Bunnyman Brewing Aims For Summer Opening In Burke Area

BURKE, VA — Locals in Northern Virginia might be familiar with the urban legend of the Bunny Man. Now a new brewery centered around the urban legend is coming to the Burke and Fairfax area.

Fairfax County natives Sam Gray and Eric Barrett plan to open Bunnyman Brewing at 5583 Guinea Road, Fairfax. On Monday, the owners indicated they're aiming for a summer 2021 opening. The owners said the buildout for the brewery is starting this week.

The owners got to know each other through their children's sporting events, and they shared conversation on the need for more breweries in Fairfax County, particularly in the underserved area they hail from.

According to its website, Bunnyman Brewing is envisioned as a place for sharing local stories. Perhaps there's no better local story to tell in the Burke area than the urban legend of the Bunny Man. The legend has different versions involving a person in a bunny suit with a hatchet or axe, but a common version claims an escaped asylum patient mutilated animals and killed two children and hung their bodies from a bridge.

The brewery seeks to debunk the urban legend, citing research to uncover the truth from Brian A. Conley, a historian-archivist for Fairfax County Public Library. The report, titled "The Bunny Man Unmasked: The Real Life Origins of an Urban Legend," concluded that the Bunny Man stories started with October 1970 sightings of a person in a bunny suit with a hatchet or axe. Conley notes that there wasn't an asylum for the insane in Fairfax County as told in the common version of the urban legend.

The Bunny Man's identity may not be known, but Conley believes if the same person was responsible for three known incidents, "it appears that this young man was disturbed by the development of the area."

While the Bunny Man legend is typically associated with the Bunny Man Bridge on Colchester Road in Clifton, the historian's research indicates the real origin is Guinea Road in the Burke/Fairfax area. Bunnyman Brewing will be located close to the source of that urban legend on Guinea Road.

Once it opens, locals are invited to stop by and try the rotating selection of beers and trade local stories. For more information, visit bunnymanbrewing.com. You can also follow along for updates on the Bunnyman Brewing opening on Facebook.