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Paton, Mrs.

Nonprofessional apport medium of Melbourne, Australia, who flourished in the 1870s. She accepted no fees for her séances.

The objects apported were distinguished by the place where the objects came from. It often happened that things were brought from her own house over a distance of two miles. Occasionally, the objects were very heavy or difficult to handle like a glass of wine. A stone apported from the seashore was found to weigh 14 pounds and came with a mass of seaweed with shrimp-like creatures on it. One of the most notable apported household objects was a soup plate with twenty eggs on it.

Paton was not usually entranced during her apport phenomena, but was often markedly convulsed. She worked under strict test conditions: she was searched before a séance and completely enveloped in a large mosquito net bag, which was tied and sealed. The apports arrived on a table in the dark, but on some occasions, arrived even in bright light.

One of the most astonishing apports occurred at the house of a Miss Finlason, a resident of Castlemaine. During the séance, Paton mentioned to one of the sitters that before leaving her home, two miles away, she had made a cup of tea, but had forgotten to drink it. The cup of tea and saucer appeared as an apport on the table. At another séance on April 6, 1874, an iron wheel weighing sixteen and a half pounds fell with a crash on the table, brought from the yard outside.