Open Minded Skeptic Society

Anomaly – an irregular or unusual event which does not fit the standard rule or law. An anomaly is something that cannot be explained by currently accepted scientific theories. Anything weird, abnormal, strange, odd or difficult to classify is considered an anomaly.

 

Anthropomorphic – ascribing human form or attributes to a being or thing not human, especially to a deity; resembling or made to resemble a human form.

 

Apophenia – the spontaneous perception of connections and meaningfulness of unrelated phenomena.

 

Apparition – appearance of a spirit. Aura – invisible to the naked eye, it is a glow surrounding an individual and changes color and form depending on the mental and physical well-being of the individual.

 

Automatic Writing – when a person can produce writing that is not their own writing style and can convey messages from the deceased.

 

Channeling – the method in which mediums allow themselves to be used in order to manifest something which comes from outside themselves.

 

Clairvoyance – supernatural power of seeing people, places, things and events outside the space and time of natural viewing.

 

Cryto-zoology – the branch of paranormal research which deals with the exploration of legendary creatures.

 

Déjà Vu – seeing or doing something completely new but having the distinct feeling that the experience had been done before.

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Demonology – the study of demons

 

Disembodied Voice – a voice that is heard in real time (unlike an EVP) that is not coming from any corporeal form.

 

EMF (electro-magnet field) – classically, the electromagnetic field is a physical influence (a field) that permeates through all of space, and which arises from electrically charged objects and describes one of the four fundamental forces of nature – electromagnetism. Ghost activities can sometimes cause changes in the electro-magnetic field and are measured with an EMF meter. There is a theory that a high amount of electromagnetic energy can cause poltergeist activity but also a theory that these same high energy levels attract spirits.

 

Empath – an individual who is particularly sensitive to the psychic emanations of his or her surroundings, even to a degree of telepathically receiving and experiencing the emotions of others in their proximity. Obviously, psychic empathy can be regarded as a mixed blessing and the empathy must learn to gain a measure of control over this ability.

 

Entity – an entity is something that has a distinct, separate existence.

 

ESP (extra sensory perception) – perception that involves awareness of information about something (such as a person or event) not gained through the senses and not deducible from previous experience.

 

Evil – refers to the morally or ethically objectionable behavior or thought.

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EVP (electronic voice phenomena) – the communication by spirits via tape recorders or digital voice recorders. These communications cannot be heard at the time but will be audible when the recordings are played back. They are classified into four classes: Class A, Class B, Class C and Class R.

           

• Class A: Must be a very clear voice and everyone that you let listen to the recording agrees on what is being said by the ghost or spirit. Everyone who hears the voice must come to the same conclusion about what it is saying without being told by another investigator. These voices do not need to be amplified or cleared up using a computer sound editing program but can be clearly heard straight from the recording device. It does not have to be extremely loud but it must be clear on what is being said. Class A EVPs are the best voices of the dead captured and are the rarest to record.

• Class B: Can be understood and most people agree on what is said. These might not be understood by everyone who listens to them and might even sound like it is saying something completely different to other people that listen to the recording. This class might need to be amplified using a computer sound editing program before they can be clearly understood. To get this rating the voice must be fairly clear and easy to determine what most of the words are when analyzing with a computer. This is the most common class of EVP captured.

• Class C: The worse quality voices that you can capture. It is nearly impossible to understand what is being said even with the help of computer enhancement. These are often just whispers or mumbled words, or might even sound robotic. The voice cannot be understood but the investigator still knows that it is an EVP because of the fact that no one was talking during the recording session and human sounding voices can clearly be heard in the background noise.

• Class R: Must have a meaning to it when played in reverse

• Some EVPS will have a meaning when played normally and a different meaning in reverse. When this happens it will have two classifications. For example, a Class A EVP with an excellent and clear meaning in reverse as well would be titled a Class A-RA, EVP. This means it was very clear to understand both forward and in reverse. It cannot have a Class A-RC because this would mean that it could not be understood in reverse which would not be a Class R EVP. You may have a Class B-RB or a Class A-RB, etc.

 

Exorcism – the practice of evicting demons or other evil spiritual entities which have possessed a person or object. This is an ancient practice that requires great skill and should not be attempted by anyone except trained clergy members.

 

False Positive – believing something to be true when in fact it isn’t.

 

Ghost – a non-corporeal manifestation of the spirit or soul of a dead person that has remained on Earth after death.

 

Ghost Hunting – the act of using scientific instruments to detect and attempt to communicate with spirits.

 

Guardian Spirit – a spirit who protects and guides a particular person.

 

Haunting – to inhabit, visit or appear in the form of a ghost or other supernatural being. There are four distinct types of haunting: Residual, Intelligent, Poltergeist, and Demonic.

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• Residual: an imprint left behind by an event with high energy that may have been extremely emotional. The manifestations seen are not aware of your presence and will repeat their actions time and time again.

• Intelligent: a haunting where the entity is conscious and can interact with living witnesses.

• Poltergeist: an extremely rare occurrence wherein random objects are moved and sounds produced by an unseen force, the sole purpose being to draw attention to itself. The phenomenon always involves a specific individual, frequently or a child or adolescent.

• Demonic: a supernatural malevolent spirit that causes harm and/or extreme emotional distress. Usually associated with foul odors, visible wounds and aversion to sacred objects.

• Incorporeal or Non-corporeal – without the nature of a body or substance.

 

ITC (Instrumental Transcommunication) – any communication with a spirit that occurs in real time with the help of an electronic device such as a radio or television. The spirits appear on a television in the static or can be heard on the radio in between frequencies.

 

Intelligent Haunt – a haunting where the entity is conscious and can interact with living witnesses.

 

Intuition – an immediate form of knowledge in which the knower is directly acquainted with the object of knowledge. Intuition differs from all forms of mediated knowledge, which generally involve conceptualizing the object of knowledge by means of rational/analytical thought processes.

 

Intuitive – a person sensitive to the feelings of other life forms, as well as signals of nature.

 

Ley Lines – alignments of ancient sites; these are considered to be earth’s natural energy lines. Spirits may use these lines as a way of traveling quickly from one place to another. It has also been suggested that where two ley lines cross there is a possible chance of a portal opening to other dimensions.

 

Malevolent – a malicious supernatural force that causes harmful acts to living beings.

 

Manifestation – the materialized form of a spirit

 

Materialization – a ghost appearing visually, suddenly or gradually, sometimes indistinct, sometimes seemingly quite solid.

 

Matrixing – the natural tendency for the human mind to interpret sensory input, what is perceived visually, audibly or tactilely, as something familiar or more easily understood and accepted; in effect, mentally “filling in the blanks.” Refer to Pareidolia.

 

Medium – a person who possesses the ability to communicate with spirits of deceased people, and occasionally animals.

 

Metaphysics – the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. More recently, the term has also been used more loosely to refer to “subjects that are beyond the physical world.”

 

Near-Death Experience – an experience reported by a person who nearly died, or who experienced clinical death and then was revived.

 

Orb – name given to typically circular anomalies appearing either in photographs or with the naked eye. They are allegedly the true spirit form and one theory is that these are seen at the beginning of a manifestation. Orbs commonly appearing in photographs or on video surveillance are usually dust, bugs orother airborn particles; however, those seen with the naked eye may not always be one of these explanations.

 

Out-of-Body Experience (OBE) – an experience that typically involves a sensation of floating outside of one’s body and in some cases seeing one’s physical body from a place outside one’s body.

 

Pareidolia - the imagined perception of a pattern or meaning where it does not actually exist, as in considering the moon to have human features.

 

Paranormal – an umbrella term used to describe a wide variety of reported anomalous phenomena that lacks scientific explanation.

 

Parapsychology – the study of seeming mental awareness of or the influence upon external objects without any physical or energetic means of causation which scientist currently understand. Another definition of parapsychology is the scientific study of paranormal phenomena.

 

Poltergeist – an extremely rare occurrence wherein random objects are moved and sounds produced by an unseen force, the sole purpose being to draw attention to itself. The phenomenon always involves a specific individual, frequently or a child or adolescent.

 

Possession – where a person and sometimes an animal becomes overtaken by a being that is not their own.

 

Portal – a doorway, entrance or gate between spiritual and physical worlds.

 

Quantum Mechanics – fundamental branch of physics with wide applications in experimental physics and theoretical physics that replaces classical mechanics and classical electromagnetism at the atomic and subatomic levels.

 

Residual Haunting – an imprint left behind by an event with high energy that may have been extremely emotional. The manifestations seen are not aware of your presence and will repeat their actions time and time again.

 

Sacred (Holiness) – state of being holy or sacred.

 

Sensitive – someone who can sense a paranormal presence.

 

Shadow Person – a being which has never lived on earth and never will. These are often associated with negative energy.

 

Sleep Paralysis – temporary paralysis of the body shortly after work up or shortly before falling asleep. Described as a heavy feeling that some confuse with possession.

 

Smudging – the burning of dried herbs, most often white sage, to purify a house from a malevolent spirit.

 

Spirituality – the act of being spiritual; not necessarily religious.

 

Supernatural – refers to the forces and phenomena that are not observed in nature and therefore beyond verifiable measurement.

 

Telepathy – communication of information from one mind to another by means other than the known perceptual senses.

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