Why The “Bunny Man Bridge” Is One Of The Scariest Places In Northern Virginia
Public DomainColchester Overpass, also known as Bunny Man Bridge, is one of the creepiest places in Virginia.
If you didn’t know the story, you might drive under Colchester Overpass near Clifton, Virginia, without a second thought. But this overpass is known by another name too: Bunny Man Bridge. It’s the center of a hazy urban legend that involves a bizarre mix of escaped murderers, brutal deaths on Halloween, and, yes, a menacing figure wearing bunny ears.
The story of the “Bunny Man” started back in October 1970, when a U.S. Air Force cadet and his fiancée were allegedly attacked by someone while sitting in their car. The assailant shattered the front passenger window with a hatchet and yelled, “You’re on private property, and I have your tag number!” as the terrified couple drove away. Later, the cadet reported that the attacker had been wearing a white suit with bunny ears.
His fiancée disagreed — she remembered the assailant simply wearing a white hood — but the “Bunny Man” seemed to resurface just over a week later. Then, a construction security guard allegedly saw a man in a gray, black, and white rabbit costume who held a hatchet and shouted: “You are trespassing. If you come any closer, I’ll chop off your head!”
Wikimedia CommonsThis hatchet was found in the cadet’s car after an unknown assailant — who was allegedly wearing a bunny costume — threw it at the front passenger window.
From there, the legend of the Bunny Man started to take on a life of its own. In 1999, an online story spread that claimed the “Bunny Man” had first emerged in 1904, when two patients at an asylum in Clifton escaped after their bus crashed. As police searched for them, they found a number of dismembered and half-eaten rabbits in the woods. Then, they found one of the two men dead near Colchester Overpass clutching a hatchet.
Then, the Bunny Man legend took an even more sinister turn. Locals began to allege that every Halloween, teenagers who visited the Colchester Overpass would turn up brutally murdered — hanged and disemboweled with their throats slit. (That said, there are no records of any such deaths and local news did not mention the “Bunny Man” until the 1970s.)
Still, the Colchester Overpass continues to draw thrill seekers. For some, it’s one of the scariest places on Earth, and it offers brave visitors a chance to glimpse the elusive and murderous Bunny Man.
