A rooster named Mike lived for 18 months after losing his head in 1945 at a farm in Fruita, Colorado. According to some accounts, the day the ax fell Mike slept with his head under his wing. The story originally ran in an October 1945 issue of Life magazine. View more photos and read the stranger-than-fiction story at Life.com Bob Landry/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Mike hangs out with fellow chickens in his Colorado barnyard in 1945. Bob Landry/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Mike stands atop a lawn mower. Bob Landry/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

A suitcase holds the tools for feeding Mike, including an eye dropper that was used to provide sustenance through the hole where his head used to be. Bob Landry/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images