Glossary

Afterlife - Life after our physical bodies die.

Agent - (1) Person who attempts to communicate information to another in an ESP experiment. (2) The subject in a psycho kinesis experiment. (3) Person who is the focus of poltergeist activity.

Amorphous - Having no definite form or shape, spirits and ghosts often appears in mist-like forms or shapes.

Anomalies -Deviation from the normal.

Apparition - The phenomenon where a spirit takes on a physical form that can be seen.

Apport -The arrival of object during a séance or a haunting, these can be animate or inanimate.

Asport -The disappearance of objects that reappear elsewhere or not at all. (Dematerialization)

Astral Projection - When the spirit travels outside the body to either the astral plane or another location on this plane. This is also referred to as an O.B.E.

Aura -The emanation of energy that surrounds all living things.

Automatic Writing - Phenomena by which people write without conscious thought.

Automatism -A process in which the subconscious communicates with the conscious by means of a vehicle such as a Ouija Board, automatic writing, or pendulum swinging.

Banshee - A death omen in Irish folklore that manifests to herald an upcoming death.Often heard singing and wailing.

Benign Spirit - A spirit that is not harmful.

Bilocation- Bilocation - Being (or appearing to be) in two different places at the same time.

Calling Ghosts - These are ghosts that call out the name of the living in order to get their attention.

Channeling - The process that mediums use for communication with the deceased.

Chupacabra - Spanish for Goat sucker.

Clairvoyant - Someone with the psychic ability to see events or people which have not occurred yet.

Clairaudient -The psychic ability to hear voices and sounds that are inaudible to the normal human ear.

Clairsentient -The psychic ability to feel things that are not normally felt by most people.

Cleansing- A less religious form of exorcism that is done to remove spirits.

Cold Spot - An area where the temperature is lower than the surrounding environment. Cold spots are believed to be created when a ghost is presence within that area.

Collective Apparition – An apparition seen by several people at the same time.

Crypto Zoology - The study of rumored animals that are presumed to exist, but for which conclusive proof does not yet exist, or for animals which are generally considered extinct, but are occasionally reported.

Deja`Vu - A person's feeling that current events have been experienced before.

Deep Trace Medium - A psychic who allows a spirit to enter their body so that the spirits can communicate through them.

Dematerialization - The paranormal fading or disappearance of a physical object.

Discarnate - A spirit that exists without a physical body.

Discernment - The ability to feel or perceive something with the use the mind and the senses.

Disembodied - A spirit that is functioning without a body.

Disembodied Voice - A voice that is heard that comes from no physical body, also known as EVP.

Divination - Obtaining of future events and/or the unknown by the use of outside forces.

Ectoplasm - A substance that emanates from a medium during a trance. It often appears as a mist-like or vapor substance. It can be seen moving, often faces and other forms can been seen in it.

Electromagnetic Field (EMF) - An electric and magnetic energy that radiates from radio and light waves to gamma and cosmic rays.

Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) - The use of audio equipment to capture voices and sounds of the dead where there are no physical presences in the area where the recordings are being taken.

EMF Detector - A device that measures and detects changes in the electromagnetic field.

Empath - Someone who shows considerable empathy psychically.

Evocation -The summoning of spirits by usage of ritual, gesture, or verse of incantation.

Exorcism -The expulsion of ghosts, demons, spirits or other entities that are believed to be disturbing or possessing a person or a place that people frequent.

Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) - The ability to receive information about past, present or future events that can not be obtained through the normal senses. These include telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition.

Gauss Meter - A device that is used to measure the electromagnetic field, also referred to as EMF detectors or magnetometers.

Ghost - A ghost is believed to be the soul or the life force of a person.

Ghost Lights - Closely resembling orbs, but are much larger and brighter in appearance.

Ghost Ship -The appearance of a ship that has been know to have wrecked or disappeared years or centuries before to fore warn of a pending disaster.

Globule - A larger "Glob" of orb.

Haunted - A person, place or an object to which a spirit is attached. The spirits can be human or inhuman in nature.

Haunting - Paranormal phenomena such as apparitions, unexplained sounds, smells or other sensations that are associated over a lengthy period of time with a specific location.

Incubus -A demonic entity capable of sexually arousing and sometimes assaulting women.

Infestation - Repeated and persistent paranormal phenomena.

Intelligent Haunting - Paranormal activity that takes place around a person or location that is caused by an intelligent or conscious spirit.

Indirect Voice- Mediumistic phenomenon in which the discarnate entity appears to speak using the vocal apparatus of the medium.

Invocation - Summoning spirits.

Levitation -The raising of a person or object into the air without any visible means.

Light Trance Medium - A person whom spirits can communicate through without going into a deep trance state.

Lycanthropy -The transformation of a person into the form of a wolf.

Macro-PK -Psychokinetic effects that can be directly observed rather than only inferred from statistical analysis.

Malevolent - A malevolent spirit is one that wishes to do harm.

Malicious - These spirits will destroy or damage things of a personal or financial value for the sake of hurting others.

Manifestation -The appearance or taking of form of an entity.

Materialization -The formation of a visible physical form of a spirit.

Matrixing- When the mind attempts to manifest images as something they are not.

Medium - A person that acts as a bridge between the living and the dead.

Metaphysics - The study of that which is beyond the laws of physics.

Near-Death Experience (NDE)- Experiences of people after they have been pronounced clinically dead, or been very close to death.

Necromancy - The practice of communicating with the dead to obtain knowledge of the future, others' secrets, and so forth.

Occultism - Esoteric systems of belief and practice that assume the existence of mysterious forces and entities.

Orb - A spherical shaped, translucent mass of energy resembling a ball or globe of light.

Ouija Board - A game board that is used to communicate with spirits.

Outward Manifestation - The physical manifestation of paranormal activity.

Paranormal - Phenomena which seem to defy the known laws of science.

Parapsychology- Refers to the study of paranormal phenomena.

Phantom - An apparition or a specter. Existing only as an energy form.

Phantomania - Paralysis that occurs when someone is under attack from supernatural or preternatural forces, also known as psychic paralysis.

Planchette -The triangular instrument used as a pointer to answer questions on a Ouija board.

Poltergeist - A German words that means "Noisy or mischievous ghost." A destructive spirit that has the ability to move objects by solidifying the ambient air which results in the movement and/or teleportation of objects.

Possession-Refers to cases in which a person's body is apparently taken over by another personality or entity.

Precognition - Knowledge of pending future events.

Premonition - Feeling or warning about future events.

Psychic - A person with the ability to see, hear and feel by the use of senses other than the natural senses.

Psychic Attack - An attack that can either be physical or mental by a spirit.

Reincarnation - The belief that some aspect of a person's being survives death and can be reborn in a new body at some future date.

Residual Haunting- Believed to be a psychic imprint of a scene that keeps repeating itself. With this type of haunting no interaction with the ghost occur.

Retroactive Psycho Kinesis - Paranormal influence that an agent can have on an experiment after it has been completed.

Retro Cognition - Paranormal knowledge of past events.

Shape-Shifting- Paranormal ability to assume the form of another person, an animal or other entity.

Sleep Paralysis - A state of seeming to be awake but unable to move.

Specter - A ghost or apparition.

Spirit - Spirits are believed to exist in an invisible realm that can only be seen under certain circumstances or by people with special abilities.

Spontaneous Human Combustion- Refers to cases in which a badly burned human body has been discovered in circumstances suggesting that the fire originated spontaneously in or on the body of the victim.

Stigmata - Unexplained markings on a person's body that correspond to the wounds of Christ.

Subliminal Perception -Perceiving without conscious awareness.

Succubus - A demonic entity said to inspire lust in men and then assaulting them.

Telekinesis- Where objects are remotely displaced and moved around, solely by the powers of the mind.

Telepathy - The ability to communicate directly through mind-to-mind contact and to perceive information directly from another's mind, without resorting to the use of the five known senses.

Teleportation - Paranormal transportation of objects to a distant place.

Vortex - This is a swirling funnel shape when in motion. They can also appear long and narrow and having a tread like design. Some theorize this is a vehicle to transport spirits in the shape of orbs from their realm to ours.

White Noise - A hiss-like sound, formed by combining all audible frequencies.