An apport is an object that has been transferred from one place to another and is often associated with a séance. Apports can be living or inanimate objects. Fruits, flowers, coins and other small items have been recorded as appearing. Some apport experiences are more unique than others. Today, I will discuss three such experiences.

Mrs. Maud Lord-Drake was born in 1852, in Marion County, West Virginia. Her father was a Baptist deacon and her mother a Methodist. Maud became a direct voice medium known for clairvoyance, clairaudience and psychometry. She worked for 65 years, and reportedly produced materializations in daylight, music from a levitated guitar, and independent voices and singing. She was invited to Buckingham Palace and gave two readings to Queen Victoria.

In her book, Maud recounts a particularly interesting event. Captain Bronson, a skeptic of mediumship and psychic phenomena attended one of her séances. Maud materialized the spirit of his sister, much to the captain’s surprise. The sister wore two rings, one he had given her set with rubies and pearls and her wedding band. When she died, she was buried in Keokuk, Iowa with both rings. During the séance, the sister gave the captain the ring he had gifted to her. Disturbed by the event, the captain couldn’t  rest until his sister’s coffin was opened to see if it was really the same ring. When they opened the coffin, they found that the ring was no longer on her hand. He placed it back on her finger.

Maurice Barbanell was an English journalist and medium who received communications from his spirit guide, Silver Birch. Barbanell and others founded Psychic News in 1932 and he edited the paper from 1932 to 1946, and again in 1962. In his book, Psychic Light, Barbanell relates the story of Mrs. Miller and the study door key.

A few weeks after his death, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle came to medium Mrs. Caird Miller with a message for his wife. He gave his wife’s phone number to Mrs. Miller, but at that time his wife was receiving so many false claims she didn’t believe the medium. Conan Doyle insisted that Mrs. Miller continue to try to reach his wife. She was instructed to have a spirit-photo taken and Conan Doyle’s face appeared beside her. Still, his wife wanted more proof.  Mrs. Miller found a key on her pillow a few days later. Conan Doyle informed her that it was the key to his study. Mrs. Miller called his son Denis this time. When she told him what had happened, he drove 40 miles to pick up the key. When he returned, he found that the key did fit the study door.

The Scole Experiment took place between 1993 and 1998. It was led by four core members, Robin and Sandra Foy and Alan and Diana Bennett. Trials took place in the cellar of Foy’s 17^th century farmhouse located in the village of Scole in northeast England. Their first apport was a Churchill Crown which appeared in October 1993. The following month, several apports were found in their séance room. More than 70 apports were received during the Scole sessions. 

One apport which garnered a great deal of attention was what appeared to be an original copy of the Daily Express newspaper, dated Monday 28th May 1945. The apported Daily Express was printed on the same type of paper used in the 1940s, but there was no sign of yellowing which would have occurred if it was an original. Interestingly, although carefully stored away from light and air, the paper turned yellow in just a few weeks’ time.

Barbanell, Maurice (1959) This is Spiritualism. Psychic Book Club, London

Lord-Drake, Maud (1903) Psychic Light: The Continuity of Law and Light. Reprint 2010 Kessinger Legacy Publications.

Solomon, Grant & Jane Solomon (1999) The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidnece of Life After Death. Judy Piakus Publishers, LTD, England.

If you enjoyed this blog, check out my collection, Treasures from the Spirit World.