APORTS
An aport is an object that materializes from nowhere, as if by magic, and it may be the most mysterious and rarest of all poltergeist phenomena. I remember reading about the Beaird case, described below, in a Hans Holzer book when I was a teenager, and it has stayed with me my entire life and is one of the astonishing cases that led me to study this field.
Whether the objects literally materialize out of thin air or are gathered and carried some impossible distance by the unseen force, here are a few remarkable apart cases:
In the Bell Witch case, when mother Lucy Bell fell ill, the poltergeist expressed sympathy for her, then showered her with hazel nuts. Later, again seemingly from nowhere, a basket of fresh fruit materialized, which included oranges and bananas.
It was also observed that Lucy Bell, in her illness, would vomit, but at least on one occasion the vomit contained dozens of pins and needles! Very strange, but not unique. In a poltergeist case recorded in the book Sadducismus Triumphatus in 1682, Mary Longdon was afflicted with showers of stones, even while indoors, and also would vomit pins and needles. She blamed the weirdness on a curse placed on her by a witch.
In a case investigated by the late, great Hans Holzer, the Beaird house of Tyler, Texas documented strange aports in the early 1960s. The various manifestations might have been psychokinetic phenomena brought about by Mrs. Baeird - named Johnnie, but called John - who was mentally ill and either confined to her room or away from the house when these events occurred:
- hundreds of dead June bugs were thrown into the faces of Mr. Baeird and his son Andy at night - "dead so long that they were crisp and would crumble between our fingers," Baeird said
- they were later similarly pelted with wood lice (what are commonly called pill bugs, the kind that roll up into a ball when touched), which do not fly, but that struck the Beairds "as if they were shot out of a gun"
- then slimy slugs were thrown around the house
- handwritten notes from John materialized out of thin air, sometimes in response to questions
- dozens upon dozens of notes materialized "from right out of nowhere, simply materializing out of midair, some folding themselves as they came toward us."
(For all of the incredible details of this case, see the book Ghosts: True Encounters with the World Beyond by Hans Holzer, the chapter called "The Devil in Texas.")
This is just a small sampling of the number, variety and severity of poltergeist cases. If you want more detailed information about the above cases and many, many others, I highly recommend the following books.
Sources:
- Poltergeist: A Study in Destructive Haunting by Colin Wilson
- Poltergeists and Other Hauntings by Rupert Matthews
- Ghosts: True Encounters with the World Beyond by Hans Holzer
- Ghosts, Apparitions and Poltergeists by Brian Righi
