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As long as we’re on the subject of surviving horrendous injuries (see our earlier post on Phineas Gage, and last week’s list of strange things removed from the human body), we feel compelled to share with you the story of Mike, the headless chicken. Mike was a Wyandotte rooster, one of many owned by the Olsen family of Fruita, Colorado in the 1940s. One day Mike was headed for the dinner table, with a quick trip to the chopping block and the cooking pot first. After losing his head, Mike ran around, well, like a chicken with its head cut off, but unlike most victims of the axe, he never stopped running. He ran back to his fellow chickens in the barnyard, and calmly resumed the business of being a chicken, albeit without a head.
Turns out the axe-wielding farmer had left just enough brain stem for Mike to continue most of his normal body functions, save crowing and preening. (Oh, and he had to be fed with an eyedropper.) Needless to say, the farmers didn’t have the heart to finish the job (to the ire of some animal rights groups), and instead began touring the country with their rare bird, who by 1946 was earning the family around $50,000 a week in today’s money. Mike was displayed standing by a pickled chicken head, though sadly not his own, as the family cat had eaten it. Mike finally met his own demise one night in 1947, when he choked on his own mucous while he and the family were in between gigs and staying at a motel. Inevitable? Perhaps. Strange? Most definitely.
Comments (16)
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This is amazing. I can’t believe it could survive this way.
posted by Rhea on 5-7-2007 at 12:22 pm
These days, Mike could get elected president.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 5-7-2007 at 12:23 pm
Are you sure Mike died? I think he works at my office………
posted by JaneM on 5-7-2007 at 12:46 pm
eewww
posted by TechSupport on 5-8-2007 at 9:33 am
I’m from the grand valley (where Fruita is), and it’s worthy of note that there is also a festival every year to celebrate Mike (The Mike the Headless Chicken Festival). There are statues, tee shirts, and all sorts of random stuff. Talk about a good time!
posted by JessieK on 5-8-2007 at 12:27 pm
This story really does seem incredible. If nothing else, what would keep him from bleeding to death from the wound? Also, it would seem to me that an infection of some kind would set in fairly rapidly.
posted by Mike Landau on 5-8-2007 at 6:05 pm
I got me a chicken infection.
posted by Sethro on 5-12-2007 at 10:54 am
He didn’t bleed to death because of a clot that formed. his bodily functions (breathing, heart beat etc.) were kept going by the brain stem, which was not severed and remained intact (along with one ear). I am not sure about the infection, but he was fed and watered by his owner using and eye dropper after he realized Mike had an amazing will to live.
posted by page on 7-12-2007 at 1:24 pm
danggggg !
this is soooo ;
crazyyyy :]
posted by makayla on 5-15-2008 at 4:41 pm
How in the hell did he make his way back to his fellow chickens and know it?
posted by Jake Le Master on 5-22-2008 at 5:52 am
@Jake –
The article did say he had one ear left. ::shrug::
posted by ACute Angle on 5-22-2008 at 8:19 am
I chuckled at Sheldon’s comment.
posted by Kat L. on 5-22-2008 at 11:45 am
That is just bizarre. And how big could a chicken’s ear be?
posted by Olivia on 5-22-2008 at 12:14 pm
captcha
posted by bob on 5-22-2008 at 7:32 pm
I am not lying. My name is mike. I was born september 10th and my dads name is llyod. This is true. My friend told me about this amazing chicken.
posted by mike on 5-24-2008 at 5:23 pm
any medical repurcussions
posted by Ananya on 8-19-2008 at 1:50 am