One of my favorite stories of all time is that of Mike the Headless Chicken, which I wrote about in my first book Einstein’s Refrigerator. It turns out that Headless Mike was not alone.
A Los Angeles woman named Martha Green purchased a live chicken at a butcher shop on April 2, 1949, and requested that it be prepared for dinner.
Upon returning home, Mrs. Green dumped the bird into the sink, and, to her surprise, the bird stood up and tried to crow.
She initially named the bird “Butch,” but later changed it to Lazarus.
Animal lovers were outraged and the local SPCA – the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals – took custody of the bird. After hearing both sides, a justice of the peace ordered the bird returned to Mrs. Green.
But there was to be no peace.
On Friday, April 22nd, two city animal regulators showed up at Mrs. Green’s door with orders to destroy the animal. A small crowd gathered to protest and then Lazarus suddenly dropped dead. He lived nineteen days and twenty-two hours without his head.
