A:
Active: Ongoing reported claims of a haunting, or unexplained paranormal phenomenon.
Agent: A living person who is the focus of poltergeist activity.
Alien Entity: A paranormal entity that is not of earthly (ie: human or animal) origin.
Amulet: An object that is thought to bring good luck or have the power to protect from ghosts or spirits and ward off evil.
Anomaly: A strange occurrence that cannot be rationalized by objective, critical scientific evaluation.
Apparition: See Physical Manifestation.
Apport: A physical object that can materialize and appear at will in the presence of a medium.
Asport : A physical object that a spirit teleports to another location or makes disappear.
Astral Body: The body that a person occupies during an out-of-body experience.
Astral Plane: A world that is believed to exist above our physical world.
Astral Projection: The intentional act of having the spirit leave the body, whereas an out-of-body experience will happen involuntarily. (See out of body experience).
Astrology: The theory and practice of the positions and aspects of celestial bodies in the belief that they have an influence on the course of natural earthly occurrences and human affairs.
Aura: An invisible emanation of light that seems to surround a person or thing which is often thought to reflect a person’s personality.
Automatic Writing: This method of obtaining information from disembodied spirits is used by mediums in which the spirit takes control over the medium causing them to translate unconscious information on paper without being aware of the contents.
Automatism: An unconscious or involuntary muscular movement caused by spirits. (See automatic writing).
Autoscopy: The visual hallucination or image of one's body looking back at themselves from a position outside the body. (See out of body experience).
B:
Ball Lightning: A rare form of lightning in the shape of a glowing red ball that can last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. Typically associated with Thunderstorms, these spheres are thought to consist of ionized gas.
Banshee: A wailing spirit or “death omen” that will appear to be in two different places at the same time.
Benevolent Entity: A supernatural being that actively works for the benefit of those around it.
Benign Entity: A supernatural entity that neither actively harms nor helps those around it.
C:
Call: A call is the response that is made by a subject during a card-guessing test or during any other type of ESP test.
Card Guessing: Card guessing is used as an experimental test for ESP in which a subject tries to guess the identity of a set of cards.
Case Study: An in-depth investigation of an individual subject.
Channeling: In this modern day method of spirit communication, a spirit will pass information directly to a medium or channeler who will then relay the information on to the listener(s).
Clairaudience: A general term for clairvoyance and clairaudience. Clairsentience typically occurs in the form of ESP through physical sensations or smells.
Clairvoyance: An acute insight or perceptiveness that enables you to see objects or events that cannot be perceived by the senses in the form of mental imagery and intuition. (See ESP).
Closed Deck: A set of cards used in a card guessing deck in which each card will appear a fixed number of times. The statistical analysis obtained from a closed card deck differs from that of an open card deck. (See Card Guessing).
Cold Reading: This is a technique commonly used by fake mind readers, mediums and magicians which allows them to obtain previously unknown information about a person by asking a general series of statements, questions and answers.
Control: This is a procedure in paranormal psychology that ensures that the experiment is conducted in a standard fashion so that the results will no be influenced by any extraneous factors.
Control Group: A group of outside subjects whose performance or abilities are compared with the experimental subjects.
Collective Apparition: A rare type of sighting in which more than one person sees the same apparition or phenomena.
Crisis Apparition: An apparition that is seen when a person is seriously ill, seriously injured or at the point of death.
Cryptid: A living non-human paranormal entity.
D:
Dead Time: See Witching Hour.
Debunk: Disprove a claim of paranormal phenomenon or activity. This is accomplished either by discovering its true source, or else by being able to readily recreate the phenomenon or so that doubt exists as to a paranormal source for the incident. (Ex: passing car headlights shining through house windows appear to be moving shadows or orbs.)
Dematerialization: This word is used to describe a spirit or specter meaning to deprive of or lose apparent physical substance or in simpler terms, without flesh.
Déjà vu: An impression or dull familiarity of having seen or experienced something before.
Demon: An inferior deity often spoken of in religious text as pure evil.
Direct Voice Phenomenon (DVP): An auditory “spirit” voice that is spoken directly to the sitters at a séance.
Dice Test: An experimental test in which a subject attempts to influence the fall of dice. This study is used for the investigation of psychokinesis.
DOP: (disappearing object phenomenon) - is a relatively common phenomenon in which an object disappears from view and later inexplicably returns. For example, a person puts their car keys on a kitchen counter, where they are always kept. When the person goes to get them, they are gone. A thorough search turns up nothing. Later, the keys are found on the counter where they were originally put (or some other obvious place. It's difficult to document a genuine DOP occurrence because people can be careless, simply misplace things or be forgetful. But there are many compelling stories from people who are certain they looked for the object in the place that it later appears. In some cases, people audibly call out for the object to be returned - and it is. In some rare cases, the missing object has actually been seen materializing out of thin air. It is also known as the "borrower" phenomenon. It may be related to poltergeist phenomena.
Doppelgänger: (German: “double goer”) - A existence of a spirit double, or ghost an exact but usually invisible replica of a living person or any other sort of physical double. Seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of death.
E:
Earthbound: A term referring to a ghost or spirit that was unable to cross over to the other side at the time of death and is therefore stuck on earth.
Ectoplasm: An immaterial or ethereal substance associated with spirit manifestations.
Electromagnetic Field: A measurable field of electrical energy. Some believe that anomalous shifts in the electromagnetic field can be evidence of a ghost attempting to manifest. Others believe that ghosts are drawn to high-level electromagnetic fields.
Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP): A form of Instrumental TransCommunication wherein anomalous disembodied voices and sounds that are not immediately heard by human ears, but are picked up on recording equipment or other electronics designed to capture or transfer sound so that they can be listened to later.
Elementals: Spiritualists commonly refer to this term to describe mean or angry spirits sometimes also called “Earth Spirits”.
EMF: See Electromagnetic Field.
EMF Sensitivity: A condition wherein a person or animal is sensitive to the effects of high levels of electromagnetic energy. Everyone is sensitive to these fields to a degree, though some are more so than others. Symptoms of EMF sensitivity include nervousness, skin irritation, headache, and can even give an affected person a feeling that they are "being watched." Prolonged exposure to high-level EMFs (or short-term exposure with extreme sensitivity) can also lead to drastic mood changes and hallucinations.
EVP: See Electronic Voice Phenomenon.
Extra Sensory Perception (ESP): Communication or perception by means other than the physical senses.
Exorcism: The banishment of an entity or entities i.e. spirits, ghosts and demons that is thought to possess or haunt a location or human being or animal. The ritual, which can be religious in nature, is conducted by an exorcist who will call upon a Higher Power to cast away any evil forces that may reside there.
F:
False Awakening: The event in which a person believes they are awake but are actually dreaming.
Fear Cage: An confined or localized area with unhealthily high levels of electromagnetic radiation due to the presence of a large amount of electrical devices, unshielded electrical cables, or power junctions. Individuals with a sensitivity to Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) can experience sensations of anxiety, paranoia, or nausea after prolonged exposure to these places report feelings of "being watched" the effect often gives rise to sincere but unsubstantiated claims of hauntings..
Fun House Effect: A room, hallway, etc, which has some structural anomaly which the observer unconsciously recognizes as "off," resulting in subtle to extreme physical or mental discomfort. Examples include rooms with significantly out-of-square angles, hallways of unusually long and narrow length, stairs that slant or vary in size/pitch, etc. As with the "fear cage," the "fun house effect" may give rise to sincere but unsubstantiated claims of haunting.
G:
Ghost: Disembodied energy that interacts with the material world in a seemingly-intelligent, patterned or organized manner.
Ghost Buster: An individual who claims to be able to remove or purge a paranormal entity from a location.
Ghost Hunt: The practice of going to a place where there are not necessarily accounts of paranormal activity, and seeing if any such activity can be witnessed and/or documented.
Ghost Hunter: A person who actively seeks out paranormal entities or looks to have an experience with the paranormal.
Goat: An experiment in which the subject does not believe in the ability for which they are being tested.
Ghoul: Demonic or parasitic entity that feeds upon human remains.
H:
Hallucination: The perception of sights and sounds that are not actually present.
Haunting: A state of being wherein research and evaluation cannot explain away multiple consistent anomalous
occurrences, and a conclusion is drawn that certain events taking place at or about the location are of paranormal origin.
Hellhound / Black Shuck: A spectral death omen in the form of a ghostly dog.
Hot Reading: A devious or fraudulent reading in which the reader has been given prior knowledge of the sitter.
Hypnosis: A technique that induces a sleep like state in which the subject acts only on external suggestion.
I:
Ignis fatuus: A phosphorescent or spectral light that that is alleged to be an indication of death. This phenomenon is thought to be caused by spontaneous combustion of gases emitted by rotting organic matter.
Illusion: A delusional perception between what is perceived and what is reality.
Intuition: Non-paranormal knowledge that is gained through a perceptive insight.
Instrumental TransCommunication: A general term used to describe the phenomena of communication with supernatural entities via electronic devices.
Intelligent Entity: A supernatural being that evidences an intelligence and will of its own.
ITC: See Instrumental TransCommunication.
Inhuman Entity: A ghost or paranormal entity that is not of earthly human origin.
L:
Levitation: To lift or raise a physical object in apparent defiance of gravity.
Life Review: A flashback of a person’s life that is typically associated with near-death experiences.
Lucid Dreaming: A dream state in which one is conscious enough to recognize that one is in the dream state and is then able to control dream events.
M:
Magnetometer (EMF, gaussmeter): An instrument for measuring the magnitude and direction of a magnetic field typically used by paranormal researchers to detect a ghost’s magnetic energy.
Malevolent Entity: A supernatural entity that actively works to harm or terrorize those around it.
Marian Apparitions: The event in which the Virgin Mary is seen.
Materialization: The act of forming something solid from the air. One of the most difficult and impressive materializations is when part or all of a ghost or spirit can be seen, especially if the face is recognizable.
Matrixing: Tendency for the human mind to interpret sensory input (that which is perceived visually, audibly or tactilely) as something familiar or more easily understood and accepted, and in effect mentally "filling in the blanks".
Medium: Someone who professes to be able communicate with spirits on behalf of another living being, acting as a midway point halfway between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Mesmerism: A hypnotic induction of a sleep or trance State (See Hypnotism).
Mist: A Photographed anomaly that appears as a blanket of light. There is no substantial proof that these are related to paranormal phenomenon.
Motor Automatism: Bodily movement or functions that are accompanied but not controlled by consciousness (See automatic writing).
N:
Near Death Experience (NDE): An experience that is reported by people who clinically die, or come close to actual death and are revived. These events often include encounters with spirit guides, seeing dead relatives or friends, life review, out-of-body Experiences (OBE), or a moment of decision where they are able to decide or are told to turn back.
O:
Old Hag Syndrome: A nocturnal phenomena that involves a feeling of immobilization, suffocation, odd smells and feelings and is sometimes accompanied my immense fear (See Sleep Paralysis).
Orb: A lighting anomaly that appears in photographs and video. Orbs are small glowing balls that hover or fly about in the air. Some believe that orbs are manifestations of spirits. Others believe that they are simply the effect of ambient energy. Most of the time, they are light reflecting off of dust.
Ouija Board: A pre-printed board with letters, numerals, and words used to receive spirit communications. Typically a planchette is employed to spell out words and point out numbers or letters.
Out-of-body experience (OBE): A sensation or experience in which ones self or spirit travels to a different location than their physical body (See Astral Projection).
P:
Paranormal Entity: Any being that modern science has not officially recorded or classified.
Paranormal Investigation: The practice of going to a location where accounts of paranormal activity have been reported, and working to investigate, rationalize, and/or document those specific claims.
Paranormal Investigator: A person who investigates or researches the activity of paranormal entities.
Parapsychologist: An academically-trained individual who specializes in the field of parapsychology.
Parapsychology: A branch of the academic field of psychology that deals with the study of psychic phenomena and the human mind's capabilities to directly affect the material world.
Percipient: A person who sees (i.e., perceives) an apparition.
Phantom Smell: Anomalous smells with no definable source that can be smelled by unaided normal human olfactory senses.
Phantom Sound: Anomalous sounds with no definable source that can be heard by unaided normal human auditory senses.
Phantom Touch: The anomalous sensation of being physically touched, despite no physical contact being made with a material being or object.
Photographic Manifestation: A form of Instrumental TransCommunication wherein the image of a paranormal entity is captured on film or video, or via digital means.
Physical Manifestation: A situation wherein a supernatural entity physically appears in a manner visible to unaided normal human visual senses.
Poltergeist: a non-human spirit entity which literally means "noisy ghost" but is usually more malicious and destructive than ghosts of dead human beings. Traditional poltergeists activities are thumping and banging, levitating or the moving of objects, stone throwing and starting fires. It is thought that poltergeist activity in some instances may be brought on subconsciously by an adolescent agent or females under the age of 25.
Possession: the taking over of a person's mind and/or body by a spirit, usually demonic, against that person's will. A rare phenomenon that often mimics mental illness, true possession is nowadays recognized by many religions as uncommon but genuine. It is considered a spiritual attack that requires the help of a trained clergy or spiritual counselor to resolve by
performing an exorcism. Different from a demonic haunting in that it affects a single victim at a time.
Precognition: The ability to predict or have knowledge of something in advance of its occurrence, especially by extrasensory perception (See Clairvoyance).
Psi: A letter in the Greek alphabet that denotes psychic phenomena.
Psychic: A person who is responsive to psychic forces with above average ESP abilities.
Psychokinesis (PK): The power of the mind to affect matter without physical contact, especially in inanimate and remote objects by the exercise of psychic powers.
Psychometry: The ability or art of divining information about people or events associated with an object solely by touching or being near to it.
PK Activity: See Psychokinetic Activity.
Psychokinetic Activity: The anomalous event of inanimate physical objects being moved without interacting with a material entity or other discernable mundane source that would cause movement.
Pyrokinesis: The ability to unconsciously control and sometimes in rare cases produce fire with their mind only.
R:
Radio Voice Phenomenon (RVP): Receiving the voice of a deceased human being through a regular radio.
Reciprocal Apparition: An extremely rare type of spirit phenomenon in which both the agent and percipient are able to see and respond to each other.
Residual Entity: A supernatural entity that evidences no intelligence or will of its own, and simply acts out the same scene or pattern of behavior over and over again.
Remote Viewing: Used by some psychics, this is a procedure in which the percipient or psychic attempts to become physically aware of the experience of an agent who is at a distant, unknown location through ESP.
Retrocognition: An experience in which a person finds themselves in the past and is able to see and experience events in which they had no prior knowledge.
Rod: Similar to an orb, except shaped like a straight or bent tube or line.
S:
Séance: A meeting or gathering of people, usually lead by a medium to receive spiritualistic messages, manifestations or communication with the dead.
Shaman: A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a medium between the visible world and an invisible spirit world and who practices magic or sorcery for purposes of healing, divination, and control over natural events.
Sheep: An experiment in which the subject believes in the ability in which they are being tested.
Simulcra: This is a word used to describe the seeing of faces, figures and images in ordinary, everyday object such as rocks, foliage, etc.
Specter: See Ghost.
Spirit: See Ghost.
Spiritualism: The belief system that the dead are able to communicate with the living, through an intermediary or medium.
Stigmata: Unexplained bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain corresponding in location to the crucifixion wounds of Christ.
Supernatural Entity: See Paranormal Entity.
T:
Tarot Cards: A set of (usually 72) cards that include 22 cards representing virtues and vices, death and fortune etc. used by fortunetellers to help predict future events.
Telekinesis: The paranormal movement of objects by scientifically inexplicable means.
Telepathy: Communication from one mind to another through means other than the senses.
Teleportation: A method of transportation in which matter or information is dematerialized, usually instantaneously, at one point and recreated at another.
Thought Form: An apparition produced solely by the power of the human mind.
Trance: A hypnotic, cataleptic, or ecstatic state in which one becomes detached from their physical surroundings.
V:
Vortex: Similar to an orb, except shaped like a triangle or cone. Some believe that these are indicators of a rift between the material and spirit world.
W:
Witching Hour: It is believed that 3:00 a.m. is when demonic activity is at its strongest because it is the point of the day furthest from 3:00 p.m., the time of Christ's death. (It's a way for demons to mock the holy trinity.)
White Noise: An Acoustical or electrical noise of which the intensity is the same at all frequencies within a given band.