Indiana Woman Shares Her Harrowing, Yet Hilarious Encounter with the ‘Murder’ Easter Bunny
'Tis the season! Sunday is Easter and Peter Cottontail is hopping down the bunny trail and into shopping centers, malls, community centers, churches and more for his annual photo opportunities with kids around the country. Some of those kids are excited to see him. Others don't want anything to do with him.
That was certainly the case for my longtime friend Shannon Potts McDonald. Shannon has an annual tradition of sharing a 'traumatic' Easter Bunny photo from her childhood. Shannon was around 2 1/2-years-old when this now legendary photo was taken!
When I say "legendary," I mean it. That particular photo eventually ended up Ellen DeGeneres' show and resided on the TV talk show's website "forever."
Ellen loved sharing similar photos and did so routinely.
As illustrated by the video above, there are all sorts of photos of terrified kids in the clutches of Easter Bunnies circulating social media. However, Shannon's is my all-time favorite. She agreed to share the "behind-the-scenes" story of the pic and how it made its way into hilarious and unfortunate Easter history.
Shannon's mom Linda worked part-time at Green Tree Mall in Clarksville, Indiana. She helped Santa Claus at Christmas and the Easter Bunny during Easter. Shannon says, "The guy in the suit was a smoker and my mother said he smelled like cigarettes, gin and hotdog water." Linda is a person who gags easily and reportedly can't even remember how many times she smelled that particular Easter Bunny's breath and had to turn away and gag.
Needless to say, her aversion for that particular bunny trickled right on down to Shannon. When the nearly three-year-old had her encounter with the Easter Bunny, she lost her crap and had an epic meltdown that was captured in the photo. Making the costume even more frightening (beyond the smell of cigs, hotdogs and gin), Shannon says the "eye holes were so big that you could see half the guys face." Looking back, Shannon asks, "What toddler wouldn't be scared of that horrific #$%@?"
That's precisely why, nearly fifty years later, Shannon shares her photo of the Murder Bunny to wish everyone a very Happy Easter!
LOOK: Unique baby names from the year you were born
Gallery Credit: Stacker