Wascally Wabbits

Okay, this one is a bit far out, but it's short and sweet. You know how Bugs Bunny is always getting abducted by Marvin the Martian right? He's in his rabbit hole and a UFO lands on top, and he climbs up into its shaft - then he runs around on Mars stealing the Illudium Pu-36 Explosive Space Modulator. Well, on the surface it's just a harmless cartoon - funny rabbit gets abducted by UFO. Ask no questions and think no more about it, right? But what a weird connection - rabbits and UFOs. Could it be there’s something there – lurking just right below the surface, hiding in plain site, pointing us in the direction of hidden truths where we dare not go? You bet’cha.

That first Warner Bros cartoon was originally broadcast in 1948. "Haredevil Hare" was broadcast before any claims of human abduction in UFOlogy, well before, in fact, the famous 1961 abduction claims of Barney and Betty Hill. So now our Bugs Bunny cartoon is somewhat prescient, and we've got a genuine rabbit-UFO connection. Let's look a little further, shall we?
Would you believe that MUFON - the Mutual UFO Observation Network in Evanston, IL - has records of scores of cases in which farmers claimed that UFOs and weird humanoids were stealing the rabbits out of their hutches? They do. And then there are reports of processions of rabbits seen just before UFOs land, and country folk out hunting for rabbits spotting UFOs, and even one case of jack rabbits dancing before a UFO encounter.

So - at least as far as UFO lore is concerned - Marvin's Martians really do abduct bunny rabbits. There's even a name for this field of study - Lepufology! I kid you not.

Now, go back and watch E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Notice that when E.T.'s spaceship first lands - it's greeted by a rabbit. And rabbits run across the road before the second UFO sighting in Steven Spielberg’s classic film Close Encounters. And take a closer look at the Teletubbies too while you’re at it. Those weird alien babies with televisions in their bellies – and don’t try to tell me they’re not aliens. They all live underground in a partially buried space ship! But when they come out to play on their impossibly green, perfectly manicured rolling lawn - they're surrounded by bunnies! Real live bunnies hopping all over the place. There’s really something going on here folks.

On a scarier note, there have been a score of dead rabbits found in Central America, all connected with their bloodsucking monster down there - El Chupacabre.

So what's the deal folks? Is Marvin really after Bugs? Well, back in the 1970s, the L-5 Society - the organization trying to foster interest in space colonization and research - published the results of a study that proclaimed that rabbits were the ideal space livestock - given that they produce the most meat for the least feed. So maybe it really does make since that Marvin would stop by the third rock from the sun if he needed to restock his pantry before a long trip.
But just in case you want some more proof – he’s a bit of weirdness from the history books: Fact - the only US President to ever go on record as having seen a UFO was Jimmy Carter - and he was ridiculed in the press for this admission and for one other very strange occurrence. Do you remember what it was? On April 20, 1979, while on a fishing trip in Plains, Georgia, President Carter claimed to have been attacked and said that he had to fend off his assailant by beating at it with his oar. What did our President claim it was that attacked him, "hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared"? You got it, folks - he was attacked by a "Killer Rabbit."

Eh, what's up Doc?