Lloyd Olsen

Mike the headless Chicken

Mike's tormentor Lloyd Olson with Mike

Mike's tormentor Lloyd Olson with Mike

Lloyd "Make mine a Mike!" Olson, was a previously unknown farmer in Fruita, Colorado until the evening of Monday, September 10, 1945 when his inept axemanship thrust him into the limelight when he failed to kill a cockerel called Mike when attempting to cut its head off.

Although the head was removed, Mike (soon to become known as the Headless Chicken - with the irritating catchphrase of "Mike, Mike where's your head - even without it you're not dead") remained alive for an amazing 18 months.

Commercially aware of the freak he had created, he set out to milk the Mike market and was soon earning $4,500 per month from exhibiting Mike; this gravy train went on until March 1947, when Mike choked to death in a Phoenix motel room. Lloyd's gravy train had ended.

Whilst Mike continues to have an influence in modern Fruita, Olson's personal legacy remains more obscure.

External links

• Mike's website
• Fruita city homepage