THE BUNNYMAN

CW: Gore, violence, foul-language

"The Bunnyman" is my submission for the folk-lore Mork Bork game jam: https://itch.io/jam/flk-lore

***

Dusk turns to night. A group of haggard wanderers advance, single file, through the smouldering remains of what was once a forest. The light of a torch illuminates a footpath meandering into the basin of what must have once been a luscious river valley, now a dusty bowl of ashen trees and refuse. Through the darkness, the wanderers notice an aged, poorly made, covered bridge and approach the darkened entrance. The frame of the doorway encloses a profound darkness and denies any visibility of the exit on the other side. Closing in on the bridge, insect-like buzzing grows from a whisper to a loud din. Trodding forth from the tunnel’s darkened maw comes, what appears to be, a wavering mass of quilted wigs sprouting from a sagging, patchwork figure, wielding an axe. Round the figure swirls a teeming nimbus of flies, feasting off the decaying jumper fabricated with the husks of many unfortunate souls. As the group approaches, torchlight glints off of the cruel looking tool, and both parties halt their approaches. 

The lead wanderer cocks their head and squints through the dimness and notes that the baggy shape is actually a crudely sewn approximation of a rabbit… it looks like… a rabbit costume.

Above the deafening bruit of the flies, The Bunnyman speaks clear and plain to their ears:

“Have you fuckers got my eggs? ...I hope you do. I’ve no use fer the lot of youse, unless’n you’ve got mine eggs. I might’n even let youse pass through into this here bridge if you have ‘em, but if not, youse better fuck off an find ‘em, for my suit is always in need of fabric for mendin’.”

***

When I was reflecting on the opportunity to develop some content using folklore, I didn’t feel comfortable appropriating from outside my specific cultural experience, but I also didn’t immediately know what folklore I could speak from either! I opted to include the internet as a source of my own psychogeographic context to mine for folklore, and as such, decided on a short list of creepypastas to serve as inspiration. 

***

This is my first jam, so feedback is very welcome. Thanks.

"The Bunnyman" is an independent production by samaritan_burden and is not affiliated with Ockult Örtmästare Games or Stockholm Kartell. It is published under the MÖRK BORG Third Party License.“

MÖRK BORG is copyright Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell.