Covington, Kentucky: Two-Headed Calf, Shrunken Head

Freak oddities collected by the founders of a local history museum are among its most popular relics. Also on display: cow hairball.

The two-headed calf and shrunken head are back in place on the top floor, although we didn't see any calf souvenirs in the gift shop. Other wonders include a wreath made of chicken feather flowers and one made of human hair (with helpful notes in pencil detailing where the hair is from...Grandma, for example). On the ground floor there is a massive train/trolley set where you can crawl underneath and pop your head up through a bubble like a giant gopher.

Laurie Risch, Executive Director of the Behringer-Crawford Museum, explained to us what distinguishes her establishment's 2-head calf from most of the others in museums and truck stops around the country...

"Rather than two heads attached to one body, our calf is instead two bodies, like Siamese twins, that didn't completely separate." The freak animal is part of a display about the history of the museum, which began as an accumulation of natural history curiosities by the late William Berringer. For years the calf had been allowed to deteriorate. Risch said "it was in horrible shape, the legs were gone." Now what's left of the calf is more carefully preserved, "stable, on its belly."

The northern Kentucky museum is dedicated to regional history, art and culture. But visitors can seek out the heritage rarities, such as the calf, a shrunken head, and a giant hair ball, that helped give the museum its start in 1950. "The hairball is all shellacked together, with an original label initialed by W.B. by Berringer."

"It's our history," Risch said.

For years, the most popular exhibits at the Behringer-Crawford Museum in Covington, Kentucky, were its two-headed calf and shrunken head. In 1991, however, the two were removed and put in closet somewhere....