03/01/2021
Paranormal Investigator’s vocabulary list.
Become familiar with these terms. They are the basics in Paranormal Investigating. This is not a complete list, but it a list of terms that are important for investigators in which to have a basic understanding. Feel free to add to this list.
Apparition: a manifestation of a spirit as a human figure or partial figure. Can be semi-transparent.
Cold spot: It is believed that spirits need energy to manifest. When a spirit is present, energy may be drained. This is thought to result in the temperature dropping. This phenomenon can be measured.
Demon: non-human entity thought to be evil. Present in many religions.
Disembodied voice: a voice or noise that lacks an explainable source.
Elemental: Supernatural nature spirits that include fairies, trolls and banshees.
E.M.F. – stands for Electro-magnetic frequency. Investigators carry an emf meter which picks up the level of frequency and the location where such frequencies emanate. In investigating, it is believed that spirits need energy to manifest, and when manifesting, the spike in emf could be the sign that a spirit or something supernatural is present. Investigators use emf meters to take a base line reading in a location, noting any high readings. These readings can then be compared with readings during an investigation. Any fluctuations on the readings from the base reading could mean something paranormal is happening.
Energy: A word which has been universally used (and over-used) to refer to everything from an emotion or feeling experienced by someone in a location, to an invisible being. This word has a scientific definition. Therefore, I prefer to be much more specific when referring to “energy” as the actual emotion, feeling, or experience of the investigator, such as a feeling of a presence, dark, evil, feeling of being watched, etc.
E.V.P. – stands for Electronic Voice Phenomena. It’s when a voice not heard at the time is picked up on an audio recorder. To record evp, investigators ask questions and wait for responses. Recordings of evp are usually reviewed after an investigation, but some recorders allow live listening. It is not totally understood how this works. The theory is that the audio recorder picks up spirit voices that are below the frequency of human hearing.
Extra-sensory perception: awareness of information about events external to the self not gained through the five senses
Telepathy: being able to read someone’s thoughts.
Clairvoyance: being able to perceive things beyond the normal perception, including seeing the future.
Precognition: foreknowledge of an event.
Remote viewing: the ability to seek impressions about a distant or unseen object or place.
Infrasound: sound on the low end of the spectrum below 20 megahertz. Sound in this spectrum cannot be heard with the ear but can be felt, and will cause nausea, paranoia and feelings of ill ease.
Inhuman entity: a supernatural being that was never human, such as a demon or jinn.
Intelligent haunting: A haunting that involves intelligent responses, direct answers to questions, responses from entities to people.
Levitation: the rising of a person or object into the air, often occurs during a poltergeist haunting.
Manifestation: any physical event, from a noise, to a voice, to an apparition, which presents itself to a person.
Orb: a ball of light. Orbs witnessed on video or digital cameras are almost always a reflection of the camera’s flash or light onto a speck of dust, a bug, or an anomalous ball of light energy. Orbs are not floating human spirits. They can almost always be debunked. If dust, bugs, or lens flare is ruled out, then it’s what is called a light anomaly, unexplained and possibly an indication of paranormal activity in the location.
Paranormal – Para - Above, beyond. Other than normal. Denoting events or phenomena such as telekinesis or clairvoyance that are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Paranormal is a catch-all term for all things unexplained, supernatural, or mysterious. It includes psychic abilities like clairvoyance, telepathy, or remote viewing. It also includes anything unexplained, such as ghosts, hauntings, UFOs, and cryptids like bigfoot.
Pareidolia: also known as matrixing, it is the brain’s perception of a meaningful pattern within random sounds or images, as in seeing faces in clouds or shadows.
Poltergeist: a noisy and mischievous ghost who is known to move objects, make noises like knocking, and touch people. There is a theory that poltergeist activity can be caused by the presence of an adolescent in the home, or a person suffering from trauma or emotional stress.
Possession: the state where an entity, usually a demon, inhabits and exerts a level of control over a person or object.
Preternatural: natural but currently unexplained.
Residual Haunting – a haunting that involves a repeated phenomenon spiritual in origin, but not involving an actual entity. It is believed that traumatic events can be “recorded” onto a location, into the very walls of a house, which can be experienced by a person as a haunting. However, there is nothing to communicate with. This recording of traumatic events or emotions onto a place is called stone tape theory.
Shadow people – a type of manifestation, that presents as an inky dark or black figure without features that is seen often out of the corner of the eye. It is theorized that these shadow people could be aliens, time travelers, demons or inter-dimensional.
Skeptic: a non-believer in the supernatural.
Sleep paralysis: the physical experience of being halfway between wake and sleep. In this natural state, the body is not yet fully awake, but is in a state of paralysis; of not being able to move. Everyone who is asleep is in this physical state. When your mind begins to awake, your body awakens at the same time. In sleep paralysis, the mind awakens before the body, which results in the terrifying state of being fully awake but unable to move. The person may also have hallucinations and experience terror. This can be treated as a sleep disorder and is not paranormal. Many people mistake sleep paralysis for a paranormal experience of being held down, unable to speak.
Spiritual attachment: an intelligent disembodied human spirit that has attached itself to a person or object. Attachments have been credited with causing a haunting. An antique of unknown origin, an old doll, any object or person can be the subject of an attachment.
Telekinesis: psychic ability to move objects with the mind.
List of tools and electronic equipment commonly used in investigations:
Audio digital voice recorder: used to record EVP.
Digital camera: used to photograph during an investigation.
Video Cam: often set up on a home to cover hot spots in a haunted location.
I.R.camera and/or light: Infared light which is used in investigations to see in the dark.
Full Spectrum camera: camera that sees and takes images in the full spectrum of light: infared and ultra-violet.
E.M.F. meter. Meters can be digital or analogue and are used to measure the level of electromagnetic frequency in a location.
K-2 meter: an emf meter that uses lights from green, to yellow, orange and red to determine emf levels. Typically not accurate and susceptible to false readings and interference from electronic devices, radio signals, etc.
RemPod: a device that emits emf into the environment directly around the antennae. When anything comes into close proximity to the rempod, it will flash lights and a high pitched beeping sound. The theory is that spirits moving close to the device will block the emf and cause the device to activate.
Ovilus: an electronic device that emits words audibly and visually. The theory is that if you ask questions to it, it will answer with intelligent responses.
SB-7 Ghost Box: an electronic device that scans radio frequencies rapidly across the band. The theory is that spirits can communicate through the white noise produced by manipulating radio frequencies.
SLS Camera: stands for Structured Light Source. This technology was used for the Wi gaming device or Xbox. In paranormal investigating, it maps human forms as stick figures using infared light. If it is pointed at an empty space it may pick up a human stick figure where there is no person. The theory is that it is “seeing” a spirit form and mapping it.
Paranormal Puck: An electronic device in the shape and size of a hockey puck, it is designed to connect to a control device like a computer or phone. It monitors EMF, temperature, humidity, light levels, barometric pressure, movement, ionization, and static levels and can produce ITC (internet technology communication, i.e.texting) sessions using remote wi-fi and will show data on a cell phone or computer. In simple terms, it will talk to you from a distance!
