Pigeon 167

Myers Hospital in Philippi
Source: WV History on View

One of the many strange and fascinating topics I like reading about is how afterlife studies play into the field of parapsychology as a whole. Earlier this year, I finally finished The Signet Handbook of Parapsychology, a collection of parapsychology articles edited by Martin Ebon on a variety of different subtopics within the genre. Included in the lengthy tome was a chapter on ESP ability in animals, in particular a paper by J.B. Rhine and Sara R Feathers entitled "The Study of 'Psi Trailing' in Animals." This paper first appeared in the Journal of Parapsychology Volume 26, No. 1 March 1962 edition and discussed the fascinating phenomenon of animals (namely, domesticated pets) who were able to trail their owners across vast distances using nothing but, presumably, psi abilities.

To be honest, I wasn't super interested in this chapter. It had the usual heart-warming tales of dogs and cats that traveled cross-country to be reunited with family that had moved away and left them behind, sometimes YEARS later. A common thread within these tales, noted by the authors, is that in many cases where this 'psi-trailing' was suspected, it was just really hard to PROVE. While the owners of the animals were convinced that they had found their missing pet, there was just really no way to be sure in many cases. So, I was only half-heartedly reading this chapter, not paying too much attention, when I came to the information about Pigeon 167.

The story of Pigeon 167 grabbed my attention right off the bat because this story takes place right here in West Virginia! 

According to the source, around 1939 a 12 year old boy (identified as H.B.P.) from Summersville, WV had found a homing pigeon in his backyard. The pigeon wasn't in great shape, so the boy fed it and nursed it back to health, and he and the pigeon became fast friends. The pigeon, although obviously owned by someone (it had an identifying band on its leg reading AV39 C&W 167) stayed with the boy and became his pet. 

Ripley's Believe It or Not
Weekend Daily Reporter
4 November 1967

Sometime later (sources seem to say April 1940), the boy, who was also identified as being an 8th grade honor student and son of a local sheriff, had to be taken to the hospital for an operation. The hospital he was taken to was Myers Memorial Hospital in Phillippi, WV---105 miles away! He had been there about a week, when one dark, snowy night he heard fluttering and scratching at his hospital window. He called the nurse, who opened the window for him, just to humor him. In hopped a pigeon!

When prompted by the boy, the nurse did confirm the fact that the pigeon had a band around its leg reading 167. He was allowed to keep the pigeon in a box in his hospital room and when his parents arrived a few days later to visit, they were hesitant to share with him that his pet bird had recently flew away. But all was well when they realized that the pigeon was safe and sound; he had found his way to their son's hospital room!

This case garnered quite a bit of attention. The boy would later be identified as Hugh Brady Perkins, and the little pigeon would come to be known as 'Billy.' Their story was featured on a Columbia radio program called Strange As it Seems and Ripley's Believe it or Not even ran a comic strip telling the tale of the brave little pigeon who flew across the state of West Virginia to find his friend who was in the hospital. More importantly, however, this case was actually seen as pretty significant in the argument for psi trailing ability in animals. Here we finally have an animal that we can reasonably PROVE is the animal in question. Billy was confirmed to have been at the Summersville residence after Hugh was taken to the hospital, so we can rule out the idea that he followed the car there. As far as anyone could tell, Billy had never been to Phillippi, so it's remarkable that he not only found his way there---but found his way to the correct hospital window!

I can't say for sure that the psychic bond between a young boy and his pet bird was the cause behind Billy being able to find Hugh's hospital window in that snowstorm, 100+ miles away, but I'd like to think its the reason. It certainly left an impression on researcher, J.B. Rhine, and is a case that is still cited today in parapsychology texts making a case for the psi-trailing ability of animals.