SCRANTON -- The owners of the Houdini Museum in Scranton own a parrot, appropriately named "Hocus Pocus," and the bird has a lot in common with Harry Houdini. She broke out of her cage and escaped over the weekend.
Hocus Pocus is now home thanks to a stranger's kindness and a little bit of magic.
Harry Houdini was known for pulling off some near impossible escape acts, many of which are showcased at the Houdini Museum in Scranton.
On Sunday, the museum's house pet, Hocus Pocus the parrot, pulled an escape act of her own, opening up her cage and flying from owner Dorothy Dietrich's car window.
"Apparently the cage was at such an angle that she could get right out," said Dietrich.
"Do you think she has some Houdini spirit?"
"She's a Houdini, for sure!" Dietrich replied.
"Every day when she's here, she hears all the stories and how Houdini escaped, so who knows?" added Dick Brookz.
Dietrich and her partner Dick Brookz were devastated. They searched the neighborhood for Hocus Pocus, "Hokie" for short. They hung an empty cage outside and put her picture on the museum's marquee.
"No luck, and then Amanda called us and it was like, the skies opened up. It was just great," said Brookz.
Amanda Nowalk lives about a mile away in Scranton's west side. Her neighbor spotted the colorful bird.
"So, I came out, because I love birds like that, and it flew, like, right at me and onto my shoulder and into my hair."
Nowalk saw Hocus Pocus listed as a lost pet online and called the museum and the reunion seemed like a little more than luck.
Dietrich offered a reward of a free birthday party at the museum.
Nowalk's son's birthday is this weekend.
"I felt like it was kind of a miracle, because there's a small reward and money's been really tight so it was kind of like, there can't be that many coincidences lining up."
Call it a coincidence, or magic, or something else, one thing's for sure: the story of Hokie's return home has a happy ending.
