Plot
Cubby, a disheveled man who lives above several chicken stands and restaurants, has grown sick of smelling and seeing chicken all the time. One evening he wanders to a park to try to hold onto his sanity, but after a woman tells him he smells like a chicken, he snaps. He goes to the New York Public Library and checks out Spirit Summonings and Conjurations, Lochmore's Guide to the Lower Regions, and the latest volume of Who's Who and What's That. There he is approached by Egon Spengler, who is after the same books. Egon takes one look at the titles, confirms with his P.K.E. Meter that Cubby is human, and warns him the books are extremely dangerous. Cubby ignores him and runs out screaming about chickens.
Back at the firehouse, Ray Stantz works on Ecto-1 while Slimer helps Egon work through an equation in the laboratory. Meanwhile, Cubby recites an incantation from the borrowed books. In the Nether Regions, a Clerk Demon instructs the demon Morganon to answer the summoning by granting the client's wish in exchange for his soul. Morganon brings along an Imp he dislikes and appears before Cubby. When he learns that Cubby only wants to get rid of all chickens, he is dismayed at the waste of his power and suggests a better wish would be to rule France. Cubby will not be talked out of it, so Morganon compromises and grants him the power to make anything disappear or reappear at his command, then leaves having exacted an unnamed price. His Imp follows, laughing hysterically at the absurdity of the bargain.
At dawn, Cubby tests his new power on a rooftop and then removes every chicken. As vortexes teleport the birds away, he also accidentally sends off the two-ton plaster chicken statue from P.J.'s Chicken. Once all the chickens on Earth vanish, Egon remembers the man from the library. The librarian gives Egon Cubby's address, and the Ghostbusters track him down. Cubby sends them to the same dimension he sent the chickens to, dropping them miles above the ground. They fall through a cloud of chickens and, a second before hitting the rocks, are pulled into the Nether Regions. There Morganon asks the Ghostbusters to help reverse the bargain, because it has made him the laughing-stock of the Underworld. They agree and are returned home.
Egon builds some animatronic chickens and approaches Cubby again, convincing him they have returned and brought all the chickens back. Cubby, furious, tells the chickens to "go back where you came from," which sends the real chickens home to Earth. With the wish reversed, Morganon can break the contract and reclaim his power. He thanks the Ghostbusters and hints he will see one of them again; Ray, Egon, and Winston immediately turn to stare at Peter Venkman. The Ghostbusters commit Cubby to a psychiatric hospital. In the final scene, a nurse brings Cubby his dinner, but it is Morganon, and he has brought chicken.
Production
Straczynski drew on personal experience for the story. The DIC offices were next to an Amber's Chicken Kitchen, and the writer, who walked to work, was overwhelmed by the constant smell of cooking chicken until he decided to channel his frustration into a script.3 The episode was recorded on October 15, 1986.2
The story's strangeness was noted even at the time. It remains one of the show's odder and more divisive episodes, and the script reportedly led some of Straczynski's co-workers and superiors to question his mental health after he turned it in.
Trivia
Although Slimer is usually portrayed as dim, here he helps Egon complete a complex equation, suggesting an advanced grasp of math and physics, though Egon notes he misplaced a decimal. After looking over Slimer's work, Egon mentions the astrophysicist Carl Sagan.
The incantation Cubby uses to summon Morganon is mostly nonsense built from words chosen for their unusual or comic sound, with apparent nods to the Rastafari movement, the town of Walla Walla, Washington, and a pun on the Hindu god Vishnu and the phrase "wish you were here."
Other small details: the librarian wears a perfume called Essence of Fungus, which briefly catches Egon's attention; Janine Melnitz appears but has no dialogue; and as the team falls toward the ground, Egon notes they are 47 seconds from impact while it takes one minute and ten seconds to rewire a Proton Pack for alternate thrust.
"Poultrygeist", another chicken-themed episode of the series, is often confused with this one.
Quotes
Morganon: "So we made a deal, and I gave him the power to make anything vanish, and he used it on... chickens! I could've given him wealth, power, fame! But he wastes it! Wastes ME on chickens! CHICKENS!"
Peter: "What I can't figure is what do you need us for? I mean, you've fulfilled your half of the deal, why the concern?"
Morganon: "For a demon of my status to strike a bargain over... chickens... is embarrassing. It's ruining my reputation!"
Release
The episode appears on The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection DVD set as part of Volume 2, Disc 1. In broadcast order it followed "Adventures in Slime and Space" and preceded "Captain Steel Saves the Day".
References
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Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 12. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "Chicken, He Clucked" (1986).
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Benjamin, Troy & Goldberg, Craig (2025). The Real Ghostbusters: A Visual History, p. 179. Dark Horse Books, Milwaukie, OR, USA. ISBN 9781506749273.
