Jackalopes & The Insane Killer Bunny Art From Centuries Ago

The Odd Index

Centuries ago, artists loved drawing rabbits as brutal killers—hunting humans, riding dogs into battle, and turning the natural order upside down. Here’s the bizarre story… and its strange link to the jackalope.  #WeirdHistory #MedievalArt #Folklore #Jackalope #HistoryMystery

Transcript

00:00Have you ever seen a rabbit defeat a knight?

00:02Or march into battle armed with a spear?

00:05Because hundreds of years ago,

00:07artists all over Europe seemed obsessed with one very specific idea.

00:11Rabbits.

00:12Were.

00:14Evil.

00:15In the margins of medieval manuscripts,

00:17sacred texts,

00:18prayer books,

00:19even Bibles,

00:21monks filled the empty spaces with bizarre illustrations.

00:24And for some reason,

00:26rabbits kept showing up as armed psychopaths.

00:28They'd be hunting humans,

00:30executing prisoners,

00:32or leading armies of other rabbits into bloody wars.

00:35Some were even shown riding dogs like warhorses.

00:38This wasn't rare.

00:40Between the 13th and 16th centuries,

00:42these killer bunny scenes pop up again and again.

00:45From England's Luttrell Psalter,

00:47to the Smithfield Decretals,

00:48to church carvings in rural France.

00:51Why?

00:52Historians have a few theories.

00:54Some think it was satire,

00:55flipping the natural order to mock cowardly nobles or corrupt clergy.

01:00Others say it was moral symbolism.

01:02Rabbits were linked to lust and sin,

01:04so showing them as violent predators was a visual warning.

01:07And then there's the simple truth.

01:09Medieval monks had a dark sense of humor.

01:12But here's where things get even stranger.

01:14Because centuries later,

01:15in the American West,

01:17the dangerous rabbit myth evolved into something new.

01:20Something with antlers.

01:21In 1930 Wyoming,

01:23two brothers stitched deer antlers to a jackrabbit as a taxidermy prank.

01:27And the jackalope legend was born.

01:30This legend has persisted because of rabbits with shoat papillomavirus,

01:33which causes growths that can sometimes resemble antlers.

01:37But the idea of a not-so-cuddly rabbit?

01:39That was old news.

01:41From medieval killer bunnies to Bavarian wolpertingers,

01:44the jackalope is just the latest chapter in a centuries-old tradition,

01:48taking the harmless rabbit,

01:49and making it a little more dangerous.

01:52I'm sure the evil bunny art was just some kind of fad for a few hundred years.

01:55But it's fun to think that maybe,

01:57just maybe,

01:58there were vicious bunnies all over Europe back then wreaking havoc.

02:02Like and subscribe and comment with your favorite mythical animal you wish was real.

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