Featured image map credit: by Ikonact from Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source.
Hello all and welcome back. I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year’s celebrations; I know for some that the coronavirus may have interrupted the usual plans and get-togethers, but I still hope you were able to make the most of it to the best of your ability. But now it’s time for “normal” life to return in this new year of 2021.
The US state of Virginia is found in the southeastern and Mid-Atlantic Regions of the United States and is bordered with the US states of Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina, the state is also bordered with the District of Columbia and has a coast along the Atlantic Ocean. The state capital is Richmond and the largest city is Virginia Beach. Before statehood the first permanent English colony was set-up here, called the Colony of Virginia, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the country.
The Chesapeake Bay is found along the coast of Virginia as it cuts into the Mid-Atlantic Region, and many of the state’s rivers flow/drain into it, Virginia has many small islands, there is a part of Virginia detached from the mainland across the bay, called the Eastern Shore, which is mostly a flat land that is sandy with deep soil, it is part of the Delmarva Peninsula, attached to Maryland. Much of mainland Virginia is hilly, rugged and mountainous due to the Appalachian Region, in Virginia this includes the Piedmont Plateau which is rugged, forested and hilly, and then further to the west are the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Valley and Ridge Region, both rugged and mountainous areas with forests, the East Coast of Virginia is the flattest/lowest area of the state and where much of the populace is located, a significant part of the populace is also found close to the border with the District of Columbia in Northern Virginia.
Virginia has a highly diversified economy with some of the largest sectors including local and federal government with many working in federal agencies, specifically in Northern Virginia, military is another big sector, with the state having the highest defense spending of other states per capita, many work as government contractors, including in defense and security firms, Hampton Roads has the highest concentration of military personnel and assets of any metropolitan area in the world, Naval Station Norfolk is the largest naval base in the world, farming/agriculture and high-tech industry are other large sectors. A number of Fortune 500 companies are also headquartered in the state including Freddie Mac, General Dynamics, Capital One and Dollar Tree among others. Tourism is the states 5th largest sector/industry.
Now with that done and dusted let’s get into the strange and the unexplained of Virginia.
Initially looking into Virginia on the surface level there doesn’t appear to be too much in the way of strange or unexplained, at least on the cryptid side of things, West Virginia (the state) massively overshadows its close cousin Virginia for monsters and cryptids, as can be seen here. But in Virginia itself there appears to be few monsters or cryptids, perhaps the odd large bird or Bigfoot sighting from time to time, but not too much that seems to be very specific to the state, unless one takes a much deeper dive into things, where then very localized legends of cryptids and other unexplained events can be found, that are largely unknown to the wider public, two of these such things I cover here later is the Mount Vernon Monster and the Cohoke Road ghost light.
One thing I did find and already knew of is an urban legend known as the Bunny Man, one such legend that is somewhat known more-so to the wider public than other things in this post. The Bunny Man is said to be some kind of human or entity who scares people away or even kills them using a hatchet or axe. A bridge has become known as the Bunny Man bridge, its official name is the Colchester Overpass, which is a railway overpass found spanning across Colchester Road near Clifton, Virginia. It is said that many sightings of this Bunny Man happen near and around this overpass and that anyone that goes to this bridge may be killed by the bunny man, specifically teenagers who go there. Part of the common urban legend is that the bunny man is a madman who escaped from a mental asylum in the early 1900s, another part of the legend is that the bunny man eventually died but that he comes back as a ghost, still able to murder people in/near or around the Bunny Man bridge at midnight on Halloween, the legend varies from area to area and person to person, as much folklore tends to do.
The main urban legend generally follows like this, coming from a 1973 University of Maryland undergrad’s class paper; in the early 1900s, there was an asylum deep in the woods between Clifton and Fairfax Station. The asylum eventually closed and the patients were transported out on a bus bound for Lorton Prison. At some point the bus lost control for whatever reason and crashed, with the mental patients escaping, all but one of them were caught again, the one not caught was called Douglas Grifon. The legend goes on that in the search for him police came across a trail of half-eaten and gutted bunnies, which lead to the Fairfax Station Bridge with many of the bunny corpses hung off the bridge. The police searched for several more months but never found Grifon.
The following Halloween night, several teens were hanging out under this bridge, and that dead on midnight they were attacked and killed, they were found the next morning hanging from the bridge, gutted in similar fashion to the bunnies. It is now said anyone who hangs around the bridge at midnight on Halloween will meet the same fate.
A number of historical inaccuracies have been sighted on the paper as to debunk the legend, such as Lorton Prison not being open until 1916 and no records of a Douglas Grifon ever existing in the area, as well as there being no asylum or Fairfax Station Bridge, (although somehow the Colchester Overpass came to be known as the Bunny Man bridge, perhaps simply via local teen culture) among other inaccuracies.
The Bunny Man bridge remains a popular spot for thrill-seekers and paranormal enthusiasts, especially around Halloween time where authorities have even had to control the number of people heading into the overpass due to health and safety concerns.
It is believed that the urban legend originated from two bizarre incidents that took place in 1970. The first incident happened on October 18th or 19th, 1970 to Air Force Academy cadet Robert Bennett and his partner. They were on Guinea Road in Burke visiting a relative. The report goes that they were heading back from a football game when they decided to pull over into a field on Guinea Road at midnight to visit an Uncle.
Now to me this already seems odd that they would choose to visit a relative at such a late hour, but it of course isn’t completely improbable. Anyway, it goes on that they were sitting in their car with the motor still running when they noticed something moving out of their rear window, only moments later their front window was then smashed, the attacker appeared to be some figure dressed in white, naturally they quickly sped out of there, claiming to hear the man shout “You’re on private property, and I have your tag number.”
While driving back they noticed a hatchet on the car floor that must have been dropped by the attacker, this evidence was given to police as well as Bennett explaining that the attacker wore a white suit with long bunny ears, although Bennett’s partner believed the man to be wearing a capirote, a large pointed conical hat used in religious ceremonies in Spain but that was also infamously co-opted by KKK members – could they have simply stumbled upon a secret KKK gathering? Considering the time of night, it isn’t out of the question.
The next sighting took place on October 29th, 1970, also taking place on Guinea Road in Kings Park West. Paul Phillips, a construction security guard, begun to approach a man who was standing on the porch of an unfinished home. The man was said to be wearing a gray, black and white bunny costume, estimated to be in his early 20s, 5ft 8in, and about 175lbs, this unidentified man then begun chopping at the porch with a long-handled axe and said, “you are trespassing. If you come any closer, I’ll chop off your head.” Although another article I found claims he actually said “All you people trespass around here. If you don’t get out of here, I’m going to bust you on the head.”
This incident was also reported to police, investigations were conducted into both incidents but they were closed due to lack of evidence, no one was ever found or prosecuted for the aggressive and unusual behavior. Following these two incidents, which were reported on by newspapers, police begun to receive dozens more reports of people seeing a Bunny Man, one man even claimed the Bunny Man had eaten his runaway cat, and thus a legend was born.
Thinking more on the two original incidents it is rather odd, just what did happen in the Bennett sighting? One might think that it was an accidental stumble on to a KKK gathering, but the 2nd incident makes it more unusual, could the 2nd incident merely have been some copycat prank? If not then it seems the first incident may have very well been a Bunny Man as well.
I remember when I first found out about the Bunny Man legend on one of my many paranormal internet escapades as a child and it certainly scared me back then, thinking that this Bunny Man could possibly come after me. Now I look back on it today and it seems pretty silly, but nonetheless with interesting unexplained origins.
The legend of the Bunny Man has also inspired a 2011 slasher movie called Bunnyman, followed by two sequels, Bunnyman 2 in 2014 and Bunnyman Vengeance in 2017.
Next up we have an apparent ghostly light that can be seen near a train track called the King William railroad crossing, most often seen from Mt. Olive Cohoke Road. Naturally such a thing reminds me of the Paulding light from my previous Mysterious Michigan post here, which some folklore tells is related to a train track as well, although no train track has ever recorded to have actually been there.
But in this case, there is indeed a train track. The light has been claimed to have been seen by many in the area and even filmed as well, although whether it is paranormal, a hoax or some kind of unidentified natural phenomena is up for debate.
It appears the ghostly light has been seen since at least the 1950s and there are numerous stories as to why it is there, including it being the ghost of a train crewman who was decapitated in an accident in the 1800s and now wanders the railroad carrying a lantern to look for his missing head, or that it is a ghostly Confederate train from the Civil War that was attacked by Union forces, although neither of these paranormal explanations matches up with known recorded history. Although interestingly in the 1950s a mother and her daughter were killed by a train when crossing over the train tracks on Mt. Olive Cohoke Road, although this isn’t seen popularly as the reason for the light, despite it matching up much better around the time the light was said to have begun appearing.
Of course, the reason for the light if it does exist is most likely some kind of natural phenomena, such as swamp gas lights caused by organic decay, or even perhaps an illusion caused by car headlights. It is certainly one of those things that matches up with the Will O’ the Wisp phenomenon that has been commonly reported over vast periods of history ever since history has been recorded, with dozens upon dozens of examples across the world.
For any of those who want to go and see the light it is strongly advised to keep off of the train tracks as they are dangerous and still active, if one hits you it’s most likely that you will almost certainly be killed. Even if you think you can hear the train coming, does not mean you will or be able to get out of the way in time, many have thought the same themselves, and paid the price with their lives. So, use common sense and keep off any train tracks.
Then there is something known as the Mount Vernon Monster, back in the 1970s residents of the upper-middle class Union Farm Estates and Southwood developments area talked of screaming and wailing of something in the nearby woods during the night time, causing distress and sleepless nights to the residents. Many had even recorded the sound on cassette recorders where the sounds were often featured at parties and get-togethers for people to try and figure out what it could be.
A May 1979 Washington Post article talks about the incident, and how police even extensively combed the woods using manpower and a helicopter to no avail of finding whatever was making the noise. It even seemed that whatever it was seemed to know when people were in or out of the woods, as when people left it would begin making the noises again.
A game warden and animal officers have also attempted on many occasions during the time to find the source of the sound, but never did.
Theories include anything from an injured dying animal to ghosts, prankster/s or even some kind of Bigfoot-like cryptid, such as one resident even claimed to see in or near their backyard, standing at around 6ft in height, big and hairy, but that this person, called Thelma Crisp, was told to keep quiet about it, including not talking about the unusual sounds.
The area the screams come from is also close to George Washington’s historical home. Residents of the time even claimed that whatever it was would even eat the food left out for it, although of course this can’t fully be proven as the food could easily have been eaten by any other animal in the area.
The Snallygaster, a monster legend that I talked of in my previous Mysterious Maryland post also has origins in Virginia as well, but since I have already gone over it you can go back to that post here to read more about it, you can also read about the sea serpent Cassie there which is said to be seen in the Chesapeake Bay, which also runs alongside Virginia, and as such some have claimed to see it from that state as well as in Maryland.
That shall be it for Virginia, next up we shall be going over the strange and the unexplained of the US State of North Carolina.
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