Para Glossary Anomaly: An experience, occurrence or object that is outside of the normal. Apparition: A spirit that a witness can see. Demon: A non-human spirit. Has never been alive. Ectoplasm: Anything physical left behind by a ghost or an entity. 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. Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP): Voices and sounds from beyond that are captured and recorded on magnetic tape. Full-bodied apparition: A ghostly encounter where the complete human spirit can be seen. Ghost: The disembodied essence of someone. Ghost Hunting: A carefully controlled research project in which various methods and equipment are used to investigate reports of ghosts and hauntings. Haunting: The interaction between the paranormal and the normal. Inhuman Entity: A supernatural being -- such as a demon or jinn -- that did not begin its existence in human form. Intelligent Haunting: Activity resulting from an aware ghost or spirit that interacts with its environment. Medium: Someone who professes to be able to communicate with spirits on behalf of another living being, acting as a midway point between the worlds of the living and the dead. 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. Orb: An often translucent, circular anomaly (or “ball of light”) seen in photography (and sometimes with the naked eye) that may be, depending on your theory, a bug, speck of dust, reflection, moisture or spirit energy. Paranormal: A term that is used to describe unusual activity that involves ghosts, apparitions and spirits. 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. Possession: The state where an entity inhabits and exerts a level of control over a living thing or object. Psychic: A person who is responsive to psychic forces with above average ESP abilities. Residual Haunting: Repetitive paranormal activity resulting from the energy imprint of a person or event in time. |
