Shocking stories

Mike - The Headless Chicken

Mike the Headless Chicken (April 1945 – March 1947), also known as Miracle Mike, was a Wyandotte chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been mostly cut off. Thought by many to be a hoax, the bird's owner took him to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City to establish the facts of the story.

On September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, United States, had his mother-in-law around for supper and was sent out to the yard by his wife to bring back a chicken. Olsen chose a five-and-a-half-month-old cockerel named Mike. The axe missed the jugular vein, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem intact.

Despite Olsen's botched handiwork, Mike was still able to balance on a perch and walk clumsily; he even attempted to preen and crow, although he could do neither. After the bird did not die, a surprised Mr. Olsen decided to continue to care permanently for Mike, feeding him a mixture of milk and water via an eyedropper; he was also fed small grains of corn.
When used to his new and unusual center of mass, Mike could easily get himself to the highest perches without falling. His crowing, though, was less impressive and consisted of a gurgling sound made in his throat, leaving him unable to crow at dawn. Mike also spent his time preening and attempting to peck for food with his neck.

Actun Tunichil Muknal: The Crystal Maiden

Actun Tunichil Muknal (Cave of the Crystal Sepulchre), also known locally as “Xibalba” or ATM, is a cave in Belize, near San Ignacio, Cayo District, notable as a Maya archaeological site that includes skeletons, ceramics, and stoneware. There are several areas of skeletal remains in the main chamber. The best-known is "The Crystal Maiden", the skeleton of a teenage girl, possibly a sacrifice victim, whose bones have been calcified to a sparkling, crystallized appearance.

The ceramics at the site are significant partly because they are marked with "kill holes", which indicates they were used for ceremonial purposes. Many of the Mayan artifacts and remains are completely calcified to the cave floor. One artifact named the “Monkey Pot” is one of just four found in Central America. The Mayans also modified cave formations here, in some instances to create altars for the offerings, in others to create silhouettes of faces and animals, or to project a shadow image into the cave. The cave is extensively decorated with cave formations in the upper passages.

Animal life in the cave includes a large population of bats, large freshwater crabs, crayfish, catfish and other tropical fish. Large invertebrates like Amblypygi and various predatory spiders also inhabit the cave. Agouti and otters may also use the cave. These and many other species are quite common in river caves of this size in Belize.

John Watts Young: Astronaut who smuggled a sandwich into space

John Watts Young is a retired American astronaut. He was the ninth person to walk on the Moon.In 1962 he was signed to travel in the Gemini spacecraft along with Gus Grissom. In 1965 he went into his space mission and he was able to score a “first” by being the first man who ever smuggled a corned beef sandwich onto the spacecraft a feat for which he was reprimanded.

This sandwich incident had repercussions since NASA started doubting about sending to future missions into space. However, he was able to enjoy a lot more trips into space and took lead on many exciting missions in outer space.

After working for NASA for 42 years he finally retired on December 31st of 2004, at the age of 74, allowing him to start a new life.

Hinterkaifeck: Germany's Most Famous Cold Case

The Hinterkaifeck murders are one of the most chilling and mysterious crimes in German history. The Gruber family was composed of Andreas, his wife Cazilia, their widowed adult daughter Viktoria, and her children, little Cazilia and Josef. They also had a maid named Maria Baumgartner in their employ (poor Maria only worked one day before she was killed; the previous maid had left because she believed the house was haunted).

They lived on a little farmstead called Hinterkaifeck, around 40 miles from Munich.Andreas reported some mysterious circumstances to neighbors in late March of 1922; he’d seen a set of footprints leading from the forest toward his farm, but none heading back. Even stranger, he heard footsteps in his attic and found a strange newspaper. A set of housekeys went missing. And then, on March 31, the entire family was murdered in the barn, one by one, with a pickaxe. They were found a few days later.

It was determined that whoever had done the killing remained on the farm for awhile; the neighbors saw smoke from the chimney, and the animals were fed. While police initially believed the motive was robbery, they dismissed the idea when a large amount of cash was found in the house.To this day, no one knows who murdered the Grubers. The Munich Police Department investigated for decades, but no suspect was never brought to justice. Some believe the killer was Viktoria’s husband Karl Gabriel, who’d been branded killed in action during trench warfare during World War I. Karl’s body was never found.

The Lizzie Borden Trial

On August 4, 1892, Andrew Borden had breakfast with his wife and made his usual rounds of the bank and post office, returning home about 10:45 am. The Bordens' maid, Bridget Sullivan, testified that she was in her third-floor room, resting from cleaning windows, when just before 11:10 am she heard Lizzie call out, "Maggie, come quick! Father's dead. Somebody came in and killed him." (Sullivan was sometimes called "Maggie", the name of an earlier maid).

Andrew was slumped on a couch in the downstairs sitting room, struck 10 or 11 times with a hatchet-like weapon. One of his eyeballs had been split cleanly in two, suggesting he had been asleep when attacked. Soon after, as neighbors and doctors tended Lizzie, Sullivan discovered Abby Borden in the upstairs guest bedroom, her skull crushed by 19 blows. Police found a hatchet in the basement which, though free of blood, was missing most of its handle. Lizzie was arrested on August 11; a grand jury began hearing evidence on November 7 and indicted on December 2. To this day, the story is shrouded in mystery.

Lizzie’s behavior after the murders was very suspicious and she and the family maid were the only people home at the time of the horrific incident. At the time, nobody could believe that a young woman would be so vicious and evil as to murder her own parents. Eventually, the prosecutors were unable to prove that Lizzie was guilty. She was acquitted and allowed to go free. The murders were never solved.

Attack on Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II meets Mehmet Ali Agca (the man who tried to assassinate him) in Rome's Rebibbia prison on 27 Dec 1983/Vatican photo.

Pope John Paul II was shot four times at point blank range, by professional assassin Mehmet Ali Agca of Turkey. Ağca was apprehended immediately, and later sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court. The Pope later forgave Ağca for the assassination attempt. John Paul II and Ağca spoke privately for about twenty minutes. John Paul II said, "What we talked about will have to remain a secret between him and me. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust.″He was pardoned by Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi at the Pope’s request and was deported to Turkey in June 2000.

Ağca was released from jail on January 18, 2010. He served 19 years in prison in Italy, and a further 10 in Turkey, before being eventually released.

Jon Brower Minnoch: Heaviest Man in History

Jon Brower Minnoch (29 September 1941[2] – 10 September 1983) was an American man who, at his peak weight, was the heaviest human being ever recorded, weighing approximately 1400 lb (634 kg, 100 stone). This figure was only a close estimation, however, because his extreme size, poor health, and lack of mobility prevented use of a scale.

At the age of 12, Minnoch weighed 294 lbs (132 kg, 21 stone), and by age 22 he was 6'1" ft height and weighed 392 lbs (178 kg, 28 stone)

Minnoch's weight continued to increase steadily until his hospitalization in March 1978 at age 37 due to cardiac and respiratory failure. That same year, he broke a record for the greatest difference in weight between a married couple when he married his 110-lb wife Jeannette and later fathered two children. Minnoch was diagnosed with massive generalized edema, a condition where the body accumulates excess extracellular fluid. Upon his hospital admission, it was estimated by endocrinologist Dr. Robert Schwartz that over 900 lbs (408 kg) of his overall body mass was retained fluid.

Transportation for Minnoch was extremely difficult. It took over a dozen firemen and rescue personnel, a specially modified stretcher, and a ferry boat to transport him to University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. There, he was placed on two beds pushed together, and it took 13 people simply to roll him over for linen changes.
He died weighing 798 pounds with a BMI of 105.3

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