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In the case of Vachendorf in 1948, appraised by the IGPP Institute in Friburg-en-Brisgau, Professor Hans Bender reported his interview with witnesses:

When we questioned her, the old woman was still deeply impressed by these ordeals. She told me that in the morning she had picked up the tools that were scattered throughout the room. She put them back in their box, and then sat down and said, "Now you'll stay here." She assured us that while she was still sitting on the box, the tools had again been scattered, one by one, in the various corners of the room. My colleague photographed her as she recounted this, and her expression seems to reflect consternation and astonishment. It was the first time that a  seemingly credible testimony confronted me with the problem of the penetration of matter through matter, or the sudden appearance of objects from an enclosed place. (Bender, 1969)

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In the case of Nickleim in 1968, Professor Bender himself had the following experience:

My own observations also make this penetration of matter through matter likely. I had the whole family under control in the kitchen. My coat was hanging, not far away, in a  small wardrobe. The tape recorder was on. At that moment, Brigitte heard the cat meowing outside the front door. His  mother went to open it to him. She ran back and said, "Your coat is outside, carefully resting on the snow next to the stairs." It was very cold, and the door had remained continuously closed. We controlled the times, and according to the tape recorder, the mother was absent from the kitchen for exactly eight and a  half seconds. We then controlled how long it would take to rush from the kitchen to the wardrobe, take the coat, walk down the stairs and put the garment on the snow. The most efficient person, after several attempts, manages to carry out these operations in twenty-one seconds. So it seemed that the cloak had been teleported (Bender, 1969).

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In the case of Neudorf in 1952, nail rains were repeated 16 times in 45 minutes; the nails came from a locked cabinet in the basement (Bender, 1969).

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At South Shields in 2006, this time it was a three-year-old child (Robert) who was moved from his upstairs bedroom to a  closet in the parents' room (upstairs too), surrounded in a blanket (Ritson, 2020).

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In 1919 in Coimbra in Portugal, two parents (Mr. and Mrs. Homem Christo), after attempting to shoot with a revolver at an invisible entity, found the cradle of their child empty. The mother fainted, and the father, after a search of the house, found the baby one floor below, completely stripped of his swaddling clothes, in the middle of a marble table (Lacombe-Frondoni, 1910).

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In the Australian case of Tarcutta in 1949, a milking machine belonging to dairy farmer Laurence Wilkinson malfunctioned in a weird and dramatic way: its metal pulsator plates (368 g) repeatedly and inexplicably vanished and landed up to 250 yards from the shed. On landing, they either buried themselves in the ground or tore two-foot-long, one-inch-deep (60 x 2.5 cm) scars in the earth. More than 20 adults were witnesses. A technician from the company examined the milking machine and found it worked perfectly (Healy & Cropper, 2014, Chapter 3).

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In the Indian case of Poona in 1920 reported in the form of a diary by Mrs Kohn and published by Harry Price:

I went out, leaving on my table a tightly closed screw-top aluminum "safety" inkpot, containing a glass bottle of "Swan" ink. By this elaborate device I had hoped to surpass the cunning of the malicious "spirits." I returned to the house at precisely five pm. The very instant before I entered the house, there had been a crash. The "Swan" glass bottle had broken into innumerable pieces, which I saw scattered over the floor of my room; and the entire floor was a  mass of freshly spilt ink. The aluminum outer inkpot was nowhere to be seen! I involuntarily looked upwards, as so many objects have been seen to descend from above during our experiences of the past few months. I called out jokingly: "I do hope the spirit will throw back the pot, it cost me one rupee eight annas!" No sooner had I finished speaking than I saw the missing inkpot appear in mid-air, at a distance of roughly six inches from the ceiling of my room. It fell on to the bed. I rushed to examine it, and found it as tightly screwed as when I had closed it that afternoon. So the bottle of ink had gone from a closed aluminum container. (Price & Kohn, 1930, p. 182)

In the same case, eggs got out one by one from a closed cupboard, with several witnesses:

Saturday,  June 30 th. At eight a.m. my sister bought four dozen eggs, which were counted, and put in a basket in the food cupboard in the dining room. Almost immediately one egg shot in our direction from the direction of the (closed) cupboard, and smashed. We took the basket out of the cupboard, and ascertained that one egg was missing. I had no sooner gathered up the eggshell and washed the stain from the floor than a second egg came violently from the opposite direction, i.e. not as if coming from the cupboard, and smashed near the spot where the first egg had smashed. We again counted the remaining eggs, and ascertained that a second egg was missing. My sister D., whom we were closely observing, had not approached the cupboard during this time, and therefore could not possibly have had any hand in the mischief. At eleven a.m.,  two more eggs were broken in the same manner, and a fifth egg at seven p.m. (Price & Kohn, 1930, p. 182)

Also, three one-rupee pieces fell in rapid succession, apparently from near the ceiling. Mrs. Kohn examined her handbag, from which this amount was missing. Finally, this case, among other astonishing events, talks about an event looking like a teleportation of Mrs Kohn's little nephew:

He was playing in the compound. He chanced to be alone for a moment. After a  few minutes he came into the house to my sister, looking dreadfully pale and frightened, and scarcely able to speak. He reported that he had felt himself lifted from the compound into the motorcar which stands in the shed. His eyes had been closed. When he had opened them, he found himself on the front seat of the car. When he came out of the shed, he had to pull aside the "chick" which forms the door to the shed. Though a  few minutes before, he had been in the best of health, he was now very sick. He made 10 movements in an hour and a  half. A doctor was called at once, who said that the child was completely physically exhausted. His pulse was almost gone, and his eyes were rolling. He was unable to eat for several days, and was quite thin and weak. As he had not previously eaten any overripe fruit, or anything else which, according to the doctor, could have produced the condition he was in, the doctor decided that his condition was due purely to the great fright he had felt (Price & Kohn, 1930, p. 181).

In materialization phenomena, liquids are also found, mainly water in the form of small puddles on the ground or on furniture, as in the case of Bothell House in 2012 (Linder, 2018). Hans Bender also reported a case where several houses were concerned by the same phenomena in Scherfede in 1972 : 

Small puddles of water appeared first in the bathroom, then in the kitchen and in other rooms.  Mechanics checked the water pipes and the heating tubes but could not find any leakage. Then humid spots showed on the walls,  carpets became wet but underlying structures proved to be dry.  Pools of water also appeared outside the house and several times the outer walls were wet. (Bender, 1974, p. 138) 

But sometimes real rain falls from the ceiling, as with the Gardner family in the Rochdale case in 1995 {Clarkson, 2011}, or water jets come out of the walls, as in the case of Laurence and Methuen in 1963 in Massachusetts : 

The family noticed a wet spot on the wall of their T.V. room. A few moments later, they heard a pop, like a  firecracker, and water squirted from the wall. After several days, there was so much moisture in the house that the family had to abandon it for a night and move to the home of a  relative. Five people have seen the strange phenomena. (Bayless, 1967, p. 99) 

The entire apartment was checked by the fire depart-ment and the infrastructure services of the building with-out finding a plausible explanation. Some cases show other liquids as in Ancona in Italy in 1903 in the house of the Attorney General Mr. Marracino, where all kinds of liquids (milk, wine, coffee) were con-stantly spread on the floor (Rogo, 1979, p. 184). 

Until now we have talked about phenomena related to places (houses, workshops, etc.) and objects contained in those places. However, many poltergeist cases present "rain of objects" effects outside, and sometimes even apported inside while the various openings (doors,windows) are closed, as if they were teleported from the outside (see also next paragraph on teleportation). The objects are mostly stones, but all kinds of projectiles have been encountered, including pieces of tiles, rubble, clods of earth, excrement, or bolts that can be found in the environment of the house or the city.

Although in all these cases, the first thing was to test the intervention of pranksters using manual jets or catapults (slingshots), they could not be unmasked, and  a  number of factors reject this hypothesis because of the effects described previously: bizarre trajectories, extreme precision in some cases, sudden slowdown, and people affected without being injured. Moreover, in some cases, the projectiles arrived vertically (like rain), which excludes the possibility that they were launched with a classic parabolic trajectory as reported in Roodeport in 1922 (Bayless, 1967). A well-known case in France is that of a house on the rue des Gres in 1849 (Flammarion, 1923), next to the Sorbonne, reported by Camille Flammarion in an extract from the court gazette of Paris of February 2, 1849:

Where did these projectiles come from, consisting of cobblestones, fragments of demolished neighboring walls, even whole rubble stones which, by their weight and the distance from which they came, could not be thrown by the hands of a  human being? This is what it was impossible to discover. Day and night surveillance was unsuccessfully carried out under the personal direction of the Commissioner of Police and competent persons. It was in vain that the head of security remained constantly on site. It was in vain that guard dogs were released every night in the nearby pens. Nothing could give the explanation of the phenomenon ... (Flammarion, 1923, p. 18)

In the case of Neudorf in 1852 investigated by Professor Hans Bender, the latter reports:

The day before we arrived, seven objects appeared in the kitchen in the space of sixteen minutes. They were observed by five witnesses,some of whom were not part of the household. I had the opportunity to reconstruct this event in great detail according to the descriptions which were collected absolutely independently, and without consultation, from the various witnesses. The objects seemed to shoot out of the wall at high speed. (Bender, 1969)

A more recent case in France in Arcachon in 1963 appraised by Robert Tocquet, IMI investigator, highlights the former Orthopedic Clinic of Arcachon, which from mid-May to early September 1963 was harassed by the projection of pebbles, pieces of rubble, and fragments of bricks whose origin has remained unknown (Tocquet & Cuenot, 1966).

In Lynwood in 1960 in California, in a used car park, 200 stones, some as big as a chicken's egg, followed by nuts and bolts, were thrown over two days; the projectiles arrived horizontally with unpredictable trajectories and sometimes at very high speeds. Thirty police officers searched for the culprit. A trial took place that eventually concluded that it was a "supernatural cause, a cosmic disturbance." (Rogo, 1979)

The cases of Mayanup, Boyup brook, and Pumphrey in southwestern Australia in 1957 (Healy & Cropper, 2014, Chapter 2) are impressive. Hundreds of people witnessed them. For example, at the Mayanup site, hundreds of stones and other objects (cans, potatoes, onions, pieces of steel) arrived from nowhere. Objects landed with a "plop" like a  cork stopper, stopping dead in their tracks (some floated quietly to the ground, others changed direction by 90°, rose, and appeared suddenly in the air). Many stones and objects appeared inside. Outside, a stone the size of a pumpkin (15.9 kg) landed smoothly on a steel water tank.

In Narrabri in Northwest Australia in 1900:

The stone-throwing took place in open daylight, while a party of police and civilians were watching and some mounted men were scouring around to a  distance of 200 yards. The most extraordinary thing is that there are no stones in the vicinity, the soil being a  level plain, and the nearest neighbor's  house is over a mile away, with scrub intervening. To dispel suspicion all the party submitted to a search, and no stones were found on any of them. (Healy & Cropper, 2014, p. 209)

Another example is the case in Tucson, Arizona in 1983 reported by Scott Rogo, where stones rained down outside a house (especially on cars), causing damage of more than $7,000, and where people went out with helmets and came to greet visitors with shields. Several hunts in the surroundings of the house and three helicopter surveillance could not find any culprit (Rogo, 1987).

In the case of San Remo in 1986, in Australia, pebbles, instead of coming from above, levitated from the ground (Healy & Cropper, 2014, Chapter 6). Finally, sometimes coins appear in a house. A recent experiment on a site in Mexico City in 2021 carried out by Ramses D'Leon's team made it possible to film the materialization of a coin inside a house thanks to six cameras installed inside the house. Overall, 60 coins seem to have "materialized" in this house, most of them old and no longer in use today (D'Leon, 2021).

In the case of South Shields in 2006, a dozen events concerned pieces that fell to the ground, sometimes hot (Ritson, 2020). In South Wales in 1989, coins from 1912 disappeared and appeared, and rolled-up five-pound notes appeared in different places (making a total of70 pounds): 

It seems that these events appeared to be in response to repeated requests to 'Pete' by the four principal witnesses to bring 'some money'. A pen fell beside Jim when he had spoken of writing down the incidents, followed by a piece of headed notepaper, which on investigation turned out to have come, by unknown means, from the office premises on the floor above. Also, coins, most of which appeared to originate from a collection of pennies and halfpennies kept in the office. When Paul asked out loud for a sovereign, a Jubilee crown (which appeared to have come from a drawer in Jim and Ann's house) had dropped beside him. (Fontana,1991, p. 389)

"Materialized" objects are sometimes hot or even very hot, as reported by G. Vesan, a  priest from Issime in 1909, who witnessed a stones shower with more than 50 other people in a chalet in the Alps:

These 5 fallen stones were hot. I wanted to examine them all: these five, I had trouble holding them in hand and judging by the touch, they could  have 45 to 50 degrees of heat. {Lecouteux, 2007, p. 148}

In Humpty 000 in 1998, Brendan Gowdie, a  building maintenance expert, performed some interesting experiments. He first showed that if a  person picked up and threw an object, his thermal imaging camera revealed warm spots corresponding to fingerprints on its surface. So he looked at some supposed "polt-propelled" objects {pistol cartridges, glass shards} to see if he could find some kind of hints.  But in fact, he found that they were uniformly warm allover {Healy & Cropper, 2014, Chapter I, pp. 9-55}. 

Also, in aforementioned case of Sandfeldt in 1722, an iron ring from a  plow wheel was flung at the feet of Haenell's two assistants, the gardener, and the watch-man. When the gardener tried to pick it up, it burnt his glove. They carried it to Haenell at the manor house 1500 yards away, and it was still quite warm when he felt it {Gauld & CornelL 1979, Chapter 6}. In some cases, water starting to boil in a  container has been observed, as in the already quoted case of Am-herst, in 1878. 

Dr. Bender has been particularly interested in the reports of objects coming through walls and other obstructions without leaving any openings. Such penetrations of matter by matter probably are the greatest challenge by the poltergeist to the theories of physics. Apparently such penetrations took place in the following case.

In 1952 the Department of Public Health in the town of Neudorf in Baden had asked Bender’s help in dealing with an unusual situation that had developed in the home of the mayor. On one occasion, the day before Bender came, the mayor, his grown son, and daughter-in-law had watched in amazement as a collection of nails appeared about eight inches below the ceiling of a bedroom and then fell to the floor. The mayor’s 13-year-old son, Bernard, was lying on the bed next to his mother. The nails belonged in a locked cupboard in the kitchen, but there was no accounting how they came into the upstairs bedroom. The mayor had also seen a clothes pin climb up a door to the top and then fly off at a right angle. Others said they saw objects move out of a wall at great speed. When they were picked up, they felt warm.

The incidents were focused around Bernard and only happened when he was present. When he went away on vacation, they ceased for good. To try to get an understanding of the case, the Freiburg team gave the boy psychological tests. They found evidence of psychological tensions of the type connected with puberty as well as signs of frustration and aggression. Bender suspected that these tensions were connected with the phenomena.

In 1998, Tony Healy and my friend, Paul Cropper descended on the small Northern Territory town of Humpty Doo to investigate a poltergeist infested house. They didn't have long to wait. While Paul was talking to two of the occupants, there came a clatter, like hail on the corrugated iron roof and, as he looked upwards, a dozen grey pebbles fell to the floor from the ceiling. As it turned out, this was not to be an isolated experience for them. Trickery, they soon discovered, was out of the question. However, it was pretty easy to deduce that the pebbles came from the driveway outside but how did they get to the ceiling? No-one ever saw them move from the driveway into the house, or onto the roof, or even hover below the ceiling. Paul got the impression that they had simply passed through both the roof and ceiling without leaving any holes. It is not clear from their reports whether the clatter was heard on each occasion, so did they simply materialise under the ceiling? And why, when the ground was saturated outside, did they remain dry, if not warm? And this phenomenon is not limited to Humpty Doo. Harry Price, the psychic researcher, said that he had heard of many objects falling from ceilings, but never anyone ever seeing anything go up to the ceiling.

Most of you, I suppose, already know what poltergeists are supposed to be, and what they do. They are either mischievous spirits or RSPK (recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis): somebody's subconscious having a psychic tantrum and exhibiting powers the conscious mind could never display. Poltergeists are the things that go bump in the night - and in the daytime, and make a whole lot of other noises as well. They throw things around and smash them - although "throw" is perhaps not the correct word, for the objects frequently move slowly, fall heavily or lightly, or change course, as if being held by an invisible hand. Although they very rarely harm people, they may slap them, pinch them, or pull their hair. They also start fires. With advances in technology, they have now learned how to turn on electrical appliances even when they are disconnected, and run up huge telephone bills from disconnected phones. But the most mysterious of all poltergeist phenomena are apports.

Apports are objects which appear and disappear. Sometimes it happens just when the onlookers' eyes are averted. On rare occasions they can actually be seen to materialise or dematerialise in front of the witness's eyes - sometimes on request. At other times, they are seen to move into the room, but without any indication as to how they did so, for they were known to have been in some locked container. Sometimes, objects appear which simply did not exist in the building in question; they must have come from elsewhere.

Such phenomena are worldwide in distribution. In 1948 a 14-year-old girl in the village of Vachendorf, Bavaria became the focus of poltergeist activity. One night, her bed and that of her parents were bombarded for hours on end with stones, coal, pieces of litter, and tools. Came the morning, her mother replaced all the tools in their box, sat on it, and announced, "Now you will stay there!" It must have been like waving a flag at a bull because, one by one, the tools were scattered all around the room while she was still sitting on the toolbox.

If that makes your mind boggle, consider what happened at Furnace Mill in Lamberhurst, Kent, as described in the Daily Mail of 28 May 1906. No-one could approach the mill unseen, and two guard dogs stood watch. Despite this, some remarkably heavy items were disturbed, and one morning the horses were all found reversed in their stalls ie their heads were where their tails should have been, and vice versa. Supporters of the RSPK hypothesis must therefore assume that somebody's subconscious mind had gone out to the stables at night while his or her conscious mind was still with its body in the house.

Not only that, but one of the horses was missing. They searched high and low for it. To be precise, they searched low, and finally, out of desperation, went up to the hayloft through a door so narrow even a man had difficulty entering. Since a partition had to be removed to get the horse out, one must logically deduce that somehow it had been moved through solid timber in the first place. What sort of power could do that? And just contemplate what it would be like if science were to learn to master it.

In point of fact, I have every reason to believe that advanced civilisations have learned to master it. As I stated once before, when I was going through old issues of Flying Saucer Review from the 1970s and 1980s, I kept coming across references to aliens walking through walls, and even taking their abductees with them. So fantastic were the accounts that I immediately put them out of my mind, and forgot them, but they have been reported independently too often and from too many different places to be ignored.

With all this in mind, let us return to Humpty Doo, and the adventures of Paul and Tony, along with three priests, the press, a television crew, and the two harried families who lived there. Space prevents a complete description of all the wonders they saw, so only the ones germane to the current subject will be discussed.

Like the experience of Danny Sim, a Channel 7 cameraman, who was on a ladder next to the open ceiling manhole when he heard something hit the tin roof. He was looking up at the ceiling, when he suddenly saw a piece of glass materialise below the ceiling and fall to the floor. It appeared to have passed right through both the roof and the ceiling. He also witnessed a spanner strike a kitchen cupboard with considerable force when no-one was around to throw it. It appeared to have come from the lounge room, but neither of the cameras covering the space which it must have traversed recorded it. Had it simply materialised in the kitchen?

Paul and Tony saw a light bulb fall onto the concrete outside the house. Although it must have been airborne for at least two metres, it didn't break. Not only that, but it was a distinct yellowish colour, and none of the members of the household had any idea where it had originated.

Once Paul and Tony were sitting in the kitchen facing two of the tenants, Andrew and Kirsty across the table, when a heavy .44 magnum cartridge landed lightly on Paul's knee. Andrew claimed that he had seen it materialise just a couple of feet above Paul's shoulder. Another time, Kirsty was reading a newspaper at the same table when Tony saw a small brass plug, which normally resided in the garage, fall lightly on the table between them. He had been facing the object at the time, and he had the impression it had simply appeared in mid-air about eighteen inches above the table. Did you catch that? On two separate occasions people saw objects appear out of thin air! They now went on to describe the thoroughly investigated poltergeist infestation at Mayanup, WA from 1955 to 1957.

One rainy night fifty people including some journalists were at "Keninup" when stones fell constantly inside and outside the Smiths' house. In the living room, Rona Nicholson watched as stones simply appeared in mid-air, floated down and passed through a table to land on the floor below. [Heale and Cropper, Australian Poltergeist, p 62, emphasis in the original]

In fact, many objects simply disappeared for an hour or so, and then they would return. One outside witness was present when a teapot suddenly vanished. Two of the visitors included George Dickson and his son from a farm near Boyup Brook, and the poltergeist apparently followed them home. Pencils would appear and disappear. The owners would then assemble them on the kitchen table - only to watch them appear and disappear right in front of their eyes. Two journalists saw stones passing right through galvanised iron roofs and other objects appeared and disappeared in front of their eyes. They nicknamed the poltergeist "Uncle Bobby" after a deceased relative. Once, after they had gone shopping at the local bakery, the exact sum they had just spent dropped out of nowhere onto the kitchen table. (What the baker thought was not recorded.) On that occasion, pebbles had also fallen inside the car.

Since the manifestations appeared to focus on the 11-year-old son of the family, Harvey, George tried some experiments in front of witnesses. Various marked items would be placed in the boy's pockets, and then his arms would be tied to his sides and covered with a securely buttoned coat. But the objects still got out and turned up all over the house.

One can multiply such examples indefinitely. In last month's post I mentioned the poltergeist activity in an engineering workshop in Cardiff in 1989. Things got thrown around (of course!) and objects, especially carburettor floats, turned up in unusual places. But when one of the workers, Paul asked "Pete", the name they gave to the poltergeist, for money, some pennies and halfpennies fell to the floor. They came from a collection in the office. But a Jubilee crown also appeared, and it originated in the boss's home. This immediately raises issues. How did it get there? It don't suppose anybody saw it moving down the street from the house to the workshop, but the alternative is that it simply dematerialised in one spot and materialised in another. Not only that, but on another occasion when money was asked for, three pennies, dated 1912, appeared on the floor. Since no-one had ever seen them before, they must have been "spirited away" from somebody else's collection. Banknotes also appeared on other occasions. So, unless poltergeists are involved in counterfeiting currency, the legitimate owner must have been deprived, and by asking for it, the workmen were unwittingly guilty of Theft by Poltergeist.

One is bound to wonder: how far can a poltergeist go to find the apport it wants? Does it have to search for it, or does it know it intuitively? Do the apports come from some other poltergeist infestation where items disappear, or are they removed from buildings otherwise unaffected? Is that sock of mine which got lost in the wash still hiding in some uninspected nook in my house (and how did it get there?), or did it turn up at some unreported poltergeist infestation in my suburb? And is it really possible to ascribe all this to somebody's unconscious mind?

In last month's post I also referred to an Indian boy who was the focus of a vast amount of poltergeist activity. Not only did an ink bottle materialise on demand next to the ceiling (where else?) and fall to the floor, but coins were also seen to appear out of thin air.

All of these manifestations have been fully investigated and recorded. The Rt Rev Dominic Walker, co-chairman of the Christian Deliverance Study Group in the UK was once called to a house in Surbiton when the Christmas decorations went up in flames. He discovered a highly dysfunctional family where the nine-year-old had become the focus of poltergeist activity. They tried to control it by getting her to write notes to "Polty" - and she received written answers while she slept! More to the point, about half a pound of sugar used to appear in the kitchen every day. It happened while he was there. Only sugar. Small objects like coins and pencils I can accept, but granular material like sugar? Where did it come from?

His Roman Catholic counterpart, Dom R. Petitpierre, had the reverse experience. A house in Hemel Hempstead had been inflicted by things vanishing. A whole spray of tulips was sitting in a bowl on a table where two ladies were having tea. "Well, at least the tulips are still there," one of them joked - and when they looked back, they were gone!

It makes you think. When small objects like pencils come and go, it is possible that they had spent the interval in some remote corner of the building, but what about those things which never return? Did those tulips vanish into some extra-dimensional twilight zone until such time as another poltergeist wanted them? Or did they immediately turn up in the house of some bemused stranger?

It Happened to Me! is a series of volumes in which the readers of the Fortean Times tell of their own paranormal experiences. Volume 2 features a whole chapter on mysterious objects turning up unexpectedly. One woman told how about a dozen halfpennies were found around her home, until she thanked "Them", but pointed out that they were no longer legal tender. Another woman found exotic stamps and a foreign coin in places where they hadn't been before, and neither she nor her flatmate collected either stamps or coins, or had been to their countries of origin.

But a really strange encounter was recorded on page 77 of volume 1. Rob Kirbyson described walking around Huddersfield one Sunday in 1986 when he saw an old man waiting for a bus. In fact, this was the first man he had encountered in the town. They looked at each other from a distance of about five metres, when suddenly he saw an egg materialise about an inch in front of the man and explode into his face with such violence that his head was thrown back and he almost keeled over. No cars, and no other people, were present anywhere in the vicinity.

Had that egg come from some poltergeist manifestation nearby? If so, had the victim just left the site of the infestation, and so was "known" to the phenomenon, or was he really a completely innocent and unsuspecting third party?

I'm afraid I have to leave it there. My mind is starting to boggle.

References:

Tony Healy and Paul Cropper (2014), Australian Poltergeist, Strange Nation

Hugh Montefiore (2002), The Paranormal, A Bishop Investigates, Upfront

Harry Price (1945), Poltergeist Over England, Country Life, London

William G. Roll (1972), The Poltergeist, Wyndham

Terry White (1994), The Sceptical Occultist, Century Random House 

Anomalous Transference of Matter in Poltergeist Cases: A Phenomenological Report on Apports and Teleportation

Introduction: The Physics of the Impossible in Poltergeist Phenomena

Among the diverse and often bewildering phenomena associated with Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK), or poltergeist disturbances, none presents a more profound challenge to our understanding of the physical world than the anomalous transference of matter. This report provides a comprehensive examination of cases where solid objects are alleged to have passed through physical barriers such as walls, windows, doors, and roofs, or to have appeared inexplicably within sealed environments. Such events, known in parapsychological literature as "apports" (the paranormal appearance of an object), "asports" (the corresponding disappearance), and "teleportation" (the dematerialization and subsequent rematerialization of an object), represent a high-strangeness subset of poltergeist activity that strains credulity yet persists throughout the historical record.  

While the more common manifestations of poltergeist activity—such as unexplained noises (raps, bangs) and the kinetic movement of objects within a room—are themselves anomalous, the passage of matter through solid barriers violates fundamental principles of physics as they are currently understood. A statistical analysis of 500 cases conducted by researchers Alan Gauld and A.D. Cornell found that while the movement of small objects was reported in 64% of cases and rapping sounds in 48%, apports were a significantly less common feature. This relative rarity underscores the extraordinary nature of the claims and necessitates a rigorous standard of evidence.  

The historical record of this specific phenomenon is deep and consistent. Accounts of lithoboly, or "stone-throwing," date back centuries and often describe stones appearing inside closed dwellings without a discernible point of entry. Foundational cases such as the Drummer of Tedworth (1662) and the Epworth Rectory haunting (1716) feature detailed testimonies of objects disappearing from and reappearing within locked rooms, setting a phenomenological precedent that echoes in modern investigations. The approach to investigating these events has evolved from anecdotal chronicles to the more systematic methods employed by the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) and, more recently, to the use of instrumental recording devices such as video and audio equipment.  

To analyze these accounts, it is necessary to consider the primary theoretical frameworks proposed to explain poltergeist phenomena. The dominant modern theory is that of RSPK, which posits that the phenomena are an externalization of psychokinetic energy originating from a living "agent," often an adolescent experiencing significant emotional or psychological stress. An older, yet persistent, explanation is that of discarnate agency, which attributes the activity to an intelligent, non-corporeal entity, or "spirit". Finally, a critical perspective must always be maintained, acknowledging that many reported cases may be attributable to hoaxing, misinterpretation of natural events, or complex psychological factors.  

This report will synthesize the available evidence from a wide range of documented cases, focusing specifically on the phenomenon of anomalous matter transference. By examining foundational historical accounts, cataloging a broad spectrum of cases, and analyzing cross-case patterns, this work aims to provide a definitive phenomenological overview of one of the most enigmatic aspects of paranormal research.

Part I: Foundational Cases of Anomalous Transference

The history of poltergeist research is punctuated by several landmark cases that, due to the quality of their documentation and the high strangeness of the reported events, serve as foundational examples of anomalous transference. These cases establish the core phenomenological patterns—such as the "impossible" trajectory of objects and the intelligent placement of apports—that are observed in subsequent accounts.

The Lithobolia of Great Island (1682): America's First Documented Stone-Throwing Poltergeist

One of the earliest and most detailed accounts of what would now be classified as poltergeist activity in North America is the case of George Walton's tavern on Great Island (now New Castle), New Hampshire. The events, which occurred over the summer of 1682, were documented by an eyewitness, Richard Chamberlayne, in a 1698 pamphlet titled Lithobolia, or, the Stone-Throwing Devil. This case is paramount as it establishes a template for lithoboly where the central anomaly is not merely stones being thrown at a dwelling, but their inexplicable appearance inside it.

Chamberlayne, who was lodging at the house, provides a compelling first-hand narrative. The disturbances began one Sunday night with a "peal of Stones" being thrown from an unseen source. While this initially occurred outdoors, the phenomena quickly moved inside. He and another witness "observed two little Stones in a short space successively to fall on the Floor, coming as from the Ceiling close by us," leading them to conclude the event was "done by means extraordinary and praeternatural".  

The most significant aspect of the Lithobolia account, for the purposes of this report, concerns the interaction of the projectiles with the physical barriers of the house. Chamberlayne describes several phenomena that defy conventional explanation:

• Stones Appearing Inside Closed Rooms: After shutting a door, a "good big Stone come with great force and noise (just by my Head) against the Door on the inside". This suggests an origin point within the room that had just been closed off.  

• Anomalous Window Damage: The glass casement windows of the house were "miserably and strangely batter'd." Critically, Chamberlayne notes that "most of the Stones giving the Blow on the inside, and forcing the Bars, Lead, and hasps of the Casements outwards, and yet falling back (sometimes a Yard or two) into the Room". This detail is of profound importance. A stone thrown from the outside would exert force inwards. The damage being directed outwards implies an interior point of origin, yet no thrower could be found within the rooms. This establishes a core paradox of the apport phenomenon: the object's trajectory appears to originate from within a sealed space.  

• Objects Passing Through Locked Doors: A stone weighing 8.5 pounds was reported to have "burst open my Chamber Door with a rebound from the Floor". The force required to burst a locked door open implies a significant kinetic event originating from an unseen source.  

• Hot Stones: Some of the apported stones were "taken up hot, and (it seems) immediately coming out of the Fire". This recurring physical characteristic in poltergeist cases is difficult to explain through simple trickery and suggests an energetic process may be involved in the transference.  

The Lithobolia case provides a rich, early template for the phenomenon of anomalous transference. It moves beyond simple object movement to describe events that appear to violate the integrity of physical structures, featuring impossible trajectories and objects manifesting with unusual physical properties.

The Drummer of Tedworth (1662): Confiscation, Retaliation, and Objects in Locked Rooms

The case of the "Drummer of Tedworth," which plagued the household of magistrate John Mompesson in Wiltshire, England, stands as one of the most famous poltergeist accounts of the 17th century. Investigated and popularized by the philosopher Joseph Glanvill, the phenomena began after Mompesson confiscated a drum from a vagrant musician, William Drury, and had it sent to his house. The subsequent disturbances, which included loud drumming, scratching, and moving objects, featured multiple instances of apports and asports from secured locations, suggesting an intelligent and mischievous agency at work.  

The evidence, drawn from Mompesson's own letters and Glanvill's published accounts, details several key events of anomalous transference:

• Teleportation of a Bible: On Christmas night, Mompesson's mother's Bible was taken from her room and was later found "hid it in the ashes of the chimney". This act of hiding an object in a specific, unusual location points toward a directed intelligence rather than a chaotic, uncontrolled force.  

• Disappearance and Reappearance of a Spoon: During a visit from a guest, a silver spoon was taken and meticulously hidden "behind a wing that was pinned upon the hangings," where it remained undiscovered for three hours. This again suggests a purposeful action, more akin to a prank or deliberate concealment than random psychokinesis.  

• Movement of Objects During Prayers: While the family and a minister prayed by the children's beds, "the childrens shooes were tost over our heads, and every loose thing throwne about the roome." A bedstaff was also thrown, striking the minister on the leg, but witnesses noted it landed "so softly that a lock of wooll could not fall more softly". This modulation of force—an object thrown with enough velocity to cross a room but landing with negligible impact—is a frequently reported but physically paradoxical feature of poltergeist phenomena.  

• Objects Passing Through Locked Doors: In one of the most direct accounts of this nature from the case, a key was reportedly "conveyed into a room and thrown into a bed" while the doors were locked.  

The Tedworth case is significant because it introduces the theme of "intelligent teleportation." Objects are not merely moved; they are hidden, returned, and used in ways that suggest a responsive, if malevolent, agency. This complicates the simple Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK) model, which primarily accounts for the release of undirected energy. The seemingly purposeful nature of the events at Tedworth forces a consideration of more complex explanations, whether they involve a highly structured subconscious projection from a living agent or the actions of a discarnate entity.

The Willington Mill Haunting (1835-1847): Apparitions and Activity in a Sealed Room

The prolonged disturbances at Willington Mill in North Tyneside, experienced by the Proctor family, offer a crucial variation on the theme of anomalous transference. While not featuring classic apports of objects appearing from nowhere, the case is defined by phenomena originating from within a physically sealed and inaccessible room, presenting a parallel challenge to conventional physics.  

The haunting centered on a third-floor room that was usually kept empty. The key details of the investigation provide compelling evidence of an anomaly:

• The Sealed Room: The door to the "disturbed room" had been "nailed shut until quite recently," and its window and fireplace were boarded up. There was no access from the roof.  

• Undisturbed Physical Evidence: When the room was inspected, investigators found that the "dust lay thick on the floor and that dust had not been disturbed by a single footprint – not even that of a mouse".  

• Phenomena from Within: Despite the room being sealed and empty, multiple witnesses, including the nursemaid and Mrs. Proctor, repeatedly heard the distinct sound of "heavy boots pacing back and forth" from within the room. The sounds were forceful enough to rattle the window frame in the nursery below.  

The Willington Mill case forces a re-evaluation of what constitutes "passing through a barrier." Here, the force or entity did not need to bring an object into the room; it was seemingly already present and active within a hermetically sealed environment. The undisturbed dust on the floor is a critical piece of physical evidence that appears to rule out the presence of any human or animal agent. If the sounds were produced by a person, footprints would be expected. The absence of such traces, combined with the sealed entry points, suggests a non-physical cause capable of producing audible, physical effects (loud footsteps and vibrations). This case moves the focus from the teleportation of objects to the manifestation of energy within a closed system, representing a subtle but important distinction in the phenomenology of such disturbances.

Borley Rectory (1927-1938): Harry Price and the Apport-Prone Haunting

The investigation of Borley Rectory in Essex by psychic researcher Harry Price remains one of the most famous and controversial cases in the history of parapsychology. Price dubbed it "the most haunted house in England," and his extensive documentation cataloged a vast range of phenomena, including numerous instances of apports and matter-through-matter events. The Borley case is notable for the sheer variety and frequency of its anomalous transference phenomena.  

Price's own case files and subsequent publications provide a rich source of witness testimony regarding objects passing through physical barriers:

• Explicit Classification of Phenomena: Price's own summary of the phenomena at Borley explicitly includes the category of "matter-through-matter - apparently fourth dimension 'miracles'," indicating that he considered this a distinct and recurring feature of the haunting.  

• Apports of Various Objects: The phenomena were polymorphous. During the tenancy of the Foyster family, objects would appear inexplicably. These included a wedding ring of unknown origin that materialized and later vanished, pieces of paper with written messages on them, and a lavender bag. This variety suggests a force capable of manipulating or transporting a wide range of materials.  

• Stones and Bottles: As in classic lithoboly cases, stones and pebbles were frequently thrown inside the house, often seeming to target Mrs. Marianne Foyster. In a particularly dramatic episode witnessed by Price and others in 1931, while the kitchen doors and windows were closed, "bottle after bottle 'materialized' and crashed to the floor".  

• Spontaneous Appearance of Catholic Medallions: During one of Price's visits, a Roman Catholic medallion "appeared," which was seen as significant due to the rectory's most famous apparition being that of a nun.  

The Borley case demonstrates the complex and multifaceted nature that apport phenomena can take within a single, extended haunting. The events were not limited to a single type of object but included stones, personal items, religious artifacts, and messages. The account of bottles materializing in mid-air within a closed kitchen only to immediately crash to the floor is a powerful piece of testimony that directly addresses the concept of objects passing through solid barriers. Borley serves as a critical bridge between historical accounts and more modern, scientifically-inclined investigations, though it remains mired in controversy regarding the potential for fraud by some participants.

The South Shields Poltergeist (2005-2006): A Modern Case with High-Tech Anomalies

The haunting experienced by a young family in South Shields, England, represents one of the most intense and well-documented poltergeist cases of the 21st century. Investigated by Darren Ritson and Michael Hallowell, the case is distinguished by its high strangeness, which included not only classic physical phenomena but also modern technological anomalies. Crucially for this report, it features explicit claims of "matter-through-matter penetration."  

The anomalous transference events at South Shields were varied and profoundly disturbing:

• Apported Coins: A classic poltergeist feature, the spontaneous appearance of coins, was frequently witnessed. One investigator reported coins "raining out of thin air," while other accounts describe them appearing in mid-air before being thrown to the floor.  

• Teleportation of a Person: In one of the most extreme claims in the poltergeist literature, the family's three-year-old son, Robert, vanished from his bed. He was found moments later in a wardrobe closet, "tightly cocooned in a blanket... so tightly that he could not have been able to extract himself from his own volition". This account suggests the teleportation of a living person from one location to another within the house, an escalation far beyond the movement of inanimate objects.  

• General Matter-Through-Matter Penetration: The investigators' summary of the case explicitly notes that the phenomena went "well beyond the normal poltergeist ('polt') repertoire" to include "matter through-matter penetration". While specific examples beyond the apported coins and the teleported child are not detailed in the provided materials, this classification by the investigators indicates that the passage of objects through solid barriers was a perceived feature of the case.  

The South Shields case is vital because it demonstrates the persistence of these classic paranormal claims into the modern era. The phenomena of apported coins directly link it to historical accounts, while the alleged teleportation of a human being represents an extreme manifestation that challenges the boundaries of what is considered possible within RSPK events. The case highlights that even with modern investigative techniques, reports of objects—and even people—defying the constraints of physical barriers continue to emerge.

Part II: A Compendium of Corroborative and Ancillary Cases

Beyond the foundational cases that have been extensively documented and analyzed, the literature of parapsychology contains a multitude of other accounts featuring the anomalous transference of matter. While the evidential quality of these cases varies, collectively they demonstrate the persistent and widespread nature of such claims across different cultures and time periods. This section provides a comprehensive catalogue of these incidents, followed by narrative summaries of key examples to add qualitative depth.

Comprehensive Catalogue of Reported Anomalous Transference Cases

The following table catalogues reported incidents of objects passing through solid barriers or appearing inexplicably in sealed locations. The "Evidential Quality" score is a rating from 1 (low) to 10 (high), adapted from the methodology of Gauld and Cornell, based on factors such as the number and credibility of witnesses, the proximity of the report to the event, and the presence of instrumental recording.  

Narrative Summaries of Ancillary Cases

To provide richer context for the data presented in the table, the following summaries detail the circumstances of several key ancillary cases.

Finnish Cases (1885-1946): Research compiled by Heikki Tikkala from the Folklore Archives of the Finnish Literature Society reveals a series of historical cases with remarkably specific claims of anomalous transference. In the  

Martin case (1885), papers were said to have been teleported from a locked writing desk box. In Maironiemi (1888), an oil bottle reportedly passed through a closed door into the living room. The Koprala case (1901) involved clothes being moved out of a locked outbuilding. In Mäkisalo (1936), objects were said to have passed directly through a wall. Perhaps most peculiar is the Mäkkylä case (1946), where a plug from a fuse box was found to have passed through a beret that had been nailed over it, presumably as a control measure. These accounts, while lacking the detailed investigative reports of more modern cases, demonstrate a consistent folkloric and testimonial tradition of objects defying solid barriers.  

The Dagg Poltergeist (Shawville, Quebec, 1889): This Canadian case is notable for the sheer number of corroborating witnesses. A formal statement was signed by seventeen local farmers and community leaders, attesting to the phenomena that centered on the Dagg family and their adopted 11-year-old daughter, Dinah. The signed document explicitly states that "stones were thrown by invisible hands through the windows, as many as eight panes of glass being broken". This collective testimony from respected community members lends significant weight to the claims and makes simple hoaxing a less plausible explanation for the entirety of the events.  

Australian Cases (Humpty Doo, 1998 & Mayanup, 1955-57): These two cases, detailed by investigators Tony Healy and Paul Cropper, provide some of the most compelling modern accounts of apports. In the  

Humpty Doo case, multiple witnesses, including the investigators themselves, reported showers of pebbles appearing inside the house that were "bone-dry and distinctly warm to the touch," despite the ground outside being saturated with rain. This thermal anomaly is a recurring feature in apport cases. Witnesses also saw objects "materializing in mid-air". In one startling incident, a priest, Father Stephen de Souza, saw a steak knife fly towards him from a kitchen counter, only to stop in mid-air about half a meter from his chest and fall to the floor. The  

Mayanup case was even more dramatic, with "showers of stones falling like hail" in front of hundreds of witnesses over a period of years. Objects were observed to fall with unnatural slowness, as if being lowered, and would land with a soft "plop" and no momentum, immediately coming to a halt instead of rolling.  

The Guarulhos Poltergeist (Brazil, 1973-1984): This long-running case, investigated by Hernani Guimarães Andrade, featured complex apport phenomena centered around the family of Noêmia and Marcos. Money would frequently disappear from the home, and on one occasion, it was replaced by a piece of paper with a red cross drawn on it. Later, the missing money would reappear, sometimes days later, in hard-to-reach places, often following a knock on the wall. In another instance, branches of rosemary were found to have been apported into Marcos's jacket pockets and onto a window sill. These events suggest a high degree of intelligence and purpose, with objects not only being teleported but also being replaced or placed in meaningful locations.  

Part III: Cross-Case Analysis and Phenomenological Patterns

A detailed examination of the assembled case files reveals distinct patterns and recurring features associated with the anomalous transference of matter. These patterns, which transcend cultural and temporal boundaries, provide a framework for a deeper phenomenological analysis and raise critical questions for existing theoretical models.

The Nature of Apported Objects and Their Properties

The objects reported to pass through barriers are diverse, yet certain categories appear with notable frequency. The most common is lithoboly, the throwing of stones, pebbles, or gravel. This is observed in cases spanning centuries, from the  

Lithobolia of 1682 to the Thornton Road case in 1981 and the Humpty Doo case in 1998. Beyond simple stones, other commonly reported items include household objects like cutlery, crockery, and bottles (Borley, Cideville); personal items such as clothing and jewelry (Koprala, Borley); and even written messages (Borley).  

A particularly compelling physical detail is the report of apported stones being warm or hot to the touch. This was noted in the 17th-century Lithobolia case, where stones were "taken up hot, and (it seems) immediately coming out of the Fire," and again in the 20th-century Humpty Doo and Mayanup cases in Australia. This thermal anomaly presents a significant challenge to simple hoaxing explanations. While a trickster could throw a stone, heating it beforehand and throwing it without causing burns or being detected would be exceptionally difficult. The recurrence of this specific, physically anomalous detail suggests a potential energetic residue or by-product of the transference process itself, hinting at a phenomenon that involves a transformation of energy that manifests as heat.  

The Interaction with Physical Barriers

The manner in which objects are reported to traverse physical barriers is not uniform. A cross-case analysis reveals a typology of these interactions, each with different implications for the underlying mechanism.

1. Intact Passage (Apport/Asport): In many cases, objects are reported to appear inside a sealed room or container with no damage whatsoever to the surrounding barrier. In the Joller case (1862), after the family fled a room, they returned to find "glass shards, tiles, rags, pears, and a hatchet" had appeared inside, despite the house having been secured. Similarly, in the  

2. Maironiemi case (1888), an oil bottle was said to have passed through a closed door, and in the Martin case (1885), papers were removed from a locked box. This type of event, a true apport, is the most direct challenge to classical physics, as it implies that the object either dematerialized and rematerialized or passed through the solid structure via an unknown dimensional or physical process.  

3. Destructive Passage: This is the more common "stone-throwing" manifestation, where an object, typically a stone, smashes through a window or roof. In the Thornton Road case (1981), residents were plagued for years by polished stones that "rained continually from the night sky," repeatedly smashing windows and damaging roof tiles. The  

4. Dagg poltergeist (1889) also featured stones being thrown "by invisible hands through the windows". While seemingly more straightforward, these cases often contain anomalies, such as the sheer volume of projectiles or the inability of police, despite extensive surveillance, to locate a culprit.  

5. Anomalous Damage: This is a subtle but critical variation, best exemplified by the Lithobolia case. Here, windows were damaged from the inside out, with glass and lead being forced outwards, even though the stones were found inside the room. This "impossible trajectory" rules out a simple external projectile and strongly suggests the force originated within the sealed room.  

6. Internal Origination: As seen in the Willington Mill haunting, the phenomena (loud, percussive sounds and vibrations) originated from within a room that was physically sealed and verifiably empty, with a thick layer of undisturbed dust on the floor. This suggests that the energy or entity responsible can manifest and act within a closed system, without needing to physically breach its barriers.  

This diversity in barrier interaction indicates that the phenomena are more complex than a single mechanism might suggest. It raises the possibility that different underlying processes are at play, or that the same process can manifest with varying degrees of subtlety and force.

Witness Credibility and the "Police-Geist" Phenomenon

The evidential weight of any poltergeist case often hinges on the credibility of its witnesses. To this end, cases involving law enforcement officers are of particular interest to researchers. Trained to be objective, skeptical observers, their testimony can lend significant credence to otherwise unbelievable claims. The research material contains numerous such instances, creating a sub-category that could be termed the "police-geist" phenomenon.  

In the Enfield case (1977), WPC Carolyn Heeps signed an affidavit stating she witnessed a chair slide across the floor with no discernible cause. In the  

St. Catharines case (1970), multiple officers witnessed a plate fly across a room and smash against a wall, and a bed levitate off the floor. The  

Bridgeport case (1974) is perhaps the most extreme example, with numerous police officers and firefighters reporting a 450-pound refrigerator levitating and rotating, chairs moving on their own, and other impossible events.  

However, the involvement of law enforcement also reveals a profound sociological paradox. Officers who witness such events are often reluctant to make official reports for fear of ridicule or damage to their careers. This creates a potential "evidence-suppression" effect, where the most credible testimony may be the least likely to enter the official record. The Bridgeport case exemplifies this conflict. Despite over a dozen officers and firefighters witnessing inexplicable phenomena, the police superintendent publicly declared the incident a hoax perpetrated by the family's 10-year-old daughter, a move that witnesses later stated was for the purpose of crowd control. This reveals a critical insight: the official record in paranormal cases can sometimes be a tool for social management rather than an accurate reflection of witness testimony. The discrepancy between what officers witness privately and what is stated publicly is a crucial factor in the analysis of these "real stories."  

The Problem of Fraud and Interpretation

No serious examination of poltergeist phenomena can ignore the persistent issue of fraud. In several high-profile cases, the "agent" at the center of the activity has been caught faking some of the events. In the Rosenheim case (1967), the 19-year-old secretary Annemarie Schaberl was caught in fraud by a policeman, a fact that lead investigator Hans Bender was criticized for omitting from his reports. In the  

Enfield case (1977), the Hodgson sisters later admitted to faking "two percent" of the phenomena "to see if Mr. Grosse and Mr. Playfair would catch us".  

A simplistic approach would be to dismiss any case tainted by fraud as entirely invalid. However, many experienced investigators, such as Guy Lyon Playfair and Maurice Grosse at Enfield, have adopted a more nuanced perspective, proposing the "mixed case" hypothesis. This model suggests that genuine paranormal phenomena may be supplemented by trickery, particularly when the real events begin to wane and the agent—often a child or adolescent who has become the center of intense attention—wishes for the activity to continue. This does not excuse the fraud, but it reframes it as a psychological component of the overall event rather than a simple refutation of it. This perspective necessitates a deeper psychological inquiry into the state of the poltergeist agent, exploring the complex interplay between genuine anomaly, emotional distress, and the powerful reinforcement that comes from being the focus of such extraordinary events. The challenge for researchers is to disentangle the authentic phenomena from the subsequent human behavior that surrounds it.  

Conclusion: Theoretical Implications and Avenues for Future Research

The body of evidence concerning the anomalous transference of matter in poltergeist cases, while varied in quality and often fraught with controversy, presents a persistent and profound challenge to our understanding of reality. The analysis of over 50 cases where objects are reported to have passed through solid barriers reveals consistent phenomenological patterns that have been documented across centuries and cultures. These include the prevalence of lithoboly (stone-throwing), the apportation of specific and sometimes meaningful objects, and the physically anomalous properties of these objects, such as being hot to the touch.

The primary theoretical models struggle to account for the full spectrum of these events. The Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK) model, which posits a living agent as the source of kinetic energy, provides a plausible mechanism for the movement of objects. However, it falls short in explaining the apparent intelligence and precision seen in many apport cases, such as the retrieval of a specific lost item or the symbolic placement of objects. The discarnate agency or "spirit" hypothesis more readily accounts for the apparent intelligence but lacks a known physical mechanism and relies on assumptions about post-mortem survival that are themselves unproven. The hoax hypothesis, while valid in some instances, fails to explain cases with multiple, credible, and independent witnesses—including law enforcement officers—or phenomena that seem physically impossible to replicate through trickery, such as objects materializing in mid-air or passing through solid walls without damaging them.

The future of research in this area depends on overcoming the significant methodological hurdles inherent in studying spontaneous, rare, and fleeting events. The development of centralized, publicly accessible databases, such as the MACRO-PK Project (www.macropk.org), is a vital step forward, allowing for more robust cross-case analysis and pattern recognition. However, the field must move beyond the analysis of historical testimony and toward the instrumental recording of active cases. This requires the establishment of rapid-response teams of investigators equipped with a suite of modern sensory equipment, including high-speed and multi-spectrum cameras, sensitive audio recorders, and environmental sensors to monitor electromagnetic fields, infrasound, and temperature fluctuations. Only through the capture and analysis of objective, instrumental data can the claims of anomalous transference be rigorously tested.  

The phenomenon of objects appearing to defy the fundamental laws of physical space remains one of the most compelling and perplexing aspects of parapsychology. While a definitive explanation remains elusive, the persistence and consistency of these reports suggest that they point toward a genuine, albeit poorly understood, anomaly at the intersection of consciousness and the physical world. Continued, rigorous, and open-minded investigation is not only warranted but essential if we are to unravel this enduring mystery.