Like a Headless Chicken

Mike, the Headless Chicken, was a Wyandotte chicken that was beheaded in April 1945 to make a chicken supper for a Fruita CO farmer's mother-in-law. Lloyd Olsen's axe narrowly missed the jugular vein, leaving an ear and the bulk of the bird's brain stem intact, which was lucky for Mike (or terrible depending on how you look at it).

Mike shrugged off the hit and went about being a chicken, “pecking” with his neck in the absence of his head and continuing to preen himself, unlike other birds that run around like, well, chickens with their heads chopped off, who are dead ducks, or chickens as it were. Olsen sat down to wait for the bird to die, but when he didn't, he decided to have something new for dinner that night and took on the responsibility of caring for the bird. He used an eyedropper to feed him milk and water through his open throat. Tiny gravel shards were also slid down his throat to aid his gizzard in grinding meals.

Mike was able to walk at first, although it was unsteady. He quickly adjusted to his new environment and centre of gravity. He couldn't crow anymore, so he produced a gurgling noise instead.

The Rise to Fame

Mike was sent to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City to be studied, and rumours of the decapitated bird spread. He was shot for all of the major newspapers and magazines of the day, including Time and Life, and began a career as a sideshow attraction, touring with other wonders like a two-headed calf. He also had a chicken head in a glass jar that he mistook for his own. According to reports, a cat supposedly devoured Mike's genuine head, and the travelling head was taken from another chicken which was pickled.

Mike was earning $4,500 per month (about $56,000 now) during the height of his show business career. The fee of admission to see the bird was 25 cents, which attracted many curious onlookers. Unfortunately for chickens throughout the country, Mike's fame resulted in a slew of individuals attempting to behead their birds in the same manner. One of the copycat decapitated chickens survived for eleven days, while the others perished soon after.

Mike, like many other celebrities, died in a motel room from choking. Mike would frequently choke on his own mucous, which was a concern for him. When this happened, the Olsens had syringes on standby to suck the mucus out. Mike, on the other hand, was roosting in a Phoenix hotel room with the Olsens between carnival exhibitions one night. He was choking in the middle of the night, and the Olsens couldn't find a syringe to save him!

What allowed for him to live headlessly?

Mike's blood had immediately clotted after the axe had not hit the bird's carotid artery, preventing him from bleeding to death, according to an autopsy. Mike was able to function and otherwise live a healthy life for 18 months after losing his head because the brain stem controling the most fundamental bodily processes still worked, including breathing and heart rate and most of a chicken's reflex responses.

Mike may be no longer with us, but he is not forgotten. At least not in Fruita, where he originated. On the third weekend in May, the town celebrates "Mike the Headless Chicken Day” by participating in a series of thematic events! A 5K "Run Like a Headless Chicken Race," "Pin the Head on the Chicken," an egg throw, and "Chicken Bingo," in which hens are released in a numbered grid to do their business, are among the events. The numbers that are called are determined by where they deposit their droppings.

And to end this weirdly wonderful journey, here is an inspirational quote from the official “Mike the Headless Website”, “Mike’s will to live remains an inspiration. It is a great comfort to know you can live a normal life, even after you have lost your mind.”

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