A legend lives on
Debunking the legend of the Bunnyman Bridge
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| RYAN DAHLSEID & SAM GOLLOB REPORTERS |
he Colchester Overpass lies just 10 minutes outside of historic Clifton, Virginia. A one-lane road weaves through a wooded landscape for about three miles before reaching this bridge, which stands out amongst its remote surroundings. Worn railroad tracks run across the top of the bridge and its rustic nature puts visitors on edge. It’s not hard to understand why it has become such an infamous landmark. Commonly known as the Bunnyman Bridge, stories of this landmark and the insane murderer from which its nickname is derived have been passed through the D.C. area for generations. The legend has been told in many different ways throughout the years. “There are a lot of variations of [the story], but the most prominent one describes...one or more mental patients who escaped from an asylum somewhere near the Clifton area around the turn of the century,” Fairfax County Public Library archivist Brian Conley said. “They escaped into the woods [near the bridge] and started living there, then began preying on the local residents.”
The legend has taken on a life of its own in the Clifton area. The Clifton General Store sells shirts with depictions of the Bunnyman Bridge along with a common retelling of the tale. Sam Wallington, a cashier at the Clifton Italian restaurant Trattoria Villagio, has heard a slightly different story.
“When the police went to find him, all they found were dead bunnies’ bodies, so they nicknamed him ‘The Bunnyman.’” -Clifton resident Sam Wallington “It’s this whole tale. I think back in the 1960s or 70s, there was a bus full of prisoners that was taking them to a new prison and it crashed,” Wallington said. “Apparently a serial killer or a crazy guy got loose, then went into the woods. When the police
went to find him, all they found were dead bunnies’ bodies, so they nicknamed him ‘The Bunnyman.’” The Bunnyman Bridge has been so ingrained in the culture of Clifton that most children who grew up in the area have their own unique tales about it. “I was legit terrified of it as a kid. [The police] would close it off mostly because kids liked to mess with the neighbors,” Wallington said. Nadine Vasquez, owner of Whitehall Farms in Clifton, has grown up with the legend. She has seen the myth evolve from a local phenomenon to a more public interest. “It was a spooky thing to do when we were growing up,” Vasquez said. “[These days] Clifton does a whole thing around the Bunnyman. They do a whole haunted trail.” While the majority of Clifton residents are familiar with the legend, many residents of Fairfax County and the greater commonwealth of Virginia have their own stories to tell, including history teacher Rachel Baxter, who lived in Virginia for a substantial portion of her childhood. “I’ve heard lots of different versions of