Weird News: Horse Hair Extensions, Bunny Man Rock Opera and Intruder at School

By Karen Goff

Patch has 31 sites in Virginia and D.C., and not a day goes by that something weird isn't happening somewhere in the area. Here's a look back at some weird goings-on over the past week.

Hair Extensions for Horses? Centreville Pet Store Has ‘Em

Clifton Saddlery is a store of the unexpected. For one— it's not in Clifton—and two, it's not a saddlery. Instead, the Centreville store is a dealer of some of the most exclusive pet foods, feeds and supplies in the area.

The store sells rider costumes and even hair extensions for horses for competition season. The extensions are real horse hair taken from the tails of living horses—the horses can grow their tails back if they are cut, she said. The extensions are braided into the hair of a horse to make it look fuller for competition, she added.

Great Blue Heron Goes for a Swim

An Animal Control officer was dispatched to the 200 block of Cameron Station Boulevard because a Great Blue Heron had landed in a swimming pool and, despite several attempts, couldn’t be convinced to fly away. People on the scene expressed concern that the long-legged bird was injured.

When the officer arrived on the scene, he attempted to capture the heron in order to take it to a wildlife rehabilitator. Following a single attempt at capture, the heron flew away under its own power.

Clifton’s infamous (and kinda terrifying) Bunny Man legend has been made into a rock opera. No kidding! The Clifton-based Mantua Finials rock/folk band has written 26 songs about the urban myth Bunny Man, a guy in bunny outfit with an axe who terrorized Fairfax County for a brief period in 1970, was never caught and later had Clifton’s Colchester Overpass unofficially named “The Bunny Man Bridge."

Crime Report: Man Charged with Trespassing at Marshall Elementary

A 28-year-old man was charged with trespassing at Marshall Road Elementary School, according to Fairfax County Police. The incident was reported at 6:35 a.m. on August 18 on the 700 block of Marshall Road. Police were called after a report of a man on school property. The suspect, of Washington, D.C., was arrested in the incident.