John Carpenter's Bunny Man TV Feature Has Bunnyman Brewing Co-Owner As Local Expert

BURKE, VA — Those who have grown up around parts of Fairfax County have heard some version of the Bunny Man story, stemming from reported sightings around Northern Virginia, DC and Maryland. The urban legend is revisited in an episode of horror legend John Carpenter's new "Suburban Screams" series.

Carpenter, who is the director behind horror classics like "Halloween" and "The Thing," explores real horror stories from America's suburbs in the new "Suburban Screams" series streaming on Peacock.

The series explores the most popular renditions of the Bunny Man myth, from an escaped insane asylum inmate who reportedly killed another inmate and hung him from the Colchester Overpass bridge in Clifton, to the 1970s sightings of the Bunny Man with a hatchet.

The fourth episode dives into the origins of the Bunny Man with dramatized re-creations of encounters with the Bunny Man. The episode featured an appearance from Eric Barrett, a Fairfax native who co-owns Bunnyman Brewing in the area of the 1970s Bunny Man sightings.

"I don't remember the first time I heard the story of the Bunny Man. I just remember it always being around," Barrett says in the TV show. "I think it was probably a little more about the urban legend at that point. The idea of a guy in a bunny suit with an ax terrorizing this area that being developed, I figure they're trying to scare us."

Barrett said he wanted to tell the more fact-based version of the story in the series.

"We were really careful about calling this place Bunnyman Brewing," Barrett told Patch. "I was very careful to word things with them to tell the true story."

Barrett told Patch he was approached about a year ago for a possible series that hadn't been picked up by a network yet. He did a Zoom interview, which he later found out was a casting call of sorts. Barrett also connected the show with Cindy Bennett of the Burke Historical Society, who wrote a book called "Wicked Fairfax County" with a chapter on the Bunny Man.

Later, Barrett found out the show was picked up by a network, and Carpenter was returning to directing for the first time in 13 years.

The urban legend of the Bunny Man resulted from sightings of a person dressed in a bunny costume terrorizing neighborhoods in the DC region. Barrett, who grew up with stories of the Bunny Man, understands many versions of the story have been told. But not all of them are true. He points to the legend of a man escaped from an insane asylum in Clifton, which has been debunked by a Fairfax County Public Library researcher.

Bennett of the Burke Historical Society researched the Bunny Man and found different versions of the urban legend. In the episode, she recalled the story of a farmer who stole and sacrificed a cow "because a demon told him to do it."

In another story, teenagers having a Halloween party near the bridge reported a Bunny Man who tried to grab them, but they escaped.

After that, Bennett said "hysteria" about the Bunny Man grew, and there was one night with about 50 calls to police.

Yet another version of the story involves the escaped inmate who ate rabbits and hung carcasses on the Bunny Man Bridge. According to Bennett, the legend recalled children seeing a man near the bridge in rabbit skins or a bunny costume, but they chased him to the train tracks until he was killed by a train. Three children were reportedly missing and found hanging from the bridge.

These stories appear to be only urban legends, as Fairfax County Public Library research found no evidence of murders related to the Bunny Man.

However, Bunnyman Brewing co-owner's has heard three eyewitness accounts from business patrons that he believes to be true. One was from a Washington Post deliveryman in the 1970s who saw a person in a bunny costume skipping down the street dragging an ax.

"He said he had nightmares about it for years," said Barrett. "It was actually a fairly traumatic event for him as a kid. I believed him. There was no question from my perspective that he was telling the truth."

Other 1970s Bunny Man incidents have been documented in the Washington Post.

On Oct. 18, 1970, a man and his fiancée in their car encountered a man in a bunny costume in the 5400 block of Guinea Road. The man reportedly yelled they were on private property and threw a hatchet at the car window.

Later that month, on Oct. 29, 1970, a security guard reported a man in a bunny costume in the 5300 block of Guinea Road. The Bunny Man was reportedly chopping at a house under construction before fleeing.

While Barrett believes the Bunny Man was more associated with incidents around Guinea Road in the Burke area, the urban legend has been tied to the Colchester Overpass bridge in Clifton. Kids come from as far as Pennsylvania to Bunny Man Bridge on Halloween, when the legend suggests the Bunny Man will appear.

Barrett, who started hearing stories about the Bunny Man Bridge in junior high school, says the legend stays alive today because kids like to go down to the bridge to party and tell scary stories.

"If you were going to have a haunted bridge, it would be that bridge," Bennett added in the episode.

While the identity and motivation of the Bunny Man was never found out, Bennett has a theory related to the development of Burke.

"My theory is the Bunny Man could not deal with the fact that the rural area that he was living in was becoming more suburban," Bennett said. "He was very upset by all of this. He could see it coming. You could see the westward march of suburbia to a formerly rural area of Fairfax County."

But Bennett left viewers with a bit of mystery on whether the Bunny Man is still around. She noted a body was found in the area of Colchester Road not far from the Bunny Man Bridge. Police identified the incident as a homicide.

"It is possible that the Bunny Man is still alive today and watching all of this," said Bennett.

Bunnyman Brewing And Ties To The Urban Legend

Bunnyman Brewing, which Barrett and Sam Gray opened in 2021, is located in the 5500 block of Guinea Road not far from the 1970s Bunny Man sightings. The business plays up the Bunny Man legend in its marketing and saw a spike in merchandise demand from customers outside the region before the brewery opened.

The brewery even gets a man from the Burke Historical Society dressed in a Bunny Man costume for some events. But this Bunny Man is a more lighthearted version who plays the bagpipes.

"For big events, we always ask for him to come back," said Barrett.

Bunnyman Brewing will have a viewing party for the Bunny Man episode of "Suburban Screams" Friday, Oct. 20 at 8:30 p.m. Bennett of the Burke Historical Society will also be present for the viewing party.

Since the brewery opened in 2021, Barrett said the community reception has been "unbelievable." Bunnyman Brewing makes its own beers in the brewery as well as house-made sodas, slushies and milkshakes like the popular tiramisu stout. Food trucks are typically on site to offer food options to customers. Children are welcome as well, as Barrett says the brewery is intended to be a family-friendly business.

"We try to cater to people who aren't just beer drinkers," said Barrett.

One of the brewery's upcoming family events will be a trunk-or-treat on Oct. 29 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be trick-or-treating, live music, costume and car decorating contests, games, local vendors, food trucks and more.

For more on Bunnyman Brewing and its interpretation of the Bunny Man legend, visit bunnymanbrewing.com.

Bunny Man: Fact or Fiction

Fact: Bunny Man Sightings

There have been Bunny Man sightings, including two 1970 incidents documented by the Washington Post. Brian Conley of the Fairfax County Public Library cites the October 1970 sightings of a man in a bunny costume with an ax that were reported to Fairfax County Police. Conley wrote that "available evidence points to the October 1970 events as the genesis of the Bunny Man legend" and that police reports indicated no previous stories that the man could have been mimicking.

Fiction: Escaped Insane Asylum Inmate

There was no escaped inmate from an insane asylum in Clifton at the Colchester Overpass bridge, also known as the Bunny Man Bridge. The popular story about the Clifton Bunny Man by Timothy C. Forbes on the Castle of Spirit website is false, according to Conley. The researcher noted there was no insane asylum in Fairfax County, the Lorton prison didn't open in 1910, and the inmate and the inmate he reportedly killed were not in Fairfax County court records.

Fiction: Murders

No murders tied to the Bunny Man have been confirmed. Conley researched murders from 1872 to 1973 and found no "likely candidates" related to the Bunny Man. The researcher found the first versions of the Bunny Man story from the 1970s did not mention deaths, while other versions of the urban legend from the 1980s and the Clifton Bunny Man by Timothy C. Forbes had differing descriptions of victims.