Paranormal Vocabulary
Afterlife - Life after your physical body passes away.
Amorphous - Having no definite shape or form. Ghosts and Spirits sometimes appear in mist-like shapes and forms.
Angel- a spiritual being that is believed to be much more powerful than a human. Angels are composed of ethereal matter, thus allowing them to take on whichever physical form best suits their immediate needs. In Christian, Muslim, Jewish and other theologies an angel can be one who acts as a messenger, attendant or agent of God.
Agent - A living person who is the focus of poltergeist activity.
Anomalies - A deviation from the normal.
Astral Body - A spiritual life force that’s sometimes able to separate and return to the corporeal living body. As in an “out of body experience” or “near death experience.”
Astral Projection - The act of having the spirit leave the body - When an out of body experience happens.
Apport/Asport - A physical object that a spirit teleports to another location or makes disappear.
Apparition - This is a phenomenon where a ghost or spirit takes on a physical form that can be seen.
Aura - The emanation of energy that surrounds all living things.
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. Usually occurs during thunderstorms.
Banshee- is a name given to a female spirit, which can be found in Irish and Scottish folklore. The wail of a banshee is associated with the foretelling of an imminent death in the house, outside of which the banshee has previously visited. An omen of impending death in a house, a banshee is a female entity said to herald death by groaning and screaming.
Benign Spirit - A spirit that is not evil or harmful to man. Angels and spirit guides fall into this category as would spirits of loved ones that come back to tell us something.
Bilocation - When an object is seen in two locations at the same time. Padre Pio was said to exhibit bilocation.
Case Study - An in-depth investigation of an individual subject or place.
Calling Ghosts - These are ghosts that call out the name of the living in order to get their attention.
Cleansing - A less religious form of an exorcism that is done to remove spirits from a location.
Cold Spot - This is an area where the temperature is lower than the surrounding environment. Cold Spots are believed to be created when a ghost or spirit is present within that area.
Collective Apparition - This is when an apparition can be seen by several people at the same time.
Crisis Apparition - An apparition that is seen when a person is seriously ill, seriously injured or close to death.
Channeling- Uses communication with the paranormal through a state of trance. Some channellers allow the spirit to use their vocal cords to communicate. Others choose to let the spirit through by allowing them to use their hearing, vision, and intuition.
Clairvoyance - To have lucid mental perceptions and keen insights about people and life situations and to have clear visual mental images, pictures, to "see" auras and other psychic phenomena.
Cryptozoology: The branch of paranormal research, which deals with the exploration of legendary creatures such as Bigfoot, lake and sea monsters, thunderbirds, etc
Demonic Entity or Demon - This is a supernatural being thought to be intelligent, malevolent spirit which has never been a living human being. In Christianity, a demon is thought to be a fallen angel (or former messenger of God). Demons are very rare to encounter but are very powerful beings with superhuman abilities.
Déjà vu - An impression or feeling of having seen or experienced something before.
Disembodied - This is a spirit or ghost that is functioning without a physical body.
Disembodied Voice - This is a voice that is heard and comes from no physical body. ( EVP )
Divination - the practice of attempting to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge by occult or supernatural means.
Demonology - One who studies and practices the art of demonology. An individual who specializes in the removal of evil or demonic forces from a given environment using the art of demonology.
Discarnate - Spirits that exist without a physical body.
Dowsing - To be able to find underground water and/or underground minerals. Some use dowsing rods to detect graves and/or the presence of energy thought to be spirits.
Doppelganger- Also known as a fetch, this ghost is supposed to be the double of a living human being. If people are unfortunate enough to see their own doppelganger, it can be an omen that they will die in the near future.
Ectoplasm - This is the substance that emanates from a medium during a trance. It appears as a mist-like or vapor. It can be seen moving and sometimes faces and other forms can be seen in the mist.
Electromagnetic Field (EMF) - This is electric and magnetic energy that radiates from radio's, TV's and other electrical stuff. Power lines are a big source of EMF.
Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) - These are the sounds you capture with the use of audio equipment. They can be voices or other noises like banging, etc.
EMF Detector - This is a device that measures and detects the changes in electromagnetic fields. It is believed to detect spirits and ghosts and other paranormal energy.
Exorcism - The expulsion of ghost, demons, spirits or other entities that are believed to be haunting, disturbing or possessing a person, place or object.
Extrasensory Perception- Perception that involves awareness of information about events external to the self not gained through the senses and not deducible from previous experience.
Gauss Meter - This is another device that is used to detect and measure electromagnetic fields.
Ghoul – Demonic or parasitic entity that feeds upon human remains.
Ghost - Ghosts are believed to be the soul or life force of a once living person.
Ghost Hunter / Investigator - A person who attempts to gather evidence of ghosts or other paranormal activity.
Haunted - A person, place, or thing which a spirit can be attached to. The spirits can be human or inhuman.
Haunting - Is a paranormal phenomenon such as apparitions, unexplained sounds, weird smells or other sensations associated, such as the feeling of being watched, all over a lengthy period of time with a specific location.
Hallucination – The perception of sights and sounds that are not actually present.
Hellhound / Black Shuck – A spectral death omen in the form of a ghostly dog.
House Blessing - The sanctifying of a property in accordance with the beliefs of the owners and thought to rid a residence of phenomena. Religious rituals intended to protect the inhabitants from misfortune. Many religions have house blessings of one form or another. (also known as house healings, house clearings, house cleansings and space clearing)
Incubus - This is a demonic entity capable of sexually arousing and sometimes assaulting women.
Intelligent Haunting - This is the type of haunting where the entities are aware of their surroundings. Most of the time these spirits are not confined to one spot, they can move around freely. They will also acknowledge the existence of humans and may try to communicate in some way or another.
Kirlian Photography - The photographing of the human aura. Two Russian scientists, Semyon and Valentina Kirlian founded this process.
Malevolent - This is the type of spirit that wishes to do harm.
Manifestation - This is an entity taking on a form or making an appearance.
Matrixing - This is when the mind attempts to manifest images as something they are not.
Marsh Lights- Shimmering, moving flames that are sometimes seen at night in marshes and other wet areas. They are also known as Will-o'-the wisps. Marsh lights are caused when the gases of rotting vegetation begin to burn of their own accord. It was once said that they were the tiny ghosts of young children.
Mediums- A 'sensitive' person who attempts to communicate with the paranormal.
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.
Necromancy: The practice of communicating with the dead to obtain knowledge of the future, others' secrets, etc. An archaic term, the necromancer was said to employ magic spells and conjuration to summon, then banish, the spirits of the dead.
Out-of-body experience (OBE) – A sensation or experience in which ones self or spirit travels to a different location than their physical body.
Orb – a sphere of contained light that emanates with energy or light.
Optical Illusion- An instance in which people's eyes play tricks on them. What they see at that moment is not really there at all.
Paranormal - Phenomena which seems to defy all the known laws of science.
Parapsychology - Refers to the study of paranormal phenomena.
Phantom smell - This is a sent through which a supernatural entity is attempting to express itself. Most of the time phantom smells are flowers, cigarettes, perfume, etc., but they don't come from any identifiable source.
Poltergeist - This is a destructive spirit that has the ability to move objects by solidifying the ambient air which results in the movement of objects. Poltergeist is a German word meaning - "Noisy or mischievous ghost."
Percipient - A person who sees an apparition.
Possession - This is the case in which a person's body is taken over by some form of entity.
Premonition - The feeling or warning about future events.
Past Life Recall- To remember or have mental flashes about living in another lifetime.
Precognition- Pre-knowing; where nondeductible information about a future event is acquired.
Precognitive Dreams - To have dreams of events or incidents before they happen.
Prediction- To be able to predict future events before they occur.
Psychometry - To touch an object with your hands and get information about the object, its creator, its owner, or its history.
Phenomenon- an object or aspect known through the senses rather than by thought or intuition or a fact or event of scientific interest susceptible of scientific description and explanation.
Pareidolia – This is a word used to describe the seeing of faces, figures and images in ordinary, everyday objects such as rocks, foliage, etc.
Residual Haunting - This is believed to be the most common type of a haunt. A residual haunting is like having an impression in time. The spirit isn't really there, only the energy is. It’s like a tape recorder playing.
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.
Reincarnation: The belief that a person's soul will, following bodily death, inhabit a new body in a long cycle of rebirths, purportedly for the soul's evolution through gaining experience.
Scrying - Used by Mediums and fortune tellers to see future events by use of a crystal.
Smudging - A process of combining herbs, (usually sage, cedar and sweet grass) binding it with string and burning it. One wafts the sage smoke throughout a location with the belief that it will rid the location of evil or negative energies.
Succubus - A demonic entity said to inspire lust in men and then assaulting them.
Supernatural - Cannot be explained by any known (scientific)means or forces of nature. Means the same as Paranormal.
Sensitive – a person or medium that has the ability to detect spirit energy with more awareness than the average person through some or all of their senses.
Smudging - smudging is the burning of sacred herbs in tribal cleansing, purification, and prayer ceremonies.
Soul- The spirit of a person. It is not part of the physical body and it cannot be touched or seen. It is believed to be immortal, surviving after the body dies.
Spirit Photography – phantom-like figures or exact replications of deceased people that appear on photographs. One may also see whitish spots, “lights”, or “flashes” on the photographs.
Telekinesis, Psychokinesis, Levitation - To move an object or your body without physical means.
Vortex - This is what we believe to be a passageway between our world and the spirit world.
Vampire: An entity in the form of a deceased person, which perpetuates itself by draining the blood or psychic energy of the living.
White Noise – Any acoustical or electrical noise of which the intensity is the same at all frequencies within a given band.