That Time WV Almost Had a School of Parapsychology

 

Salem College, ca 1912
Source: WV History on View

The former Salem College, located in Harrison County, WV, was chartered in December of 1888 and began its first term in April of 1889. For 70+ years, it was a small, local school offering a liberal arts education and training for future teachers. However, in the 1960's the school saw a huge expansion in both physical space and program offerings, marking the beginning of the modern-day Salem University as we currently know it. 

Part of this 1960's expansion included the development of a new Department of Psychology. Lucien Sansouci, a graduate of the University of Paris, was hired as department chairman, despite already being in his 70s at the time. As part of the new curriculum, Sansouci off-handedly suggested to the Dean that they include a parapsychology course.

Parapsychology, defined loosely as "the branch of psychology that deals with the investigation of psychic phenomena," had been studied in some form since the 1800's, but had only begun to be taken seriously as an academic discipline a decade earlier at Duke University. Sansouci, while maintain an open mind, was interested in the subject after having met researcher Karl Young in 1953, yet skeptical. He noted that many major European universities also offered courses in parapsychology. Yet, when he suggested it to the Dean, he didn't really believe he'd get the green light. 

Miraculously, the Dean agreed to the suggestion, and in 1969, the first parapsychology course in West Virginia was taught at Salem College. By 1970, Sansouci was teaching a daytime course on the college campus in addition to an adult education evening class in nearby Clarksburg. The night class alone drew anywhere from 50-60 participants, as it became apparent that there was a real interest in the subject.

Parapsychology would continue to be taught under the guidance of Lucien Sansouci for three years. Sansouci also lectured on the subject. In one incident that made local newspapers, Sansouci had given a lecture in Charleston about witchcraft and demonology. As part of his talk, he challenged any practitioners out there to hex him. One such person came forward and claimed that Sansouci would die at the ninth stroke of midnight, on September 4, 1971. Students and other onlookers crowded the lawns and windowsills around Sansouci's abode, but as the designated hour came and went, Sansouci remained alive and well. 

However, later that same fall, Sansouci retired from the Psychology Department at Salem and moved to Parkersburg, WV. Over the past three years, his interest in parapsychology continued to grow, and he intended to open up his own school dedicated solely to the subject. But by Spring of 1973, Sansouci was ready to throw in the towel and move to Boston. 

His idea of opening up a school of parapsychology was not well received. Despite his attempts at community outreach (he offered free marriage counseling to the community) and debating with local churches, he was still denounced publicly by those who claimed he was trying to start a cult. He even hired a young man to help him recruit students for his new school, but the man's wife alerted her church officials who claimed that the family would be persecuted by demons should he follow-up with such employment. The school was never opened, obviously, and West Virginia lost out on the chance of becoming a leader in parapsychology research. 

As someone who dreamed of becoming a parapsychologist from an early age, learning about what could have been, right here so close to home, is really depressing! I also wonder why the people of Harrison County seemed more open-minded than the people of Parkersburg, a city well-known for embracing its haunted history. Was it because parapsychology taught within the confines of a small school's accredited Psychology department was different somehow than a school dedicated solely to that one subject? 

Side Note: I cannot confirm with 100% accuracy that this is him, but when I was trying to find a follow-up on what happened with Lucien Sansouci, I found a Find-a-Grave listing that had some crazy newspaper articles attached. The dates match up (if this is him, he died in 1987 at the age of 90) and mention he was a reporter for a French language publication (which makes sense as his degree was from the University of Paris). Anyway, the articles claim that in 1924, Sansouci was caught spying on a meeting of the Ku Klux Klan in Rhode Island. They kidnapped him, beat him, and branded him on the arm and forehead with a 'K.' Here's the link; I'll let you decide if it's the same person or not:  Find-a-Grave for Lucien Sansouci

22 September 1970
The Raleigh Register

08 September 1971
The Raleigh Register

03 April 1973
The Weirton Daily Times

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. 

Making Spirits Bright: Paranormal Education Winter 2020

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!" I'm going to be completely honest: as a child, this cartoon is pretty close to what I imagined that line, 'making spirits bright' actually meant! I know better now, but I still like the visual of ghosts going to school. I plan on keeping MY spirits 'bright' this winter by going back to school myself and taking a few paranormal courses.

Once again, the Parapsychology Foundation will be offering their completely FREE online parapsychology MOOC.  Registration begins January 13th, with the first two lectures going live January 18th and 19th.  You can sign up and learn more about the course and scheduled speakers HERE. I've taken this course for the past few years and its always really interesting.  There are some wonderful speakers lined up, covering some fascinating topics pertaining to the field of parapsychology.

I'm also hoping to take the new paranormal investigation course offered by WVGhosts.  This course is open to Patreon subscribers, so make sure you check out the link for more information on how you can sign up! Additional courses will be offered in the future.   And as always, I'll be reading anything and everything I can get my hands on pertaining to the paranormal, watching documentaries and lectures online, listening to podcasts, and attending as many conferences, conventions, expos, and other events as time and budget allows!  I'm a huge supporter of lifelong learning, and with a field as dynamic and as diverse as the paranormal field, there is always something new to learn or something to delve into a little deeper.

In addition to doing a lil' learning myself, I'm hoping to share the paranormal knowledge with all of you!  There will be some more educational-type articles and information posted on this blog and I plan on having a few days a month on social media dedicated to scientific-based articles, lectures, and other more academic based content.  If that's not necessarily your thing....don't worry.  There will still be PLENTY of haunted places, folklore, ghost stories, weird history, and all sorts of fun stuff posted on the blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

So, are you planning on taking any courses this year to enhance your knowledge of the paranormal field?  Are you attending (or speaking at) any awesome events?  Got any cool paranormal non-fiction books you'll be reading or shows you'll be watching?  Is there a special ghost, cryptid, or UFO related topic that you're hoping to learn more about in 2020?  Let me know in the comments below, or join me over on Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State Facebook Page!

Another FREE Online Parapsychology Course!

Once again, I am taking advantage of the awesome FREE online parapsychology courses offered in conjunction with the AZIRE Academy and the Parapsychology Foundation. This year's course, which is available through the WizIQ platform, is titled: Parapsychology: Research and Investigation (ParaMOOC2018).

The live class sessions started on January 22nd and opened with a wonderful overview of the program and how to use the WizIQ platform and additional resources. This live presentation, complete with a very active live chat, was presented by Dr. Nancy Zingrone and Dr. Carlos Alvarado.

Today, another live presentation was given by Robert McLuhan concerning a wonderful resource---The Psi Encyclopedia. The Psi Encyclopedia began in 2014 as an accurate and non-biased collection of articles and data concerning psychic research/parapsychology. It is maintained by the Society for Psychical Research and now boasts over 200 articles. There's even some information on poltergeists, ghosts, and hauntings that will be of interest to most readers here!

The next live lecture isn't until Thursday, and if you're interested in taking part, there is plenty of time to still join! All the live lectures are recorded, and the recordings are usually available within a few hours of the end of the live session. The organizers of this course also provide downloadable Powerpoint presentations to accompany the lectures, as well as additional readings and resources.  Recorded talks from previous courses are also available to watch at any time.

Needless to say, I am once again stoked to have this information available for free! There's a wonderful lineup of guest presenters and topics coming up within the next several weeks and I'll try to share as much information as I can, both here and over at Theresa's Haunted History Facebook. I'm also supplementing my studies with some reading from my personal library AND plenty of YouTube videos/lectures. I'll try to share some of those as well, too. Stay spooky ya'll...and come join me on this journey of learning!

Parapsychology: Research and Investigation

FREE Parapsychology Course (January 2015)

The Rhine Research Center defines parapsychology as 'the scientific study of interactions between living organisms and their external environment that seem to transcend the known physical laws of nature.  Parapsychology is a component of the broader study of consciousness and the mind.'

It goes on to list the FIVE areas of study within parapsychology:

1. Telepathy-mind to mind communication through a means other than the normal senses.

2. Clairvoyance or Remote Viewing-knowledge of objects, people or events that are hidden via space or time.

3. Precognition-knowledge of an event that has not yet occurred, or information that appears to be transferred from the future into the present.

4. Psychokinesis (PK)-Mind interacting with matter at a distance.

5. Survival Studies-The nature of human consciousness and an examination of whether consciousness survives the physical form.  This includes mediumship research, reincarnation, out of body experiences, apparitions, and ghost activities.

Up until this point, the majority of my interests, and thus work, in the paranormal field have had a fairly narrow focus on Survival Studies, mainly ghosts, apparitions, and hauntings. However, in order to have a fuller understanding of my chosen focus area, I realize the need for a broader education of the entire parapsychology field.

Luckily, I found a wonderful, FREE opportunity!  Starting on January 5, 2015, the Parapsychology Foundation is partnering with the AZIRE to offer a free course entitled Parapsychology and Anomalistic Psychology: Research and Theory. Hosted through WizIQ, this course will consist of over 22 video lectures running almost daily through February 14th.  A partial list of speakers has been published, and there are some interesting lectures, ranging from those geared to the beginner to those very specific to certain areas of study.  The majority of speakers are associated with the Rhine Research Center in some way or another and are noted in their field as being top researchers.

This link will give you all the information you need to sign up for the course: Parapsychology MOOC

I'm excited for this and I hope some of you will join me in this endeavor!

Are you a Touch-Know?

Over a year ago, I started a very small paranormal dictionary, which I named the Paranormal ABC's, as it was not intended to be a comprehensive lexicon of paranormal terms.  For reasons unbeknownst to me, I abandoned that list before it was even halfway finished.  With Halloween coming up, and traffic to my blog steadily increasing, I felt inspired to give this another shot.  Most of these entries will NOT be fully researched articles, but offer just enough info and resources for further study to give you a good idea of some of this field's vocabulary.  I hope you enjoy!

Pam obtains information from touching Rose Red's front door.
She calls herself a "touch-know."

Among the many, many ways that psychic abilities can manifest, one of my personal favorites is the theory of psychometry.  In short, psychometry is the ability of a person to read an object's history through touch.  By touching the object, the psychometrist is able to psychically pick up impressions through visions, smells, sounds, etc.

The actual term psychometry was coined in 1842 by Joseph R. Buchanan and comes from the Greek psyche, meaning "soul" and metron, meaning "measure."  Occasionally, the phenomena is called psychoscopy in order to distinguish it from the field of study in psychology dealing with psychological testing and measurement, also called psychometry or psychometrics.  Fans of the Stephen King work Rose Red may know this ability by another name...the much more descriptive term of "touch-know."

In any event, this definition is great if you are an animist, and throughout the 1800s, WAS a widely accepted theory of paranormal phenomena.  It was even tested in the scientific community as geologist William Denton experimented with psychometric abilities of his sister, Ann Cridge.  In 1854, William wrapped up various samples from his work, and had Ann 'touch' the samples to her forehead.  Ann was able to correctly identify the samples in this manner, based on the visual psychic impressions she received.

In the early 1920s a German doctor by the name of Gustav Pagenstecher studied one of his patients who also seemed to have this unique ability.  He formed his own theory involving the idea that all matter gives off vibrations.  This "vibrations theory,"  which does have scientific research to back it up, is largely the accepted theory of today's psychometrists who are able to pick up these slight vibrations and interpret them.

Those will this ability often find that metal objects will retain the most residual energies, especially those exposed to a high degree of emotion.  That is why, even though I LOVE antique jewelry, I would NEVER wear someone else's wedding or engagement ring, lol.  Way too much emotion there to even risk trying one of the many "cleansing" rituals that are recommended, including simply running water over the object or bathing it in sea salts.  It would constantly be running through my mind whether or not the person who wore this had a happy marriage or not, and whether or not that would affect my own.  Granted, I DO watch too much paranormal themed TV/movies and psychometry, whether they mention it by name or not, is a popular theme, offering a great plot device for characters to obtain information.

I personally have also wondered about the impressions received from such objects, especially those with a LONG history of various owners.  It is my understanding that only the strongest of the recorded emotions come to the surface, so to speak.  To me, that's a little depressing, because maybe someone else's story will not get told because its not as tragic as someone else's who had the object.

I'm linking to a wonderful Paranormal About.com article on the subject, and also encourage those interested to check out the book Haunted Objects by Chris Balzano.  The book, which discusses a variety of haunted objects and theories about how they got that way, covers the haunting of objects through spirit attachments and also discusses psychometry to a degree.  However, there really is no clear distinction as to where, and if, these lines cross or interact...is the psychometrist actually picking up energies from the object itself, or is he/she being influenced by an intelligent entity wanting the story of a beloved object told?  

Let me know what YOU think!  

Psychometry


*Are you a fan of Rose Red?  Find out about the TRUE hauntings of the home where the exterior shots of this movie were filmed!  Thornewood Castle information from Theresa's Haunted History*