If you don’t believe in miracles, then we are sure that after reading this story you will start believing in miracles. The story is about a rooster named Miracle Mike who lived for 18 months after his head was chopped off. Yes, you read that right, the miracle chicken lived without a head for one and a half year.
Miracle Mike
This all happened on September 10, 1945, when the wife of a farmer Lloyd Olsen from Fruita, Colorado sent him to his yard to bring back a chicken for the supper. The farmer brought a five-and-a-half-month-old chicken named Mike and slaughtered the chicken cutting Mike’s head with an axe. To their surprise, Mike was still alive, up and walking around, he still attempted to preen, crow and peck for food clumsily. Seeing that the chicken miraculously escaped death, Olsen decided to take care of the bird and hence, named him the Miracle Mike.
Mike used to feed with a mixture of milk and water with the help of an eyedropper and gave it small grains of corn directly into his oesophagus. The farmer also used to clear his throat with a syringe.
Soon the people in the surrounding areas came to know about the miraculous headless rooster named Miracle Mike and reporters tried to get in contact with Olsen regarding the same. Although many believed the story to be a hoax, Olsen decided to take Mike to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah to prove the credibility of the story.
The rooster became popular and the Olsen took Mike to sideshows and other interviews. Mike was also photographed for many magazines and newspapers such a Time and Life. During that time, Olsen used to earn around $4,500 per month and the chicken was valued at $10,000.
The Death
Every thing was working fine for the both the chicken and the owner until one day in March 1947 when they were having a stopover at a Motel in Phoenix while travelling back from a tour, Mike began choking in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, the Olsens left their feeding and cleaning syringes at the sideshow and so, they were unable to save the Miracle Mike and he ultimately choked to death in the same motel. Later, in the Post mortem, it was revealed that although the axe removed the bulk of the head, but it missed the jugular vein and most of the brain stem intact. Since most of a chicken’s reflex actions are controlled by the brain stem, thus, the cells helped Mike stay alive and healthy.
Similar: This Rare Goth Chicken Has Black Coloured Skin, Bones & Legs.
So, that was the story of a headless chicken, Miracle Mike, who lived 18 months after his head was chopped off.
