The psychic or spiritualist term, apport, is derived from the French word, apport, meaning the “action of bringing” or a “thing brought.” An apport is an object that has been transferred from an outside place into a séance circle or room and is associated with poltergeist activity or seances. An asport is just the opposite. In this case, the object vanishes and is found elsewhere. Objects can range from inanimate things such as jewelry or coins, to living organisms like flowers or live animals.
The first recorded observation of an apport appeared in the Researches psychologique ou correspondencesur le magnetisme vital entre un Solitaire et M. Deleuze, published in 1839. Dr. G. P. Billot witnessed a dove flying around the room during a seance. It dropped a packet on the table. Inside, Billot found three pieces of paper with a small bone glued to each. Beneath was written, “St. Maxime, St. Sabine and Many Martyrs.”
Marchioness Centurione Scotto, member of an old Genoa family, held seances in Millesimo Castle. At one séance a pair of earrings transported into the room following the appearance of a trumpet with a phosphorus band. The trumpet turned its large end up to fit against the ceiling. The earrings dropped into the instrument with a thumping sound.
Reverend C.L. Tweedale was a clergyman and author of an important psychic work, Man’s Survival After Death, published in 1921. He reported numerous cases of objects appearing out of thin air. He described an incident which involved his mother, his wife and himself. His wife had just parted his mother’s hair to examine a wound. In the opposite corner of the room a jar of ointment which had been locked away in a chest in another room appeared. Apparently, it was to be used as a treatment.
More recently documented apport experiences were reported during the Scole Experiments which took place in the 1990s in England. For the objects to appear in their closed cellar testing room, they would have to pass through the walls, and maybe even through time. The Scole Group reported that “the arrival of an apport was announced by the sound of a loud thud, either on the floor or on the table.”
The first apport was a coin, a Churchill Crown, which appeared in October 1993. During the next month, a silver thimble, two small silver lockets, a silver chain bracelet, and a St. Christopher medallion were among some of the apports that appeared. More than 70 apports in all were received during the Scole Experimental sessions. See photo on left.
One apport which created a great deal of discussion among the researchers was what appeared to be a new looking copy of the Daily Express newspaper, dated Monday 28th May 1945. It was printed on the type of paper used in the early- and mid-1940s with ink used at the time, but there was no sign of the usual yellowing which would have occurred if it was original. Interestingly, just a few weeks after the paper appeared, although carefully stored away from light and air, it turned yellow.
For Scole Apports click here.