The Headless Chicken That Lived For 18 Months
- 10 years ago
After a botched execution, a chicken lived for 18 months during the 1940s without its head and became a sideshow attraction.
A Colorado farmer and his wife wanted to make chicken for dinner. Little did they know they would produce an oddity that would captivate a nation. On September 10, 1945, one of them cut off the head of a rooster while attempting to keep most of the neck intact. Imagine the shock when the chicken began to walk around. They had unknowingly left the chicken's jugular vein, and base of the brain, which controls motor function, still intact.
Chicken's brains are situated in a way that much of it can remain in the neck even if the head has been severed.
The chicken was named Mike, and soon became known as the Headless Wonder Chicken.
He was kept alive by being fed a water-milk mixture through an eyedropper directly into his esophagus.
For the next 18 months, Mike the Chicken along with farmer Lloyd Olsen toured the country as a sideshow attraction, with many people paying to see the oddity.
At the height of his fame, he was reportedly making $4,500 a month.
In 1947, while on tour in Arizona, Mike and Mr. Olsen were staying in a motel room when Mike began to choke. Mr. Olsen had accidentally left behind the eye dropper used to clear Mike's throat, causing the chicken to die.
An autopsy revealed Mike survived that long without his head because of a blood clot in his neck, preventing him from bleeding to death after the original severing.
A Colorado farmer and his wife wanted to make chicken for dinner. Little did they know they would produce an oddity that would captivate a nation. On September 10, 1945, one of them cut off the head of a rooster while attempting to keep most of the neck intact. Imagine the shock when the chicken began to walk around. They had unknowingly left the chicken's jugular vein, and base of the brain, which controls motor function, still intact.
Chicken's brains are situated in a way that much of it can remain in the neck even if the head has been severed.
The chicken was named Mike, and soon became known as the Headless Wonder Chicken.
He was kept alive by being fed a water-milk mixture through an eyedropper directly into his esophagus.
For the next 18 months, Mike the Chicken along with farmer Lloyd Olsen toured the country as a sideshow attraction, with many people paying to see the oddity.
At the height of his fame, he was reportedly making $4,500 a month.
In 1947, while on tour in Arizona, Mike and Mr. Olsen were staying in a motel room when Mike began to choke. Mr. Olsen had accidentally left behind the eye dropper used to clear Mike's throat, causing the chicken to die.
An autopsy revealed Mike survived that long without his head because of a blood clot in his neck, preventing him from bleeding to death after the original severing.