The Easter Bunny –Rabbit Exposé

So it’s almost Easter, the Christian Religious festival that celebrates the resurrection of Christ. In the interest of avoiding the topic of religion (primarily because it’s a potential minefield), I thought I’d instead do an exposé on the Easter Bunny, the rabbit behind the legend if you like. 

Now I would have thought it would be fairly easy to track down the roots of this fuzzy, semi-cute, sometimes chocolate, egg delivering, child friendly, rabbit effigy. I’m sad to report it’s not, in fact I’d go as far as saying it was a bit of headache. I tried my normal research method, Google followed by Wikipedia, and then broaden your sources once a bit of background information has been acquired. Wikipedia in this instance let me down, and other sources of information proved both unreliable and at best vague.  I was going to try and club together, some half facts, and general hearsay to produce a semi-historical version of events which would give the briefest of backgrounds to the Easter Bunny. However, I have found the lack of real evidence and valid sources so overwhelming I have instead, with the help of one my colleagues, created an entirely fictitious story and version of events of which I have catalogued below (by the way if you are genuinely interested in the Easter Bunny, I found this interesting).

So where to begin? The start always seems an appropriate place, and that in this case is 1920. America, Chicago to be exact. Prohibition is in full flow (unlike the booze) and Al Capone is head of the criminal underworld. The Easter Bunny at this time was not known as the Easter bunny but instead the less glamorous John Taylor. John started working for Al Capone as a runner. His Hare like speediness helped him to rise quickly through the criminal ranks. On Easter Day in 1924, he helped pull off a train robbery near Illinois. Four brothers from Texas were credited with the robbery; however, John had a hand in the planning and execution, although the exact details of his involvement are sketchy at best.  Sadly it wasn’t quite as big as the British Great Train Robbery which happened significantly later in 1963, but the upshot being that retrospectively speaking John’s achievement was overshadowed. Anyway, since then John has been known as John ‘The Easter Bunny’ Taylor. After the capture and incarceration of Al Capone, for tax evasion in 1931, the Easter Bunny moved to Europe, choosing a fresh start and a University course in creative dance instead of the mob. This was where he met the tooth fairy and quickly the two became friends. Following graduation both fairy and bunny found it difficult to gain employment, partly because of the political storm brewing over Europe and partly because neither was very good at creative dance. In desperation and out of financial necessity the tooth fairy hatched a highly lucrative, but highly illegal plan. The Bunny would supply irresistible chocolate eggs (no one really knows why eggs, after all, neither of them were chickens) to children and the fairy would collect the decayed and superfluous teeth which would shortly follow consumption.  The teeth would then be sent to black market traders and used for decorating gothic ornaments.  The plan worked like a dream and since the late 30’s the fairy and bunny have been rotting and collecting teeth in unison. And that is that.