these occasions being she caused crops and livestock to die, put curses on families, and even a woman by the name of Elizabeth Barnes said Grace slipped through her door key hole to get into her bed chamber and ride her like a horse. A little excessive with the details do you think?

After being taken to trial on multiple occasions and having her case looked at by each level of government back then, she was eventually asked to be tested by water. This is called dunking. 

The test of water is when such a person is accused of being a witch, they are ordered to be tied to a cucking stool  and be dropped into deep water. If such a person can escape and rise to the top they aren’t a witch, but if they sink and drown then they are innocent. That “totally” sounds like a win-win situation. Grace didn’t want to deny such a trial because it would just make her look guilty so she went with it. 

Grace then proceeded to save herself and not drown and was placed in jail in Williamsburg, VA. It’s stated that on the night of Grace Sherwood dunking there was a storm with terrible lighting strikes. She was released in 1714. In 1733 she made a will bequeathing her property to her three sons. Beginning in the 20th century according to Emilee Hines in the Book, “Virginia Myths And Legend: The True Stories Behind History’s Mysteries”, held an annual Pungo Strawberry Festival in the still rural part of the city that included a reenactment of Grace Sherwood’s dunking(Hines). Also in the 20th century the mayor of Virginia pardoned Grace Sherwood from her being accused of being a Witch. She is known to be immortalized in Princess Anne, as she has a statue where people can pay due respect to her. 

Works Cited: 

 “Grace Sherwood.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, August 7th, 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Sherwood

Schons, Mary. “Witch Trials in The 21st Century.” Accusations of Witchcraft persist, Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing, Kara West. National Geographic Society. September 15th, 2022. 1145 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20036.     

Walk With History. “The Last Modern Day Witch Trial.” The Witch of Pungo. Youtube. October 17th, 2021. San Bruno, CA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gRXBM5lIyg

Links for Further Research: 

Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/10/AR2006071000495.html

This site contains information on Grace Sherwood being pardoned. 

National Geographic.https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/witch-trials-21st-century This link provides information on the witch trials in the 21st century.

National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/newsletters/article/why-were-witches-killed-20220516 explains why witches were killed from back then to know.