Real “Bugs Bunny”? The 1899 Rabbit Hunt Legend

This is the real Bugs Bunny—the legend says they didn’t hunt rabbits; they hunted children dressed as them. In 1899 in the Appalachian mountains of Pennsylvania, a private lodge hosted a so-called Rabbit Hunt. Orphaned boys were fitted with burlap suits and stitched ears, pushed barefoot into frozen brush while wealthy men followed with rifles and lanterns. One boy, Thomas—“Bunny” for his teeth—was taunted with a carrot jammed between his jaws. In the dark, hunters joked, “What’s up, Doc?” The story ends with workers uncovering a shallow burrow and a half-carrot still clenched.

In this episode we run a critique: where this tale comes from, how it ties a joking catchphrase to class cruelty, a ...