HOLY COW!

Dolly was a lovable mature lady.  She had traveled around the United States showing off her unusual body.  From California to Pennsylvania to Dublin, Georgia, Dolly Thomson (no relation) was a biological wonder of the world.

As you will see, Dolly was not a show-stopping singer or a fantastic dancer.  Dolly was a bovine, a cow for those of you who are not biologists.  What made Dolly remarkable was her face, or should I say faces.  Dolly was born with one body, two heads, three horns,  four eyes, four legs, and a solitary flapping tail.    

Dolly drew huge crowds at county and state fairs, circuses, and any available empty lots in small towns and road side stops across the country. Dolly showed her stuff in all 48 states, Canada,  the 1939 World’s Fair,  and the World’s Fair in Santiago, Chile.  

Dolly was born on April 4, 1936 , at Blue Ribbon Dairy in San Diego, California  coming into this world weighing 180 pounds (a world record at the time) as two conjoined twins.  Although the two cows,  one a baby bull and the other a baby heifer, The animal went by the name of just Dolly, as her internal organs were female.  Dolly had a male head with horns on the left side of her head and a female head on her right side. Oddly, Dolly had three horns, one a cow horn and two other bull horns,)   which formed a equilateral triangle.  All four of Dolly’s eyes blinked in unison.   Her owner claimed that Dolly smelled with both noses and looked at you with all four of her eyes.   

By the age of twelve, Dolly had grown to 2500 pounds.  Thomson continued to offer $100,000.00 for anyone who presented a more odd cow. 

Dolly was a hit on the exhibition circuit from the time that they were nine days old.  Around the world,  Dolly amazed onlookers for a decade and a half.   If you dropped your coins in a box, Dolly’s handlers would point out several Pareidolia.  If you had to look it up, like I did, Pareidolia are objects which a person sees other objects, for examples seeing  a dog in a cloud formation. On their right side Dolly’s natural hair was  an outline of the map of North America, a dog, and two birds. On the left side was a camel, a lamb and other markings, which some say included a a map of the United States, a seagull, a woodpecker, and a two-headed dog.  

Dolly was said by breeders to be one-fourth Guernsey, one-fourth  Red Poll, and one-half Holstein. 

The famous actor, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.,  told King George V of England that during Fairbanks’ seven trips around the world, that Dolly the cow, was the greatest living sight that he had ever seen.  Albert Einstein, perhaps the most brilliant scientist and mathematician was quoted as stating, “The world may see another Dolly in five hundred years.  Einstein calculated that a cow like Dolly would be born in once in every  eight billion births.  

On her last trip on the exhibition trail, Dolly began to show the effects of pneumonia. For five agonizing days, the fifteen-year-old oddity fought for her life.

Thomson brought Dolly into Dublin, Georgia to see if the local vets could help his beloved bovine.  The doctors tried their best, but to no avail.  Dolly died here on January 6, 1952.

Dolly was managed by the Thomson family, including J. Elvin (Dolly’s first owner, and Mr. And Mrs. C.F. Thomson, C.S. Thomson, Ida Mae Thomson, and Carol Thompson. 

The bereaved Californian C.S. Thomson immediately summoned an Atlanta taxidermist rushed to Dublin to pick up Dolly to preserve her miraculous body for posterity and to keep showing her off.    

The legend of Dolly has long been forgotten.  Perhaps in a dark corner in some out of the way obscure r0adside museum in the United States, Dolly and her miraculous two heads can be found. If  you find her, tell Dolly hello.