The Ghostly Dictionary
Agent
A living person at the site of a haunting. Some human agents act only as witnesses to
paranormal events while others are believed to be the method by which the hauntings occur.
Some agents my cause phenomena to increase, while others may be the entire source of the
activity. How this works is yet unexplained.
Apparition
A spectral image that is sometimes reffered to as a ghost, but is more like an imprint
with distinct features that enables the witness to recognize it as a person or specific
shape. They are usually connected to residual hauntings rather than spirit-related ones.
Apport
A physical object that can materialize and appear at will and can include coins, watches,
jewelry and even food. They are often connected to spirits who interact with the living as
the spirits cause items to appear and disappear in an effort to make themselfves known.
Automatic Writing
A method used by spirit mediums to obtain information from the next world. It is believed that
spirits take control of the medium and cause them to write unconscious information on paper.
Banshee
A death omen or spirit that attaches itself to certain families.
Bogey
A spirit that is particularly antagonistic toward humans, traveling alone or in groups to
cause trouble.
Channeling
A modern method of spirit communication in which the spirits pass information directly to the
medium, who then repeats the information for the listener.
Clairaudience
The experience of receiving paranormal information through auditory impressions, voices and
whispers. Many psychics are said to receive information from the spirit world in this manner.
It can also be used to describe voices and whispers heard in haunted locations.
Collective Apparition
A type of ghost that occurs when one or more people see the same apparition.
Control
A spirit who acts as a medium's connection with the next world. Also referred to as a
"spirit guide".
Dematerialization
The sudden disappearance of a person of spirit in full view of witnesses.
Discarnate
A word used to describe a spirit of specter... Literally means "without flesh".
Doppelganger
Meaning "double image", it is thought to be an exact spirit double of a living person. They
are considered to be very negative in nature.
Earthbound
Refers to a ghost or spirit that is unable to cross over at the time of death. Many spirits
make the decision to remain behind by choice while others are too confused or frightened
because of a sudden death or suicide to make the crossing.
Ectoplasm
An organic material that was supposedly exuded by physical mediums during seances as a way
of proving contact with the spirit world. It would often take certain shapes. The substance was
supposed to appear from just about every orfice of the medium's body. In more recent times,
many reseachers believe the substance had a natural form, created by fraudulent mediums during
the Spiritualist era.
Electronic Voice Phenomena
Voices and sounds that are alleged to be from the dead and that are captured on audio tape.
Elementals
A term used by Spiritualists to describe angry or malicious spirits. Others refer to them as
"earth spirits".
Exorcism
A ritual used primarily by the Catholic Church as a way of driving out demons or evil spirits
from a living person. Some fundmamentalists also use this term to describe the expelling of
spirits from a home or location.
Extra
A shape or a face that is daid to have supernaturally appeared on film and cannot be explained
away as fraud, faulty film or developing flaws.
Ghost
A generic term used for a number of different supernatural entities.
Ghost Hunting
Various methods of investigating reports of ghosts and hauntings and determining their
authenticity.
Ghost Lights
Strange balls of light that appear in specific locations, often for an extended period of
time but which have no explanation. They are thought to be of natural origin, possibly
pertaining to earthquakes, fault lines, railroad tracks or water sources, but remain a mystery.
Most such lights have a legend attached to them, usually involving a person who has been
beheaded. The light is then explained as this person sarching for their missing head.
Haunting
A repeated manifestation of supernatural phenomena in a specific location. The activity
may appear as physical apparitions, sights, sounds, smells or cold areas. Hauntings may continue
for years or may only last a brief period of time.
Intelligent Haunting
Activity that takes place around people or locations that is caused by an intelligent or conscious
spirit. Best defined as the personality of someone who has died and whose spirit has not crossed
over to the other side. This spirit will interact with wtinesses at a location and attempt to
make its presence known through repeated phenomena of sights, sounds, feeling and the movement
of physical objects.
Levitation
The raising of physical objects without assistance. Thought to be caused by ghosts, levitations
were always popular during Spiritualist seances, when tables, chairs and many other items were
said to have moved and lifted from the floor.
Materialization
The sudden appearance of a person or object in front of witnesses.
Orbs
Round, opaque lights that are captures on film and believed to be spirits, or some sort of
paranormal activity.
Ouija Board
A piece of wood bearing the letters of the alphabet that is used as a tool to make contact
with the spirit world. Sitters place their fingers lightly on the planchette by which the
spirits can spell out messages on the board.
Paranormal
A word meaning "unknown" or "beyond the normal" that has come to refer to events that are
unexplainable.
Phantom
Another name for "ghost" or "spirit", although many use the word "phantom" to refer to ghosts
that have been seen wearing cloaks or robes.
Phenomenon
An event that is an outward sign of working of the laws of nature or an extraordinary happening.
Poltergeist
Literally means "noisy ghost" in German. Although it actually refers to traditional ghosts and
hauntings, in other cases, it can be used to describe the work of a human agent. Most poltergeist
outbreaks are short-lived.
Psychic
A word to describe a person who is sensitive beyond normal means. Sucj a person may be able to
see or hear things that are not available to most people.
Psychokinesis
The ability to move physical objects using only the power of the mind. In many poltergeist-like
cases, human agents affect objects in an unconscious manner.
Rapping
Can refer to sounds that occur at a location that is experiencing a haunting or to one of the earliest
forms of spirit communication in which mediums and spirits work out a code by which questions can be asked
and then answered by raps from the spirits.
Reciprocal Apparition
A rare type of ghost sighting when both the spirit and the human witness see and respond to one
another.
Seance
A sitting that is held for the purpose of communication with the dead. At least one person in the
circle is preferred to be medium with the power of contacting the spirits.
Simulacra
A word used to describe the faces and shapes that are often reported in photographs and in almost
every kind of inanimate object including doors, buildings, clouds, trees and busjes. Usually,
it is nothing more than the imagination of the witness making the texture of the object into face
or figure.
Specter
Another term for a ghost.
Spirit
A discarnate being that exists in a invisible realm.
Spirit Photography
A term used for both legitimate attempts to capture ghosts and paranormal energy on film.
Spiritualism
A faith based on the idea that life continues after death and that communication between the
living and the dead can, and does, take place.
Supernatural
Events or happenings that take place in violation of the laws of nature, usually associated with
ghosts and hauntings.
Teleportation
The appearance, disappearance or movement of human bodies and physical objects through closed
doors or over some amount of distance using paranormal means. They often report such events to
take place during hauntings.
Wraith
An apparition that is generally supposed to be an omen of death.