Animal Forteana: Rabbits: The Strange, the Satire, and the Synchronicity

ANIMAL FORTEANA

In the beginning of things men were animals and animals men. ~ Algonquin saying

"For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much — the wheel, New York, wars and so on — whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man — for precisely the same reasons." ~ The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Rabbits: The Strange, the Satire, and the Synchronicity

Last night 's Ghost Adventures was about Tennessee’s Bell Witch. (As with most of their episodes, I wished they had used a psychic medium as part of their investigation.) Among the ghostly events surrounding the Bell Witch phenomenon, is the hybrid entity that appears at times to witnesses. A black creature with the head of a rabbit and body of a dog.

I find that aspect fascinating, as I do most cryptid type sightings. Ghostly or otherwise, if it involves animal or animal like beings, I’m there. For whatever reason, rabbits seem to intrigue me. They’re cute of course, but at the same time, I’ve always felt an aura of something else going on behind that assumed innocence and cuteness. I wouldn’t say I’m afraid of rabbits -- I’m not -- or find them sad and sleazy, like clowns. Just...something. Maybe it’s the history of folklore and trickster mythos surrounding rabbits that lingers.

Of course, the Bell Witch rabbit-dog is on the sinister side.

This morning brought with it rabbit synchronicity. First, this item in Eugene’s Register Guard about a man frustrated with a feral rabbit invasion: Voracious Rabbits Plague Culver Man. (Personally, he sounds like a grumpy old man. $150 damage in flowers, frustrating sure but come on. Complaining about gas money to relocate the rabbits, where he can then legally either shoot them and eat them, or, turn them over to an animal sanctuary. No matter what alternatives are offered by the city he's not satisfied.)

Then on my Facebook page, this New Yorker cartoon: