Frozen Turkey Comes Back To Life

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you all enjoy your turkey dinner — and that your frozen turkey doesn't come back to life.

Sioux Center News - Nov 28, 1940


Frozen Turkey Comes Back To Life
Following the snow storm Neal Spaan, Orange City hatchery man loaded up his frozen turkeys and peddled them. One customer, wanting to keep the turkey frozen for a few days put it into a snow bank and covered it with snow. When he came to dig it up the turkey lifted its head, stood up, shook off the snow and calmly walked away.
     Posted By: Alex - Thu Nov 26, 2015
     Category: Animals | Holidays | Thanksgiving | 1940s





Comments
Snow is a natural insulator & it's a constant 32°F (0°C).

Anyhow, domestic turkeys are so stupid they'd not know if they were supposed to be dead or not.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 11/26/15 at 09:17 AM
And here I thought this only happened with some frogs (not talking about Canadians).
Time though to listen to my Bob and Doug McKenzie Great White North Xmas tape.
A special Happy Turkey Day to Expat you hoser :D
Posted by BrokeDad in Midwest US on 11/26/15 at 09:38 AM
Wow, I hope that turkey got a pardon!
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 11/26/15 at 09:49 AM
I'm wondering how the frozen turkey could lift its head. The frozen turkeys I'm familiar with don't have heads.
Posted by ges on 11/26/15 at 09:54 PM
@ges -- Some birds sleep with their head under their wing to preserve warmth. I can imagine an overlooked turkey settling in with his beheaded-and-gutted-but-still-warm mates, tucking his head in, and going to sleep.
Posted by Phideaux on 11/27/15 at 01:57 AM
@Patty -- it did say he walked away. Personally, if I thought it had been beheaded and gutted, I wouldn't be anxious to chase after it -- it could be Night of the Turkey Zombies all over again!
Posted by Phideaux on 11/27/15 at 01:59 AM
I suspect all the turkeys were casualties of the snow storm, freezing to death-- or so they thought. I have to call shenanigans, though: a frozen bird will have a very different feel from one that was not, and any bird that is so frozen that it passes the 'feel test' isn't going to walk away, even if it thaws enough to be capable of mobility.
Posted by Justin S. on 11/27/15 at 05:38 AM
The birds would have huddled together as they froze. Therefore a turkey in the center of the huddle may have frozen enough to be insensate but not dead. If the birds were moved in a group and only pried apart inside where they were sent it is possible that the center bird could have sufficiently thawed to awaken and start moving around. The medical saying is you aren't dead till you are warm and dead.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 11/27/15 at 02:49 PM
@Patty: Code Black pretty good, isn't it?
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 11/27/15 at 11:50 PM
That's a great show! Did you think they'd bring Charlie back like that? I had actually heard that saying before I saw that episode but that reminded me of it. It is true though.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 11/28/15 at 12:19 AM
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