Mike the Headless Chicken

Like most chickens in those days, Mike was destined to become dinner. On Monday, September 10, 1945 at 6:45am, the farmer decided it was Mike's time, so went and grabbed him and chopped off his head. Like a lot of headless chickens, this one ran around for a bit after getting the chop. Usually that doesn't last too long though so the farmer waited...and waited...and waited. The chicken kept moving.

Days later the chicken was still alive, even minus his head. People started coming to the farm to check out the chicken, and he got really popular. People came from miles around to see him. Someone arrived one day and said he wanted to be the chicken's manager and take him to fairs and such. By this time Mike, as he had been named, was doing fine even without his head, so the farmer, seeing a way to earn some money, said sure.

Worried that the chicken would die of hunger now that they were going to be making lots of money from him, they started feeding Miracle Mike with an eyedropper. They toured and did fairs and Mike became a hero of sorts. Thousands of people turned out to see him everywhere he went. He was on magazine covers and studied by lots of scientists too.

Occasionally Mike would start choking and the farmer would use a syringe to suction out his throat, but one night Mike started choking and the farmer didn't have the syringe to help him. So, Mike finally died 18 months after his head was chopped off.

As you're all probably wondering by now, how did Mike live without a head? Well, it turns out that the farmer's wife, loved eating chicken neck, so when killing chickens for supper, the farmer usually tried to save as much of the neck as possible by cutting a little higher than most. He did cut off Mike's head, but he just missed the brain stem at the base of the neck, which is what controls most bodily functions. Thus, Mike was able to still function, though he may have been the ultimate bird brain ;-)

Picture via Creative Commons from Skelekitty (Krissi Sandvik)

Once a year, there is a grand event in the small town of Fruita, Colorado. It's a festival, a festival celebrating Mike, the Headless Chicken. Fruita was the original home of Mike the headless, before he became all famous and lost his head. Now they celebrate Mike, and his life, by having a fun gathering and eating chicken as well as doing lots of other activities. This year the Headless Mike festival was held May 15th & 16th, 2009. Now's is the time to start planning to attend next year's so you can celebrate Mike too, or just eat lots of chicken ;-)

Information About Mike the Headless Chicken Festival