Definitions

Definitions

Here you will find an assortment of paranormal terms used. We are always updating the list. If you don't see one and would like us to add it, please email me and I will add it.

Agent - A human being, typically a teenage female, who unknowing directs poltergeist energy.

Angels- Spiritual beings who have never lived an earthly life who assist in both the spiritual and physical earth world.

Anomaly - An irregular image that appears on photos or video taken by film, or digital media.

Apparition - A spirit/ghost that manifests enough energy to appear in what appears to be a human form with a body or shape to it.

Apport - The sudden appearance of an object or objects during a haunting that seems to come from nowhere.

Agnostic - Someone who does not know whether God exists or not.

Asport - The disappearance of an object or objects during a haunting that reappear again at a later time.

Astral travel/Projection - This is the process of a human spirit traveling outside the human body. Also called Out Of Body Experience, OBE or OOBE.

Aura - An energy which surrounds all living things which is invisible to most people. This energy is said to be made up of many colours. These different colours have different meanings and can show the state of a persons health, personality or abilities such as healing.

Automatic Writing- The ability to write messages or text without consciously being aware of what is being written. Often times automatic writing is done with assistance from spirits, spirit guides, Angels and other spirit beings.

Being - The state or quality of having existence, a living entity.

Charka - An energy centre in the astral body which processes energies, emotions, spirituality, and health.

The 7 chakras are:

Crown
Third Eye
Throat
Heart
Solar Plexus
Sacral
Root

Channeling - The process a medium undertakes to receive information from spirits.

Clairaudience - Means clear hearing - a psychic ability which enables someone to hear voices or noises unheard by other people.

Clairgustance - Means clear tasting - a psychic ability which enables someone experience a sense of taste associated with a spirit.

Clairsentience - Means clear feeling - a psychic ability which enables someone feel the emotional energy of a spirit or living being.

Clairvoyance - Means clear seeing - a psychic ability to see a objects, people or events not perceived by the 5 senses.

Cold Spot - A small, defined area of intense cold (at least 10 degrees colder than the surrounding area) that can not readily be explained by other natural or mechanical causes (e.g. air conditioning, a drafty window, ice or snow). In paranormal research the prevailing theory is that when an entity is trying to manifest itself it draws on many sources of energy. One of those sources is the heat energy in the air. As the entity draws the heat out of the air the area in that specific immediate location becomes unusually cold.

Contagion - The act of being followed by a paranormal entity, such as an earthbound spirit from a haunted location.

Deja vu - The feeling that a current situation has been experienced previously.

Debunk - Reported paranormal evidence or paranormal activity is said to be "debunked" when a simple, logical and non-paranormal explanation can account for the reported event(s). Even if the activity is genuinely paranormal, if a simple and reasonable explanation can also be applied, because of this ambiguity a prudent paranormal investigator has to side with the debunking explanation until further evidence of paranormal activity can be obtained. Care has to be used since it is easy to be skeptical of any report or evidence. Usually if the non-paranormal explanation is complex or requires many assumptions it may be over analyzing the situation.

Dematerialise - To suddenly disappear, e.g. an object or spirit.

Demon - An evil spirit or being which is said to have not ever lived on earth in human form.

Demonic Possession - When an evil spirit takes over a person. Demonic possessions can also come in the form of demonic hauntings, where the evil spirit might haunt or take over a house or building.

Demonology - The study of demons.

Disembodied voice - A voice heard or recorded that does not have a known source.

Dowsing - The ability to use a pair of rods (often metal) held in the hands to locate objects, most commonly water. A Y-shaped tree branch can also be used fro finding water. In the paranormal investigation field Dowsing Rods are sometimes used to locate energy sources that could be paranormal in nature.

Earthbound spirit - A spirit trapped or bound to the earth plane, usually referred to as a ghost.

Ectoplasm - Appearing at times to look like mist or smoke, ectoplasm can be seen coming from people who channel spirits and it also appears often in pictures. Ectoplasm can form shapes as well.

EMF Meter/Detector - An instrument used by to measure electromagnetic energy.

Empathy - The ability to feel another persons emotions such as happiness, pain, illness, etc...

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

Electronic voice phenomena (EVP) - Audible voices recorded on cassette, or digital recording media., that were not heard or present at the time of recording.

Ethereal - Heavenly or spiritual, not of this world.

Etheric body - The spiritual duplicate of ones physical body.

EVP- (Electromagnetic Voice Phenomena)- The ability to pick up spirit voices on electrical devices such as tape recorders, answering machines, tvs and other electrical devices.

Exorcism - A religious ceremony or ritual that is used to drive out evil spirits that are possessing someone.

Foo fighter - Strange balls of light seen in the sky by pilots during the WW2, over Europe and the Pacific.

Ghost - The spirit of a deceased person or animal. It is often said that a 'ghost' is an Earthbound Spirit.

Ghostbuster - It's a movie

Ghost Hunt - A place that hasn't had a documented ghost sighting but someone is looking to see if they can find one.

Ghost Investigation - A scientific endeavor, in a controlled environment, set up to communicate, record, and capture visual evidence of the existence of ghosts.

Guide - See spirit guide.

Haunting - Paranormal phenomena that frequently occurs in an area, building or object over a long period of time.

Hot spot - An area or place where frequent paranormal activity occurs, such as the appearance of ghosts.

Incubus - A demon (taking male form) who seeks sexual intercourse with a woman. Also see succubus.

Intuition - The act or faculty of knowing or sensing something without the use of normal senses (e.g., sight, taste, feeling, smell, or hearing).

IR (INFRARED) - Infrared light is light from the lower end (short wave length/high frequency) of the electromagnetic spectrum (between the visible light spectrum and microwaves). IR light is not visible to the naked human eye without the use of special equipment. IR is not to be confused with thermal imaging. While IR and thermal energy are both on the short end of the electromagnetic spectrum they are not the same thing. There is evidence that ghosts/spirits and other paranormal entities may be more susceptible to being viewed (including video and image photography) using the IR light spectrum. IR sensors are also often used for measuring temperature and detecting movement.

Karma - The effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining their destiny.

Kinetic Energy -Energy needed to force an object at rest into motion. Objects in motion have kinetic energy. Energy is neither created nor destroyed. As the kinetic energy diminishes it changes into potential energy.

Levitation - The rising of a person or object, defying gravity.

Ley lines - Ley lines are thought to be invisible lines of the earths energy which "align" sacred sites such as churches and burial grounds. The area on which a ley line crosses is said to be a powerful point and is said to cause paranormal activity, psychic phenomena and UFO sightings.

Materialisation - The process of a spirit or ghost becoming visible to the human eye in some form.

Meditation - Meditation is the process of relaxing, emptying your mind of all thought or reaching a different state of consciousness. Meditation can aid in spiritual development and/or inner peace. There are many types of meditation.

Medium - A person who can communicate with deceased persons, a go-between to or intermediator of the spirit world.

Metaphysics - The study of phenomena not accounted for by known physical laws.

Mind reading - See Telepathy

Mist - An energy field that looks like a cloud or haze but has a paranormal ectoplasm substance. There may or may not be any particular shape, color (typically white or light colored), thickness, or consistency.

Night Shot - A setting common on hand held video cameras. Originally it was a term used to describe the night vision (total darkness) recording capability of the Sony Handicam series of camcorders. This term has since become synonymous with meaning any night vision/total darkness video camera or recording device regardless of the manufacturer. The night shot feature uses a built-in IR (infra red) illumination source. An external IR illuminator can often be attached for additional viewing range. Click Here to read our discussion of using alternate light spectrums for paranormal investigations.

Orb - An orb is a sphere of energy which is thought by some to be created by spirits. Another theory is that orbs are phenomenon created by natural & man made electrical energy and are not related to spirits of the dead.

Ouija board - A board or place mat made up of letters & numbers, and usually the words "Yes", "No", and "Goodbye" used in try and communicate with spirits.

The name "Ouija" is made up of the words QUI which is "Yes" in French, and JA which is "Yes" in German.

Out Of Body Experience, OOBE or OBE - See Astral Projection

Paranormal - Events that are beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation.

Poltergeist - A German word that literally translates as "noisy and troublesome ghost".

Precognition - Knowledge of an event before it happens.

Premonition - A forewarning of a future event.

Presence - The feeling that an unseen person, spirit or being is nearby.

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

Psychometry - The ability to sense information in an object, or in the surrounding environment.

Reincarnation - The rebirth of a soul into a new body.

Reading - Information given to a person by a medium.

Residual Haunting - Non conscious and unintelligent (no thought or purposely actions), usually appear as person but can sometimes be a group of people, and animal or any non living thing. An example is the famous "Flying Dutchman" legend. There are no interactions with observers. They stay in same location replaying the same event over and over usually on some rhythmic cycle or pattern (though what the pattern is can be hard to determine). Sometimes causing electrical environment interference to occur. Often compared to a video recording that automatically plays itself over and over.

Retrocognition - Knowledge of a past event obtained psychically.

Sensitive - A person who has psychic abilities.

Shadow people - Spirits or ghosts which are usually black in appearance and have no discernible features.

Sixth sense - A power of perception independent of the five senses (touch, smell, sight, feeling, taste).

Skeptic - A person who is yet undecided as to what is true. One who looks for rational explanations as to why something occurs.

Sleep paralysis - A condition in which a person seems to be awake/conscious but is unable to move.

Spectre - An unusual appearing ghostly figure or image.

Spirit - The soul, essence or energy of a living or deceased person, animal or being.

Simulacra - Human forms or likeness seen in natural formations (such as furniture, light, trees, stones etc)

Succubus - A demon (taking a female form) who seeks sexual intercourse with a human man. Also see incubus.

Supernatural - Beyond or exceeding the laws of nature.

Spirit guide - A spiritual being who is assigned to a particular person to assist them in their spiritual or life journey. It is said that each person can have more than one spirit guide. These guides can be highly evolved spirits of people who have lived before.

Spirit photography - The art or process of taking photos using traditional film, or digital media to capture images of spirits.

Telepathy - Communication of a persons mind with another by means other than the normal senses.

Teleportation - Movement of people or objects from one place to another by supernatural means.

Thermal Camera - A camera that shows cold/hot spots coming off people or objects.

Vortex Vortices, Vortexes - A concentrated yet brief area of high electromagnetic energy often found in photographs taken at paranormally active locations. The often appear as sold (opaque) white or silver tubes, rods, or elongated ovals. They can also appear to be braided like a rope or chain (care has to be take to ensure it is not a rope, chain, camera strap etc). A vortex is not an entity. However, some paranormal researchers believe a vortex is a momentary doorway or portal to another realm that allows entities and other paranormal phenomena to come into our world. Some researchers also belief vortexes are linked to the Earth's own electromagnetic field which at least in part help determine when these portals open/close. It is also believed that some locations are more prone to having active vortices due to the alignment of the Earth's magnetic field and local geological structure.

White Nosie -White noise is the random non-descript static sound produced by various electronic devices. The sound covers and combines all wavelengths and frequencies. In this way it is like the color white which is really a combination of all colors. Hence the name white noise � the combination of all sounds. Examples of common white noise sources are the radio or television static when set to an empty channel, the hum of an electric fan motor and the babbling sound of a fast movie stream or brook.