An apport is an object that has been transferred from an outside place into a séance circle. Objects can range from inanimate things such as jewelry or coins, to living organisms like flowers or live animals. The first recorded apport appeared in the Researches psychologique ou correspondencesur le magnetisme vital entre un Solitaire et M. Deleuze, published in 1839.
Several physical mediums have been known for their flower and fruit apports. Madame d’Esperance, born Elizabeth Hope, grew up in London where she claimed to live in a haunted house. She became a Spiritualist medium in the early 1870s and displayed a variety of physical abilities, including automatic writing, creating ecoplasm, and table turning. Madame traveled throughout Europe giving séances and was famous for materializing flowers and spirits.
Many of her flower apports were very impressive. During one documented account in 1880 at the home of Mr. Oxley of Manchester, she directed a Mr. Reimers to pour water and sand into a carafe until it was about half full. Elizabeth placed it on the floor and covered it with a shawl from her shoulders. While the circle participants sang, the shawl rose higher and higher. Once it stopped, she uncovered the carafe and they discovered a full-grown plant with roots planted firmly in the sand. As they watched, it bloomed, producing a five-inch diameter flower. The plant was found to be native of India, an Ixora Crocata. It was photographed and lived for three months before it shriveled up.
Agnes Guppy-Volckman was born Agnes White in London in 1838. She married Spiritualist, Samuel Guppy, in 1867. After his death in 1875, she married William Volckman. During her seances, she took requests from circle members. Alfred Russel Wallace wrote that his friend asked for a sunflower, and one six-feet high fell upon the table, roots and all. Georgina Houghton testified before the London Dialectical Society in 1869 that she was a member of a circle of eighteen ladies and a gentleman who witnessed Guppy-Volckman produce “a banana, two oranges, a bunch of white grapes, a bunch of black grapes, a cluster of filberts, three walnuts, about a dozen damsons, a slice of candied pineapple, three figs, two apples, an onion, a peach, some almonds, four very large grapes, three dates, a potato, two large pears, a pomegranate, two crystallized greengages, a pile of dried currants, a lemon, and a large bunch of raisins.”
Minnie Harrison was born in 1895 in England, one of eleven children who were all said to possess mediumistic abilities. When she was a teen, she was already adept at clairvoyance and clairaudience. During seances, fresh flowers were commonly apported as gifts from the spirits to the sitters. Over the years, she apported hundreds of flowers, as well as a badge with the image of Andrew Jackson Davis, a button from the Royal Artillery uniform, and a red cloth British Legion poppy.
Not all mediums who claim to produce apports are trustworthy. Anna Rothe was born in Germany in 1850 and developed mediumship talent after the death of her daughter’s fiancé in 1892. Along with visions, Rothe specialized in producing large quantities of flowers and fruits. Her mediumistic career ended abruptly when police discovered flowers and oranges hidden in her petticoat. Heinrich Melzer, who was born in Dresden in 1873, materialized stones and flowers in his seances for over thirty years. When tested by a scientific team, he couldn’t reproduce his results. He was exposed as a fraud in 1926 when small stones were found attached to the back of his ears with flesh-colored tape.
Additional Reading:
Harrison, Tom (1989) Visits By Our Friends From The “Other Side” (Swanland: SNPP, 1989), p.6.
Harrison, Tom (2008) Life After Death, 2nd ed. Saturday Night Press Publications, UK
Houghton, Georgiana (1882) Evenings at Home in Spiritual Séance. E.W. Allen, London
Palmer, E. Clephan (2003). The Riddle of Spiritualism. Kessinger Publishing. Whitefish, MT
Podmore, Frank (2011, reprint edition). Modern Spiritualism: A History and a Criticism, Volume 2. Cambridge University Press.
TRIAL OF GERMAN MEDIUM; Frau Rothe Sentenced to Eighteen Months’ Imprisonment. Produced Beautiful Flowers at Her Seances — Remarkable Evidence — How the Police Exposed the Woman. Foreign Correspondence NEW YORK TIMES. APRIL 11, 1903
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