The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word cryptid as “An animal whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated, such as the yeti.” For the following witnesses to living cryptids, there is no dispute. In this series of National Cryptid Society’s case files, you will read what the witnesses have experienced in their own words.
Keep an open mind when reading these accounts, and also remember one’s perception and memory of an event can be influenced by the emotions felt at the time of the occurrence. The contributors to this series of articles are doing the best they can to recount what are in some cases very shocking and traumatic experiences. However, in this case, this witness’s experience was not shocking or traumatic at all.
If you have a personal cryptid sighting story you would like to tell us, our contact information is at the bottom of this article.
NCS Case File #39: The Giant Rabbit of New Jersey
Submitted by Evelyn
Encounter Date: 1954
Location: Outside Burlington, New Jersey
Witness statement:
“In 1954, I had just turned 14. I was waiting for the school bus at 6:45 AM by our house in the country which was across the road from a holly farm. At that time before they planted hollies it was mostly weeds along the road but, sweet potatoes in the rest of the field.
I glanced over at the 10+ acre field in front of me and there sat what appeared to be a huge “rabbit”. It was brown and I was roughly 10 to 15 feet from it. I had seen hares before this was not a hare; besides, hares hadn’t been seen in that part of New Jersey in 40 years.
This creature was sitting on its haunches and stood nearly 4 and a half feet tall. It just watched me for several minutes and; then, it just disappeared! It did not hop away.
I wasn’t frightened; I had a strange feeling of peace. I had such a calm, peaceful feeling. It was almost as if it was reassuring me it was not unreal, that is the only way I can explain it.
No one else ever saw it and my family lived there for over 25 years… to this day I wonder what it really was and where it came from.”
NCS Notes:
In 1976 Louise Hodgson witnessed a rabbit the size of a deer in Dorset, United Kingdom.[i]
In April of 2016, a Reddit user posted the following on a post in the cryptozoology subreddit:
“This may sound odd, but I have heard a couple sightings of giant rabbits in my area. They are described as being around 4-5 feet tall while sitting, and having long, very curly golden hair. Both sightings I have heard of reported the Rabbits being seen very early in the morning, around 2:00 to 4:00 am give or take. Both sightings where from Ottawa, Ontario.”[ii]
Another commenter on a Reddit post reported what possibly could have been giant rabbits in Southern Minnesota:
“I work for a utility company, and last fall, sometime after crops were harvested I parked on a side of a road near an empty field to take my break. I saw two large animals in the distance that I could not identify. They were hopping around the harvested field and maybe feeding on something. They were maybe a hundred yards from me and I couldn’t make out what they were. I shined my flashlight at them (it was beginning to get dark) and saw them running away. They ran like rabbits do, but they were much, much larger. I have no idea what I saw.”[ii]
Another Reddit user had this to add:
“My father claims to have seen some four-foot rabbits in Placer County, California [50 years ago]. It was the first and only time he saw them despite spending the first twenty or so years of his life in that area.” [ii]
One of the largest rabbit breeds recognized today is the Continental Giant[iii], and you may have heard of the breed recently due to an unfortunate incident involving United Airlines when Darius[iv], the then record holder for “world’s largest rabbit” was killed (frozen) on a flight from London to Chicago[v]
Author and researcher Linda Godfrey responded to this article recently saying:
“I did have a report of a giant rabbit in a forest in Michigan’s UP, not far from the Spaulding Lights, in 1958 (Strange Michigan). But there were also two ‘roos — one was a wallaby — that were definitely kangaroos caught in western Wisconsin in 2005. The wallaby was run over but the roo went to the zoo in Madison to live out its days. There were others such as those already mentioned. I have a pretty complete account of them in all in Monsters of Wisconsin.”
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Very interesting articles regarding giant rabbits if that is what they are. I have two more sightings told to me, in two different areas. First one was in the Nanaimo area not positive regarding time sighted maybe 10 years ago. A friend was riding his bike on a pathway when he came around a corner and there were a bunch of 6′ tall rabbits on the path, he ended up crashing his bike in the forest. The other was in Calgary city, she was quite young and was about to j walk, looking around for cars she sited this rabbit looking at her. They looked at each other for a moment then the rabbit hopped down a alley out of her sight. I personal have seen a sasquatch so seeing giants rabbits are not odd to me, they may come from the same area. Dave
Keep an open mind when reading these accounts, and also remember one’s perception and memory of an event can be influenced by the emotions felt at the time of the occurrence. The contributors to this series of articles are doing the best they can to recount what are in some cases very shocking and traumatic experiences. However, in this case, this witness’s experience was not shocking or traumatic at all.
The National Cryptid Society 
Very interesting articles regarding giant rabbits if that is what they are. I have two more sightings told to me, in two different areas. First one was in the Nanaimo area not positive regarding time sighted maybe 10 years ago. A friend was riding his bike on a pathway when he came around a corner and there were a bunch of 6′ tall rabbits on the path, he ended up crashing his bike in the forest. The other was in Calgary city, she was quite young and was about to j walk, looking around for cars she sited this rabbit looking at her. They looked at each other for a moment then the rabbit hopped down a alley out of her sight. I personal have seen a sasquatch so seeing giants rabbits are not odd to me, they may come from the same area. Dave
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