Two-Headed Calf, Shrunken Head
Covington, Kentucky
The stuffed two-headed calf at the Behringer-Crawford Museum has become that institution's icon. The museum calls it "emblematic" and bestows a Two Headed Calf Award at an annual dinner "for accomplishments in history, education, and community service."
Another visitor favorite is the museum's shrunken head, part of a collection of oddities gathered by museum namesake William Behringer, who's described by a museum sign as a "self-educated naturalist and taxidermist." When he died in 1948 his family gave his relics to the city, which opened the museum on July 5, 1950.
The calf was acquired later, by the museum's other namesake, Ellis Crawford. It was born in 1916 in Decatur, Ohio, and, unlike other two-headed calves, this one also had two tails, two hearts, two brains, and six legs. According to Laurie Risch, the museum's Executive Director, the calf's previous owner was a local tavern, where it stood for 40 years before it was purchased by Crawford. Its legs later fell off, and the calf has rested on its belly since the mid-1980s.
The calf was originally named Dido, but a contest among local schoolchildren came up with the name Udder Chaos.
The primary focus of the Behringer-Crawford Museum is regional history, art, and culture, and for 16 years (1991-2007) the calf and the head were "retired" and in storage. The museum didn't give them much thought until it began logging the questions asked by visitors of its staff. What the museum found was that the most frequently asked question was, "Where is the two-headed calf?" The second was, "Where is the shrunken head?"
They've been back on display ever since.