An apport is an object that is said to appear suddenly during a seance, supposedly brought by spirits or by a medium's psychic power, sometimes passing through walls or closed containers. Apports were a popular feature of Spiritualism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many apport mediums were caught in fraud, and none has demonstrated the effect under controlled conditions.
Apports at a glance
| Term | From French apporter, "to bring" |
|---|---|
| Context | Spiritualist seances and physical mediumship |
| Peak period | Mid-19th to early 20th century |
| Typical objects | Flowers, stones, coins, jewelry, small animals |
| Opposite claim | Asport: an object made to vanish |
| Scientific status | Never demonstrated under controlled conditions |
What is an apport?
In the vocabulary of Spiritualism and psychical research, an apport is a physical object that arrives at a seance without any visible means of transport. Accounts describe flowers falling from the ceiling of a darkened room, stones dropping onto the table, jewelry appearing in a sitter's hand, or live birds and fish appearing in the medium's lap. The reverse phenomenon, in which an object is said to disappear and reappear elsewhere, is sometimes called an asport.
Believers explained apports as a kind of dematerialization: spirits or a psychic force were thought to break an object down, move it through solid matter, and reassemble it in the seance room. This was a belief rather than a tested mechanism, and it was never confirmed by physical measurement.
History in Spiritualism
Apports became part of the repertoire of physical mediums soon after modern Spiritualism spread from the United States in the 1850s. They appeared alongside table-tilting, rapping, spirit voices and materializations. Because seances were usually held in darkness or dim red light, sitters could rarely see what the medium was doing, a condition that critics repeatedly pointed out.
The phenomenon also entered the early history of Theosophy. Followers of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky reported objects appearing in her presence in India around 1880, but an investigation by Richard Hodgson for the Society for Psychical Research, published in 1885, concluded that the phenomena were staged. Theosophists disputed that report, and the argument continues among her supporters and critics.
Famous apport mediums and exposures
Several of the best-known apport mediums were caught using concealment and sleight of hand:
- Charles Bailey (1870-1947), an Australian medium, produced ancient-looking tablets and live birds; in one case the dealer who had sold him the birds recognized them.
- Anna Rothe, a German "flower medium," was seized by police in Berlin in 1902, when flowers and fruit were found hidden in her clothing; she was convicted of fraud and imprisoned.
- Heinrich Melzer, a German medium, was exposed in 1926 with small stones taped behind his ears.
Other mediums, including Maria Silbert and Lajos Pap, were also accused of producing apports by trickery. Supporters argued that some cases were never explained, but the pattern of exposures badly damaged the credibility of the phenomenon.
The skeptical and scientific view
From a scientific standpoint, apports would require matter to pass through matter or appear from nowhere, contradicting well-tested physics. Investigators therefore asked for simple controls: searching the medium and the room, sealing doors, using good light, and restraining the medium's hands and feet. When such controls were strict, apports generally stopped.
Magicians and researchers have shown that every classic apport effect can be duplicated with concealment, confederates and misdirection. Encyclopedias and reviews of psychical research note that while apports were reported often, many were proven fraudulent and none has been demonstrated under scientifically controlled conditions. The same conclusion applies to related claims such as the objects said to be thrown by a poltergeist.
Apports in modern belief and culture
Apports still appear in some contemporary Spiritualist and New Age settings, where small stones, coins or feathers found unexpectedly are sometimes interpreted as gifts from spirits or deceased relatives. For many people these are personal, symbolic experiences rather than claims meant for laboratory testing, and they are often tied to grief and remembrance.
Historians of religion study apports as part of the wider culture of Victorian seances, which mixed genuine spiritual longing, entertainment, commerce and fraud. The topic sits beside other claimed psychic abilities such as psychometry and precognition, which also lack support from controlled research.
How investigators tested apport claims
Psychical researchers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries developed a fairly standard set of precautions for seances where apports were expected. Mediums were searched or asked to change into clothing supplied by the investigators, the room was examined beforehand, doors and windows were sealed, and cabinets were inspected. Some investigators weighed the medium before and after a sitting, while others used flash photography to catch movements in the dark.
These methods mattered because the typical apport was small and easy to hide in hair, clothing, body cavities or furniture. Researchers observed that phenomena tended to be most impressive when controls were loose and to fade when they were tightened. For historians, the records of these tests are valuable in their own right: they show early attempts to apply experimental method to claims of the supernatural, and they document the techniques that fraudulent mediums used.
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Frequently asked questions
What does apport mean in Spiritualism?
In Spiritualism, an apport is an object that supposedly appears out of nowhere during a seance, brought by spirits or by a medium's psychic power. Common examples were flowers, stones, coins and small animals. The word comes from the French apporter, to bring. No apport has ever been verified under controlled scientific conditions.
Were apport mediums ever caught cheating?
Yes, many times. Anna Rothe was arrested in Berlin in 1902 with flowers and fruit hidden in her clothing, Charles Bailey's live birds were traced to the dealer who sold them, and Heinrich Melzer was found in 1926 with stones taped behind his ears. Such exposures led most investigators to regard apports as trickery.
Is there scientific evidence for apports?
No. Apports would require objects to pass through solid matter or appear from nothing, which conflicts with established physics. When investigators searched mediums, sealed rooms and used good lighting, the phenomena typically stopped. Reference works note that no medium has demonstrated an apport under scientifically controlled conditions.
Sources and further reading
This entry replaces an article from the original Mystica encyclopedia (online since 2001). It was rewritten from the sources above by The Mystica Editorial Team under our editorial standards. Last reviewed: September 30, 2026.