Paranormal Glossary

Paranormal Glossary Terms

Abductee- An abductee is someone taken, generally against his or her will, by nonhuman beings. An experiencer is someone who has been taken by nonhuman beings. An "experiencer" is considered an alternative to "abductees," and less pejorative of the experience.

ABSM- An ABSM could be any of a variety of reported hairy bipeds from around the world. Although the term is derived from Abominable Snowman, it is considered a less sensational alternative. (Ivan T. Sanderson).

Afterlife- One of several terms used interchangeably to refer to life after death. The word "afterlife" has been used since 1615, and is generic enough to use in almost any setting and culture. Other terms include "crossing over," "the Otherworld," and "the other side." Most ghost hunters avoid specific religious terms such as "heaven" when discussing ghosts, hauntings, and an afterlife.

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

Alpha Rhythm - Electrical activity in the brain (about 10 cycles per second) associated with a state of mental relaxation.

Agriglyph- An agriglyph is a large design created in a field of vegetation by pressing down parts of the growth. The term is an alternative to Crop Circles. It was introduced to reflect the higher complexity of many such anomalies.

Aliens- Visitors from other planets. We differentiate aliens from visitors that might live in parallel worlds, the Otherworld, or what's generally characterized as the afterlife.

Altered State of Consciousness (ASC) - A term used to refer to any state of consciousness that is different from "normal" states of waking or sleeping. ASCs include hypnosis, trance, ecstasy, psychedelic and meditative experience. ASCs do not necessarily have paranormal features.

Apparition - The visual appearance of a person whose physical body is not present.

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- Something that is out of place and unexplained. In paranormal studies, it refers to any phenomena that we cannot explain. Example: A lens flare in a photo is not an anomaly, but an orb that we cannot explain is an anomaly.

Anniversary Imprint- An imprint that usually manifests around the same time each year. See Residual Haunting.

Apparition- The appearance of a ghost or spirit, usually taking the form of a visual image of a deceased individual in either real life or on film. However there are apparitions based on each of the five senses. Usually visual, auditory, tactile, or olfactory apparitions appear in conjunction with each other, but occasionally only one of the senses are involved. Very rarely is the sense of taste involved.

Apport / Asport - An apport is a solid object that seemingly appears from nowhere in the presence of a medium. Asport is any object the ‘spirits’ or medium makes disappear or teleports to another location.

Ararat Anomaly- The Ararat Anomaly is a large object (over 100 meters in length) photographed on Mount Ararat in Turkey. Some people believe it is Noah's Ark.

Asport- A physical object that a spirit teleports to another location or makes disappear.

Astral body - The body a person seems to occupy during an out-of-body experience.

Astral plane - A world some people believe exists above the physical world.

Astral projection - An out-of-body experience.

Astrology - A theory and practice which attempts to identify the ways in which astronomical events are correlated with events on earth.

Aura - A field that some psychics see surrounding the living body.

Automatic writing - Writing without being aware of the contents, as when a medium apparently transcribes written messages from disembodied spirits.

Automatism - Any unconscious and spontaneous muscular movement caused by ‘the spirits’. (Automatic writing).

Autoscopy - Seeing one's 'double', or looking back at one's own body from a position outside the body (OBE).

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.

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

Call - Response made by a subject in a card-guessing or other ESP test.

Card Guessing - An experimental test for ESP in which subjects guess the identity of a set of cards.

Case study - An in-depth investigation of an individual subject.

Channeling - The process by which a medium apparently allows a spirit to communicate through his or her person.

Chi- Asian term for a "life force" or biological energy that is inhaled and can be manipulated for specific purposes (also called ki).

Clairaudience - Auditory form of ESP (compare with Clairvoyance).

Clairsentience - Physical sensations (or smell) form of ESP. Sometimes used as a general term for clairvoyance and clairaudience.

Clairvoyance - A subset of ESP. The viewing of distant scenes not apparent to the eye, may appear externally - either replacing the normal visual scene (visions) or being incorporated into it (as could be the case with apparitions) - or internally, in the form of mental imagery and intuition.

Clearing- or space clearing -- Ridding an area of lingering unpleasant energy. It does not "kill" a ghost. Space clearing may encourage ghosts to cross over, or at least leave the haunted location.

Closed Deck - A set of cards used in a card-guessing test where each card appears a fixed number of times. Statistical analysis of research data using a closed deck differs from statistical analysis of data using an open-deck.

Cold reading - A technique using a series of general statements, questions, and answers that allows fake mediums, mind-readers, and magicians to obtain previously unknown information about a person. (Reader has no prior knowledge).

Cold Spots- Self-contained patches of cool air strewn about haunted locations. They may be ghosts that cannot fully materialize.

Collective apparition - An unusual type of ‘ghost’ sighting in which more than one person sees the same phenomenon.

Control - In experimental parapsychology a procedure undertaken in order to ensure that the experiment is conducted in a standard fashion and so that results are not unduly influenced by extraneous factors.

Control Group - A group of people whose performance is compared with that of experimental subjects.

Collective Apparition- When more than one person witnesses a ghost or spirit phenomenon, independently or simultaneously, it is classed as a collective apparition. Nearly ten percent of reported cases of apparitions fall into this category, and once fraud has been ruled out, they are more likely to be genuine sightings.

Correlation - An association between two or more events or variables.

Correlation Coefficient - A mathematical index of the degree of association between two or more measures.

Crisis apparition - An apparition seen when the subject is at the point of death or is the victim of a serious illness or injury.

Cross-correspondences - Interrelated bits of information received from ‘the spirit world’ by different mediums at different times and locations. The communications must be joined together to form a complete message from ‘the spirit(s)’.

DAT - Decision Augmentation Theory. An attempt to reconceptualize PK as a precognition-based selection process rather than one of actual influence.

Decline Effect - A decrease in performance on a psi test when the test is repeated.

Déjà vu - The feeling of having experienced something before.

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.

Demon- An inferior deity often spoken of in religious text as pure evil. Historically, this term has included deceased individuals. However, since the early 18th century, it usually refers to an evil spirit, sometimes more powerful than man, but less than Deity. Today, we generally do not use this term to indicate a deceased human being. The female demon, very rarely mentioned, is a demoness.

Dice Test - Experimental techniques for investigating psychokinesis, in which a subject attempts to influence the fall of dice.

Direct voice phenomenon (DVP) - A ‘spirit’ voice, spoken directly to sitters at a seance. The sound usually seems to come from a point near the medium, or through a spirit horn or trumpet, but not from the mouth of the medium.

Displacement - Responses on a psi test that correspond systematically to targets other than the intended one (those before or after).

Dissociation - Activity performed outside of normal conscious awareness, or mental processes that suggest the existence of separate centers of consciousness.

DMILS - Direct Mental Interaction with Living Systems. Used to denote instances where one person is attempting to influence a distant biological system, usually the physiology of another person. As it is unclear whether this represents an influence (PK), a case of ESP on the part of the influence, or an opportunistic selection process (see DAT), the term ‘interaction’ has been adopted.

Doppelganger - A mirror image or double of a person.

Double Blind - An experimental procedure in which neither the subject nor experimenter is aware of key features of the experiment.

Double- A ghost of the present that looks and behaves identically to a living person.

Down Through Technique (DT) - An experimental test for clairvoyance in which the person guesses the order of a stacked series of target symbols (cards) from top to bottom. (opposite of up through technique).

Dowsing- Interpreting the motions of rods, sticks, pendulums, and other such instruments to obtain information (also called divining).

Dream Communication- Experience in which the departed individual (spirit) can manifest in the form of a dream in order to communicate with the living. Usually associated with the very recent death of the individual attempting to make contact in order to inform the dreamer of his or her death.

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- Commonly understood to be a substance secreted by spirits and exuded from mediums communicating with the spirit world, ectoplasm is now widely associated with a cloudy vaporous mist that may take the form of a human body. It has been captured photographically, and is seen to hover above the ground as a swirl of gray or white matter. It may linger in one place or travel fast and is usually spotted outdoors.

Electroencephalograph (EEG) - A device that monitors the electrical activity of the brain over time by means of recording electrodes attached to the surface of the scalp.

Electrooculograhph (EOG) - A device that records eye movement.

Electromagnetic Energy- A hybrid of electrical charges and magnetic fields that binds nature.

Electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) - The capture of ‘spirit’ voices on magnetic tape as an audio recording. Many times, no sound is heard while the tape is recording. It’s only upon playback that the harsh, hushed voices can be heard.

Elemental- An inhabitant of one of the four elements (fire, earth, air, and water). Elementals exist somewhere between the realm of the human and spirit worlds. They are often associated with forces of nature rather than the souls of the deceased, but they are nevertheless powerful metaphysical entities which sometimes inhabit the bodies of the living and possess them. Another definition of elementals is spirits which can change into solid matter and back again at will.

EMF- Electro Magnetic Field, or Electro Magnetic Frequency. As the name suggests, it's a combination of electrical and magnetic fields. You'll find high EMF levels around power sources, fuse boxes, electrical outlets, computer monitors, microwave ovens, etc. Unexplained EMF fields often indicate something paranormal. EMF fields can be measured with various tools, including an EMF meter or a hiking compass.

Empathy - Rarely used in modern parapsychology, the popular usage of this term refers to a low-level form of telepathy wherein the empath appears to be aware of the emotional state of a distant person. An empath may also be able to “broadcast” emotions to others.

Empiricism - The premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation.

Enteric Body- A layer of the physical body, mimicking its design, but composed entirely of energy.

Entity- A conscious, interactive ghost, any being, including people and ghosts.

Epicenter- Person or persons that a poltergeist or haunting tends to focus on. Paranormal phenomena usually increases when the epicenter is present.

ESP - Extrasensory perception. (receptive psychic) The ability to gain knowledge through means other than the five physical senses or logical inference.

EVP- Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) refers to voices that appear on recording devices (such as tape recorders) with no apparent source. The voices are often not understandable or audible without changing the speed of the playback.

Experiment - A test carried out under controlled conditions.

Experimental Group - A group of subjects who undergo a specific experimental procedure. Often results from this group are compared with those of a control group.

Experimental Parapsychology - Parapsychology research involving experimental methods rather than survey techniques or the investigation of spontaneous cases.

Experimenter - The person who conducts the experiment.

Experimenter Effect - Influence that the experimenter's personality or behavior may have on the results of an experiment.

Extra Sensory Perception (ESP)- Communication or perception by means other than the physical senses.

Exorcism- Ridding a person or a location of evil spirits by using religious rites. 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.

False Awakening - An experience in which a person believes he or she has woken up, but actually is still dreaming.

Faeries- Usually, this means beings that live in the Otherworld or Underworld, parallel to our world and not far from it. Many people who readily accept the reality of ghosts don't believe in faeries.

Fetch- A spectral double of a living person.

Fetish- Aside from the modern sexual connotation, a fetish is a shamanistic tool in the form of a figurine, animal part or a pouch containing items with magical associations.

Floating Orb:- pherical image, usually translucent white, though sometimes of a reddish or bluish hue, which inexplicably registers on photographic film and videotape, also known as "Globule."

Forced choice experiment - An experiment in which the subject is forced to choose among an assortment of possible targets, such as the five ESP cards.

Frank's Box- A device used for contacting spirits through the use of radio frequency. These devices or so called Ghost box also known as Spirit box or Frank's box are used as an electronic medium for the purpose of direct communication with a spirit.

Free response experiment - An experiment in which the subject knows only the general nature of the target - for instance, that it is a picture - but not anything else.

Ganzfield experiment - An experiment where input from the outside world is reduced by placing halved ping-pong balls over the eyes and by masking external sounds (covering subject's ears with headphones and playing white noise). A state of mild sensory deprivation.

General Extrasensory Perception (GESP) - ESP in which it is unclear whether the results are due to clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition or retrocognition.

Ghost - A form of apparition, usually the visual appearance of a deceased human’s ‘spirit soul’ or that of a crisis apparition.

Ghost Box- A device used for contacting spirits through the use of radio frequency. These devices or so called Ghost box also known as Spirit box or Frank's box are used as an electronic medium for the purpose of direct communication with a spirit.

Ghost Hunter- A person who investigates haunting to find explanations for possible paranormal phenomena involved. There are two types of ghost hunters. The first kind is the scientific hunter who uses scientific methods and equipment in order to make accurate calculations and observations about a haunting. The second type is the psychic or intuitive ghost hunter, who uses psychic impressions or intuition to learn about a haunted area.

Ghost hunt / Ghost investigation - A ghost hunt is an informal attempt to simply sight or record a ‘ghost’ in a location similar to others known to be haunted. A ghost investigation, on the other hand, is a carefully controlled research project, set up to record paranormal activity, usually at a location known, or presumed to be haunted.

Ghost Lights- These have been sighted all over the world and in many cultures. They are mysterious lights, seen at a distance, usually appearing as blue or yellow spheres, which can appear to blink. Some reports liken them to a bobbing candle flame. This phenomenon is also know by its Latin name ignis fatuus, or "foolish flame," because anyone attempting to follow or catch one of these lights is thought to place himself or herself in mortal danger. Skeptics attribute it to swamp gas, magnetism, or electricity. Ghost lights have been reported for centuries and were once known as "will-'o-the-wisp," an omen of death representing the ghost of a sinner condemned to wander the earth forever.

Ghoul- A grotesque, flesh-eating demon that robs graves to satisfy its evil hunger for the recently buried. It has its origins in Arabic folklore and is best known today as the living dead, a reanimated corpse inhabited by evil spirits. Ghouls are rumored to live near graveyards and are nocturnal; some believe they are vampires that have degenerated into inarticulate and ravenous automatons, robbed of freewill, intelligent thought, or the ability to feel pain. They are commonly described as having long arms, sunken gray faces, bulging eyes, and sharp teeth and nails.

Goat - A subject in an experiment who does not believe in the ability for which he or she is being tested.

Gray- A Gray (or Grey) is an alien type that first became famous in the 1980s. Typically shorter than humans, hairless, with large black eyes

Harbinger- A ghost of the future that brings warning of impending events.

Hallucination - Perception of sights, sounds, etc., that are not actually present. Ghosts, as we define them, are not hallucinations, because they have a real, external cause.

Haunting - Recurrent sounds of human activity, sightings of apparitions, and other psychic phenomena, in a location when no one is there physically.

Hellhound / Black Shuck- A spectral death omen in the form of a ghostly dog.

Hit - A choice that proves correct.

Hoax- A restaged or preplanned series of events to give the impression that something paranormal has been occurring in any given place. Usually made by people who wish to draw attention to themselves or to debunk or test ghost hunters and parapsychologists.

Hot Reading - A reading given in which prior knowledge of the sitter has been obtained, often using devious or fraudulent means.

Hot Spot:
A site within a haunted location where the activity is prominent and/or energy fields are focused.

Hypnosis - State like sleep in which the subject acts only on external suggestion.

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 distorted perception of objects or events causing a discrepancy between what is perceived and what is reality. (sometimes confused with hallucination)

Imprint- Ghostly activity that appears non conscious and redundant.

Incline Effect - An increase in performance on a psi test when the test is repeated.

Intuition - The non-paranormal ability to grasp the elements of a situation or to draw conclusions about complex events in ways that go beyond a purely rational or intellectual analysis.

Ion- A electrically charged atom or molecule.

Judge - Person who compares targets and responses in a psi experiment.

K2 Meter:
A K2 meter picks up on the energy fields that spirits disturb when they are present in the environment.

Kirlian Photography - A photographic method involving high frequency electric current, discovered by S.D. & V. Kirlian in the Soviet Union. Kirlian photographs often show colored halos or "auras" surrounding objects.

Laying on of hands - A process by which certain healers profess to be able to heal patients by touch.

Levitation - The lifting of physical objects by psychokinesis (PK).

Life Review - Flashback memories of the whole of a person's life, often associated with the near-death experience.

Longbody - A web of living connections among people, places, and objects.

Lucid Dreaming - Dreaming in which the person is aware that the experience is a dream. Often associated with feelings of aliveness and freedom, and with the ability to control dream events.

Magnetosphere- The magnetic field surrounding the earth.

Magnetometer (EMF detector, gaussmeter) - A device to measure the presence of a magnetic field as well as its strength, direction, and fluctuation. Paranormal researchers use the device in an attempt to detect a ghost’s magnetic or energy aura.

Manifestation- The tangible signs of a haunting, including tactile, auditory, olfactory, and visual. These can be measured in an investigation and can be used to support the evidence that a place is indeed haunted. (See also Apparition)

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.

Mean Chance Expectation (MCE) - The most likely chance score in a psi test.

Medium - A person who professes to be able to communicate with spirits.

Medium (direct voice) - A trance medium who apparently acts as a transmitter for the voices of disembodied spirits.

Medium (materialization) - A medium who seems to be able to give physical form to the deceased from a substance called “ectoplasm”.

Medium (physical) - A medium who is the center of moving objects and other physical incidents supposedly caused by spirits.

Mesmerism - The induction of a sleep or trance state, discovered during the work of Friedrich Anton

Mesmer, from whose name the word is derived. Also known as hypnotism.

Miss - A choice that proves incorrect.

Mist - A photographed anomaly (not seen at time of photo) that appears as a 'blanket' of light. Theory suggests that this is the appearance of a 'ghost' or 'spirit' of the dead. As with other photographed anomalies there is environmental issues that are of concern to the validity of their existence (moisture, reflection, dirty lens, etc.). There has been no substantial proof that these are, or are related in any way, to 'ghosts' or paranormal behavior.

Motor automatism - Bodily movement of an intelligent and purposeful kind of which the person is not aware, as with automatic writing.

Natural- A rare phenomenon that appears ghostly but in fact is created by some scientifically known property of the present nature.

NDE - Near-death experience - the out-of-body and other experiences people report having when they are close to death. Events within NDE include: an OBE, life review, a tunnel experience (drifting in darkness), encounters with guides (or angels), seeing dead relatives or friends, a moment of decision (or being told) to turn back.

Necromancy / necromancer - A form of prophecy, in which the seer or sorcerer / sorceress raises the ‘spirit’ (not corporal remains) of the dead in order to have the wraith foretell future events. It was thought that upon entering eternity, the ‘spirit’ would have full knowledge of the past, present, and future.

Nexus- The transitional, or joining point connecting physical matter (which, in a sense, is energy condensed) and pure energy, and containing properties of both definites, i.e. the physical brain producing a mind through its network of dendrites and firing axioms', or the body's connection to the spirit. The concept of the Nexus is the basis for much conjecture and postulating.

Noise-reduction model - The idea that psi information may be more accessible if normal sensory information is reduced to a minimum (reducing sensory ‘noise’ to make the psi ‘signal’ clearer) (see Ganzfield experiment).

Non-religionist- A materialist, one who embraces no formal religious beliefs; a more descriptive term than atheist or agnostic.

Nosferatu:- lavic, old world term for vampire, meaning "undead."

OBE - Out-of-body experience - the experience that the self is in a different location than the physical body.

Objective apparitions - Apparitions or phenomena that appear independent of our minds, thoughts, or feelings.

Occam's Razor - The principle that we should always prefer the simplest explanation of events.

Occult- From the Latin, meaning something that is concealed or covered. Since the 16th century, it has meant anything that is mysterious. Today in America, it generally refers to magical, mystical and experimental studies.

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).

Open Deck - A series of cards used in a card guessing test where each card is chosen randomly and independently. This enables each target to be selected any number of times. Statistical analysis of research data using an open deck differs from statistical analysis of data using a closed deck.

Open Matching (OM) - A card guessing procedure in which key cards are placed face up on the table. The subject then places the unseen target cards in piles in front of each key card, according to their guesses.

Oppression- The state before possession (see possession)

Orb - A photographed (not seen at time of photo) anomaly that, in theory, represents an ongoing 'spirit' of a deceased person. It appears as a ball of light and may occasionally seem to be moving. This is a highly controversial subject since there are many reasonable circumstances that identify this as environmental (dust, rain, snow, dirty lens, insects, reflection, lens flare etc.). There has been no substantial proof that the balls of light are associated with 'ghosts', the dead or any paranormal behavior.

Original Momentum- The initial force or energy necessary to create motion telekinetically.

Ouija Board - A board pre-printed with letters, numerals, and words used by mediums to receive spirit communications. Usually a planchatte (palm-sized triangular platform) is employed to spell out words or point out numbers or letters. A game version of the Ouija board was mass-marketed as OUIJA by Parker Brothers in 1966 and is currently distributed by Hasbro.

Paranormal - Above or outside the natural order of things as presently understood. Term is usually used in conjunction with ghosts, UFO's, and other phenomena that cannot be explained by traditional scientific theories and hypothesis.

Paranormal Group- A group of individuals dedicated to discussing, investigating, or exploring possible explanations to haunting and other paranormal or supernatural events.

Paranormal Research:

The study of phenomena currently considered unexplainable by the mainstream sciences.

Parapsychology - The branch of science that studies psychic phenomena. (term coined by J.B. Rhine)

Pendulum- A small weight at the end of a cord or chain that is usually about six to ten inches long. The movement of the weight, when uninfluenced by other factors, can be used to detect areas of paranormal energy.

Percipient - A person who sees (i.e., perceives) an apparition or ghost.

Phantom Animals- Many corporeal ghosts take the form of animals rather than humans. It may be the benign spirit of a loved pet or faithful companion which appears to its master and is often seen performing a habitual act, such as lying in front of the fire or waiting by the front door. However, there are many sightings of strange and malevolent beasts such as ghostly black dogs, phantom birds, or horses.

Phenomenology - An approach to research that aims to describe and clarify a person's own experience and understanding of an event or phenomenon.

PK - Psychokinesis - (expressive psychic) the power of the mind to affect matter without physical contact.

PK (bio) - Psychokinetic influence of biological systems e.g. changing the physiological activity of a living system (see DMILS).

PK (deliberate) - Psychokinesis that occurs as a result of conscious effort by the person causing it.

PK (macro) - The effect of psychokinesis on objects in general.

PK (micro) - The effect of psychokinesis on random events such as random event generators (REGs).

PK (spontaneous) - Psychokinesis that occurs without conscious effort by the person who causes it.

PK (time-displaced) - The concept of psychokinesis going backward in time to affect events that have already taken place.

Place memory - Information about past events that apparently is stored in the physical environment.

Poltergeist - A German word meaning 'noisy or rowdy ghost' (see also RSPK).

Portal- A theoretical doorway of energy, through which spirits may be able to enter or exit a location.

Possessed Objects- Inanimate objects that move, change appearance, or make noise. Sometimes an episode occurs while a person is watching, or they return to find that a disturbance has taken place while they were away. They include vehicles such as ghost ships or phantom trains heard bumping along tracks that were removed many years earlier. This phenomenon is often associated with the influence of a ghost that is emotionally attached to a place or object and may be showing anger or disapproval of how the present-day occupants or owners have changed it. Ghost vehicles are often linked to a fatal accident.

Possession (of a person by a spirit)- The entry of a spirit into the body of a willing or unwilling host, in which the spirit takes control of the individual's motor and cognitive functions.

Precognition - The ability to predict things beyond present knowledge.

Premonition- A psychic awareness of future events, often with a negative outcome.

Primary Readings- The initial measurements of energy taken at a haunted location, used for establishing an investigation's direction.

Probability - The likelihood that results in a test were due to chance.

Process Research - Research that aims to investigate factors affecting psi.

Proof Research - Research that aims to demonstrate the existence of psi.

Protection- Objects, rituals, routines, tactics, or processes through which you guard yourself against psychic, demonic or paranormal intrusions and effects.

Psychical Research - Term coined in the late 19th century to refer to the scientific study of the paranormal. Now largely superseded by 'parapsychology'.

Psi - A letter in the Greek alphabet that denotes psychic phenomena.

Psi hitting - A test performance significantly higher than expected by chance.

Psi missing - A test performance significantly lower than expected by chance.

Psionics- The use of physical tools to assist in accessing or interpreting one's ESP.

Psyche - The Greek word for “self”, “mind”, or “soul”.

Psychic - A person with above average ESP abilities.

Psychic healing - A mode of healing affected by the psychic abilities of the healer.

Psychic Impression- A form of idea or message that a percipient may encounter about an area, a person, or an event. Usually associated with precognition, retro cognition, or psychometry. Recording: See Ghost.

Psychic surgery - The supposed ability to paranormally perform invasive surgery using no conventional medical tools.

Psychokinesis- or psycho kinesis - To move something with the powers of one's mind, alone. It may be a factor in some hauntings, and particularly in poltergeist phenomena. It's usually called "PK." (Also see telekinesis.)

Psychometry - ESP of events associated with inanimate objects.

Qualitative Method - A research method involving the collection of non-quantitative data (e.g., observations, interviews, subjective reports, case studies).

Quabbala (also Cabbala, Kabbala)- A very ancient and complex system of Jewish mysticism, probably influenced by Assyrian-Babylonian and Macedonian beliefs and existing as the basis of an underground cult during much of the middle ages.

Quantitative Method - A research method involving the collection and statistical analysis of numerical data.

Radio voice phenomenon (RVP) - Receiving the voice of a deceased human being over a regular radio.

REG - Random event generator. A target selection machine that operates in a way that should be impossible to predict creating random events or random numbers. (same as Random Number Generator - RNG)

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.

Remote viewing - (1)Another term for clairvoyance.(2)An ESP procedure in which a percipient attempts to become aware psychically of the experience of an agent who is at a distant, unknown target location.

REMs - Rapid eye movement during sleep that indicates dreaming.

Repressed psychokinetic energy - A theoretical psychic force produced, usually unconsciously, by an individual undergoing physical or mental trauma. When released, the power causes paranormal occurrences such as poltergeist activity.

Residual energy- Many ghost hunters believe that emotionally charged events leave an imprint or energy residue on the physical objects nearby. What distinguishes residual energy from an active haunting is that the energy/impressions repeat consistently, as if on a loop. The energy levels may increase or decrease, but the content remains the same with each manifestation. By contrast, in what we term an active haunting, the ghost may respond to environmental stimuli and direct contact.

Residual Haunting- This is the playback of a past event, trapped in a continuous loop. It is often associated with past events involving great trauma and tragedy. A person is seen or heard performing a repetitive action—walking down a flight of stairs, crossing a garden, screaming in agony—at the same time or place and by many different independent witnesses. Researchers believe that it is possible for certain building materials to retain the energy of an event, and "record" it electromagnetically in a similar way to modern video or audio tape, and then replay the eerie fragment when the atmospheric conditions are right, or when a person who is especially sensitive to its bizarre energy passes by.

Response - An action made by a subject in an experiment.

Response bias - Tendency of a subject to prefer particular responses.

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

Retrocognition - A ‘time warp’ in which one finds themself in the past, seeing or experiencing events of which they had no prior knowledge.

Revenant- An entity that comes back only a few times after death.

RSPK - Recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis. A possible cause of apparent poltergeist activity.

Run - A set of trials in a psi test.

Sceptic (skeptic) - A person inclined to discount the reality of the paranormal and to be critical of parapsychological research. Generally seeks rational or scientific explanations for the phenomenon studied by parapsychologists.

Score - Number of hits in a psi test.

Scrying - A term used to cover a wide range of divination techniques which parapsychology would tend to classify as types of ESP. Most scrying techniques involve some degree of fixation on a surface with a clear optical depth (crystal ball, a pool of ink or deep water) or on an area which shows random patterns (flames in a fire, smoke), the idea being that subconscious information available to the scrying will be manifested in their interpretation of the imagery or random patterns they see.

Séance - A group of people who gather in an effort to communicate with the dead.

Series - A sequence of runs in a psi experiment.

Shadow Ghost- Easily confused with normal shadows, these dark ghostly apparitions are often spotted at a distance or in peripheral vision, and are between two and ten feet long. They are often experienced as a small darting essence in the corner of the eye, or as a larger and more menacing humanoid presence.

Shaman - A ‘wizard’ in tribal societies who is an intermediary between the living, the dead, and the gods.

Sheep - A subject in an experiment who believes in the ability for which he or she is 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.

SKEPTIC - In parapsychology, one who insists on ruling out all possible natural causes for a phenomenon before calling it paranormal.

Sparkles- A visual effect described as the sparkle of embers falling immediately after a fireworks display. These small, sparkling lights usually occur no closer to the camera than ten feet. They are often 20 to 50 feet away, or more. Sparkles are seen during and especially immediately after the flash on a camera is used. Even the most vivid sparkles will not show up on film. (If they do, check for dust or insects.) Sparkles are paranormal phenomena. "Sparkles" is a proprietary term developed in the 1990s by Fiona Broome during research for Hollow Hill. Other researchers have adopted the term to describe this unique phenomenon.

Specter- A ghostly apparition; a phantom (See Ghost).

Spike- A sudden and unexplainable jump on an Electro Magnetic Field Detector (EMF) causing it to quickly rise and fall or "peg" the meter.

Spirit- The actual consciousness or soul of an individual that has passed on and continues to be observed in an area. There are four main reasons that spirits exist: (1) The person does not realize that he or she is dead; (2) there is unfinished business or an un kept promise after death; (3) the spirit is simply saying goodbye to a loved one; and (4) the spirit has returned to offer advice.

Spiritualists- Spiritualists believe in communicating with the spirits of discarnate humans. They believe that spirit mediums are humans gifted to do this, often through séances. Anyone may become a medium through study and practice

Spirit Box- A device used for contacting spirits through the use of radio frequency. These devices or so called Spirit box also known as Ghost Box or Frank's box are used as an electronic medium for the purpose of direct communication with a spirit.

Spirit photography - A spirit photograph captures the image of a ghost on film. Many of these are supposedly intended as a mere portrait of a living human being, but when the film is developed, an ethereal ghostly face or figure can be seen hovering near the subject. This may also incorporate orbs, vortexes, and mists to some degree.

Spirit theater - A term used by modern-day magicians to describe shows, acts, or tricks in which ghosts or other spirit activity are apparently produced.

Spiritualism - A belief system that ‘spirits’ of the dead can (and do) communicate with living humans in the material world. (Usually through a intermediary known as a medium).

Subjective apparitions - Apparitions or phenomena that are hallucinations created by our minds.

Supernatural - Something that exists or occurs through some means other than any known force in nature. As opposed to paranormal, the term ‘supernatural’ often connotes divine or demonic intervention.

Statistics - Mathematical techniques for analyzing and interpreting data.

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

Survey - A method of data collection that involves interviewing (or giving questionnaires to) a representative and often large group of people.

Synchronicity- The product of numerous, seemingly unrelated variables joining to create a common event or remarkable "coincidence."

Target object - In ESP, the object or event the subject attempts to perceive; in PK, the object or event the subject attempts to influence.

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 - Paranormal movement of objects.

Telepathy - The direct passing of information from one mind to another.

Teleportation - A kind of paranormal transportation in which an object is moved from one distinct location to another, often through a solid object such as a wall.

Temporal Lobe Activity - Electrical activity in the temporal lobes of the brain. Often associated with strange sensations, time distortions and hallucinations. Sometimes used as an explanation for seemingly paranormal experiences such as apparitions.

Thought form - An apparition produced by the power of the human mind.

Trance - A sleeplike state in which there is a change of consciousness.

Trial - In psi tests, a single attempt to demonstrate paranormal ability (e.g., one attempt to guess a card or one attempt to influence the fall of the dice).

URBAN LEGEND - A story that is too good to be true and takes on a life of its own, usually told from the angle of “this happened to a friend of a friend.” Paranormal urban legends include the vanishing hitchhiker, the devil baby and the hook and the boyfriend’s death.

UFO- UFO is an acronym for Unidentified Flying Object, designating any airborne object that does not fit known descriptions of existing aircraft.

Ufonaut- A ufonaut (or UFOnaut) is the entity that operates or travels in a UFO.

Up Through Technique - An experimental test for clairvoyance in which the subject guesses the order of a stacked series of target symbols (cards) from bottom to top.

USO: Unidentified Submarine Object or Unidentified Swimming Object (USO) is used to designate an apparently te

Vampire- 1. The reanimated body of a dead person believed to come from the grave at night and suck the blood of persons asleep.

2. One who lives by preying on others; a woman who exploits and ruins her lover

Veridical- Information or experience that is confirmed by facts and events.

Veridical Dream- A dream that corresponds to real events (past, present or future) that are unknown to the dreamer.

Vision- A religious apparition.

Voodoo- A spiritist and ancestor religion, originating in Africa, and now found predominantly in Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba. Magical rites, trance states and possession all play a major role in Voodoo. See also Candomble, Pocomania, Santeria, Umbanda, zombie.

Vortex (vortice) - A photographed anomaly that appears as a funnel or rope-like image (sometimes creating a shadow) that is not seen at the time of the photograph that supposedly represents a 'ghost'. Other theories include; a collection of orbs, a 'gateway' to where orbs originate or travel to or a wormhole in time-space. No substantial evidence has been found for any of these theories.

Warp- A location where the known laws of physics do not always apply and space/time may be distorted.

Werewolf- A person who has been magically transformed into a wold or other dangerous beast.

White Crow- This refers to the principle that to prove White Crows exist, you only have to have one. Therefore, it justifies spending considerable resources on a single case, if the investigator believes that case can be definitive.

White noise - A hiss-like sound, formed by compiling all audible frequencies (used in Ganzfield experiments).

White Magic- Magical spells or rituals to produce beneficial effects

Wicca- System of witchcraft, especially as practiced today in western countries

Window- A window area is a region with an unusually high number of paranormal/UFO reports over a significant period of time.

WITCH - One who follows an Earth-based religious path that may or may not be poly-theistic. Wiccans are witches, but not all witches are Wiccans. Witches do no worship Satan.

Witchcraft- Folk magic

Witchdoctor- A medicine wo(man) or shaman

Witching hour- A slang term for the time of night when ghosts are the most active, usually placed at between midnight and 3 a.m.

Wraith- Sometimes a person sees a loved one appear briefly to them, or hears their voice offering a warning or advice. The loved one needn't be a ghost; they are often alive and many miles away. In some cases these appearances coincide with the death of the loved one, or occur during a time of crisis for the witness.

Xenoglossy- The ability to speak or write in a language that has not been learned.

Yaweh- (Pronounced "Yah-vay") According to ancient Hebrew and Quaballistic teaching, the name of God abbbreviated to "YHWH," (in Hebrew, pronounced "Yud-hey vav hey"), which is the Tetragammaton, whence is derived "Jehova." It was deemed forbidden to pronounce, or even seek to learn, the full, true name of the Absolute. (The more archeological evidence uncovered which tends to support Biblical accounts, the more arises suggestion and speculation that, approx. 3,000 years ago, a powerful extra-terrestrial presence took a particular interest in a nomadic, mercantile, tribal group of desert dwellers who would come to be known as the Israelites, the "People of God.")

Yeti- A legendary creature of Tibet's Himalayan Mountains region, an anthropoid with both human and ape characteristics, the "Abominable Snow Man." As with its western counterpart, the Sasquatch or Bigfoot, credible witnesses have reported sightings and numerous tracks have been found, but photographs and purported bodily remnants of the creature remain inconclusive.

Zarcanor- A malevolent spirit which attacks people while they're asleep, inspiring nightmares, and sometimes even inflicting minor injuries such as scratches, bruises and what appear to be finger marks. The name is possibly of Slavic origin.

Zener Cards - Set of 25 cards (5 each of circle, square, Greek cross, five-pointed star, three wavy lines) designed by the perceptual psychologist Karl Zener for use in card-guessing tests of ESP. (also known as ESP cards).

Zephyr- Spirit bourne upon, governing, or manifesting as the western wind.

Zombie- Prevalent in Haitian lore, a cadaver disinterred shortly after burial (ere it spoils) and reanimated through the use of Voodoo, its sole purpose thereafter being servitude as a mindless slave. Combine secret pharmaceuticals inducing simulated death with oxygen deprivation in a tomb, then a hasty exhumation in the dark of night, and there emerges the horrid premise behind the myth.

Zoomorphism- Representation of a deity or devil with animal attributes.

Lucas Paranormal

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Paranormal Glossary Terms