Bird Lives!

Happy 63rd anniversary to Mike the Headless Chicken, who on this date in 1945 lost his noggin, but found oh so much more.

Just an unassuming yardbird gamboling about the homestead of Fruita, Colorado, farmer Lloyd Olsen, Mike was, on that fateful day, a 5½-month old Wyandotte rooster slated for the Olsen's evening repast. Fortunately for Mike, Lloyd's axe-wielding skills were lousy and the farmer's attempted execution went awry. Sure, Mike's clucker was lopped clear off, but certain key anatomical features (brain stem, esophageal passage, an ear, don't ask) remained intact, and, bizarrely, our feathered friend survived the encounter. In fact, the lucky duck went to bed that night with his own head tucked under a wing!

Well, in true can-do American spirit, Mike kept on strutting his stuff for the next 18 months, becoming a nationwide celebrity pulling in an absurd $4,500 a month while touring the country and posing for spreads in Life and Time. He even had a personal manager. Sure, the highlife caught up with Mike and he came to a sad end choking to death in an Arizona motel room, but even in death, our headless hero continues to capture the imagination of a nation, what, with a Guinness world record, a website, a MySpace page and even a song (MP3 by Frank Meyer).

And of course there's an inspirational video:

Comments

[K]

A wonderful analog for rock stardom. Like musicians, chickens do much of their thinking "downstairs" and that upper part just gets in the way of the fun. But too much of a good thing, and you end up choking in your own vomit passed out in a hotel bathroom. Rock on, Mike!

[robin]

The documentary that popularized mike of recent years is online...i did a similar post as you this morning, doug, and i linked to the full-length documentary video! we musta been thinking along the same lines. See here:
http://www.thirteen.org/historyanddocumentary/this-day-in-history-mike-the-headless-chicken-loses-his-head-sept-10-1945

[King Daevid MacKenzie]

...and those of us who grew up in Chicago in the '70s know of Mike the Headless as a result of Larry Lujack and Tommy Edwards snickering about him on their "Animal Stories" segments on WLS. It's on the first ANIMAL STORIES album that WLS put out in 1981...

[Ivy]

Mike is one of my heroes. I learned about him from his website five years ago. I'm glad his legend is being kept alive.

[Terry]

Hello doug,
thanx for posting about mike's strange wonderful existence. There is also info on him in this documentary here:
http://www.shoppbs.org/sm-pbs-the-natural-history-of-the-chicken-dvd--pi-1428832.html

as well as more amazing chicken stories and that song about how to spell chicken.
thanx, terry, ATL

[Holland Oats]

best headline ever - good as the new york post - yes i am drunk

[Heilan Yvette Grimes]

Thanks for featuring my youtube video about Mike. I've been fascinated by Mike for years and am glad so many other people find him interesting and inspirational. I'm glad you reminded people of this anniversary.

[Ivy]

Would that New York Post headline be by any chance "Headless body found in topless bar"?

[Doug Schulkind]

No, the NY Post headline would be more along the lines of "Headless Body Found at Hapless Barbecue"