Terms

APPARITION: Manifestation of a Spirit visible to the eye.

APPORT: Arrival of objects, either animate or inanimate during a séance or a haunting. Apports are sometimes made of teeth, hair, feces or vomit of either an animal or human.

ASPORT: Disappearance of objects that reappear elsewhere.

AURA: An emanation of energy which surrounds all living things. Many with psychic abilities are able to see and interpret this energy. Can be viewed through the use of Kirlian photography. It is felt that our physical health is reflected in our auras.

AUTOMATIC WRITING: Phenomena in which people write without conscious thought. Many feel that it is spirits writing through the body of a living person. Parapsychologists feel that the phenomenon is due to automatism.

AUTOMOTISM: The theory in which the subconscious communicates with the conscious by means of a vehicle such as a Ouija board, automatic writing or pendulum swinging.

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. Elementals are benign spirits.

BILOCATION: When an object is seen in two locations at the same time. Padre Pio was said to exhibit bilocation.

COLD SPOT: Phenomena in which part of a haunted area that has a significantly lower room temperature.

CRISIS APPARITION: Usually visual images, which appear in waking visions or dreams at a moment of crisis, such as to communicate dying or death.

DEATHBED APPARITIONS: Visual images of divine beings, religious figures, luminosity's, and dead loved ones that are reported by the dying in the last moments of life.

DEMATERIALISM: The sudden disappearance of an item. An asport.

DEMONIC: Anything caused by demons.

DEMONOLOGIST: One who studies demons and their actions.

DEMONOLOGY: The study of demons.

DISCARNATE: Spirit existing without a physical body.

DISEMBODIED: Spirit functioning without a body.

DISEMBODIED VOICE: A voice heard that comes from no physical body. Also known as EVP.

ECTOPLASM: An oily substance similar to blood plasma, appearing out of nowhere, leaving no physical stains or residue. Or can be small airborne droplets floating in the air which disappear without a trace after an entity departs. Similar to plasma in electrical areas.

ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD: A field propagated by a combination of electric and magnetic energy which radiates from radio and light waves to gamma and cosmic rays. It is believed that when spirits manifest, they create an electromagnetic field.

EMF DETECTOR: An instrument that measure electromagnetic energy. Also known as a Gauss Meter or magnetometer.

ENTITY: Anything that exists or may be supposed to exist; being

EVP: The occurrence of Phantom voices on tape. Electronic Voice Phenomenon--Which some believe it allows communication with the deceased. It's thought to be, the voices of Spirits. These sounds aren't normally heard by the human ear, but can sometimes be picked up by recording devices. (Weird, drawn-out voices--loudly screaming or faint voices, growls, squeals, and groans etc.) .

GHOST: Generic term used to describe a deceased person or image appearing to the living. Animals and even inanimate objects, like buildings, can be ghosts.

GHOST LIGHTS: Lights which sometimes appear in haunted houses or in some cases, outdoors. Not necessarily evil, these lights are often photographed by paranormal researchers.

GLOBULE: A tiny sphere of electromagnetic energy. Spirits often appear on film as globules. Also known as orbs. These are not always perfect circles.

HAUNTED: A person or place to which negative spirits are attached. These spirits can be human or inhuman in nature.

HAUNTING: A state of existence under which a spirit, human or inhuman, has attached itself to a person, place or thing.

HUMAN SPIRIT: The spirit of a person who has lived in the physical plane. These spirits can be earthbound for a number of reasons.

LEVITATION: The rising of an object or person by no visible means.

MALEVOLENT SPIRIT: a spirit with a destructive behavior or harmful intentions.

MALICIOUS: A spirit that is evil or spiteful. These spirits will destroy things of a personal or financial value for the sake of hurting others.

MANIFESTATION: The appearance or taking form of an entity. Can also mean the outbreak of activity.

MATERIALIZATION: The deliberate, usually temporary, visible and/or physical formation of a spirit.

MORPHOUS: Having no definite form or shape. Spirits often appear in mist-like forms.

OBSESSION: The second stage of a haunting where the invading entity begins to exert its power over its victim.

OPPRESSION: The first stage of a haunting where the invading entity attempts to gain access to the location or person targeted for victimization.

ORB: Anomalous or unexplained energy caught on film usually in association with a haunting, high EMF readings, and cold spots. They range in a variety of size color with the most common color being white. They appear bubble shaped and are usually spherical.

OUTWARD MANIFESTATION: Any event of paranormal activity, i.e.: disembodied voices, movement of objects, horrible smells, manipulation with temperatures, etc.

PARANORMAL: Any event or object that defies scientific explanation or knowledge.

PHANTOM: An apparition or specter. Existing only as an energy form.

PHANTOMANIA: Paralysis occurring when an individual is under attack by preternatural or supernatural forces. This is also known as psychic paralysis.

PLASMA: Plasma in association with electrical discharges is defined by bluish-white light caused by the ionization of the surrounding area. Plasma is the fourth state of matter. Similar to a gas its molecules are made up of atoms, which have been stripped of electrons creating a negative electrical charge or have acquired extra electrons creating a positive electrical charge. The ionization process releases photons from the bond of atoms causing a visible glow, and when these contact our retinas, the brain interprets the interaction as light (henceforth we have sight). These ion fields are not in any way oily or slimy, and definitely do not consist of airborne droplets. (Not to be confused with Ectoplasm.) Plasma may be created when an invisible electromagnetic force or high-energy field moves invisibly through an air mass. POLTERGEIST: A haunting that involves noisy Spirits and no visible manifestations. Portal haunting: A doorway or portal that provides access for spirits to enter our world from another dimension. A very common doorway is a cemetery or a graveyard.

PROVOCATION: An effort to provoke or command a spirit to reveal itself.

PSYCHIC WOUNDS: Wounds caused by a spirit. They may appear as scratches or bites. Bruising and burns can also result from a negative encounter.

PSYCHO KINETIC ACTIVITY (PK): a) The movement of objects by spirits in Class A haunting poltergeist activity. B) Movement of objects caused by living persons with extreme emotions.

RAPPING: This can vary from a light knocking sound to a heavy pounding. It usually emanates from the walls but sounds as if it is coming from everywhere. Spirits sometimes communicate through rapping.

RECIPROCAL APPARITION: When both the agent (the Spiritly visitor) and the percipient (the visited person) see each other, RARE.

RESIDUAL HAUNTING: When a spirit becomes trapped in a terrible emotional loop or whirlpool that repeats over and over, like a video segment playing over repeatedly. (Echo of a personality or traumatic event) An apparition does not interact with you.

SLEEP PARALYSIS: A medical disorder affecting every one out of two people, which feels like pressure on the chest makes it hard to breath. Most often this experience is mistaken for demonic possession. Often the person with this disorder sees a black figure standing next to them. This is NOT related to spirits of the dead, but to a medical disorder.

SOLIDIFICATION OF AIR: The process by which spirits move physical objects.

SOUL: Electromagnetic energy field pattern or matrix (the identity), with intelligence, emotions, attitudes and beliefs. Usually self-aware.

SPECTER: Something that exists only in appearance. Same as Phantom.

SPIRIT: Soul, essence or spirit of a deceased person. Earthbound Spirits are those that have lived and not passed over. They are trapped between worlds.

SPIRITS: (An intelligent spirit that interacts with us.) The electromagnetic identity (orbs, mist, vortexes or shadows) signature of a former living person who has returned to their original home location to visit relatives or influence unfulfilled wishes.

SPIRIT ACTIVITY ON FILM: Spirit energy occurs at a different light spectrum than what we can normally see. This may be why the camera can pick up the energy in the form of tubes, orbs or apparitions even though we can't see anything at the time we take the photo. Usually unexplained anomalous energy spikes and can be detected by using an EMF meter.

SPIRIT LIGHTS: Spectral lights, (ignis fatuus) or "foolish fire". Have been spotted in every country and civilization. The Spirit lights are blue or yellow orbs. Some scientist suggest that the lights are swamp gas, magnetism, electricity or phosphorescent material. So far no conclusive natural source has ever been found for the sightings.

SUPERNATURAL: Events that have no natural explanation. Commonly refers to acts of the divine but can also include some extraordinary acts caused by negative forces.

TELEKINESIS: Although often confused with psycho kinesis, telekinesis is the projection of perceived movements into ones mind. An example would be of a wall that appears to be moving. The wall is not actually moving but it is projected into the mind making that person believe it is

TUBER: Anomalous or unexplained energy caught on film in association with a haunting. It is sometimes described as a vortex. It appears like a white or black tube in photos.

VORTEX: Energy that takes the shape of a tube in a photograph. It may vary in color and shape. It may appear to be a camera strap in the photo. We have seen various colors in vortex photos. One theory is that they are made up of several orbs. It may be in connection with a portal or doorway. Geomagnetic energy anomaly and not Spirits can cause vortex photos. There is often a high EMF reading when an orb is present.