Paranormal Investigation

Paranormal Glossary

The following glossary are words you may come across when involved with the paranormal. We share the information to enhance your knowledge in this fascinating and never boring field.

 

Agent: An “agent” is the ghost/spirit/demon causing the paranormal activity.

Anomaly: An occurrence or condition removed from ordinarily understood experiences.

Apparition: The projection or manifestation of a quasi-physical entity.

Attachment: The seeming connection a haunting or entity may have with an item or person.

AVP: ‘Audible Voice Phenomenon’ Disembodied voices which are able to be heard without the use of equipment.

Banishing: To force or drive out an unwanted spirit from a person or place.

Channeling: The process in which a medium allows a spirit to communicate through him or her.

Clairaudience: A form of ESP wherein a person is able to gather and hear sounds that are out of the natural range of hearing.

Clairsentience: A form of ESP wherein a person acquires psychic knowledge primarily by feeling.

Clairalience: A form of ESP wherein a person accesses psychic knowledge through the physical sense of smell.

Claircognizance: A form of ESP wherein a person has the ability to know something without a physical explanation of how one knows it.

Clairgustance: A form of ESP wherein a person has the ability to taste a substance without putting anything in one’s mouth.

Clairvoyance: Being able to get information on events out of the natural range of vision.

Cryptozoology: The study of creatures that have yet to be discovered or recognized by science.

Demon: A supernatural, often malevolent entity.

Demonic haunt: A haunting that is strictly evil in nature.

DOP – disappearing object phenomenon – is a relatively common phenomenon in which an object disappears from view and later inexplicably returns. It may be related to Poltergeist phenomena.

Ectoplasm: An immaterial or ethereal substance, especially the transparent corporeal presence of a spirit or ghost.

Entity: A disembodied “consciousness” commonly referred to as ghost, spirit or (if of an apparently malicious or resentful nature) demon.

ESP: (Extrasensory Perception): The ability to perceive information with the mind without using the five senses.

EVP: ‘Electronic Voice Phenomena.’ Disembodied “voices” and sounds imprinted on audio recording devices.

Exorcism: Ceremonial expulsion of invading spiritual/demonic entities from a person or dwelling.

Ghost: The image of a person witnessed after his/her death, reflecting the appearance of the living, physical body yet less substantial.

Haunting: Paranormal activity such as spirits, apparitions, unexplained sounds, or moving objects that are consistent to a particular location.

Incubus: A male demonic spirit that is said to have sexual intercourse with women during sleep.

Intelligent haunting: A haunting that will interact with the people by any means of communication. Noises, voices, touching, moving objects, and so forth.

Orb: A ball of energy that may or may not be related to a paranormal event. Many believe this energy is spiritual in nature, while others recognize that it may just be environmental energy of some sort.

Pareidolia – Psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (usually an image) being mistakenly perceived as recognizable. Common examples include images of animals or faces in clouds, seeing the man in
the moon, and hearing messages on records played in reverse.

Paranormal: The realm of occurrences and phenomena removed from those to which people are accustomed and comprehend, and presently uncategorized by standard academia.

Parapsychology: A branch of psychology that deals with spirits, psychic phenomena, clairvoyance, telepathy, etc. (PSI)

Phantom spirits: Spirits that resemble a human so closely, that you don’t notice it is a spirit until it does something paranormal.

Poltergeist: An apparent manifestation of an invisible but noisy, disruptive or destructive entity.

Possession: Invasion of the human mind by a spiritual or demonic entity, where the invading agent for a span of time, influences or entirely subverts the personality of the human host.

Residual haunting: A haunting that can be linked with a number of emotions that were strongly imprinted in the surrounding atmosphere. It is believed that an area, or object, stores that imprinted energy and repeats the moment over and over. Also known as Stone Tape Theory.

Shadow people: Supernatural shadow-like figures that appear as dark human-like forms or evasive spectres seen mostly in your peripheral vision.

Spirit: Existence apart from, or transcending, the purely physical.

Spirit rescue: Attempting contact with entities, intended to alleviate the entities’ distress and aid them in the resolution of their conflicts, and in “crossing over” to a higher, spiritual plane.

Sucubus: A female demonic spirit that is said to have sexual intercourse with males during sleep.

Telepathy: Being able to communicate through one mind to another. Mind to mind communication, without using any of your senses.

UFO: Any unexplained moving object observed in the sky, especially one assumed by some observers to be of extraterrestrial origin.

Vortex: An anomaly which sometimes shows up in still photographs taken at the site of a suspected haunting, appearing as a translucent white, tube or funnel shaped mass. Some researchers believe this may be a porthole to the spirit realm.

White noise: Random noise from a wide range of frequencies usually sounding like static.