Glossary of Paranormal Terms
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Agent – A living person who is the focus of poltergeist activity.
Amulet – An object that is thought to bring good luck or have the power to protect from ghosts or spirits and ward off evil.
Apparition – a spectral image of a person that materializes even though a physical body is not present.
Apport – A physical object that can materialize and appear at will in the presence of a medium.
Asport – A physical object that a spirit teleports to another location or makes disappear.
Astral Body – The body that a person occupies during an out-of-body experience.
Astral Plane – A world that is believed to exist above our physical world.
Astral Projection – The intentional act of having the spirit leave the body, whereas an out-of-body experience will happen involuntarily. (See out of body experience).
Astrology – The theory and practice of the positions and aspects of celestial bodies in the belief that they have an influence on the course of natural earthly occurrences and human affairs.
Aura – An invisible emanation of light that seems to surround a person or thing which is often thought to reflect a person’s personality.
Automatism – An unconscious or involuntary muscular movement caused by spirits. (See automatic writing)
Autoscopy – The visual hallucination or image of one’s body looking back at themselves from a position outside the body. (See out of body experience).
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.
Case Study – An in-depth investigation of an individual subject.
Collective Apparition – A rare type of sighting in which more than one person sees the same apparition or phenomena.
Crisis Apparition – An apparition that is seen when a person is seriously ill, seriously injured or at the point of death.
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.
Déjà vu - An impression or dull familiarity of having seen or experienced something before.
Demon – An inferior deity often spoken of in religious text as pure evil.
Direct Voice Phenomenon (DVP) – An auditory “spirit” voice that is spoken directly to the sitters at a séance.
Doppelganger – An exact spirit double or mirror image of a person which is considered to be very negative.
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 – An immaterial or ethereal substance associated with spirit manifestations.
Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) – Voices and sounds from beyond that are captured and recorded on magnetic tape.
Elementals – Spiritualists commonly refer to this term to describe mean or angry spirits sometimes also called “Earth Spirits”.
EMF Detector – (See Magnetometer)
Exorcism – 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 – The event in which a person believes they are awake but are actually dreaming.
Ghost – A generic term referring to a form of apparition or supernatural entity which is typically the visual appearance of a deceased human’s spirit soul.
Ghost Hunting – A carefully controlled research project in which various methods and equipment are used to investigate reports of ghosts and hauntings.
Ghoul – Demonic or parasitic entity that feeds upon human remains.
Hallucination – The perception of sights and sounds that are not actually present.
Haunting – Reoccurring ghostly phenomena that returns to a location where no one is physically present. Ghosts generally haunt places and not people.
Hellhound / Black Shuck – A spectral death omen in the form of a ghostly dog.
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 delusional perception between what is perceived and what is reality.
Intuition – Non-paranormal knowledge that is gained through a perceptive insight.
Levitation – To lift or raise a physical object in apparent defiance of gravity.
Life Review – A flashback of a person’s life that is typically associated with near-death experiences.
Lucid Dreaming – A dream state in which one is conscious enough to recognize that one is in the dream state and is then able to control dream events.
Magnetometer (EMF, gaussmeter) – An instrument for measuring the magnitude and direction of a magnetic field typically used by paranormal researchers to detect a ghost’s magnetic energy.
Marian Apparitions – The event in which the Virgin Mary is seen.
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.
Medium – Someone who professes to be able communicate with spirits on behalf of another living being, acting as a midway point halfway between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Mist – A Photographed anomaly that appears as a blanket of light. There is no substantial proof that these are related to paranormal phenomenon.
Motor Automatism – Bodily movement or functions that are accompanied but not controlled by consciousness (See automatic writing).
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.
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).
Orb – A photographed anomaly that theoretically represents the “spirit” of a deceased person. It will appear as a ball of light on film though is some cases; they are not seen at the time of the photo. Since there are many reasonable circumstances (dust, snow, rain, insects, reflection, lens flare, etc.) orbs still remain a highly controversial subject.
Ouija Board – A pre-printed board with letters, numerals, and words used to receive spirit communications. Typically a planchette is employed to spell out words and point out numbers or letters.
Out-of-body experience (OBE) – A sensation or experience in which ones self or spirit travels to a different location than their physical body (See Astral Projection).
Paranormal – Referring to something that is beyond the range of normal human experience or scientific explanation.
Parapsychology – The study of the evidence for psychological phenomena that are inexplicable by science.
Percipient – A person who sees (i.e., perceives) an apparition.
Phantom - Something that is seen, heard, or sensed, but has no physical reality (See Ghost).
Poltergeist - a non-human spirit entity which literally means “noisy ghost” but is usually more malicious and destructive than ghosts of dead human beings. Traditional poltergeists activities are thumping and banging, levitating or the moving of objects, stone throwing and starting fires. It is thought that poltergeist activity in some instances may be brought on subconsciously by an adolescent agent or females under the age of 25.
Radio Voice Phenomenon (RVP) – Receiving the voice of a deceased human being through a regular radio.
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.
Specter – A ghostly apparition; a phantom (See Ghost).
Spiritualism – The belief system that the dead are able to communicate with the living, through an intermediary or medium.
Stigmata – Unexplained bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain corresponding in location to the crucifixion wounds of Christ.
Subjective Apparitions – Hallucinations of apparitions or other phenomena that are created by our own minds.
Supernatural – Of or relating to existence outside the natural world. As opposed to paranormal, the term “supernatural” often connotes divine or demonic intervention.
Vortex – An anomaly that appears as a funnel or rope-like image in photographs. These images are sometimes thought to represent ghosts, collections of orbs or gateways which travel to a wormhole in time-space. There has been no substantial scientific evidence to support any of these theories.
White Noise – An Acoustical or electrical noise of which the intensity is the same at all frequencies within a given band.
Tags: apparition, civil war ghost, EVP, ghost, ghost hunter, ghost tour, ghosthunter, ghosts, halloween, haunted, investigation, lynchburg, lynchburg ghosts, lynchburg paranormal, paranormal
Ghost Stories of Central Virginia
Posted by admin | Filed under SHPS News!
Tags: apparition, civil war ghost, EVP, ghost, ghost hunter, ghost story, ghost tour, ghosthunter, ghosts, halloween, haunted, investigation, lynchburg, lynchburg ghosts, lynchburg paranormal, paranormal, Virginia, virginia ghosthunter, virginia ghosts, virginia haunting, virginia paranormal
Trans-Allegheny Lunatics Asylum
Posted by admin | Filed under SHPS Research
Trans-Allegheny Lunatics Asylum; Weston, WV
Tags: apparition, civil war ghost, EVP, ghost, ghost hunter, ghost tour, ghosthunter, ghosts, halloween, haunted, investigation, lynchburg, lynchburg ghosts, lynchburg paranormal, paranormal, TALA, Trans-Allegheny, Transallegheny, Virginia, virginia ghosts, virginia haunting
Ward Building; Lynchburg, VA
Posted by admin | Filed under SHPS Research
September 19, 2009- Ward Building; Lynchburg, VA Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: apparition, EVP, freemason, ghost, ghost hunter, haunted, hill city, hill city ghost, investigation, lynchburg, lynchburg ghosts, lynchburg paranormal, Mason, masonic lodge, paranormal, seven hills paranormal
Historic Ivy Cliff slave cabin
Posted by admin | Filed under Historic Preservation Projects
Ivy Cliff Historic Plantation;
Forest (New London), VA
9/27/09
As part of our newly implemented community service program, SHPS’ first opportunity to volunteer our time presented itself at Historic Ivy Cliff, a 200+ year old plantation in New London, VA. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: apparition, civil war, civil war ghost, ghost, ghost hunter, haunted, investigation, ivy cliff, lynchburg, lynchburg ghosts, lynchburg paranormal, paranormal, slave, slave cabin, voodoo
More Investigations
Posted by admin | Filed under SHPS Research
Coming soon….
Miller Park Center; Lynchburg, VA
St. Albans (2nd and 3rd visits); Radford, VA
Miller & Knight buildings (confederate hospital buildings) historical; Lynchburg, VA
The Piedmont Center; Lynchburg, VA
Historic Avenel (2nd visit)
Trans-Allegheny Lunatics Asylum
Tags: apparition, Battle of Lynchburg, civil war, civil war ghost, confederate, confederate hospital, EVP, ghost, ghost hunter, halloween, haunted, investigation, ivy cliff, knight, lynchburg, lynchburg ghosts, lynchburg paranormal, Mason, masonic lodge, miller, miller hospital, Miller Park, paranormal, piedmont, piedmont center, St. Albans
