Blog
Bi City Paranormal Research official music partner Black Swan Lane drops their 10th studio album ‘BLIND’ available on all platforms on December 6th
Helloooo! Apologies for my absence. This is my first day off in a year and our new album is currently being manufactured. I have been secluded in a music studio for a year recording and mixing the 10th BLACK SWAN LANE album, Blind. After the ninth album, I remember telling a good friend that I can’t top the last one and I’m completely out of ideas after 9 BSL albums, 3 Messenger albums and countless other projects that I have been associated with. And, what is further insane is that our 5th album, The Last Time In Your Light, was intended to be the very end of it all. I guess that I’ve had more to say and share with the Alt Universe. Blind’s release date has been moved up and is scheduled to be released on December 6th, 2022. Pre-sales of the physical album and the official press release will be announced very soon! Hopefully, nuclear armageddon will hold off until then…
There are a lot of unique features and ‘firsts” that occur in Blind. In prior BLACK SWAN LANE records, when you think what you hear is a synthesizer or a keyboard is actually a swirling of ethereal electric guitar sounds; the bsl “sound.” Although the same technique is utilized on this new album, we have incorporated piano, subtle string instruments and even some horns to compliment the live drums, bass, vocals and guitars. Hell, I even sang a backup track in a high falsetto! A year ago, the project started as your typical BSL album and slowly transcended into an eclectic and, at times, a somewhat experimental album. It takes you on a bumpy ride between hard hitting tracks, beautifully crafted ethereal songs and even touches on some 80’s wave without the dreaded drum machines. For the entire process, I make sure not to listen to anything else so there aren’t any outside influences that come near the project. I have also turned down taking part in other projects in order to give the album my full attention. Every night, at bedtime, I listen to the day’s mixes in bed, make notes on what to improve upon and occasionally hear new things to add, or, in some instances, take away. I may try to sell that notebook full of scribbles, musical notes and to-do lists in order to help pay for things.
The words are the hard part. Always have been. It is very difficult to put words to music and make them sound intellectually stimulating. I have a sleu of musical tracks recorded with no words that are collecting dust on several hard drives. And, sometimes, my deep, marlboro voice just won’t go along with some things. Some musicians start with the words. I start with a melody and the music which flows out of me with ease. Some wording on songs came easier than others, especially with what is going on in our world these days. I’ve never much been into political activism or mixing entertainment with controversial topics, but with Blind, I couldn’t hold back my anger and cynicism at the hypocrisy, hatred and lack of moral fiber that is taking place in society. There are still some songs delineating love, existentialism, etc. in addition to my fear of Marjorie Taylor Greene and my lack of understanding of ultra right wing “christians.”
This time around we are also featuring two great photographers on the physical insert. The cover photo, “Truth” is by a nice chap in the Netherlands named René Dissel. The inside photography, “Metamorphosis,” is by Elena Sariñena from Barcelona.
Donn Aaron is back again mastering, Ruskin Yeargain on graphic design and my new “girl friday,” Robyn, have all been invaluable. Thanks also to Alex for listening to hundreds of different takes and mixes! Love to Steve, Fred, Tel, J.K., and too many others to name here. And thanks to my family and neighbors for withstanding the constant banging from the phenomenal Focal studio monitors! Ben, from Sweetwater, talked me into those!
I can’t wait for you all to hear the new one coming this December! I sincerely hope you love it as much as our prior albums. Please click the following link to subscribe to our YouTube channel! youtube.com/@blackswanlane
Love and Light xx
Jack Richard Sobel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3W26LZ_K78
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRbs_DyutHI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaZ-oTbJYyk
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bi City Paranormal Research partners with the Midnight Train Film Festival
Please come out and join us for some frights, food, short films and fun.
Plenty of scares to go around for all.
Friday October 28th, 2022 in Columbus, GA full details:
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lake Lanier Hauntings get Attention this Halloween Season
Local tour boat operator partners with established paranormal research investigator for a first of its kind opportunity for the public to participate in an investigation of alleged paranormal activity on Lake Lanier to draw their own conclusions based on their experience
“You can’t escape it”, states ‘Captain Tom’ Stepnowski, owner of Lanier Boat Charter, with operations on Lake Lanier. “Any Google, YouTube or Google Map search of ‘Lake Lanier’ produces hundreds of results that pertain to hauntings and or misguided opinions that the lake is going to ‘get you’.”
“Participants will have an opportunity to spend time on the water, inside our heated cozy main cabin or outside on our party deck during fall’s foliage change, while discovering the facts about what existed here before the dam was constructed and what’s really under the water now. We will beach on land that 70 years ago was someone’s property or final resting place, and now is an island with some level of frequent ‘incidents’. Guests will make their way down the boat’s gangway onto the island with their experienced, well-versed guide and investigator. There, you will take part in an investigation to help you decide for yourself if there are any energies left behind, making Lanier the “Most Haunted Lake in the United States..”
Lanier Boat Charter has partnered with Bi City Paranormal Research founder, Bart Glabman, to provide the context, the content, and the connection to the paranormal. Mentored by the late Peter James, arguably the most famous ghost hunter psychic personality in the world and the godfather of paranormal television, Bart has been experiencing the supernatural for over 35 years and has been a practicing paranormal investigator for more than 25 years. He has been associated with many notable case files through the years and founded the non-profit, Bi City Paranormal Research (BCPR) group back in 2009. A group dedicated to assisting their clients who may be experiencing paranormal activity in their homes or businesses while maintaining their confidentiality and dignity.
“Bart brings a level of credibility and authenticity to the offering and his own experiences are ‘off the chart’, states Captain Tom. “Bart has the background and his approach makes this legitimate, not just a lot of ‘smoke and mirrors’ we see on paranormal themed TV shows of today.
…It’s “timely with Halloween at our doorstep… the subject matter has been ‘top of mind’ for many. I hope people will take advantage of this experience that is so different from the usual run-of-the-mill offerings this time of year. For relatively the same price, you will have a three-hour experience in an environment where safety is at the top of the crew’s priority list, is authentic and includes the following:
- Cruise aboard Lanier Boat Charter’s popular 40 passenger party boat, The Song of the Chattahoochee, decked out in full fall regalia.
- Guided tour full of historical gems, legends and ghost stories and insight into paranormal investigations provided by a member of the Bi City Paranormal Research (BCPR) team.
- A stop at one of Lake Lanier’s 160 islands in order for the group to participate in a paranormal investigation led by BCPR.
- Voyage back to LBC homeport at Safe Harbor Aqualand marina where guests will have an opportunity to ask questions to the investigator and crew of the boat.
- Box dinners from Pig Tales may be pre-ordered during your purchase and will be available for pick up prior to boarding. Concessions (snacks, soft drinks, water, coffee, tea and hot cider) are available for purchase on board.
NOTE: Due to the nature of this offering, no outside food or drinks are permitted. We have the right to refuse passage at any time in order to ensure the safety of all on board
COVID-19 Precautions: Mask are recommended, but not required due to the excellent airflow while boating and enjoying the fresh air while on the beach of an island in the middle of Lake Lanier
Tickets go on sale Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at 2PM and may be purchased online at LanierBoatCharter.com or call 678-882-8062. This event expects to sell out
Cruises will depart from Safe Harbor Aqualand Marina for the following dates and times in October
- October 15 to October 31 2021
- Monday-Thursday Departure: 6:30 PM
- Friday – Sunday: 1st Cruise: 4PM 2nd Cruise: 7PM
- Length: 3 hours
VIP Tours are available to guests where you will be able to spend additional one on one time with a professional investigator. These times are available outside our normal hours Please call 678-882-8062.
A percentage of the proceeds from ticket sales go to several non-profit organizations to help fund their goals and objectives. They include:
- The Lake Lanier Association
- Bi City Paranormal Research
To learn more about Lanier Boat Charter or to book an interview, contact Tom Stepnowski directly at 1.770.361.2176 or email, tom@lanierboatcharter.com, or visit the website at www.lanierboatcharter.com
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7 Allegedly Haunted Dolls
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/650191/haunted-dolls?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Daily_Newsletter
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What the Color ‘Haint Blue’ Means to the Descendants of Enslaved Africans
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-haint-blue-means-to-descendants-enslaved-africans
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Bi City Paranormal Research joined Nicole Jones on WLTZ First News 5:00am-7:00am EDT / 4:00am-6:00am CST on
Friday November 22nd
We look forward to forming a new partnership with NBC affiliate WLTZ 38 Columbus, GA and will be taking Nicole and her crew out on an active investigation in the very near future, so stay tuned all believers and skeptics alike.
https://www.wltz.com/2019/11/22/bi-city-paranormal/
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Our official musical partner, Black Swan Lane – Shadow Of The Stars from the November 2019 release ‘Vita Eterna’:
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Our official musical partner, Black Swan Lane – The Prisoner from the November 2019 release ‘Vita Eterna’:
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Peter James . . . The Godfather of ‘Paranormal Television’
Peter James was arguably the most recognizable psychic paranormal investigator in modern history.
He started out as a young child and through his earlier years worked to solve cases with various law enforcement agencies and expanded his investigative techniques to cover fame, infamy and the common person which made his so relatable and turned him ultimately into a household name.
Sit back and enjoy the hour long retrospective on the man, the myth, the legend!
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BI CITY PARANORMAL RESEARCH PODCAST INTERVIEW FROM FEBRUARY 2019
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UFO TRIANGLE a proper working history and theory of Roswell and much more!
Our good friends Andy & Julie Oien UFO Triangle works and other information can be found at:
https://www.ufotriangle.com/
The first photo shows Andy in 1996 posing for a photo with complete clear skies, yet a ghost cloud perhaps extraterrestrial in nature shows up in the photo.
Article on Gabe Lyons about why Protestants do not talk more about demons in general
https://www.christianpost.com/news/gabe-lyons-why-dont-protestants-talk-more-about-demons-exorcism-spiritual-world-227216
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Our musical partner Black Swan Lane releases haunting remix
Our good friends and musical partner Black Swan Lane have remixed ‘Below The Sound’ acoustically adding an ethereal element to an otherwise strong driving track which can be experienced on their site directly:
http://blackswanlane.com/below-the-sound-semi-acoustic-re-mix/
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Bi City Paranormal Research loses an irreplaceable member of their team and family
Louise Stevens (February 13, 1960 ~ January 23, 2018)
Louise Collins Stevens, 57, of Salem, AL passed away Tuesday, January 23, 2018 at St. Francis Hospital in Columbus, GA.
Louise was born February 13, 1960 in Tonbridge, Kent, England to the Phillip Collins and the late Joan Ottoway Collins. She was a devoted wife, and mother who loved her family deeply.
She is survived by her husband of 12 years Bill Stevens; father, Phillip Collins; daughter, Daisy-May Conway; children, Laura-Lynn Stevens and Christopher Stevens; sister, Lynn Collins Baltock (Adrian); brother, Adrian Collins(Toni); 2 grandchildren and a host of other loving family members, and many caring friends.
It is with a heavy heart that we report the loss of our devoted member of the Bi City Paranormal family since it’s inception.
Beyond her psychic abilities and investigative skills, Louise was a reliable and trusted confidant for so many facets of our organization and words cannot express the void we now face.
Louise was truly an inspiration to those fortunate enough to have known her personally and to the many lives she touched during her life’s journey.
She was a genuinely a kind and loving human being who also championed animals.
This is not goodbye but we will all see you a little later on…
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Love & Light
Interview With an Exorcist Learn how to protect yourself against demonic attack.
By Wesley Baines
We take a lot for granted, we humans. Gravity keeps us comfortably in our seats. Light comes in the morning, only to wane in the night, fading into pale starlight. The Earth spins on its axis in the darkness of space, making its way around the sun in a solar system that sits on a safe and quiet arm of the Milky Way galaxy. We know how all these things work. We do not fret, because we can comfortably explain, quantify, and catalog every phenomenon to ourselves, and those natural systems we have yet to understand will no doubt soon submit to the searching power of the mind of man.
But my interview with Vatican-trained exorcist, Father Gary Thomas, tells a very different story.
In religious lore all over the globe, there is depicted a world that exists in the peripheral, beyond the natural laws that bind our material forms. A world of spirit rather than flesh.
In the Christian tradition, God rules over all creation, material and spirit alike. He commands hosts of angels, and examples of interaction between these heavenly beings and mankind are littered throughout the Bible. Angels do the bidding of God, and are sent out as messengers, healers, rescuers, and sometimes destroyers that have wiped entire cities from ancient maps and decimated armies. All, though, serve the will of God, and the will of God is always good, brought forth from a place of unimaginable love for all creation. These angels are beings of goodness.
But not everything in the spiritual realm is holy. There is darkness, as well—darkness that once was light.
Revelation 12:7-9 reads, “Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”
Those angelic betrayers are now among us—spiritual beings so corrupt that they saw the very face of God, and yet still chose to betray Him, likely because of an intense jealousy of mankind. God, after all, made us in His image, and loves us dearly. And these angels who betrayed the God of the universe because of their jealousy of man were cast down to earth—with us.
What could be more terrifying? We are faced with a celestial foe that harbors no end of ill will toward mankind, an enemy that we cannot see or hear or touch, but who can affect us nonetheless. What can we possibly do in the face of this?
It is this question I took to Fr. Gary Thomas, mandated exorcist for the Diocese of San Jose, California. In 2005, Fr. Thomas was sent to study at the Vatican’s Athenaeum Pontificium Regina Apostolorum in Rome, where he completed 40 hours of study in the sacred rites of driving out demonic presence—he became an exorcist.
With only about 14 Vatican-certified exorcists working in the U.S. as of 2011, Fr. Thomas’s knowledge is a rarity—so rare and interesting, in fact, that journalist Matt Baglio chronicled Fr. Gary’s learning and experiences into the book, “The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist,” which served as the inspiration for the subsequent film. Father Thomas spent about a week on the set of the film, as well, advising director Mikael Hafstrom and actor Anthony Hopkins, drawing on his experiences with real cases of possession.
In our phone interview, I found Fr. Thomas to be an exceedingly intelligent, fair-minded man whose passion for his calling was half-hidden in a quiet thoughtfulness. Over the next thirty minutes, he proceeded to answer each one of my questions, his responses to which are here, provided for the benefit of those who wish to know how to protect themselves from demonic activity.
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”
-H.P. Lovecraft
“What is a demon?”
A demon, according to Fr. Thomas, is “an angelic creature who rebelled against the sovereignty of God, and who aligned itself with Lucifer. Demons are fallen angels, and retain their angelic nature even though they’re fallen. They’re aligned with Satan—that’s implied. Scripture, the book of Revelations, tells of a third of the angels rebelling against God. What does that mean numerically? We don’t know.
We just know that there was this rebellion in heaven and that Lucifer and some of his company were expelled. But they are angels who have fallen out of grace with God, and rebelled against God over envy and jealousy related to humanity.”
The stance of the Catholic Church is that demons are fallen angels, and retain their angelic nature. They’re not human ghosts or Nephilim spirits or benign passersby on the cosmic scale. They’re powerful, malevolent entities. This fact of their power brought me to my next question.
“What do demons want?”
“Their purpose,” said Fr. Thomas, “is to take as many of God’s children to eternal damnation with them. There’s a parasitic quality to their existence because they are all slowly dying—they’ve been dying since the moment they rebelled against God, and so they often times are attaching themselves to artificially experience life, but their ultimate goal is to take many of us into eternal damnation. Because of their jealousy and envy about the human race, they see us as competition, even though they’re of a higher nature.
You look at the book of Genesis—Satan is never described as Satan when he manifests himself as the serpent. It’s implied and understood as evil presenting itself in this serpentine way, but the whole point of Lucifer doing that was, again, to wreck God’s relationship with the human race because they were created in the image and likeness of God, even though we’re lower than the angels. There was jealousy on the part of Lucifer because of God’s creation of us.”
Jealousy. These angels lost their places in heaven because of jealousy that stemmed from a black knot of pride. Satan could suffer no other being to be more beloved than himself.
What can we do when such power is turned against us, fueled by ancient anger? This, too, I asked Fr. Thomas.
“What are some signs of demonic passion or infestation?”
“The six classic signs of demonic possession are the following.
An aversion to the sacred is the biggest sign. Now, in the Catholic tradition be we have sacraments, and those can cause intense reactions. There would be an aversion to receiving the Eucharist, the body and blood of Jesus, or it would be an aversion to walking into a church of any kind, for that matter, not just a Catholic church. It could be an aversion to holy water, crucifixes, symbols, etc. It could be an aversion to even being near a minister, whether it be a priest or someone else. It somehow causes a reaction, like there’s fear for no apparent reason, or illness or upset stomach for no apparent reason, just out of the blue all of a sudden. The person could be foaming at the mouth and coughing in an abnormal way—they’re coughing sputum—that’s what foaming at the mouth looks like. It’s not shaving cream foam. It’s the casting out of a spirit—that’s what’s causing the foaming at the mouth. This can also be a reaction to the power of prayer, as well.
Another would be speaking in a language you have no competence in.
The rolling of the eyes can be another sign—usually a reaction to the sacred.
There can also be an inordinate display of extreme strength and violence, picking up large objects which they normally wouldn’t be able to do.
The demon can speak through the vessel in the voice of the person, saying things that no one might know, using this information to undermine others. Including the priest.
There can be a reaction of the limbs and face—huge physical contortions of the arms, the legs, and the face.”
“Can we defend ourselves against demonic attack?”
Fr. Thomas described four means of protection, four things that Christians should immerse themselves in.
“A faith life, a prayer life, a moral life, and, for Catholics, a sacramental life.
A prayer life would be the rhythm we establish in the way we commune with God. It could be prayers that are formal, based on the authority of a church, or it could be spontaneous or informal prayer that we simply utter when we commune with God. Prayer is communing with God. Prayer is our conversation with God. It can also be quietly waiting for a response from God.
While faith life is about our relationship with God, the prayer life is about taking that relationship to a deeper level. It’s one thing to believe in the existence of God, but do you have a personal relationship with God? Now, people can come to all kinds of different designs of a personal relationship with God, but it’s basically ‘do I know God,’ and ‘do I spend time with God, in or out of a church?’ You can have a relationship with God outside of a church.
For an atheist or nonbeliever, to have a moral life is huge. Are atheists at higher risk? Possibly. But Satan is always looking for people with no relationships or broken relationships, so one can be a Catholic and be baptized, and still have a demonic problem because of doors that have been opened, or that have been opened for them. Evangelicals and fundamentalists, at least some, would say that baptism guarantees a kind of eternal protection. Well, in my experience, that’s not true.
Baptism does give us a kind of protection, but that doesn’t mean that God does not also permit our free will. Most of the people I see are Catholics—not all, but most—who’ve had all kinds of demonic issues because of bad decisions they’ve made, or sometimes decisions they didn’t have anything to do with that have been made for them.”
Is it dangerous for non-Catholics to attempt exorcism?
“Well, I would say this: I think God respects the authority of churches that use the name of Jesus Christ. However, we have a protocol, and we do a lot of discernment.
I’ve been getting, on occasion, calls or emails form other traditions, because demonic activity is happening more and more now within other denominations, not just among Catholics—and they don’t know what to do. They’re worse off than we are. They really don’t know what to do because exorcism is not even a part of their theology.
I would say that in some other traditions, I think there’s a danger to assume that many manifestations that look otherworldly are not, necessarily, whereas I think in our tradition we clearly involve the social sciences, experts medicine, and religious folks who are trained, who discern carefully and most judiciously whether or not something demonic is going on in a person’s life.
So we’re very, very cautious about using the solemn rite of exorcism. We use deliverance prayer a lot. Those are considered minor exorcisms. But what people are always hung up on is the solemn rite of exorcism which you see in the movies. We use that very sparingly, only when it’s not only clear, but when all other means of casting out the demonic have not been successful. Whereas in other movements, I’m not sure how discerning they are. I mean, I have to be careful because I don’t want to make generalizations. It’s in the foreword to the rite of exorcism—you move at a very, very conservative pace, and you involve a lot of other people, and that’s why when I teach at the school—there’s a school of exorcism in Chicago that the church has set up—I’m emphatic about exorcism being intrinsically collaborative. You cannot do this by yourself. Because it’s too dangerous, and you have to involve other experts in this. You can’t do this by yourself. You have to rule out the natural before you can move to the preternatural.
Sometimes, I’ve disappointed people when they get their mind figured that they’ve got the answer to their dilemma, and they don’t. Other times, they’re relieved. But sometimes they’re just downright disappointed and upset and angry that somehow I’ve disproved them. What should it matter about disproving you? I cannot go and do an exorcism when that’s not what’s required. I could do more harm than good.
I think what’s fair to say, I get lots of desperate people, and they’re suffering, every one of them suffering, and it’s a matter of ‘what’s the cause of the suffering’. That’s my role—what’s the root cause of their suffering? It’s not like giving them the penicillin shot in the ER because, you know, that’s going to make them feel better. I get lots of requests for exorcism. I say that I don’t do them on demand. It doesn’t work that way.”
I think it important here that Fr. Thomas spoke of discernment. As he said, some Christian movements tend to focus only on the spiritual when signs present themselves, but there could be any number of naturalistic maladies at play—mental illness, physical problems, etc. Ignoring these could have devastating consequences for the sufferer. So, again, discernment is key—we must not be too quick to see the demonic in everything. They don’t hold that much power.
“You occupy a unique place as a Vatican-trained exorcist who has worked as an advisor to Hollywood. What do you think of movies and literature that depict exorcism, and do you think it’s useful for art to bring us face-to-face with personified evil?”
I don’t know how carefully Hollywood consults experts in the field when they are doing a movie in the area of personified evil. I don’t know how well they are bringing in consultants like how I was brought in on ‘The Rite’. I don’t know if they do that or if they just look at what other movies have done and duplicate certain things with their storylines. I just know in my case they brought me in as a consultant because they wanted accuracy, which I think they needed to have.
However, I will say this; at one point, they weren’t going to bring me in at all, and I said, ‘How do you expect Anthony Hopkins to know what he’s supposed to do?’ I remember that the initial response was ‘I think we’ve got it covered’. And I said that he does not have the first, foggiest idea of what to do, because he doesn’t know what it means to be an exorcist. I do. If you think he can just wing this, you’ll be very disappointed. He’s a superb actor; he’s one of the few greats in Hollywood. However, he doesn’t know what it means to be an exorcist, which is what I came on set to do with him, to talk about my experiences and how to really feel the role.
It’s one thing to play the role of a father or the role of something generic, but when you’re going to be cast in the role of something that’s very specific and rather rare, if you want the movie to be about faith—which I think was the sincere attempt—you need to consult. The movie was not stressed on horror, which disappointed some, and I’m glad it wasn’t stressed on horror because what got more attention was the dilemma of the struggle of faith. And I think that was something that spoke to a lot of people. There’s lots of people in our culture that think it’s all make-believe. If people saw what I saw, they’d be at church every single week.”
What I took from this is that the arts, when they strive to accurately depict the demonic, remind us of spiritual realities—they remind us of the unseen. If a movie or book simply exists to frighten and shock without thought for purpose and truthfulness, well, there’s not much value in that beyond a few scares.
Sometimes, though, we need to be brought face-to-face with the darkness to know what we’re up against, and art can do that for us.
Our limited time having drawn to a close, I bid farewell to Fr. Thomas, and was afterward left with a single, all-encompassing conclusion: we have look to God rather than ourselves in order to be protected. Everything Fr. Thomas recommended as protection revolved around establishing and deepening a relationship with God, on absolutely depending on Him. All authority to cast out the demonic flows down from God.
There’s a certain poetry in this, a divine symmetry. Satan lost his place in heaven because of his pride. When we do the opposite, when we make ourselves small and learn to depend, utterly, upon God, we find protection from Satan—our humility is his destruction. This is why even the archangel Michael “did not presume to bring a slanderous judgment against” Satan in Jude 1:9, but rather said “The Lord rebuke you”.
Knowledge has the power to erase fear. Go and fear not—you now know how to protect yourself from those that fell from heaven so long ago.
Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/catholic/interview-with-an-exorcist.aspx?p=4#7QDV6yZ4gvebzhok.99
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“The Extraordinary” syndicated television show posted a story from the late Telly Savalas.
The man who was ‘Kojak’ and made so many remarkable appearances throughout his life in both film and television is someone you wouldn’t normally expect to share an unusual experience in the 1950’s involving a former Major League Baseball player among it all. If Mr. Savalas himself who passed in 1994 still decides to hang around our realm he can most likely be found at the Universal Sheraton Hotel in his former suite he resided in for a few decades or the bar area he frequented that was aptly renamed, “Telly’s” most appropriately.
I came across this video on Hans Wilhelm’s YouTube Site . Take a look.
One of our team members was involved with the Lifetime Movie Network television series, “I Was Possessed” during season 1 and episode 2 involving the Aicha segment in Columbus, Georgia.
The general info link is:
https://youtu.be/ordvbzQIYl0
Conduct Your Haunting Tours Safely!
by Edwin F. Becker via paranormalsocieties.com
Most seasoned investigators know that these spirits or ghosts love to feed off of energy. Given access to electricity, they will flicker your lights, turn TV’s and radios on and off and play all kinds of tricks.
When there is no power in a building, they go after the batteries. When we filmed our Paranormal Witness segment, we were in a sound proof studio and all went dark as the power went off. After 10 seconds the producer found the door and began throwing a fit, to which the studio manager assured him a power loss was impossible! The producer didn’t understand it…but I did.
There was also a national news bit where they visited a haunted area and attempted a report in the daytime. As the reporter turned on her microphone, she was baffled because her battery pack was dead. She swore it was brand new!
All this as we know is common. Here is the warning. When taking along an observer, or conducting a tour of a confirmed haunted location, all should be warned of this possibility. Many people have batteries that they depend on to live! Whether they have hearing aids, or more seriously, pacemakers or defibrillators, they can be at great risk. In some cases their lives depend on these devices. Don’t think it’s just old geezers like me, because the youngest person I know using a pacemaker is only 24. The person with the hearing aid will know and it will not be fatal, but the other devices will only become obvious when needed and that could cause a death. Imagine the energy that could be drawn from a pacemaker with a 10 year battery life! Be responsible. When conducting a tour, ask that question! Do not allow people whose life depends on a battery to participate even if they are dumb enough to try.
Buying a Haunted House
Steps to find a haunted home
By Susan Wellish via realtor.com
Why would anyone want to buy a haunted home? Haunted homes are historically old and may have “vibes” from previous owners. True or not true is always in the eyes of the believer. If you’re seeking a haunted home there are some listed in the current real estate listings under “haunted homes.” There are sections in the United States which are listed as ghost towns or mini towns that have been abandoned. Still interested in a ghost home? The following steps and tips on how to secure your friendly ghost home will be helpful.
Considering a ghost home
Many haunted homes are owned by historians. Most introductions to the sphere of ghosts are via television or stories. Owning a famous haunted home may add mystery, history and excitement to your life. A home that has difficulty selling, or has a bad reputation, is usually due to a serious structural flaw. Homes in a flood zone or earthquake area are harder to sell. Is a haunted home harder to sell? Most regular folks aren’t seeking a haunted home. Will anyone overpay because a famous author once lived in the home and supposedly still hangs out there? Probably not; most folks can’t afford to spend that kind of money on a whim. Your real estate dream of owning a haunted home is attainable by following a few key real estate financial principles.
Rules of engagement when choosing a haunted home
If you have decided that you want to own a ghost home or a haunted house, keep to some simple rules that may help your money not disappear! Check the multiple listing services and real estate agents who are familiar with haunted home purchases. Consult with your attorney as with any real estate house purchase and apply for a mortgage. Assuming the home appraises, a mortgage company may be ready to lend money for your haunted home purchase. Your heart may be sold on a particular haunted home, but it is critical to have the house evaluated and a home inspection report issued. If the home is historically very old and in need of huge amounts of repairs, it may not be fiscally sound for you to continue with the home purchase.
Ghost towns
Are you a historian and seeking to live in ghost town? Most ghost towns are set in areas where the economy was boom or bust: mining towns and ghost towns failed due to eminent domain when the state built highways or trains which passed through the town and destroyed the economy. If you are trying to confirm an area as a ghost town, check with the local historical society and town records.
Factors that deem a home haunted
Strange occurring events can often be explained, but sometimes these events are unexplainable. Humans are easily convinced or swayed by suggestion. Don’t assume that because you hear chains banging against the wall, your home is haunted. There may be a more logical explanation. The house may be over a hundred years old and the plumbing is struggling to work and causing noises. Banging and knocking may be the house settling or rodents in the walls. If you are convinced that the home you are purchasing is a haunted home, enjoy and keep a journal, as future historians may be thrilled to read of your adventures.
Ghosts of Gettysburg:
150 Years Later
by Marlon Heimerl – HalloweenCostumes.com via paranormalsocieties.com
In nearly two and half centuries of U.S. history, no single event claimed more American lives than the Civil War. Each bayonet brandished, bullet fired and cannon detonated was fixed to kill an American after all.
Recent adjustments count American Civil War deaths at roughly 750,000, outpacing any other U.S. military engagement by a long shot. Take the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates of the 116,516 and 405,399 American casualties from WWI and WWII respectively (in battle and non-theatre), and their combined 521,915 deaths are still greatly eclipsed by Civil War losses.
In fact, by taking another step and tossing in American deaths (battle and non-theatre) from the American Revolution (4,435), the War of 1812 (2,260), the Mexican War (1,733), the Korean War (54,246), Vietnam (90,220) and the total number of hostile deaths in the “Global War on Terrorism” (5,078), the combined total of 679,887 deaths in all other major American wars still doesn’t graze Civil War losses.
Bloodiest of the Bloody
Amid such unimaginable destruction, emotional suffering and physical torment, it’s no surprise that many Civil War sites are heralded as paranormal hotspots today. It certainly fits the mold of prevailing paranormal theory that so many grizzly deaths in one location may fuel the likelihood of a haunting.
Prolific casualties at sites like Gettysburg and Antietam make them stand out as testing grounds for this theory. With an estimated 51,000 deaths, the Battle of Gettysburg stands ahead of the pack in terms of lives lost. While the Battle of Antietam’s claim-to-fame – an estimated 23,100 battlefield deaths in a single day – are formidable and represent the most blood shed in a single day of American battle, the sheer immensity of losses at Gettysburg makes it hands down the bloodiest battle in American history.
The Grizzly Scene
Imagine it is July 1, 1863. You are a Gettysburg local, when the sounds of war begin to fill the air.
The battle time population of your small town is no more than 2,400 people. For three days, the smells, sounds and chaos of battle bombard the senses.
You find yourself in a unique place where advancements in weaponry greatly exceed advancements in medicine. Sickness runs rampant as men bite down on bullets and amputated limbs fester in disorderly piles. By July 4, 1863, the smell of gun smoke is replaced with the odor of 51,000 dead men, hot under the July sun.
As you open your door, corpses outnumber the locals by roughly 21 to one. Under such disparaging conditions, the logistics of burying the dead alone make proper burials difficult. Nameless faces, hastily dug graves, wells filled with discarded limbs and enough bodies to fill three quarters of the superdome mar the landscape. So many lives cut short in their prime – you begin wonder if peace can be obtained this way.
Gettysburg 150 Years Later
Fast forward one hundred and fifty years. You arrive in Gettysburg on July 1, 2013. With some distance, it becomes clear that if ghosts exist at all, they certainly stand a high chance of lingering in the hallowed fields and woods of Gettysburg.
Today is the 150th anniversary of the commencement of the Battle of Gettysburg – an auspicious day to say the least. As a paranormal enthusiast and history buff, you tingle with excitement. If certain paranormal theories hold true, activity should be higher than usual; especially in cases of residual hauntings.
As you set out, names like Little Round Top, Devil’s Den, the Gettysburg orphanage, the Jennie Wade House and Triangular Field streak through your mind like specters. But what can you hope to see?
The research you conducted on top haunts in Gettysburg leading in to the trip holds promise, telling tales of incredibly active sites dotting the countryside and city. Your first stop – Little Round Top – is something too surreal for words.
Little Round Top
Since gaining the upper ground is critical in battle, Little Round Top, Big Round Top, Culp’s Hill and East Cemetery Hill, 140 to 200 feet above the surrounding countryside, each provide a valuable vantage point. From there, you can feel the power, the importance and the significance of these hills in July of 1863.
Perhaps the hills strategic value weighed into a fabled battle-time paranormal encounter between Union soldiers and someone much unexpected; as described by Charles Wetzel in Haunted U.S.A:
“The 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment had been ordered to take a hill called the “Little Round Top,” but they couldn’t find it. Suddenly a man riding a magnificent white horse and wearing a three-cornered hat appeared. He drew his sword and led the way to the hill, where the Mainers held a crucial position during the battle. The identity of the man on horseback was never in doubt; George Washington, dead since 1799, had returned from the grave to help save the country.”
If this is indeed true, then perhaps the gravity of the events of Gettysburg was already tugging at the veil, revealing goings-on from the other side?
While you don’t honestly expect to see the ghost of George Washington atop Little Round Top, as you scan the area, you swiftly shift your gaze in search of another ghostly legend that seems somehow less farfetched. According to author Dennis William Hauck, if you are lucky, a headless officer on horseback may be seen from Little Round Top – his appearance speaking volumes about the violence of his death (perhaps decapitation by cannon fire). You snap as many pictures of the Hilltop as you can, before moving onto your next destination.
Devil’s Den
Not too far off, your next stop is the site of one of the most iconic images from Gettysburg – the picture of a Rebel sharpshooter, posed after his death (rather disgracefully) by photographers in Devil’s Den for a more dramatic effect.
As you gaze upon Devil’s Den – a pile of boulders that according to Wetzel was used by Texas sharpshooters to fire upon Union soldiers atop Little Round Top – you wonder if perhaps the legends are true.
“Scruffy, rifle-toting phantoms have been appearing there ever since.” writes Wetzel.
You look about, running your hand on a stone. Mark Nesbitt, author of Haunted Pennsylvania: Ghosts And Strange Phenomena of the Keystone State, comes to mind.
He wrote of two separate sightings in the area “of a man with shoulder-length hair, bare feet, ragged unkempt clothing, and a floppy hat.” Interestingly, Texas sharpshooters who died in Devil’s Den during the battle match just that description. To think, 150 years later, they still may be steadying their mark, you feel an urge to move on.
Rosa Carmichael and
Gettysburg Orphanage
(a.k.a. the National Soldiers
Orphans’ Homestead)
Dark history abounds in one part of Gettysburg for reasons outside of the battle itself. The next site on your list – an orphanage once headed by Rosa Carmichael – is one such place. You get a sinking feeling in your gut as you enter the fabled basement of the site.
The orphanage in Gettysburg was the source of injustices suffered by children at the hand of an abusive headmistress, Rosa. Julie Griffin, author of Ghostly Photographs, visited the orphanage herself and spoke about Rosa’s ill treatment of the orphans.
“Rosa was known to have abused some of the children in her care by placing them in shackles in the basement or in the outhouse, and hiring older boys to beat the disobedient ones with a stick… Being in the cold, damp, confined area intensifies how restrictive this place would have been. After only a few minutes in there I wanted to get out of this space.”
Indeed, prolonged imprisonment in a dark, musty basement just might do the trick for creating something residual and unexplainable. The tightness of the room makes you feel uneasy, so you pack up shop for an encounter with a happier spirit at the Jennie Wade House.
Jennie Wade House
Knowing that a trip to Gettysburg would not be complete without paying a visit to Jennie Wade, you set off on a search for the ghost of the only civilian killed in the Battle of Gettysburg.
In an ironic and unfortunate turn of events, the story holds that Jennie (Virginia) Wade, did everything she could to stay out of the fray. When on July 1, 1863, Confederate shells from the west began to explode on the village, Jennie was eager to get out of harm’s way.
In The True Story of “Jennie” Wade: A Gettsburg Maid, author John White Johnston writes, “The commotion and serious danger resulting from these concussions suggested to the house holders that they either betake themselves to their cellars or leave for points of safety, quite naturally in the section of the town to the south, as the battle was on the north and northwest.”
Johnston goes on to explain the remainder of Jennie’s sad tale. Believing she was fleeing for safety, Jennie left for the home of her sister near Cemetery Hill. As day faded to evening and Jennie settled into her sister’s house, it became clear that the battle lines moved and in so doing, placed Jennie’s “safe haven” squarely in the line of fire. The night grew long, and in time July 1 slipped over the horizon to reveal a July 2 sunrise.
Soon Union sharpshooters took up posts around the brick house, taking Confederate fire. That afternoon, a 10 lb. Parrot shrapnel shell fired from Oak Ridge struck a brick wall on the south side of the house; though fortunately, it did not detonate. The remainder of the day was filled with fighting around the house, and sleep that night was not easy to come by.
Near 7 a.m. on Friday, July 3, Confederate sharpshooters continued their firing at the north windows of the house. One hour later, while cooking in the kitchen, Jennie Wade was struck and fatally wounded by a Confederate sharpshooter firing from the Rupp Tannery office through the North door.
Falling dead “without a groan,” it’s natural to assume that Jennie was anything but ready for her death. To this day, her house is frequented and the hole from the bullet that claimed Jennie’s life can still be seen in the North door. You feel sad for the poor soul, caught up in the whirlwind of battle, and move along to one last site before the day is done.
Triangular Field
As seen on Parnormal.About.com, a 2001 video shot by Tom Underwood of the next destination – Triangular Field – offers what some have called “one of the most compelling ghost videos ever recorded.” In the video, orbs and wispy figures move in and out of frame and at times, seem to resemble the contours of a shoulder or head from a disembodied entity.
Nebitt tells of a bloody skirmish that ensued in Triangular Field, perhaps adding credence to the visions seen on Underwood’s video:
“A part of Smith’s New York Battery held the top of Devil’s Den, and their guns swept the Triangular Field. Several assaults by Hood’s Texans failed to dislodge the guns or the Union infantry that backed them up. Then Benning’s Georgians tried to take the field. Alongside the Texans, they were successful, but not without great cost. Benning’s brigade had well over five hundred casualties, many of which occurred during the fight for the Triangular Field.”
With such a concentration of casualties, ghostly sightings or not, you feel an auspicious chill run up your spine. As you take a final look over the fields and hills, you stop for a moment and ponder the contrast. How could such a beautiful, pastoral place be witness to something so dark without being changed forever?
A House Indivisible
The 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg will be a spectacle for historians, paranormal enthusiasts, patriots and people from all walks of life. Whether the Anniversary will yield more ghostly revelations is yet to be determined. Yet perhaps that is less important than simply remembering the lives the men of Gettysburg, and how they laid down life and limb for country 150 years ago.
As men in Union uniforms and the Confederate grey take to the field this July to send out cannon echoes from 150 years hence, it is important to remember the words of Abraham Lincoln: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” As the wind rustles through the grasses between cannon volleys, we remember the 51,000 men who were silenced forever so that liberty could live. Together, united, with our moral compasses intact, those present on July 1, 2013 can pay homage to the lives of the fallen, who certainly live on through us.
Sources
Gugliotta, G. (2012). “New Estimate Raises Civil war Death Toll.� The New York Times. Link
“America’s Wars.� (2011). Department of Veterans Affairs. Link
“Battle of Gettysburg: The Battle of Gettysburg and The American Civil War.� GettysburgFoundation.org. Link
Gettysburg National Military Park. “Scenic Vistas.� National Park Service. Link
Hauck, DW. (2002). Haunted Places: The National Directory: Ghostly Abodes, Sacred Sites, UFO Landings, and Other Supernatural Locations. Penguin. Link
Nesbitt, M. (2006). Haunted Pennsylvania: Ghosts And Strange Phenomena of the Keystone State. Stackpole Books. Link
Griffin, J. (2012). Ghostly Photographs. AuthorHouse. Link
Johnston, JW. (1917). The True Story of “Jennie� Wade: A Gettysburg Maid. Link
PARANORMAL DEFINITIONS
(NEW & IMPROVED)
{A}
ABACOMBACY – A means with which to predict the future through the use of various patterns of dust. This has been known in some practices to include the use of the ashes of the recently deceased.
ABC – Abbreviation for ‘Alien Big Cats’ , a population of large predatory cats such as Panthers and Puma’s, that are thought to be living wild in countries other than those to which they are native.
Abaddon – The king of the grasshoppers (the demon of the seventh hierarchy) also referred to as the destroying angel, Apolloyon he leads an army of demons, locusts who will torment non-believers during the seventh trumpet judgment’s
Abracadabra – An ancient magical word from Arabia. Its origin lie with Abraxas and it is believed that speaking this word would grant power over spirits.
ABDUCTEE – A person who is thought to have had ‘Abduction’ experiences. It is commonly thought that such experiences are the result of abduction by extraterrestrials. In some cases, an Abductee will be referred to as such due to numerous abductions. Some psychologists believe the phenomenon of Alien Abduction to be all in the mind – and not an actual physical experience. Alien abductees often undergo hypnotic regression in an attempt to resurface memories regarding the abduction experience. This can often help piece together a picture of what the individual went through, in an effort to understand both their own experiences, and the phenomenon as a whole.
ABDUCTION – Phenomenon in which an individual is thought to have been ‘abducted’ by extra-terrestrials and examined. There is considerable controversy regarding the whole abduction phenomenon – many psychologists now believe abduction is a psychological, rather than a physical experience. Those that have thought to have experienced an alien abduction, tend to have very similar stories to tell. Some of them claim to have been abducted from their own homes, some from their cars. Some abductees reported seeing a UFO or even an alien entity before the abduction experience. In a lot of cases the abductee reports having been examined in some fashion by extra-terrestrials, however this still remains a controversial issue.
A lot of abductees only remember the experience after undergoing hypnotic regression, and many psychologists think that this may in itself surface memories that are not connected with a physical abduction. In other cases, the apparent presence of ‘implants’ seems to suggest otherwise. Some abduction experiences are similar to descriptions of being in the womb – one famous case involved a woman who claimed that during her experience, she was seated in a chair enveloped in a large structure that was filled with a clear fluid, while being fed a sweet tasting liquid through a tube in her mouth. It’s a popular theory that abductions are actually memories of being in the womb. There are numerous organizations devoted to research into the subject, and some have come up with some interesting results, but nothing conclusive.
ABSENT HEALING – Absent healing (absentee healing, distance healing, distant healing, remote healing, teleotherapeutics)
(1) Treatment of a patient not in the practitioner’s vicinity through magic, meditation, prayer, spirit doctors, or telepathy.
(2) A form of faith healing that involves the projection of positive healing energy.
ABSENT SITTER – Psi term for a person, who is not present at the time of a psychic reading, for which the reading is given? Similar or alternative term is “proxy sitting.”
ABNUAAYA – A word for the Alma, used in the western Caucasus region of Abkhazia. One example of an alleged Abnuaaya was a woman captured in the 1880’s called Zana, who had unusual features and a full coat of hair from head to toe.
ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN – Another name given to the legendary ‘Yeti’, a large ape-like creature rumored to live in areas of the Himalayas.
ACCUPRESSURE – A Japanese variation of Acupuncture that instead of penetrating the skin with needles, works by applying pressure to certain points on the body. It is commonly performed by applying pressure with the fingers, elbows or knees.
Acupuncture – A form of alternative medicine that originated in China as far back as 2,000 B.C. It is thought there is some 2,000 acupuncture points in the human body, and method works by stimulating these points with solid, hair-thin needles. The treatment has become increasingly popular over the last few years, and is considered to be very effective by many people.
Adoptive Masonry – Masonic societies that adopt women as members.
Aeromancy – A means with witch to predict the future through the specific and deliberate observation of the atmosphere. This can include the study of storms, comets, clouds, winds and other natural phenomena.
Afterlife – Life after our physical bodies die.
After-Death Communication – Communications from a person that has died.
Agent – (1) Person who attempts to communicate information to another in an ESP experiment. (2) The subject in a psycho kinesis experiment. (3) Person who is the focus of poltergeist activity.
Aitvaras – No record explains the roots of this word, and the literal definition is totally unknown, other than as a label for the rooster/dragon/shape shifter creature in Lithuanian folklore.
AKASHI RECORDS – “Memories” of all experiences since the beginning of time, believed by some mystical doctrines to be stored permanently in a spiritual substance (Akasha).
ALCHEMY – The Science of turning the baser metals into gold or silver by chemical means. The byproduct, “Quicksilver,” was thought to have magical powers. This was a very perfected science in Egyptian times and lasted all the way up into the 14th-16th Century A.D. when some of the alchemy methods were lost due to wars and fires that were amid in those times.
All Hollows Eve (Halloween) – The day of dressing up in costumes and passing out candy on October 31st started out as a pagan festival of the dead. This night is still believed by many to be the night when spirits, demons, and other supernatural beings are their strongest.
Allencon Spacemen – Name given to a strange entity witnessed by a crowd of people at around 5am on June 12th, 1970 in Allencon, France. It was said that at around that time a large metal sphere descended from the sky and crash landed into the nearby hillside. After a large crowd had gathered, a hatch opened and a being emerged dressed in an odd suit. It mumbled something before fleeing into the woods. Seconds later the sphere exploded and vaporized. A further search found no sign of the strange being.
Alien – In the context of the paranormal, “Alien” is a word that most commonly means the same as Extra-terrestrial; it refers to something or someone that is from somewhere other than earth.
Alien Big Cats – Alien Big Cats are basically large predatory cats found where they shouldn’t be. In this context, it means that these animals are found in countries where they are not originally found.
Alma – A large ape-like creature that is said to live in the Caucasus Mountains, Kazakhstan; a country in Asia. Unlike the yeti and other ape-like creatures, the Alma supposedly resembles Neanderthals than apes.
Alpha – Literally means “the first” or “beginning.” An alpha animal is in charge of a social group, such as a lion pride or a wolf/hyena pack. Sometimes, there can be multiple alphas, but most frequently only one rules a social group.
Ameranthropoides Loysi – Name assigned to the strange ape-like creature that allegedly shot and then photographed by Swiss geologist Francois De Loys in 1920. The creature became known as the “Deloys Ape”.
Amorphous – Having no definite form or shape, spirits and ghosts often appears in mist-like forms or shapes.
Amulet – It is believed that an amulet that is worn around a person’s neck can mean one of two things.1) the amulet being worn is the dwelling place of spiritual entities or 2) the amulet being worn is being used to ward off evil or bad luck.
Ancestor Worship – A religious practice very common in the ancient world, in which one’s deceased ancestors were believed to reach the status of deities after death. Sometimes rituals of spirit necromancy would be performed to consult with the spirits of these deified ancestors for guidance or the receiving of blessings.
ANCHOR – The Cyrene and word for Beelzebub, the famous demonic figure of Satan’s right- hand, the ‘Prince of the Devils’.
Angelology – A term that literally means “the study of angels.” However, the term has come to mean any religious or theological doctrine that involves the roles, hierarchies, or arrangements of angels.
Angels – In Christian belief, angels are gods’ messengers, and protectors of mankind. Angels are creatures between god and man that work as intervener’s.
Animism – The belief that plants and other inanimate objects have souls. It is derived from the Latin word “Animus”, meaning soul. It is an ancient belief that likely stemmed from a need for explaining what is alive and what isn’t. An animist is someone who believes in the doctrine of animism.
Annapurna Footprints – A series of unusual footprints found and photographed by a Don Willans in Annapurna. It has been suggested that strange tracks were made by a strange creature known as the Yeti.
Anomalies –Deviation from the normal.
Antichrist – Generally seen as the son of the devil.
Anti-Gravity – Experimental science which causes an actual reduction in gravity, usually involving the use of very high voltages. There have been several past experiments involving anti-gravity, such as those conducted by John Searle, who created a number of “Searle discs” that could achieve considerable heights of 50 ft. or more. T. Townsend Brown was also successful in creating an anti-gravity device by identifying the relationship between gravity and high voltages. His work with Dr. P.A. Biefield resulted in conclusions that later became known as the Biefied-Brown Anti-Gravity Effect.
Antikythera Mechanism – A highly unusual artifact that was found by divers in 1900, off the coast of and island near Crete. It is now believed that the device was actually used for calculating the motions of stars and planets. The divers had been searching a shipwreck, and had found a number of marble and bronze statues before coming across a large piece of corroded bronze, found to contain a strange mechanism made up of a number of gears and wheels. After an X-ray had been performed on the object, it was found that the internal gearing was far more complex than first realized, consisting of a differential gearing system. After examining some writing found on the case, it was found that the strange device had been made in 80 B.C. This was some one and a half thousands years before mechanisms of such complexity had been invented.
Anthropomancy – A term that comes from the Greek anthropos (man/human) and Manteia (prophecy/divination), and refers to the ritualistic disembowelment of a live human sacrifice for purposes of divination. A practitioner of this art is called an anthropomancer.
Anthropomorphize – The human centric tendency of imposing human perceptions and priorities upon spirits and other worldly creatures or forces, assuming that all consciousness’s must be akin to ours on some basic levels. (This is a logical assumption when applied to the survival instinct and perhaps to physical procreation; anything more is merely a guess.)
Apocryphal – Literally means “probably not true.” In religious terminology, it refers to writings/texts considered questionable by a main religious body. Denominations sometimes set these texts aside but do not completely forbid them. In other cases, they may be read but not cited. In extreme situations, even the mention of an apocryphal text is strictly forbidden.
Apparition – The phenomenon where a spirit takes on a physical form that can be seen.
Apport -The arrival of object during a séance or a haunting, these can be animate or inanimate.
Apophenia – is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. The term was coined in 1958 by Klaus Conrad, who defined it as the “unmotivated seeing of connections” accompanied by a “specific experience of an abnormal meaningfulness.
Aramaic – An ancient language widely written and spoken by the Semitic tribes of the Near East around 400 to 300 B.C. Eventually, it was almost completely replace by the Hebrew language. Today, it is nearly a dead language know only by about 75,000 people worldwide.
Arch-Angel – An angel of High rank.
Area 51 – Name given to part of a “secret” military base in North America, also known as “Dreamland.” The base is located 95 miles to the North of Las Vegas near dried up “Groom Lake”. A popular conspiracy theory is that this base houses reverse-engineered Alien technology or the product of various Black projects. In the past, the base was used as a testing ground for previously top secret military projects such as the U2, F117A and SR-71. However, in recent years, incredibly unusual airborne craft have been sighted over the Area 51 test ground “AreaS4”, which seem to exceed our current technological capabilities.
Area S4 – Part of the Area 51 facility in Nevada. It is thought that area S4 is used to test flight experimental aircraft.
Area Possession – When one or more demons occupy a physical space, often a home, building, or other structure. Sometimes this includes the possession of certain objects.
Ark of the Covenant – The golden chest in which were kept the tablets on which the laws of the ancient Israelites were inscribed. The Ark was constructed of Setim wood, and coated inside and out with pure gold. Its lid, the “Propitiatory”, similarly so. For many years the Ark was kept in the Temple of Solomon, until the fall of Jerusalem when Jeremiah was said to have hidden it in a cave until God could gather his people again. Despite considerable research in the final resting place of the Ark, to date nobody has succeeded in locating it.
Arnold Kenneth – American pilot who reported the first modern sighting of a Unidentified Flying Object over the Cascade Mountains on June 24, 1947. When later questioned about his experience, Arnold described the objects as moving “like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water.” The journalist then coined the term “Flying Saucer”.
Asbestos – a fibrous inosilicate mineral; used for making fireproof articles; WARNING inhaling fibers can cause asbestosis or lung cancer. A Paranormal Investigator should be wary of this when investigating old buildings. Always carry some kind of breathing mask as part of your equipment.
Asport -The disappearance of objects that reappear elsewhere or not at all. (Dematerialization)
Asteroid – One of a number of bodies composed primarily of either rock or iron, which can be found mainly in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids range in size from very small to up to over 1000km or more across. It is believed that the asteroid belt comprises of the materials left over from planetary formation, where a planet was unable to form due to the disruptive gravitational effects of the planet Jupiter. Combined, the total mass of all the asteroids in the belt add up to less than that of our own moon.
Astral Body – What we call the spirit or soul, the part of the body that survives death of the physical body. It’s also the portion of the spirit that can travel in the astral plane, creating what we call astral travel or crisis apparitions.
Astral Plane – A world that is believed to exist above our physical world.
Astral Projection – When the spirit travels outside the body to either the astral plane or another location on this plane. This is also referred to as an O.B.E.
Astral Travel – Belief or theory that a person’s spiritual awareness can temporarily detach itself from the physical body, remaining connected by what is called the “silver cord,” and experience things in other locations, time frames or dimensional planes. Some refer to this as “Astral Projection” or “Mind Projection.
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.
Atavism – Reversion to an earlier, ancestral type.
Atlantis – One of the most intriguing mysteries of the ancient world was the alleged existence of a highly advanced civilization of people who lived on a continent known as “Atlantis.” The legend places Atlantis at almost 11,000 years into the past. Yet the Atlanteans were said to have possessed technology that was far in advance of their time. The stories of this technology vary, but it was Plato himself who kept the whole idea alive; claiming that Atlantis did indeed exist. The original story of Atlantis is long and diverse, but it is said that Poseidon, God of the Sea, created the center of the island a great temple was constructed to honor Poseidon.
Aura -The emanation of energy that surrounds all living things.
Aura World – A reflection of our own sphere of existence, composed of the electromagnetic emanations of physical matter, and probably influenced by thought and emotion. It is another dimensional plane proceeding from one in which we exist.
Automatic Writing – Phenomena by which people write without conscious thought.
Automatism -A process in which the subconscious communicates with the conscious by means of a vehicle such as a Ouija Board, automatic writing, or pendulum swinging.
Autoscopy – During an out of body experience or near death experience, the ability to see one’s own physical body when one’s astral body is separated from their physical one.
Avatar – Hindu belief in divine incarnation.
Awakening – An experience in which a person believes he or she has woken up, but actually is still dreaming.
Azreal – In Jewish and Islamic lore, Azreal is one of the seven principal archangels and the angel of death.
{B}
Ba – Ancient Egyptian concept of a person’s essence, believed to be immortal.
Bachelor – The name given to Satan when he appeared as a He-goat to have intercourse with witches.
Bakemono – Japanese term for spirits or monsters with supernatural (and often frightening) powers. Bakemono can be a blessing or a curse for humans, depending on their natural disposition, moods, or the conditions under which they are encountered. Skilled and often mischievous deceivers, a good number of them are also known to eat humans.
Ball Lighting – A rare and controversial phenomenon in which a small sphere of light is witnessed for a short period of time. Some researchers have claimed that they were able to duplicate this in a lab environment.
Banishing – Formal, ceremonial, procedure effected to cast an invisible presence or influence out from an area. This term can refer either to a spiritual cleansing, or the closing of a magical rite, when the invoked powers are dismissed.
Banshee – A spirit from Irish mythology who’s appearance foretell the death of the person who sees her of someone close to them. She most commonly either appears as a woman walking loudly outside the window or an old woman washing funeral shrouds by the river.
Baphomet – A three faced bearded demon that the Templars worshipped. He is also associated with having a goats head. A style of pentagram bears his name.
Bardo – In Tibetan Buddhism, an intermediate state of existence, usually referring to the state between life and rebirth.
Basic Technique – Term used in card guessing tests of clairvoyance, in which the top card of the deck is place to one side after each guess.
Beast of Bodmin Moor – Famous mystery animal that was first thought to be on the loose in the Cornwall area of Southern England in the early 1990’s. Slain livestock and various sightings of large cats in the area led local officials to organize an investigation into the creature. It is thought that the Beast of Bodmin is an example of an Alien Big Cat, and is most likely to be a Puma. This was verified in 1997 when puma prints were discovered in the area.
Beelzebub – One of the oldest and famous demonic figures, Beelzebub was considered to be Satan’s right hand man. Sometimes referred to as the “Prince of Devils”. In Hebrew, the name Beelzebub means “Lord of Flies”. It is said that he commanded disease, and would tempt men with pride.
Bekk-Bokk – One of the many regional names given to the Alma, a large ape-like creature thought to live in and around the Caucasus Mountains in Kazakhstan, Asia.
Benign Spirit – A spirit that is not harmful.
Bermuda Triangle – An area of the Atlantic Ocean in which mysterious phenomena and numerous inexplicable disappearances have occurred. The first documented voyage in the Bermuda Triangle was that of Christopher Columbus. His journal have helped to piece together his account of his voyages in that area. The first strange occurrence related to sightings of seaweed and birds, indicating that they; were close to land. This turned into disappointment however, when even days later, they had still not reached land. Soon afterwards, Columbus reported that his compass had been acting strangely, and that his crew had witnessed “dancing lights” on the horizon. He also wrote about seeing a large ball of light falling from the sky. In the last 100 years, the Bermuda Triangle has claimed over 1,000 lives.
Biefield-Brown Anti-Gravity Effect – While researching the effects of X-rays generated from a Coolidge tube, American physicist, T. Townsend Brown found a relationship between gravity pole when tethered and excited with a potential of 50 Kilo Volts.
Big Bang – A theory that attempts to explain how the Universe came into being. It states that in the very beginning, all the matter in the universe was condensed into an absolutely minute area of space. At a specific time in history; some 13 – 20 Billion years ago, the density of matter became at last greater than that of the surrounding radiation, thus resulting in the beginning of the universe’s expansion. Even so, the galaxies did not begin to form from the Hydrogen and Helium clouds until over 2 billion years later.
Bigfoot – A mythical bulky, hair covered, humanoid which appears to possess both human and ape-like characteristics.
Bilocation – Being or appearing; to be in two different places at the same time.
Bio-Feedback – A general term for technique that involves giving a person information about their current physiological state; e.g., heart rate, EEG’s etc. Bio-Feedback is used to enable people to control consciously their physiological processes.
Billet Reading – Procedure in which a question is secretly written on a piece of paper which is folded or sealed in an envelope, and handed to the psychic who attempts to answer the question. Various trickery can be employed by fraudulent psychics and mentalists.
Binding – A spell, ritual, prayer, or other ceremony by which a spirit or demon is bound for certain actions such as doing harm. They are then considered imprisoned in or permanently barred from or attaching to a place, structure, object, or animal.
Black Art – A conjuring technique of concealing objects using black covers against a black background. Also used by fraudulent mediums.
Black Hole – A black hole formation begins when a Supergiant star dies and its core ends up collapsing in on itself. A black hole is created when the gravitational pull of this mass is so big, that the escape velocity is greater than that of light itself; thus nothing, not even light can escape from it. Therefore a black hole is genuinely “black” and can only be detected through the observation of the effects that its gravitational force has on other nearby masses. Anything that is drawn up by the black hole will need to provide a speed greater than that of light to escape, which at the moment is regarded as impossible.
Black Magic – Magical spells or rituals practiced with the intention of harming other.
Blind – An experimental control in which subjects are not informed of certain key features of the experiment. Also used to refer to a procedure where a judge is asked to compare targets and responses without knowing which responses were made to which targets.
Blind Matching – An identical procedure to open matching, except that the key cards are unseen by the subject.
Blog Terrorist – One who trolls the internet injecting themselves into blogs to incite disharmony and disunity for the purpose of creating drama and to draw attention for themselves to gain notoriety.
Boardman and Tasker Tracks – The “Boardman and Tasker Tracks” are alleged Yeti footprints left following an encounter reported by two mountaineers in the Himalayas. They allegedly heard a large creature crash through their campsite at night, and found that their belongings had been scattered when they awoke the next day. Borley Rectory, known for its reputation of being the most haunted house in England. Borely Rectory has been investigated by hundreds of researchers and experts over the years. The rectory was built back in 1863 by Reverend Henry Bull, but was later destroyed by a large fire in february 1939.
Bogey-man – A grim spectral figure that delights in menacing mortals with rather gruesome pranks and abductions. Although the lore of this character has degenerated into a familiar device used to threaten rambunctious children, the ‘Bogey’ was formerly soundly dreaded in Celtic regions, and was said to prowl the stretches of fields, marshes, and moors, looking for hikers and travelers who had strayed from their paths.
Bokkor – Practitioner of black magic in voodoo.
Book of the Dead – A book of funeral rites.
Book of Enoch – Aporyphal book said to have been written by the prophet Enoch. It details the story of grigori and the nephillium.
Book Test – (a) A communication in which the sitter is asked to look at a specific book and page in order to receive a significant message. (b) An effect in which the psychic or mentalist divines the world written on a particular page of a book.
Bouda – Sometimes spelled “Buda”, this term means “were-hyena” in many of the African continents current languages. However, it’s believed that it had a different original meaning. In Ethiopia, Christians sometimes use it to refer to Ethiopian Jews, though without the were-hyena connotation.
Break Point – The moment during an exorcism whe3n the demonic force is closest to expulsion. As a possessed individual begins to regain control of his or her will, the demon exhausts itself trying to retain its hold. Eventually, it has no choice but to release the person and vacate.
Brown Lady – Considered by some to prove once and for all that ghosts exist beyond reasonable doubt. The “Brown Lady” photographs are one of the most famous ghost photographs ever taken. Seen in the photograph as floating effortlessly up a flight of stairs, the “Brown Lady” as it is referred to, has been sighted by dozens of people in Raynim Hall, Norfolk as long ago as 1835. The ghost is allegedly that of a woman who used to live in Raynim Hall before she died.
Brown Mountain Lights – A famous spectacle of strange lights that have been reported for over 800 years at Brown Mountain, a long low-lying ridge that is located on the border of Burke and Caldwell in North Carolina, USA. Most of the sightings of the Brown Mountain lights described them as being “balls of illumination”, moving in groups, in particular at the side of the ridge. They are often white, but have been seen to turn red, green, blue, yellow and other colors as well. One theory is that the lights are being caused by swamp gas released by dying plant and animal matter.
Bultungin – In the dialects of the Nigerian state of Borno, this term literally means “I become a hyena.” In actual use, however, the term generally refers to any person who shape shifts into a hyena.
Burial with feet to the East – An old Christian custom; to bury the dead with their feet towards the east and their heads towards the west.
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Cacodaemons – Demons said to be attracted to people from birth that control their impulses and personalities at times.
Cabinet – A box or curtained enclosure in which a physical medium is secured and from which various phenomena may manifest; e.g. lights, objects moving, instruments played. Certain stage magicians can simulate this procedure with great effect.
Call – A call is the response that is made by a subject during a card-guessing test or during any other type of ESP test.
Calling Ghosts – These are ghosts that call out the name of the living in order to get their attention.
Calundronius – A magic stone said to ward off every kind of evil and giving its owner the advantages needed over his or her enemies.
Cambions – What is thought to be the offspring of incubi and succubi? It is said that these entities do not show any signs of life until they reach seven years of age.
Candles Burning Blue – It is said that candles and other lights turn or burn blue at the apparition of spirits.
Candle Wick Effect – A known effect that is thought to explain spontaneous human combustion cases in which the charred remains of the victim are found in an otherwise untouched room of their house. It is thought that a victim of apparent SHC may fall and become unconscious in the vicinity of a naked flame, such as a fireplace or candle. In certain circumstances once the victim’s clothes had caught on fire, the body and clothes of the victim would act as a sort of inside out candle, with the clothes acting as a wick, and the victim’s own body fat acting as the candle wax. This would result in a fierce but localized fire that would burn the body of the victim over the course of several hours. It is now believed that this explains SHC cases such as that of Mary Reeser.
Candmble – A Brazilian spiritist religion. See also Umbanda, Voodoo
Card Guessing – Card guessing is used as an experimental test for ESP in which a subject tries to guess the identity of a set of cards.
Carcosa – A mysterious nether region or outer-world containing the mythical lake called “Hali,” which appears in the fiction of authors Ambroce G. Bierce (“An Inhabitant of Carcosa”) and Robert W. Chambers (“The King in Yellow” : “Cassilda’s Song”). There are students of arcane, mystical lore who believe that Carcosa may truly exist, which is why it is included with this roster.
Case Study – An in-depth investigation of an individual subject.
Catalepsy 1 – A condition that happens when a spirit or entity attacks a person. The body is left in a statue like state that is sometimes mistaken for death. This altered state can last several minutes to several days.
Catalepsy 2 – A complete lack of muscle tone brought on by an emotional state.
Cathar Heresy – A medieval Christian sect, that believed that the god of the Old Testament was evil while the god the New Testament was good. While the god or goddess created the spiritual world. They believed that the church should renounce their material wealth entirely and did not accept the Crucifixion because they believed that Jesus was a spirit not a physical man and as such unable to die. This sect was located in Southern France until the Albergenian crusade largely stamped it out.
Cemetery – is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. Cemeteries in the Western world are the place where the final ceremonies of death are observed. These ceremonies or rites differ according to cultural practice and religious belief.
Cerebral Anoxia – It’s a lack of oxygen to the brain. Often, causing sensory distortions and hallucinations. Sometimes used to explain features of the near death experience.
Chance – Random, unpredictable influences on events.
Channeling – The process that mediums use for communication with the deceased.
Chanoyu – Literally translates as “Hot Water.” However, the word came to refer to the ritualistic practice of the special Japanese Tea Ceremony. This is one of the most honored traditions of Japanese culture, and is viewed as a pursuit of perfection. When performed for someone else, the Chanoyu is considered one of the highest gestures of respect and honor that can be displayed in Japanese culture.
Charles Fort (1874-1932) – is perhaps the best known collector of paranormal anecdotes. Fort is said to have compiled as many as 40,000 notes on unexplained paranormal experiences, though there were no doubt many more than these.
Charm – A spell or object possessing magic power.
Chemtrails Conspiracy – A recently devised theory that claims that the trails of vapor coming out of the back of high altitude aircraft, and is some sort of chemical spray that is being applied to the population without anyone knowing about it. Few who believe in this theory however, can give any satisfactory explanation as to how or why such a project would ever be undertaken by world governments.
Cherubim – One of the nine choirs of angel. Cherubim (singular cherub) are very close to god and second only to the seraphim in both holiness and power. Lucifer is referred to as a guardian of the cherub.
Christian Science – A religious healing movement founded by Mary Baker Eddy. Rejects orthodox medical practice.
Chupacabra – Spanish for Goat sucker. In Puerto Rico, for twenty some years, numerous livestock and stray pets have been found with throats torn out, drained of blood and bearing mysterious puncture wounds. On the scene sightings of the creature supposed responsible are exceedingly rare, and descriptions always include “glowing red eyes.” Locale and the absence of distinct tracks rule out either wolverines or monitor lizards, both of which always drag off their prey. The most feasible suggestion is a coyote or feral dog, but again, the behavior doesn’t match. Whatever is the true culprit, Chupacabra has become a popular sensation on the island, See also Lurking Enigma.
Cipher Test – A coded message left by a person who intends to communicate the cipher after death.
Circle – A group of people who holds séances. See also medium ship.
Clairaudience – Clairvoyance is French for “Clear Hearing”. It is a word that refers to the ability to perceive sounds and voices that cannot be discerned through normal hearing. Many mediums use Clairaudience when contacting the deceased; it can enable them to hear sounds and voices associated with a spirit.
Clairaudient -The psychic ability to hear voices and sounds that are inaudible to the normal human ear
Clairsentience – The combination of Clairaudience and Clairvoyance. It can also include the ability to perceive emotions, taste and other physical sensations that cannot be discerned via the normal senses.
Clairvoyance – Clairvoyance is French for “Clear seeing”. It is a word that refers to the ability to perceive people and objects that cannot otherwise be discerned via the normal senses. Many mediums use Clairvoyance when contacting the deceased, it can enable them to visually perceive a spirit.
Clairvoyant – Someone with the psychic ability to see events or people which have not occurred yet.
Clairvoyant Medium – A person who obtains information paranormally; often, by spirit communication and without the need to enter into a trance state.
Clairgustince – Means clear tasting, a psychic ability which enables someone to experience a sense of taste associated.
CLAIROLEOFACTOR – To have an extraordinary sense of smell, as if you could smell flowers before they bloom or smell trouble before it occurs or death before it happens.
Clairsentient -The psychic ability to feel things that are not normally felt by most people.
Cleansing– A less religious form of exorcism that is done to remove spirits.
Closed Deck – A set of cards used in a card guessing deck in which each card will appear a fixed number of times. The statistical analysis obtained from a closed card deck differs from that of an open card deck. (See Card Guessing).
Close Encounters of the First Kind – According to the Hynek classification system, a Close Encounter of the first kind defines a sighting of an Unidentified Flying Object, but with absolutely no interaction between the object and the witness or the environment.
Close Encounters of the Second Kind – According to the Hynek Classification system, a close encounter of the second kind defines a sighting of an Unidentified Flying Object, where the object interacts in some way with the environment. This could include interference with electrical systems, to landing marks, burns and physically measurable effects to plants, trees, animals or people.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – According to the Hynek Classification System, a Close Encounter of the Third Kind defines a sighting of an Unidentified Flying Object, in which the alleged Alien occupants of the object have been witnesses. The communication or interaction between the witness and the entities in question has also been included in this classification.
Coelacanth – Up until 1938, the Coelacanth was thought to be an extinct lobe-finned fish that died out some 350 million years ago; Long before the dinosaurs disappeared. Amazingly, in December 1938, Hendrick Goosen caught a live Coelacanth in the waters of the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Cape Town in South Africa. The discovery of living Coelacanths is used to demonstrate that there could be many more prehistoric species in the depths of the sea that we still consider to be long extinct.
Coincidence – The occurrence within a short space of time, of which two or more meaningfully related events and without any apparent causal connection between them. Coincidences are sometimes bizarre and extraordinarily improbable. See also synchronicity.
Cold Reading – This is a technique commonly used by fake mind readers, mediums and magicians which allows them to obtain previously unknown information about a person by asking a general series of statements, questions and answers.
Cold Spot – An area where the temperature is lower than the surrounding environment. Cold spots are believed to be created when a ghost is presence within that area.
Collective Apparition – An apparition that has been seen by several people at the same time, however; from different places.
Collective Unconscious – Concept put forward by C.G. Jung to refer to a level of unconscious thought and experiences shared collectively by humans.
Communication – In medium ship, a message purported to be from a discarnate entity.
Communicator – A discarnate entity from whom the medium receives messages.
Confederate – A person who secretly provides information to a fraudulent psychic or mentalist.
Conjuring – Using trickery to simulate paranormal effects, generally for the purpose of entertainment.
Construct, psychic – It has been theorized, and experimentation has been conducted to support this premise, that through directed psychic energies a responsive spirit-like entity can be created, continuing for a time to exist independently.
Contact Mind Reading – A technique simulating telepathy, in which the “mind reader”; who generally holds a hand or arm, responds to slight muscle movements produced unconsciously by the person whose mind is apparently being read. Also known as muscle reading, Cumberlandism or Hellstromism.
Continuance – Commonly referred to as life-after-death, survival of the psyche post cessation of the biological organism which had generated it.
Control – This is a procedure in paranormal psychology that ensures that the experiment is conducted in a standard fashion so that the results will not be influenced by any extraneous factors.
Control Group – A group of outside subjects whose performance or abilities are compared with the experimental subjects.
Corn Circle – Circular or more elaborate formations found in growing crops, most commonly in Southern Britain. Sometimes they are associated with UFO sightings. Many formations appear to have been intelligently created and to have some symbolic meaning. Despite several “confessions” made by various individuals and groups, the crop circle mystery remains unsolved.
Cosmic Consciousness – A blissful experience in which the person becomes aware of the whole universe as a living being. See also altered state of consciousness, mystical experience.
Cottingly Fairies – One of the greatest hoaxes of 20th Century, the Cottingly Fairies were the subject of a series of photographs taken by 16 year old Elsie Wright and her 9 year old cousin Francis giffiths in the summer of 1917. The photos were of considerable interest at the time to Arthur Conan Doyle, who famously believed them to be genuine beyond doubt. The photographs were taken two months apart, at Cottingly beck, a small Brook near their home that they visited often. It was here that they claimed to have witnessed Fairies, especially Francis, who swore for the rest of her life that they had indeed seen them. When asked about why they went to the brook one day, that Francis described the Fairies that she had seen there and Elsie backed her up. The photographs they said proved that there were fairies at Cottingley beck. It wasn’t until 1983 that Elsie, then aged 83, finally admitted that the photographs had been faked.
Cleansing – A less ritualized form of exorcism, where-in a dwelling or site is purified and malevolent influences are banished through prayers, spoken as the petitioner moves through the area.
Crisis Apparition – A paranormal event where the spirit of a person at the time of their death is seen by a loved one as a means of saying goodbye or relating information. This has been known to take place over vast distances.
Crop Circles – During the past three centuries, throughout the British Isles but with a particular concentration in the southern region of England, circular impressions spanning sometimes several hundred feet in diameter and often quite intricate in design,
have frequently and inexplicably been appearing overnight in wheat and grain fields. Sometimes the source can be traced to hoaxers; sometimes the details do not allow for any satisfactory, mundane explanation.
Much documentation, as well as speculation, regarding this topic is available.
Cross-Correspondence – (a) Separate items of information, received independently by two or more mediums, which make sense only when pieced together. (b) The cross-correspondences is a classic from 1901 to 1932 among a group of automatists associated with the Society for Psychical Research.
CROSS-SPECIES COMMUNICATION – To have a special rapport and understanding with animals, plants or alien beings.
Cryptesthesia – Originally used to refer to extrasensory perception and means “Hidden feeling/sensation.
Cryptids – Basically means “Hidden Animals.” Many think these creatures are either extinct or restricted to the realms of legends.
Cryptomnesia – Knowledge acquired in normal ways that may be revealed without the person remembering its source. Such memories may falsely appear to be paranormal revelations. Sometimes Cryptomnesia is used as an explanation for apparently paranormal experiences such as xenoglossia or past-life memories.
Crytozoologist – A person involved in the study of an unknown species of animal that has yet to be formally recognized by science, but is reported to exist. An individual involved in the field of Cryptozoology.
Crypto Zoology – The study of rumored animals that are presumed to exist in which; conclusive proof does not yet exist, or for animals which are generally considered extinct, but are occasionally reported.
CRYSTALOMANCY – The art of gazing into a crystal globe, a pool of water, a mirror, or any transparent object. The person may put him/herself into a hypnotic state to see visions or to summon forth spirits or demons.
Crystal Skulls – Five human skull models, exquisitely crafted in antiquity from solid quartz crystal, have been found in various locations throughout Latin America, the best known of these being the ‘Mitchell-Hedges Skull,’ discovered in 1924 in the Balese Jungle of Labuton by Anna Mitchell-Hedges while on an expedition with her father, and still in her possession in Canada. The others are kept in collections in Guatemala, Texas, the Smithsonian and the British Museum. Mayan legend tells that eight more crystal skulls remain, and that by the time all thirteen are united, mankind will have learned how to extract and decipher the vital information, history and revelations, which they contain.
C’Thulu’ – A creation of author H.P. Lovecraft and a favorite of horror/science fiction enthusiasts, C’Thulu’ (pronunciation is interpretive) is described as a kind of demon-god from another world, a monstrosity resembling a gigantic squid or octopus who “sleeps and dreams” in his lair at the bottom of the Arctic ocean, biding his time until some foolhardy “disciples” find means to call him to rise and reclaim dominion of the earth. Doubtlessly, some are actually trying! See also: H.P. Lovecraft and Necronomicon.
Cumberlandism –
Curse – Words spoken or written in order to influence others paranormally, causing them harm. See also spell, hex.
Cydonia Region – An area of Mars which generated much interest when it was photographed by NASA’s Viking orbiter in 1976. The pictures appeared to show a number of peculiar anomalies, including a number of pyramid face. In more recent years, newer NASA mars orbiters have returned additional photographs of the region showing that the “face” was nothing more than a natural rock formation; however, the original pictures and the area itself are still under considerable debate.
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Daemon (Daimon) – A guardian spirit who communicates inspiration and advice. See also guardian angel.
Dead Sea Scrolls – A collection of manuscripts found in a series of caves near the Dead Sea between 1947 and 1956. Considered apocryphal by mainstream Christianity and the subject of much debate among historians and religious scholars for decades, these scrolls shed light on many gaps in the canonical Judeo-Christian texts.
Death – Generally understood to be the extinction of an organism’s life. Many doctrines assert some form of mental or spiritual survival of physical death. See also death bed experience, haunting, medium ship, near-death experience, reincarnation.
Death Bed Experience – A dying person’s awareness of the presence of dead friends or relatives. See also near-death experience.
Death Warning – News or warning of a death of another person received outside the normal sensory channels.
Deathbed Visitations – The rare phenomenon of where a dying person sees or hears the presence of dead loved ones. These spirits seem to comfort and guide them across into the light.
Debunk – to expose a claim as being false or exaggerated. In our case, to find the scientific reason for what going on.
Decline Effect – A decrease in performance on a psi test when the test is repeated.
Deja`Vu – A person’s feeling that current events have been experienced before.
Delta – A term used to refer to any kind of anomalous experience.
Deep Trace Medium – A psychic or medium in which; allows a spirit to enter their body so that the spirits can communicate through them.
Dematerialization – The paranormal fading or disappearance of a physical object.
Democracy – The office of government of demons. Those who worship devils.
Demons – Both evil and good spirits that can and do intervene with mankind. Demons are also defined as the workers of Satan’s will, tempting humans to sin against God.
Demonic – Pertaining to or originating from demons.
Demonic Possession – Possession by evil spirits. See also exorcism.
Demonization – The primary stage of demonic possession in humans, characterized by the demon infiltrating and occupying the person’s body. At this stage, removing the demon remains somewhat simple as long as the possessed person honestly desires the demon’s removal.
Demography – The description and history of demons.
Demonologist – A person who actively pursues demons and other non-human entities both for study and to help people get rid of them. To become a demonologist is not to be taken lightly. Injury; both physical and mental can happen.
Demonic Haunting – A haunting by a spirit or entity that is not from a human form.
Demonology – is the systematic study of demons or beliefs about demons.
Deport – The paranormal movement of objects out of a secure enclosed space. See Apport., see also dematerialization, teleportation.
De Loys Ape – A very controversial case in which a group of men on an expedition in Venezuela in 1920, led by Swiss geologist Francois De Loys, shot and photographed an alleged humanoid ape-like creature. Francois and his team had set up camp near the Tarra River, following a journey in which a number of his men had perished. Without warning, they were suddenly attacked by two large humanoid ape creatures that wielded branches and howled menacingly at the men. Shocked, the men opened fire on the creatures, killing one of them, and injuring the other, which disappeared back into the forest.
De Loys, Francois Swiss Geologist – who in 1920, led an expedition in Venezuela, where he allegedly shot and photographed a strange ape-like creature that later became known as “De Loys Ape”
Devas – Spiritual beings that are divine. Three types of devas; 1) Bodiless Deva, 2) Form Devas, 3) Passion Devas.
Diabolical – Pertaining to or meaning the devil.
Dice Test – An experimental test in which a subject attempts to influence the fall of dice. This study is used for the investigation of Psychokinesis.
DIRECT WRITING – Direct writing is when spirits actually write using any means. This can be done by slate writing or by pen and paper.
Direct Voice Phenomenon (DVP) – An auditory “spirit” voice that is spoken directly to the sitters at a séance. The sound has no scientific explanatory origin.
Direct Writing – When spirits actually write using any means.
Discarnate – A spirit that exists without a physical body.
Discarnate Entity – A spirit or non-material entity. Often used to refer to the personality of a deceased individual. See also channeling, communication, mediumship, possession, survival.
Discernment – The ability in which, to feel or perceive something with the use of the mind and the senses.
Disembodied – A spirit that is functioning without a body.
Disembodied Voice – A voice, which is heard that comes from no physical body, also known as an EVP.
Displacement – Response on a psi test that correspond systematically to targets other than the intended one; e.g. those before or after.
Dissociation – Activity performed outside of normal conscious awareness, or mental processes that suggest the existence of separate centers of consciousness.
DMILS – Direct Mental Interaction with living systems. Psychokinetic influences on physiological processes.
Divination – Obtaining of future events and/or the unknown by the use of outside forces.
DIVINING ROD – A forked rod from a tree said to indicate the presence of water or minerals underground.
Doerr, Vince – A fire chief who in 1997 took what would become a very well-known photographed of an alleged Skunk Ape in Ochopee. Shortly before he saw the creature, a group of tourists had also reported seeing it on the outskirts of a swamp nearby. Despite the photographic evidence however, Doerr himself was never convinced. He believed that what he had photographed was someone messing around in an ape suit.
Dogman – A legend in Michigan, USA, tells of this bizarre wolf-like creature that is said to appear in Northern Michigan on July 7th of the 7th year of each decade. It has been part of local folklore for years; however, it is generally believed that the Dogman is nothing more than an urban myth.
Doppelganger (Double) – A mystical double or copy of a person in which; resembles another person. This phenomenon is usually to scale of the person it’s copying but a lot of the time just the face, head, and body are viewed.
Double – A duplicate of one’s own body.
Double Blind – An experimental procedure in which neither the subject nor experimenter is aware of key features of the experiment.
Down Through Technique (DT) – An experimental test for clairvoyance in which the person guesses the order of a stacked series of target symbols (e.g., cards) from top to bottom.
Dowsing – The ability to use a pair of rods, often metal, to locate sources of energy or most commonly, water. In the paranormal field, Dowsing Rods are used to locate energy sources that could be of a paranormal nature.
Dover Demon – Name given to a bizarre “creature” witnessed by several people in Dover, in April, 1977. The first sighting occurred late one night as three 17 yr. olds drove home through the Boston suburbs of the Dover area. The driver, Bill Bartlett, reported seeing what at first he thought was a dog or cat, but a few seconds later saw to be a completely unearthly looking creature. In amazement, Bartlett watched the animal, which he reported had a large melon-shaped head with 2 very distinct red eyes. Its body was thin and spindly, and completely hairless. It had long, thin toes and fingers, and seemed to be using them to grasp onto the pavement.
DMILS – Abbreviation of Direct Mental Interaction with Living Systems. Used to denote instances where one person is attempting to influence a distant biological system, usually the physiology of another person. As it is unclear whether this represents an influence (sleep psychokinesis), a case of ESP on the part of the influence (see ESP) or an opportunistic selection process, the term ‘interaction’ has been adopted.
Dracula/Dracul – A hereditary title given to Vlad Tepes III, the word translates in multiple ways. Dracul, the title of Vlad II (his father), means “dragon” if taken from its root word drako. In Romanian, it means “devil/demon.” Therefore, Vlad III’s title name of Dracula can mean “Little Dragon” or “Son of the Dragon” but also “Son of the Devil/Demon.” In either case, the title served as a powerful psychological weapon against enemies of the Tepes clan.
Dream Communication – Where a spirit can manifest itself within one’s dreams to communicate. It usually occurs when the spirit attempts to notify the living of their death.
Drop-in Communicator – An uninvited communicator who “drops in” at a sitting.
Druid – A Celtic priest of the Bronze or Iron Age, trained in healing, divination and astronomy, whose tradition was passed on to successors by oral tradition.
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Earth – Our home, the place in the universe on which we live. Third planet from the Sun at a mean distance of 149 million km, the only place in the universe known to support life.
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.
EBE – Abbreviation for “Extraterrestrial Biological Entity”. It is commonly used when referring to “Grays” and other alleged Alien life forms.
Echolalia – A professional clinical word that means to repeat back what you have heard. Applied to the paranormal field; it means when a spirit or entity repeats back what you have just said to show you that they are real and there and trying to communicate with you, usually during an EVP session.
Ectoplasm – A substance that emanates from a medium during a trance. It often appears as a mist-like or vapor substance. It can be seen moving, often faces and other forms can been seen in it.
Elect Angels – These are angels that remained in heaven or the unfallen angels.
Electromagnetic Field (EMF) – An electric and magnetic energy that radiates from radio and light waves to gamma and cosmic rays.
Electronic Audio Phenomena (EAP) – are electronically captured sounds that cannot be classified as speech and are not the result of intentional voice/audio recordings. One example would be bells ringing that were captured on tape or digital media where none were physically heard.
Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) – The use of audio equipment to capture voices and sounds of the dead where there are no physical presences in the area where the recordings are being taken.
Elementals – Spirits who govern the four corners of the earth and are associated with, or reside within, the four basic elements. They are called Sylphs (the east, air), Salamanders (the south, fire), Undines (the west, water), and Gnomes (the north, earth). Check out our Nature Spirit Dept.
Eltanin Antenna – A mysterious structure that was discovered at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in 1964, by the NSF Polar Research Vessel Eltanin. The object was described as being a pole rising from the ocean floor with a series of twelve spokes radiating from it. Each spoke had a sphere shape on the end of it, and were at an angle of 15 degrees from one another. The “Eltanin Antenna” as it was called, is some 1,000 miles south of Cape Horn. There has been a lot of speculation regarding the origins and purpose of the object. Some marine biologists think that it may be a type of life form, although no form of marine life is known to be of such a peculiar shape. Others have suggested that the object was intentionally put there, possibly by an ancient civilization, or even by beings from another world.
EMF Detector – A device in which; measures and detects changes in the electromagnetic field.
Empath – Someone in which; feels considerable physical empathy or emotions from another person or spirit.
EMPATHY – Rarely used in modern parapsychology, the popular usage of this term refers to a low-level form of telepathy wherein the Empath appears to be aware of the emotional state of a distant person. An Empath may also be able to “broadcast” emotions to others.
Empowered Mantra – A mantra becomes empowered through the process of initiation. It is during initiation that a disciple receives his or her mantra from the guru. The mantra is empowered in the sense that the guru acts as a vehicle of God’s grace, and it is God’s grace that is embodies in the mantra.
Encke’s Comet – Famous comet that was first sighted by Parisian comet hunter Pierre Mechain on January 17th, 1786. The comet retraces almost exactly the same path across the sky at 10 year intervals, and was not seen again until 1795 by Caroline Herschel. The year 2003, it was close enough one again to make its 59th appearance, and remains on of the most well-known and well documented comets in history.
Enfield Poltergeist – Regarded as one of the most spectacular poltergeist cases ever recorded, the Enfield poltergeist case lasted from August 1977 to September 1978. During this time a woman and her four children who were living in a council house in Enfield, London. They seemed to experience almost every single poltergeist phenomena ever identified. Over 1500 separate phenomena were recorded, from a mild beginning with just a few unexplained sounds, to alleged possession and other more disturbing occurrences. In one instance, a toy brick was said to have materialized out of thin air, flew across the room and hit a photographer on the head.
Enlightenment – 1. Universal consciousness; traditionally compared to a mind full of light like the moon in a cloudless sky or a mirror without any dust on it. 2. Awareness that you are a manifestation of one infinity, always moving according to yin and yang and the Order of the Universe. 3. Seeing not an alienated world to be gotten out of but a realized world in which we know that all plays a part. 4. Enlightenment experiences are described as; aha experience, awareness, born-again, conversion, cosmic-consciousness, convictional event, deep knowing, divine intervention.
Entity – A generic term used to define a paranormal spirit, ghost, or object.
Entropy – The observation that everything in the material Universe will eventually, inevitably wind-down, burn-out, fall apart … well, I’m sure you get the (dismal) picture.
Epicenter – The person that a spirit or entity focuses on. It seems that when that person is within the vicinity, paranormal activity is heightened.
Espiritsmo – A Spanish word that means “spiritism.” However, it is sometimes interpreted to mean “Way of the Spirits.” This faith magic practice from Latin America integrates elements of Catholicism, African spiritual beliefs, and various Native American religions.
Essence – the undying part of a human.
Etheric Body – The lowest layer in the aura (human energy field). It is thought to be in immediate contact with the physical body in order to connect with higher plain of existence.
Evil Spirit – Spirits whose sole purpose for existence is to hurt or destroy mankind.
Evocation -The summoning of spirits by usage of ritual, gesture, or verse of incantation.
Exorcist – A person who performs the ceremony of an exorcism. (Usually a priest)
Exorcism -The expulsion of ghosts, demons, spirits or other entities that are believed to be disturbing or possessing a person or a place that people frequent.
Experimental Group – A group of subjects who undergo a specific experimental procedure. Often results from this group are compared with those of a control group.
Experimenter Effect – Influence that the experimenter’s personality or behavior may have on the results of an experiment.
Exsanguination – An extreme and fatal loss of blood. More or less, it is just a fancy way of saying “bleeding to death.”
Extra Dimensional – Originating outside our normal space-time reality.
Extra-Terrestrials- Life forms originating on planets other than our own.
Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) – The ability to; receive information about past, present or future events that cannot be obtained through the normal senses. These include telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition.
Extreme Uniction – Last rites said over a person’s death in the Roman Catholic Church.
Evil Eye- Alleged ability of some people to being able to harm others by looking at them.
Evocation – Is the magical art of calling forth of spirits to bring spiritual inspiration, do the bidding of the magician or provide information. The first use of the term evocation was for the religious/magical practice of calling the protective deities of a city out of it so attackers could succeed in their conquest. In more recent usage, evocation refers to the calling out of lesser spirits (beneath the deific or archangelic level) sometimes conceived of as arising from the self. This sort of evocation is contrasted with invocation, in which spiritual power….
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Face on Mars – A 1,500 ft. tall structure photographed in the Cydonia Region of Mars in 1976 by NASA’s Viking Orbiter. The images showed a structure which resembled a humanoid face, as well as a number of pyramid shaped objects on the surface of the planet. In recent years newer NASA Orbiters have returned images showing the “Face on Mars” to be a natural rock formation; however, many people remain unconvinced.
Faces of Belmez – A case that started in august 1971, when Maria Gomez Pereira discovered a strange expressionistic image of a man’s face that had appeared on her kitchen floor. A few days later she had the floor ripped out and re-laid, only to find that the face reappeared in exactly in the same spot within a week. Before she got the chance to rip out the floor a second time, the slab was removed and preserved by local authorities. Investigations into the site on which the house was built, revealed that the site had once been a graveyard. It was decided that the floor of the house should be excavated to see what lay beneath. After digging down some nine feet, human remains were found, which were soon removed. It was decided that the excavation had been successful, and a new floor was soon installed. Bizarrely, after just two weeks, a variety of new faces had appeared on the new floor. Over the coming months, the Faces of Belmez attracted a huge amount of attention, but nobody was able to explain why the faces kept returning.
Faith – Trust in the validity, existence and power of something greater than one’s self.
FAITH HEALING – To know that you and others can heal yourselves by simply believing in it.
Fallen Angels – One third of the angels of god who chose to side with Satan in the rebellion. They were cast out after the rebellion and are now supposedly roaming earth and plaguing human kind.
False Awakening – The event in which a person believes they are awake but are actually dreaming.
Familiar – A physical or spiritual animal most often a black cat that acts as an assistant to a practicing person of magic. A lower level demon who takes on many appearances. Such as the black cat often seen in photographs accompanying black witches, malevolent or white witches, benevolent although the malevolent/benevolent is open for discussion as most believe them to be demonic and purely malevolent. They may also take forms such as a distorted human form and others.
Faraday Cage – A wire mesh enclosure that provides a shield from radio waves.
Faustus, Dr. – Practitioner of black magic from the middle ages. He sold his soul to the devil Mephistopheles in return for magical knowledge at the end of seven years, the devil would come to collect.
Fear Cage – man-made environment of high electromagnetic fields (see EMF), usually caused by unshielded fuse boxes or wires which surround a small room or recess, causing various symptoms of paranoia or eeriness.
Feral Children – Children who have been nurtured in the wild by animals are known as “Feral Children”. The term also refers to children who were raised in a non-human or sub-human environment, and therefore failed to learn how to communicate in a fully human manner. There have been over 40 well documented cases of feral children in the last few hundred years. The first really famous example was “Wild Peter”, who was only 12 old when he was captured in Hanover in 1724. He was described as being a ‘naked, brownish, black-haired creature”. He would climb trees and live off plants. He never mastered speech, and it took a long time for him to even attempt to eat anything other than plant material. He spent 68 years in society, but never managed to learn to say anything other than “Peter” and “King George”.
Fetch – A spectral double of a living person. See also Doppelganger, Wraith.
Fetish – Aside from the modern sexual connotation, a fetish is a shamanistic tool in the form of a figurine, animal part or a pouch containing items with magical associations.
Floating Orb – Spherical image usually translucent white, though sometimes of a reddish or bluish hue which, inexplicably registers on photographic film and videotape. Also known as a “Globule.”
Flying Saucer – Another term meaning Unidentified Flying Object. The phrase was coined following an interview with American Pilot Kenneth Arnold, who reported the first modern sighting of a UFO in the Cascade Mountains in 1947.
Focal Person – A person who is at the center of poltergeist activity.
Foo Fighters – Small luminous balls of light spotted on numerous occasions by pilots during the Second World War. These strange colored balls of light were witnessed both over Europe and the Pacific, and are a prime example of the UFO phenomenon.
Forced-Choice Test – An ESP test in which the subject guesses from a predetermined list of alternative targets.
Forte, Charles – The first person to research and document reports of paranormal phenomena in a concise and coherent way. Born in 1874, died in 1932, he spent much of his days in the New York City public library and British museum where he’d search through newspapers, magazines and other publications for reports of mysterious phenomena. The Forean Society was founded after his death.
Fortean Phenomena – A Strange phenomena, especially those that challenge conventional scientific knowledge. Name after the American researcher and writer Charles Fort. Fortean phenomena include those generally considered paranormal, but also bizarre non-paranormal events such as monsters and prodigies, extraordinary coincidences, and unusual rains.
Fortune Telling – Various practices which aim to divine future events.
Four States of consciousness – Ordinary consciousness is characterized by three states:
(1) The waking state.
(2) The dreaming state.
(3) The state of deep sleep, However, mystics claim that there is a fourth state, called tur”ya, which permeates and transcends the three states of ordinary consciousness. It is said to witness everything that occurs during the ordinary states. While the subject of ordinary consciousness is the ego, the witness of the Essential Self.
Frank’s Box – An AM/FM radio that has been altered to continuously scan channels. Since the scan only stops on a single channel for .025 seconds, it is believed that spirits can use the device to communicate with investigators. It is named after the original inventor, Frank Sumption.
Free-Response Test – An ESP test in which the subject responds freely (does not choose from a fixed list of targets). For example, the subjects may write down or draw their impressions, or may talk freely into a tape recorder. In order to assess the accuracy of the responses, they are compared with various targets (including the actual target) by a judge.
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Gabriel – One of the four archangels, (Michael, Raphael, and Uriel) he is known as the messenger of god.
GANZFIELD – A state of mild sensory deprivation, characterized by the presentation of homogenous sensory fields. Thus, a person in Ganzfeld will have diffusive plastic hemispheres over their eyes while in a dimly red-lit room, be listening to white noise through headphones, and be seated in a comfortable, semi-reclined chair. Its use in parapsychology is based on a noise-reduction model.
Gauss Meter – A device that is used to measure the electromagnetic field, also referred to as EMF detectors or magnetometers.
Genuflections – A practice most commonly seen in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches that involves touching one knee (usually the right) or both knees to the ground as a sign of worship or as a gesture of respect to God.
Ghost – A ghost is believed to be the soul or the life force of a person or animal.
Ghost Hunter – A person who attempts to gather evidence of paranormal activity. Can also be called; a paranormal investigator.
Ghost Hunting – The act of; investigating or searching for ghosts, poltergeists, apparitions and any other paranormal type of activity for fun, science, or ghost removal.
Ghost Lights – Closely resembling orbs, but are much larger and brighter in appearance.
Ghost Ship -The disappearance and reappearance of a ship that has been known to have wrecked or disappeared years or centuries before to fore warn of a pending disaster.
Ghoul – Demonic or parasitic entity that feeds upon human remains.
Globster – Name given to any beached animal carcass that cannot be readily identified. Such remains are often classed as Sea Monsters due to the fact that they cannot immediately be identified as any known species of animal.
Globule – An anomaly where-in floating, circular forms appear on photographs or videotape, which seem indicative of spirit activity. Globes are a natural containment formation of the meniscus of liquid, as in gas containing bubbles; perhaps the interaction of energy and a quasi-physical substance produced by spiritual manifestations results in a similar effect, the globules being an initial containment of energy. Presently, all we know is that they continue to appear, and extraneous possible causes such as moisture, light refraction or emulsion seepage, etc., have been considered and ruled out.
Glossolalia – (from the Greek glossa), and tongue (lalo), to speak, comprises the utterance of what appears (to the casual listener) either as an unknown foreign language (xenoglossia), simply nonsense syllables, or utterance of an unknown mystical language; the utterances sometimes occur as part of religious worship(religious glossolalia). Skeptics dismiss these cases as simply being in a state of trance, self-hypnotism or religious ecstasy. It is notable that in Charismatic/Pentecostal.
Go-Ryo – Roughly means “honorable ghost.” While vengeful, these spirits are often male members of the noble warrior classes (especially those who were betrayed or martyred in some way). According to lore, a Go-Ryo can only be commanded by a Yamabushi (a mountain-dwelling warrior monk of Zen Buddhism.
Goat – An experiment in which the subject does not believe in the ability for which they are being tested.
Goetia – The ceremonial art of commanding spirits and demons.
Golden Rod – A rare anomaly seen in videotape recorded at the site of a suspected haunting, appearing as bright, white or yellowish lines rapidly moving across a room. See also Globule, Vortex.
Gray Ladies – These are ghosts that are gray in color and are of deceased, usually noble women that had died or have been killed violently in relations to love or are searching for their lost love.
Grey – The most frequently reported visitor from an alien world, described as having greyish skin, a bulbous cranium, tapered chin, straight, unmoving, horizontal line for a mouth, slits substituting for a nose, slanted eyes, and a slight body. In some accounts, it has three fingers plus an opposable thumb on each hand. Supposedly, such beings were encountered by Betty and (the late) Barney Hill during their abduction in New Hampshire in September, 1961. See also Apparition.
Griffiths, Francis – One of two girls who in the summer of 1917, took photographs of what they claimed to be fairies at Cottingly Beck. The photographs became known as the Cottingly Fairies.
Groom Lake – A dried up lake in Nevada that is also the location of the “secret” area 51 military base and Nellis Air Force Range.
Guru – A personal spiritual teacher or guide who has himself achieved spiritual insight. From at least the time of the Upanisads, India has stressed the importance of the tutorial method in religious instruction. Classically, the pupil lived at the home of his guru and served him with obedience and devotion.
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Hallowe’en – ‘The Eve of All Hallows,’ also known by Pagan Celts and Wiccans as ‘Samhain’ (pronounced, ‘Sow’-an’), October 31, the night preceding the Catholic Church’s ‘All Saints Day.’ For a millennium, in much of Europe and the British Isles, this was held to be the night when departed relatives were especially remembered, and the veil separating the realms of the living and the dead was rendered thinner than usual. Jack-o’ lanterns were placed on stoops and window-sills to frighten off malicious spirits. Hallowe’en is presently celebrated as a night of revels and masquerading, and in Mexico it is part of a traditional annual festival known as ‘El Dia De Los Muertos’ (‘The Day of the Dead’).
Hallucination – The perception of sights and sounds that are not actually present.
Half Real Objective – When you perceive nothing subjectively, but you get objective documentation.
Half Real Subjective – When you subjectively perceive something that was not documented via objective means.
Haunted- A person, place or an object to which a spirit is attached. The spirits can be human or inhuman in nature.
Haunting, Intelligent – Paranormal activity that takes place around a person or location that is caused by a conscious spirit. These spirits can interact with the living.
Haunting, Residual- Paranormal phenomena such as apparitions, unexplained sounds, smells or other sensations that is associated over a lengthy period of time with a specific location.
Haruspicy – The practice of ritualistically sacrificing an animal (often a bull or calf) though disembowelment and then examining the entrails for divination purposes. A priest who carried out such rituals was called a haruspex.
Hell – A temporary holding place for which the devil presides and evil souls go to, until the final fight with god.
Hellhound – Black Shuck – A spectral death omen in the form of a ghostly dog.
Hellstromism – See contact mind reading
Hex – A magical working, or “spell,” cast to influence a person’s will or fate, most often referring to a curse rather than a blessing or healing.
Highway of Death – One of the best recorded examples of strange phenomena concerning car crashes, occurred directly after the construction of a new motorway section in Germany in 1930. The section was a completely straight area of flat roadway, on the side of which was a small stone kilometer marker known as kilometer marker 239. During the first 12 month of the roadway’s existence, over 100 cars crashed on the carriageway near the jinxed marker.
Hinduism – A vast and profound religion. It worships one Supreme Reality (called by many names) and teaches that all souls ultimately realize truth. There is no eternal hell, damnation. It accepts all genuine spiritual path; from pure monism (God alone exists) to theistic dualism.
Hobgoblin – Mischievous sprite (fairy, spirit) who delights in perpetrating pranks upon hapless humans, once widely believed in and dreaded throughout Europe and Celtic regions. (Caution: It is theorized that these diminutive denizens of the netherworld will, upon occasion, interfere in psychic investigations by devices such as misplacing directions and telephone numbers, draining flashlight and camera batteries, and even pulling keys right out of investigators’ pockets!) I assume that anyone who reads the preceding caution will realize it is farcical!
Hollow Moon – A theory that suggests that the moon is a large hollow sphere, backed up by a little evidence, but still regarded by some as a possibility. The hollow theory originated during seismological test on the moon following the lunar landings. This occurred most notably in November 1969 after seismometers were set up on the moon’s surface by the astronauts of Apollo XII. When the lunar module had taken off, heading back to earth the astronauts discarded the ascent stage of the lunar module, dropping it on the moons surface, smashing the craft and creating a tremor that was picked up by the seismometers and when the NASA scientists heard the data stream, the couldn’t believe what they were hearing. The moon was ringing like a bell and continued to do so for around an hour. After they had a chance to analyze the seismological information, NASA declared that the moon seemed to be a hollow sphere with a metallic layer around 34-40 meters deep.
Homeopathy – A centuries old form of medicine that is created by diluting a substance a huge number of times and then administering it to the patient. True homeopathic levels of dilution dilute the substance to such an extent that an equivalent level of dilution would be for 1 drop of the substance to be added to all the water in all the oceans on the planet. Homeopathies claim that with this level of dilution, the resulting medicine does actually work, curing a huge range of illnesses and conditions, that in many cases cannot be treated with conventional medicine. The trouble is, according to science, at such an extreme level of dilution, the resulting “medicine” will no longer contain even a single molecule of the original substance, therefore, rendering it little more than plain water.
Homunculus – A form of miniature human supposedly produced (for purposes unknown) in the laboratories of medieval alchemists.
Hot- Reading – A devious or fraudulent reading in which the reader has been given prior knowledge of the sitter.
Human Magnetism – A phenomenon in which an individual can attach metal objects magnetically to their own skin. A recent event held in Bulgaria aimed to find out who was most “magnetic”, and managed to attract some 300 competitors who all shared this most peculiar affliction.
Human Spirit – The spirit of a person who has lived in the physical plane and now is in the hereafter.
Humanoid – Any non-human creature that somewhat resembles a human in appearance; for example, a Sasquatch or werewolf.
Hyper Acuity – see Hyperesthesia
Hyperesthesia – Exceptionally acute sensory awareness.
Hypnagogic Imagery – Imagery occurring in the hypnagogic state (occurring while dropping of to sleep).
Hypnagogic State – The hypnagogic state is that state between being awake and falling asleep. For some people, this is a time of visual and auditory hallucination.
Hypnopompia – The state of being between being asleep and being awake.
Hypnosis – A state of profound mental focus, actually self-induced although an external agent – a “hypnotist” – often acts as the catalyst, or director, for the subject entering this state. Also known as “Mesmerism” after Franz Anton Mesmer who first popularized this practice (utilizing magnets as his props) during the last two decades of the 18th century. As concerns paranormal investigation, hypnosis is sometimes used as a vehicle for “past lives regression” and memory restoration in suspected (alien?) abduction cases.
Hynek Classification System – A system commonly used to classify sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects. The system divides sightings up into three main categories. They are called Close Encounters of the first, second, and third kinds. See also: Close Encounters.
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Icon – A rendering or image of particular (often religious) significance.
Ideomotor Effect – is a psychological phenomenon wherein a subject makes motions unconsciously. As in reflexive responses to pain, the body sometimes reacts reflexively to ideas alone without the person consciously deciding to take action. For instance, tears are produced by the body unconsciously in reaction to the emotion of sadness.
Ideoplasty – The theory that sitters in a séance can affect the occurring phenomena by unknowingly sending their thoughts and expectations of what will happen to the medium. The medium will then create what was expected by the group.
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.
Imbolc – In the Wiccan calendar, February 2nd is celebrated as the day when winter’s end is in sight, and the return of the sun’s warmth is anticipated. Also known as, Candlemas and the familiar Ground Hog Day. See also Wicca.
IMP – An elemental or diabolical messenger.
Imprint – Apparitions of people and things of the past that are made up of energy that exists in the area of activity. Imprints are not actually conscience of themselves and their surroundings, unlike an actual spirit or ghost.
Incubus –A demonic entity capable of sexually arousing and sometimes assaulting women.
Induced After-Death Communications – Messages received from the dead through the practice of a therapeutic technique used for those that are grieving from the loss of a loved one. Some say that they can communicate with the spirits of loved ones in order to conclude their grieving process.
Infestation – Condition which occurs when evil spirits inhabit a location. Infestation in a person is called possession. (2) – Repeated and persistent paranormal phenomena, generally centered on a particular location or person(s). Also known as a haunting.
Infrared Digital Thermometers – A device used to monitor the presence of hot and cold spots that happen during an investigation.
Infrasound – Any sound that happens below the frequency of 20 hertz. (Cycles per second). This is the supposed limit of human hearing.
Influence – An invisible entity of undetermined nature, affecting the inhabitants of a dwelling. This may initially manifest as an inexplicable feeling of uneasiness, then be followed by more definite signs which reveal a haunting.
Inhuman Spirit – A spirit that was never human. i.e., a demon.
INNER VOICE – Receiving guidance and assistance from inside of you.
Instrumental Trans-communication (ITC) – It is simply the use of modern electronic devices in an attempt to communicate with spirits or entities. It can be attempted through radios, televisions, computers, telephones and audio recorders.
Intelligent Haunting – Paranormal activity that takes place around a person or location that is caused by an intelligent or conscious spirit.
INTUITION – Act of knowing without the use of usual rational processes. Based partly on a subconscious pattern associated with known information, and partly on sub-conscious psi– impressions.
Indirect Voice– A Mediumistic phenomenon, in which, the discarnate entity appears to speak using the vocal apparatus of the medium.
Investigation – is the process of inquiring into a matter through research, follow-up, study, or formal procedure of discovery.
Invocation – Summoning spirits.
IR – Infrared light is a light from the lower end of the light spectrum. It is used in cameras; both video and still to try and catch spirits or entities.
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Jersey Devil – A creature with a considerable history, in which has been seen in the state of New Jersey. The legend itself dates back to 1735, when a woman in Leeds, gave birth to what was considered to be a “cursed” child. It’s also supposed to have a head of a horse, a snake’s tail and wings. This entity came to be known as the “Jersey Devil”.
Jinn – Genie (Arabic: جني jinnī; variant spelling djinni) is a supernatural creature in Islamic teachings which (according to both mythology) occupies a parallel world to that of mankind, and together with humans and angels makes up the three sentient creations of Allah. According to the Qur’an, there are two creations that have free will: humans and jinn. Religious sources say little about them; however, the Qur’an mentions that Jinn are made of smokeless flame, with their form similar to humans if they choose to spiritually possess a human body. The jinn also can be good, evil, or neutrally benevolent.
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K-2 Meter – a meter that uses flashing lights to signal an increase in electromagnetic energy.
Kabbalah – A Judaistic tradition of mystical spiritual practice. However, the specific texts associated with Kabbalah mysticism are not a part of the Jewish canon.
Kap Dwa – ‘Kap Dwa’ was allegedly a 12 foot tall two-headed giant, who lived in the 17th century and was captured by Spanish sailors in 1673. It was said he had a pike driven through his heart after managing to kill four of his captors. Since then his stuffed body has been displayed at various sideshows in England from 1900 onwards and in America since 1980.
Kappa – A Japanese mythological creature, which resembles a spirit or imp, which is said to enjoy playing, pranks on humans. It is also said that the Kappa longs for human company and acceptance. In recent years the Kappa was the subject of a scam on a Japanese television program called ‘Denpa Shonen’. An actor dressed up as the creature and lived for three months in a wilderness area around the city of Tono, scaring locals and causing considerable protests.
Kaptar – One of the many regional names given to the Alma, a large ape-like creature thought to live in and around the Caucasus Mountains area in Kazakhstan, in Asia.
Karma – the principle of retributive justice determined by a person’s state of life or the effects of his past deeds, also the doctrine of inevitable consequence known as destiny or fate.
Katana – A long sword with a curved blade, which was often the secondary weapon of choice (the primary weapon being a spear or halberd) for the samurai warriors of feudal Japan. Many Samurai believed their souls were fused to their katana.
Kinetic Energy – Energy needed to force an object that is still or motionless into motion. It is said that objects that are in motion, have kinetic energy.
Kirlian Photography – Named after Semyon Kirlian who, in 1939, discovered – reportedly by accident – that when an organic or nonliving object is placed upon a photographic plate and subjected to a high electric current, a glowing “aura” forms around the object and is imprinted on the film. It is more accurate to say that rather than revealing a natural aura, this process produces such. However, fluctuations in the magnetic fields surrounding the subjects can be detected in this way, and Kirlian photography, the technique having been improved upon through the years, has recently come into use as a medical diagnostic device. It also has a popular market at psychic fairs as a sort of high-tech, more expansive version of the mood ring. Kirlian photography does produce some beautiful and interesting effects.
KNOWINGNESS / INTUITION – To get information without knowing where it came from.
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Lake of Fire – Fiery pit into which death, hell, the damned and Lucifer and his minions will be thrown into at the end of time.
Lazar, Bob – A man who in 1989, came forward and claimed that he had been recruited by the U.S. military to work at the Area 51 facility in Nevada. Lazar gave descriptions of what he had witnesses while working there, including details of his alleged involvement with captured “Alien” technology. It is thought by many that Lazars story is nothing more than a work of creative fiction.
Legend of the Circle of 13 Skulls – A Native American legend that told of a collection of 13 Crystal Skulls that were said to hold the details of mankind’s true purpose and destiny. A variety of Crystal Skulls have been discovered over the years, some dating back thousands of years. Despite efforts to combined 13 of these skulls in one place, no evidence of the knowledge said to be contained within them has ever been found.
Lepke – A very unique and interesting type of spiritual manifestation, a ghost which has the appearance of a solid, living person, may even converse with someone, then suddenly vanishes. “We were talking, I turned to face her again, and she was just gone!” Such apparitions are most often reported to have been encountered within, or immediately outside of cemeteries.
Levitation -The raising of a person or object into the air without any visible means. Levitation has been performed by magicians for centuries as a magic trick; however genuine levitation is also thought to be possible. Some believe that levitation can be put down to a form of Telekinesis. There have also been cases of alleged levitation relating to hauntings, spirit possession and other ghost related phenomena.
Ley Lines – Refers to alleged alignments of ancient sites or holy places, such as stone circles, standing stones, cairns, and churches which are alleged sources of mystical energy. The alleged energy is connected to changes in magnetic fields. None of this has been scientifically verified. Maps have been produced, however, with lines on them which allegedly mark off special energy spots on earth.
Life Review – A flashback of a person’s life that is typically associated with near-death experiences.
Light – Term used to describe or represent the divine presence (God) or Heaven. Describes the knowledge, truth, illumination, comfort and love originating from God.
Light Trance Medium – A person whom spirits can communicate through without going into a deep trance state.
Lights out Investigation – A paranormal investigation, which is performed during the night with the lights out. It is said that ghost or entities are easier to see when the lights are out.
Lilith – Devil of Sumerian origin and later included in Hebrew beliefs, believed by Quabbalists to have been the first wife of Adam, later excluded from the Talmud, and held by some occultists to be a vampire goddess and a powerful succubus. See also Succubus, Vampire.
Limbo – A state of existence that in catholic tradition is the resting place for unbaptized souls after physical death.
Lits – Abbreviation for “Lights in the Sky”. It is the official term for anomalous luminous objects in the sky, mainly at night, that is unexplained. See also: Unidentified Flying Objects.
Living Fossil – A term used to refer to a creature that is still alive today, but is or was thought to have become extinct. Maurice Burton wrote that “a living fossil is an organism that has survived beyond its era”. The most famous example of a Living Fossil is the Coelacanth, which was thought to have been extinct for millions of years until a live one was caught in the 1930’s.
Living Ghost – The manifestation of a ghost or spirit, usually a living family member that lives hundreds to thousands of miles away. It usually happens when the member that is manifesting itself is under great stress in their life.
Loch Ness Monster – Famous creature thought to live in the depths of Britain’s largest lake, Loch Ness, in Scotland.
Lore – Collective beliefs and legendary relating to a subject, as in “vampire lore”.
Lost Time – With paranormal activity happening, it is hypothesized that a small part of time may be slowed down or disappears. Example; A person, during an investigation looks at his or her watch during an investigation thinking that only ten minutes has passed, but after leaving the affected area, finds that they have been gone for 20 minutes!
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.
Lucidity – Clearness of thought or style. A presumed capacity to perceive the truth directly and instantaneously. Clairvoyance.
Lucifer – Name taken from the Latin “luci” (light) and “fere” (to bear), originally a Roman lesser deity, “Son of the Morning,” formerly the name for the planet Venus when observed at dawn, in Christian theology identified with the Devil: arch regent of fallen angels. Lucifer is sometimes called upon in pagan ceremonies and rituals. (See also Satan)
Lurking Enigma – “Lurk” means to furtively move about, and I can think of no more appropriate term to describe this phenomenon – a type of entity which can be visible to human observers, yet appears in distorted, unidentifiable forms. Common traits reported by witnesses include glowing red or silver eyes, dark color (fur or feathers), startling speed and agility, in some cases winged and capable of flight, as with the ‘Jersey Devil.’ Although such nebulous creatures seem to mean us no harm, encounters with them can be terrifying, and provoke much curiosity. As one would expect, they are extremely elusive.
Lycanthropy -The transformation of a person into the form of a wolf.
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Macro-PK -Psychokinetic effects that can be directly observed rather than only inferred from statistical analysis.
Magic – The practice of directing psychic ability or “supernatural” forces to effect changes and fulfill desires. Many modern practitioners have adopted the archaic spelling of magick, in the tradition of author and occultist, Aleister Crowley (b. 1871, d. 1947).
Magnetometer (EMF, gauss meter) – An instrument for measuring the magnitude and direction of a magnetic field typically used by paranormal researchers to detect a ghost’s magnetic energy.
Malevolent – A malevolent spirit is one that wishes to do harm.
Malicious – A spirit that is evil or spiteful. These spirits will destroy or damage things of a personal or financial value for the sake of hurting others.
Manifestation -The appearance or taking of form of an entity.
Manzee – Hypothesized hybrid of Homo sapiens (human) and pan troglodyte (chimpanzee), also referred to as a “sport”. A disturbing notion, is it not? See also Cryptozoology.
Marian Apparitions – The event in which the Virgin Mary is seen.
Materialization -The formation of a visible physical form of a spirit.
Matrixing– When the mind attempts to manifest images as something they are not.
Medium – A person that acts as a bridge between the living and the dead.
Mesmerism – A hypnotic induction of a sleep or trance State (See Hypnotism).
Metaphysics – The study of that which is beyond the laws of physics.
Meter – is a piece of electronic equipment used to measure different fields, according to the specific type of equipment used.
Metetron – Angel referred to in Jewish tradition as being the voice of god among angels and mortals. According to the book of Enoch when the Jewish profit Enoch ascended into heaven he was transformed into the arch-angel Metetron.
Micro-PK (Micro Psychokinesis) – the supposed ability of the human mind to affect machines.
Miracle – A wondrous and beneficial event apparently brought about by supernatural/divine agent.
Mist – An energy field that looks like a cloud or a haze; but has a paranormal ectoplasm substance to it. It may or may not have a particular shape or color to it.
Moment of Mortality – A ghostly manifestation that occurs when someone is at the exact moment of their death. A ghost or entity that will appear to a close friend or family member. It can happen over great distances.
Moon Madness – As the Lunar cycle waxes to its full point, incidents of psychotic behavior, violence and crime seem to escalate. To a lesser degree, the phase of the New Moon seems correlated to a rash of abnormal behavior. Current understanding of human psychology and physiology refutes the observation that our moon can exert significant influence on the human mind, ‘though statistics support it. (Hence, the term “lunatic” for a crazy person.) Naturally, it is during the nights of the full Moon when cult activities will be at their zenith. Also, there are those pesky werewolves to contend with!
Motor Automatism – Bodily movement or functions that are accompanied but not controlled by consciousness (See automatic writing).
Mumiai – Native American Indian for a spirit which behaves in the manner of a Poltergeist. See also Poltergeist.
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Nanteos Cup – During the Reformation in the 1520’s, when King Henry VIII ordered the closing and destruction of England’s Catholic monasteries, the monks of Glastonbury Abbey bequeathed a small, unassuming vessel made of olive wood to the stewardship of a certain family in Wales, saying only that it was their greatest treasure. The remnant of this bowl is now in the keeping of the last living member of this family. Many believe this to be the actual ‘Holy Grail,’ the cup of which Christ partook at the Last Supper, and whence, the legend tells us, was conveyed to Cornwall in A.D. 37 by Joseph of Arithamathea (who, as a prosperous tin merchant, would have been familiar with this trade route). Healings have been attributed to the Nanteos Cup.
Nazca Lines – In the Nazca Valley of southern Peru are etched enormous tracings of figures of a club wielding man, a plendid spider, a horse, a duck and other figures. Estimated to have been painstakingly etched into the rocky soul more than a millennium ago, these enigmatic representations can be beheld in their entirety only from an aerial viewpoint (by ancient, sub-equatorial balloonists. perhaps?).
Near-Death Experience (NDE) – Experiences of people after they have been pronounced clinically dead, or been very close to death.
Necromancy – The practice of communicating with the dead to obtain knowledge of the future, others’ secrets, and so forth.
Necronomicon – A grimoire (that is, collection) of ancient sigils and incantations of nebulous origins, discovered in the 8th century by the “Mad Arab,” Abdul Alhazred, said to be capable of opening a chasm to the “Dread Dimension” and unleashing the wrathful power of the timeless “Elder Gods.” Although some occultists believe this tome to be at least derived from genuine (and nefarious) sources, we are fairly confident that it sprang from the fiction of Providence, Rhode Island-born horror author, Howard Phillips (H.P.) Lovecraft (b. 1890, d. 1937).
Necronomicon Spell Book – A toned-downed, elegantly printed, companion book, to the Necronomicon, also by Avon Books.
Negative Entity – Inhuman entity, supposedly demonic in nature.
Nephilim – Plural for Nephil, an ancient race of powerful giants who were the offspring of sexual unions between fallen angels and human women; some religious scholars contest this interpretation and believe the passage refers to either angles in general or possibly some long extinct race of giant ( or at least extremely tall) humanoids.
Nellis Air Force Base – The military base of which Area 51 is allegedly a part of. The United States Government has not yet officially acknowledged that Area 51 exists at the Nellis Air Force Range.
Nexus – The transitional, or joining point connecting physical matter (which, in a sense, is energy condensed) and pure energy, and containing properties of both definite, i.e. the physical brain producing a mind through its network of dendrites and firing axions, or the body’s connection to the spirit. The concept of the Nexus is the basis for much conjecture and postulating.
Night Shot – A setting on a video camera or still camera; usually using IR technology, to take pictures of ghost or entities.
Nigromancy – An improper combination of the Latin nigero (black) with Greek Manteia (prophecy/divination), it is sometimes used interchangeably with the term necromancy. However, Nigromancy is a much broader term that refers to all mystical or magical arts that are dark, malevolent, or demonic in nature.
Non-Human or Inhuman Spirit – An entity or spirit that is not of human origin. It usually refers to angels or demons.
Non-Religionist – A materialist, one who embraces no formal religious beliefs; a more descriptive term than atheist or agnostic.
Nosferatu – Slavic, old world term for vampire, meaning “undead.”
Nostradamus – Born in France, 1503, Michel de Nostredame originally attended medical college and became a specialist in the Plague. It wasn’t until he turned to writing in 1550 however, that Nostradamus began to make predictions about the future. He was twice married, and had a total of 8 children. Nostradamus wrote a vast number of predictions in total, ranging from weather and crop-prospects to war and major events. The technique he claimed to use to predict these events, was what he called “comparative horoscopy”, which involved looking at horoscopes and working out when major elements of past events would happen again. It is thought that only 5-10 percent of his predictions have been apparently fulfilled; there is still the fact that a lot of them can be seen to mean a variety of things. Some took his predictions of “hister” for example, to be evidence of a prediction of Adolf Hitler, when in fact “hister” was a classical name for the river Danube. Other more recent predictions include on for 1999, that refers to “a great king of terror”.
Nyctophilia – It’s when a person has an unnatural love for the darkness or night over daylight. They find it relaxing or comfortable in the darkness.
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OBE, (Out of Body Experience) – When a person’s soul or spirit leaves their body from just a few feet away to as far as other worlds or dimensions.
Observation – is either an activity of a living being (such as a human), consisting of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses, or the recording of data using scientific instruments.
Occultism – Esoteric systems of belief and practice that assume the existence of mysterious forces and entities.
Old Hag Syndrome – a nighttime phenomenon, that typically happens in bed. An individual awakens with the feeling that they are being held down on the chest by a heavy force being unable to move. Legend has it that an old woman sits on your chest stealing your breath away.
Old Yellow Top – Nickname given to a Bigfoot type animal sighted since the 1920’s in Ontario, Canada, which was said to possess a coat of shaggy yellow hair.
Olfactory Apparition – Smells or odors associated with a spirit or entity. These smells can be cigars, cigarettes, lotions, perfumes, cologne that resembles or is associated with a deceased person. Sometimes also called; a phantom smell.
Oni – An ogre like demonic monster in Japanese mythology.
Onryo – A Japanese term meaning “angry ghost/spirit.” These are most commonly female and often are the vengeful spirits of women who were murdered, abused, betrayed, or otherwise severely mistreated by their husbands. They usually torment their living husbands in retribution.
Orb – A spherical shaped, translucent mass of energy resembling a ball or globe of light.
Ouija Board – A game board that is used to communicate with spirits.
Outward Manifestation – The physical manifestation of paranormal activity.
Oracle – A prophet, seer and visionary, especially one of renown. Also, a special device which aids in prognostication, such as a crystal ball. (i.e. “The Mystifying Oracle” of William Fuld’s Ouija Board.)
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Pact – The belief, prevalent in the late middle ages through the Renaissance, that someone could trade his or her soul in return for worldly gain. See also Faustus, Doctor Johann.
Para-Code – is a simple “yes” and “no” communication code developed in the early 90′s by The Rhode Island Paranormal Research Group where a basic investigators tool, compass, KII meter or flash light are used to communicate with an intelligent spirit(s) or sentient being(s).
Paranormal – The realm of occurrences and phenomena removed from those to which people are accustomed and comprehend, and presently uncategorized by standard academia.
Paranormal Waves – A flurry of back-to-back-to-back paranormal events that happen very close together.
Parapsychology– Literally beyond psychology. The study of; apparent new means of communication, or interaction, between organisms and their environment. Commonly referred to as psi, or psychic ability, beyond those presently understood by the scientific community.
Pareidolia – The imagined perception of a pattern or meaning where it does not actually exist, the brain incorrectly interprets patterns of light, shadows or textures as being familiar patterns that it has experienced in the past and recognizes. Examples are seeing figures in clouds, or faces in leaf patterns and smudges on windows.
PAST LIFE RECALLS – remembering or having mental flashes about living in another century.
Pentacle/Pentagram – The traditional five-pointed star design, with its interior pentagon delineated, generally representing both spirituality and protection when point “up”; when inverted, it is said to signify diabolism.
Percipient – A person who sees (i.e., perceives) an apparition.
Perfect Possession – The final stage and ultimate form of demonic possession in humans. By this stage, those possessed have surrendered to the will of the demon (or demons) within them.
Personal Possession – When a demon successfully infiltrates the body of a human being and gradually exercises influence or control over his or her behavior and actions. This is also the second stage of demonic possession.
Phantom – Another word for ghost. It is often used for something ghostly.
Phantom Drummer of Tidworth – An early Poltergeist case around 1666, in which was recorded by the Reverend Joseph Glanvill, who lived in a house at the present site of the Zouch Manor in Wiltshire. Two girls were occupying a bedroom from which they could hear a “strange drumming”. It was thought that the sound was coming from behind the bolster, though some believed the girls were the cause of it. They were later cleared of all speculation and the reverend could find no cause to explain the drumming.
Phantomania – Paralysis that occurs when someone is under attack from supernatural or preternatural forces, also known as psychic paralysis.
Phantom Lights – Sometimes they can be attributed to blue methane flame produced by swamp gas, or electrical discharges in the form of what is termed ball lightning or perhaps even misplaced fireflies. Yet, in other instances, the phenomenon of floating lights observed over water, the edge of woods, lonely back roads and in the windows of darkened houses just can’t be dismissed by ordinary explanations. These might be globules which coalesce and intensify in luminosity to the point where they become visible in dark surroundings.
Phenomenon – any event that is observable, however commonplace it might be, even if it requires the use of instrumentation to observe it.
Philosopher’s Stone – A wondrous beacon of sublime wisdom and awesome revelation, a powerful conjurer’s device, perhaps even an extraterrestrial gem encoded with unimagined, otherworldly knowledge. For centuries, alchemists, mystics, learned men and seekers of truth quested for the fabled Philosopher’s Stone, not really knowing where or even precisely what it was. Once obtained, it would impart the wisdom of the world and of the angels. Should this actually exist and is in someone’s possession, it may well be regarded as one more enigmatic artifact, since it is unlikely to include instructions!
Philadelphia Experiment – An alleged experiment, that took place in Philadelphia in 1943. A destroyer class ship, the USS Elbridge was thought to have been the subject of a radical experiment involving force fields. Witnesses, who were at the actual event, reported that the experiment had succeeded in turning the ship completely invisible for a period of time. It was also reported that during this period the ship had actually physically teleported to Norfolk, Virginia, before returning to Philadelphia. It was also said that during the experiment that some of the people on board the vessel exhibited strange phenomena. Many of the crew became ill and died shortly afterwards. Some even were “embedded into the ship”. Others said they could walk through walls. To date, the experiment has remained a very controversial story.
Physical Necromancy – Also called “traditional necromancy,” this practice seeks to divine special knowledge from the dead by employing some form of physical manipulation that involves the use or manipulation of a deceased spirits’ actual corpse.
Planchette – is a square or round-shaped board supported by castors which moves to spell out messages, or answer questions. Paranormal advocates believe that the planchette is moved by some extra-normal force. Skeptics attribute the motion to the ideomotor effect. In typical usage, a pencil would be attached to the planchette, printing letters or other designs on paper to be later interpreted by a medium. The most common use of the planchette is with a Ouija or spirit board. In this instance, it is sometimes referred to as an “indicator” or “pointer”. Used since the beginning of the Spiritualism movement of the mid-nineteenth century, planchettes predate the invention of spirit boards.
Plain of Jars – A plateau in Northern Laos, Asia, on which can be found over one thousand mysterious stone jars, some of them weighing up to 6 tons. Having survived the 1960’s ‘secret war’ with the USA, the jars remain one of Asia’s most significant archaeological wonders. It is believed that the jars would have been used to contain the bodies of the deceased until decomposition, after which the remains would have been removed and buried or cremated. The practice of ‘Second Burial’ is still practiced to this day in the region.
Pleiadians – The extraterrestrial race that Swiss Billy Meier claimed he was in contact with starting back in 1975. Over the years Meier produced many photographs of apparent Pleidian craft. It is commonly believed that Meier’s story is a hoax.
Poltergeist – A German words that means “Noisy or mischievous ghost.” A destructive spirit that has the ability to move objects, by solidifying the ambient air which, results in the movement and/or teleportation of objects.
Portal – A location where spirits or entities can enter the physical realm.
Possession-Refers to cases in which, a person’s body is apparently taken over by another personality or entity.
Precognition – Knowledge of pending future events.
PRECOGNITIVE DREAMS – To have dreams of events or incidents before they happen.
PREDICTION – To be able to predict future events before they occur.
Premonition – Feeling or warning about future events.
Presence – In paranormal reference; an unseen person, spirit, being or ghost.
Preternatural – Anything outside the normal events of nature. Supposedly originating from satan and his allies and minions.
Psalm – From the classical Greek term psalmos, meaning “the plucking of a harp string.” In religious text, it is the Anglicization of the Greek given title for the biblical book, Psalmoi. The generic meaning now refers to a sacred song or poem, often in the form of spiritual praise, and more specifically to those from the Christian Bible.
Pseudopod – An ectoplasmic hand and /or arm from the early séance days.
PSI – A general term for parapsychological phenomena that includes informational (RV, ESP) and energetic (PK) effects. Psi, or Y, is the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet.
Psychic – A person with the ability to see, hear and feel by the use of senses other than the natural senses.
Psychic Attack – An attack that can either be physical or mental by a spirit.
PSYCHIC SURGERY – The supposed ability to paranormally perform invasive surgery using no conventional medical tools. The psychic surgeon uses either an unsterilized knife, or his bare hands, to appear to make an incision and remove some internal matter. Once the operation is finished, there is no sign of an incision, nor are there any unpleasant aftereffects (e.g. infection). Many of the investigated cases have turned out to be fraudulent, involving sleight of hand tricks to make the operation appear convincing. However, it is possible that, in some circumstances, the ritual nature of the “surgery” could help effect a cure through the equally mysterious placebo effect.
Psychic Trigger – Objects used to attract ghosts or entities to a location to enhance activity in an area that is being investigated. The trigger is usually an object that is connected to the deceased.
PSYCHOMETRY – To touch an object with your hands and get information about the object, it’s creator, its owner, or its history.
Psychic Vampire – This is a term for individuals who seem to instinctively draw and absorb the psychic energies from others, usually while conversing with (or at) them.
Psychokinesis (PK) – Objects being manipulated from afar either happening suddenly or on purpose by someone with paranormal ability.
Psychosomatic – Comes from the Greek words psycho, meaning “spirit” or “mind,” and somatic, meaning “the body” or “cells.” It basically refers to the mind’s ability to affect physiological changes over the body. Most commonly, it refers to people who develop physical illnesses due to psychological reasons.
Pullavar Yogi – An Indian man who on the 6th or June, 1936, was reported to have levitated in the air for four minutes in front of a crowd of 150 witnesses. During his feat, Pullavar was said to have been in deep trance like state and once back on the ground, his limbs were found to be locked in place and could not be unbent.
Pyrokinesis – Rare psychic ability in which an individual is able to set fire to an object without touching or making any physical contact with it.
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Quabbala (also Cabbala, Kabbalah) – A very ancient and complex system of Jewish mysticism, probably influenced by Assyrian-Babylonian and Macedonian beliefs and existing as the basis of an underground cult during much of the Middle Ages.
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Radiant Child – The apparition of a child which is seen glowing or surrounded by a bright aura.
Radio Voice Phenomenon (RVP) – Receiving the voice of a deceased human being through a regular radio.
Raphael – One of the principle arch-angels.
Reanimation – Refers to the resumed movement of dead tissue/organisms. Literally, the word means “to return to movement” or “made to move again.”
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.
Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis – A regularly reoccurring release of Psychic energy, capable of moving physical objects, usually released by someone unaware he or she is doing so. This is believed by some to a cause of poltergeist phenomenon.
Regents – In medieval European lore, chief spirits who preside over the four regions of the earth: ‘Oriens’ is Regent of the east, ‘Amemon’ is Regent of the south, ‘Boul’ is Regent of the west, and ‘Eltzen’ is Regent of the north.
Reincarnation – The belief that some aspect of a person’s being survives death and can be reborn in a new body at some future date.
Relesthesia – Alternate term once used for the phenomena of ESP and telepathy and basically meaning “feeling or sensing the distance.”
Religious Provocation – The process in which prayers, holy water, crucifixes, or any religious object is used to make an entity reveal itself and be known, so that it can be expelled. This is a very dangerous procedure and should only be done by those who are trained in this technique.
REMOTE VIEWING (RV) – Ability to access distant or shielded information primarily of visual character, such as natural or structural features, via an unknown mental process. RV can include other sensory modes, such as feelings, motion, or sound. Some individuals associate specific approaches, or protocols, with RV. Other similar terms: remote perception, enhanced perception, extrasensory perception (ESP).
Repressed Psychokinetic Energy – Believed to be psychic energy unknowingly released by and individual who possesses psychic abilities but does not know it. This form of energy is believed to build up as a result of stress or trauma. The buildup eventually reaches a peak and begins to be released, resulting in poltergeist phenomena.
Research – the search for knowledge or any systematic investigation to establish facts and collect information.
Residual Haunting– Believed to be a psychic imprint of a scene that keeps repeating itself. With this type of haunting no interaction with the ghost occur.
Retroactive Psycho Kinesis – Paranormal influence that an agent can have on an experiment after it has been completed.
Retro- cognition – An experience in which a person finds themselves in the past and is able to see and experience events in which they had no prior knowledge.
Rune – An archaic character inscribed upon a stone or clay tablet, signifying some virtue or property, as with the Norse Runes, and used for divination and as a talisman.
Retro-Cognition – Paranormal knowledge of past events.
Revenant – Another name for a ghost, used long ago and is rarely used today.
Rods – ‘Rods’ are an anomaly that crop up on rare occasions in a photograph, usually taking the form of a long object with small bulges along one or both sides. Some people believe that rods are a type of new life form, or are Alien in origin. Another common, though somewhat more plausible explanation is that a ‘Rod’ is actually the product of an insect being caught in mid-flight during the taking of the photo.
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Sambaing – The ancient Celtic festival from which modern day Halloween celebrations are based. The Irish-English dictionary defines ‘Samhain’ as “Samhain, All Hallow tide, the feast of the dead.” During the pagan times, it signalized the close of the harvest and the initiation of the winter season.
Samhain – The ancient Celtic festival from which modern day Halloween celebrations are based. The Irish-English dictionary defines “Samhain” as “Samhain, All Hallow tide, the feast of the dead in Pagan and Christian times, signalizing the close of harvest and the initiation of the winter season, and lasting till May.”
Sanguinor – A person exhibiting vampiric tendencies (the desire to ingest blood) and attributes. These may be either contrived or pathological.
Sasquatch – An Anglicization of the Indian word sesquac, which roughly translates as “wild man.” In modern times, it has become interchangeable with the word Bigfoot.
Satan – Hebraic term for “Adversary” the “Tester” in the Biblical Book of Job. The most familiar name of the Devil, the “Fallen Angel” and the “Evil One.” Investigators sometimes come across evidence of the activities of satanic cults, who perform animal sacrifices and apparently believe that desecrations and obscenities are devotions to their dark lord.
Santeria – From Spanish, this literally means “holiness.” Sometimes it is interpreted or translated to mean “Saintly” or “Why of Saints.”
SCRYING – A term used to cover a wide range of divination techniques which parapsychology would tend to classify as types of ESP. Most scrying techniques involve some degree of fixation on a surface with a clear optical depth (e.g. a crystal ball, a pool of ink or deep water) or on an area which shows random patterns (e.g. flames in a fire, smoke), the idea being that subconscious information available to the scrying will be manifested in their interpretation of the imagery or random patterns they see. Techniques using a clear optical depth are actually very similar to the idea behind the homogenous visual field used in Ganzfeld ESP research.
Séance – A meeting in which, a group of people attempt to receive messages from the spirits of the deceased. The word ‘Séance’ originates from the French séance, meaning sit, session. Those participating in the séance will conventionally either sit around a table or stand in a circle, holding hands. The first recorded séance with a contact occurred in 1948, when Margaretta and Kate Fox allegedly managed to contact the spirit of Charles Haynes, who communicated through a series of rapping’s. To this day, many people still participate in séances.
Sefiroth – Also spelled Sephiroth; singular for sefira/sephira, refers to two polar opposite angelic orders. One half is the Ten Holy Sefiroth, made up of Heavens most powerful archangels. The other half is the Ten Unholy Sefiroth, a group of evil counter-entities; mostly the fallen angels.
Sensitive – Another word for a psychic, medium or clairvoyant. A person who can communicate with the dead.
Seraphim – The holiest and most powerful of the nine choirs of angel.
Shade – An entity resembling a once-living being (human or animal).
Shadow People – These entities are a deep black color and can be in the form of a thick or misty cloud but usually in the shape of a human. These are one of the rarest paranormal phenomena to be captured on photographs. Most of these ghosts are found in people’s homes and are evasive and sneaky in nature.
Shaman – A tribal priest who following much preparation and rite of initiation, uses the forces of magic, to affect healings and divinations.
Shape-Shifting– Paranormal ability to assume the form of another person, an animal or other entity.
SHC – Abbreviation for Spontaneous Human Combustion.
Sheep – An experiment in which the subject believes in the ability in which they are being tested.
Shipton Yeti Tracks – Tracks alleged to those of the famous Yeti, which were photographed by Eric Shipton during an expedition to the Himalayas in 1951. The tracks were 13″ long by 13″ wide.
Shuck – (‘Black Shuck,’ ‘Old Shuck’) A phantom black dog with glowing yellow eyes. Hikers in the British Isles who encounter this spectral creature by lonely roadsides and paths are said to be doomed to die within a year of the sighting. It is from this legend that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle drew his inspiration for his Sherlock Holmes adventure, ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ (1902).
Sidhe – (pronounced Shee) Irish term for Fairy folk, the “little people” who sequester themselves in woodlands and caverns.
Sigil of Baphomet – Leit-motif if Satanism, this emblem is composed of an inverted pentagram containing a goat head, encompassed by two, concentric circles, in between which are placed five Hebraic characters.
Signet – A ring bearing a personal or family emblem.
Silky – A female ghost which is attired in a rustling silk garment (sometimes seen, other times just heard) and performs domestic chores for a household after the occupants have retired for the night.
Simulcra – This is a word used to describe the seeing of faces, figures and images in ordinary, everyday object such as rocks, foliage, etc.
Sixth Sense – Term to describe psychic ability.
Skeptic – A person disposed to having no decision on the validity of the paranormal, usually discrediting any evidence available. A person, that is yet undecided as to what is true.
Skunk Ape – A large ape-like creature sighted mainly in Florida, described as being covered in light brown hair, and attributed to emitting a putrid skunk-like smell, hence its name. A witness of the creatures sudden appearance in the Florida Keys in 1997, stated that “It stunk awful, like a dog that hasn’t been bathed in a year and suddenly gets rained on.” The Skunk ape has been sighted on and off since the 1970’s.
Sleep Paralysis – A state of seeming to be awake but unable to move.
Soul – The non-physical core of a living being that exists even after their body has died.
Specter – A ghost or apparition.
Speaking of Tongues – The ability of a person to speak in another language that the person in question does not know.
Spill-Through- When Human contamination affects audio evidence.
Spirit – Spirits are believed to exist in an invisible realm that can only be seen under certain circumstances or by people with special abilities.
Spirit Box – A special box used in spirit necromancy, in which a spirit may be bound through a necromancer’s incantations, acting as a vessel for the invoked spirit(s).
Spirit Necromancy – Also called “psychic” necromancy in modern times, this form of necromantic divination seeks to conjure forth the spirits of the dead to gain special knowledge or power.
Spirit Realm – Also called a spirit world, which is inhabited by ghost or entities. The spirit realm is separate from the natural world, but they are constantly interacting with each other.
Spirit Rescue – Attempting contact with entities, intended to alleviate the entities’ distress and aid them in the resolution of their conflicts, and in “crossing over” to a higher, spiritual plane.
Spiritualism – The belief system that the dead are able to communicate with the living, through an intermediary or medium.
Splanchomancy – A specific form of Anthropomancy in which virgins were used as ritual sacrifices for purposes of divination.
Spook – Benevolent spirit exclusively of America which comes from the legends of the Red Indians.
Spontaneous Human Combustion– Refers to cases in which a badly burned human body has been discovered in circumstances suggesting that the fire originated spontaneously in or on the body of the victim.
Spunkie – The sad spirits of unnamed, un-christened or unbaptized children, believed by old Gaelic and English tradition to wander country roads in search of someone who will name them.
Stigmata – Unexplained markings on a person’s body that correspond to the wounds of Christ.
Stone-Tape Theory – Theory in which certain qualities of stone can absorb and release energy. It’s also sometimes used to explain residual hauntings.
Storsjoodjuret – Famous lake monster, said to live in Sweden’s Lake Storsjon. The name Storsjoodjuret translates in Swedish to ‘Great Monster of Storsjon’. The creature has been sighted since 1635, with descriptions varying from a 24- foot long 3-humped serpent to a 9-foot in length with black, grey, red or yellow coloring. In recent years there have been several serious investigations into Storsjoodjuret, but nothing conclusive has been found.
Streak – An unusual type of light, often comet-like that are taken on photographs taken during paranormal activity. Can often be the result of a shaky camera or video.
Subjective Apparitions – Hallucinations of apparitions or other phenomena that are created by our own minds.
Subliminal Perception -Perceiving without conscious awareness.
Succubus – A demonic entity said to inspire lust in men and then assaulting them.
Super Massive Black Hole – It is now believed that there is a Super Massive Black Hole in the center of every Galaxy, including ours. It is thought that these black holes play a significant role in the formation of galaxies.
Supernatural – Relating to anything which cannot be explained by natural laws. The term also refers to anything of a magical or occult nature.
Sutras – In both Hinduism and Buddhism, short summarizations of key teachings from religious texts. In Buddhism, sutras are often recited from passages believed to have been the words of Buddha.
Synchronicity – Unexplained system of causal interaction which binds together events, actions and thought, manifesting as uncanny coincidences. Term for and existence of this phenomenon was first proposed by pioneering psycho-analyst, Carl Gustav Jung (a contemporary of Sigmund Freud). Synchronicity indicates there is more to the Universe than our understanding of simple cause and effect, and that the subtleties of the mind and matter are somehow interconnected.
{T}
Table Tipping – An experiment in which, Psychokinesis which can fairly easily be replicated. Three or four participants lightly place their fingers along the edges of a small table top, then in unison chant “table move, table move…” With sufficient cooperation and concentration, and after several minutes of chanting, the table should start to wobble, pivot on its legs and possibly even lead the participants on a scurry about the room.
Talisman – A design or inscription that is worn carried or displayed, for the purpose of invoking strength, power, protection or the aid of spirits.
Tao – Pronounced Dow, this term literally translates as “the way/path.” This is the Chinese root word for the Japanese term do, which has the same basic meaning; though usually without a religious connotation. The Tao religion is based on a search for hidden spiritual truths and walking a righteous “path” in one’s life.
Tarot Cards – A set of (usually 72) cards that include 22 cards representing virtues and vices, death and fortune etc. used by fortunetellers to help predict future events.
Tash – Irish name for a ghost which can appear in either human or animal form. Also called; the Thevshi.
Tatami – Thinly cushioned mats woven from bamboo and used in the floors and certain bedding materials of traditional Japanese homes.
Tazmanian Tiger – See Thylacine.
Telekinesis- Where objects are remotely displaced and moved around, solely by the powers of the mind?
Telepathy – The ability to communicate directly through mind-to-mind contact and to perceive information directly from another’s mind, without resorting to the use of the five known senses.
Teleportation – Paranormal transportation of objects in which they reappear in a distant place in the world.
Teleporter – A device capable of teleporting objects from one place to another.
TERRAFIRM – To be connected with the planet Earth as if it were a part of you.
Tessie – A lake monster said to inhabit Lake Tahoe in California. Tessie is spoken of frequently in the legends of the local Washoe Indians, however, no conclusive evidence of such a creature has ever been found.
Therianthropy – From the Greek words therion; meaning wild/undomesticated animal and Anthropos; meaning man/human, it refers to the condition of being able to assume the forms of both a human being and one or more animals. The original form of a therianthrope can be human or animal.
Thought Form – An apparition produced solely by the power of the human mind.
Thought Transference – Telepathic transmitting of images and messages from the mind of one person to that of another.
Thunderbirds – Prevalent among the American-Indian peoples, particularly the Algonquin and Cheyenne, are legends telling of immense birds, and raging storms that would come in their wake. Interestingly, reported sightings of birds of truly monstrous proportions persist, most frequently through the vicinity of the Sierra Madre mountain range in Mexico. In the Miocene era, approximately eight to ten million years ago, a species of bird, discovered in only 1979 and dubbed “Argentaevis Magnificence,” (which means ‘Magnificent Bird of Argentina’) soared through South American skies, with a wing-span of 25 feet and weighing perhaps 200 lbs.! Just maybe…?
Thylacine – The Thylacine or Tasmanian tiger was a large carnivorous marsupial which is believed to have died out in the early 20th century. The Thylacine lived in the various regions of Australia and ate kangaroos, birds and small rodents. Although no conclusive records of a living Thylacine have ever been made since its alleged extinction in the 1930’s, there have been many sightings of what could possibly be Thylacine in recent years.
Time Displacement – The experience of a time span; separate from the native time span of the observer. The phenomenon is sometimes merely viewed and not participated in; sometimes a person seems to actually time-travel to another era.
Time Travel – Theoretical means with which to travel through time to either the future or the past. Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity suggests that time slows down the nearer to the speed of light an object goes, therefore, if an object was traveling at the speed of light itself, then time would stop completely. From there, exceeding this speed would cause the whole process to go backwards, and in theory at least, you would actually be traveling backwards in time. Unfortunately, it is thought as impossible to reach the speed of light, generally due to the “infinite mass” brought on as a result of speeds comparable to that of light.
Titor, John – A man claiming to be a time travelling from the year 2036. Titor claimed that he didn’t care if nobody believed him, and that he was only interested in talking to people from this period of time.
TONE HEALING – Your tone of voice affects others by disturbing, catalyzing, soothing, lulling, inspiring and quite often healing them.
Total Solar Eclipse – An event where the moon moves in front of the sun and completely obscures it for a short period of time.
Touched – It’s the act of having a physical contact from a spirit or entity during a paranormal investigation. Ex; pulling of hair, shirt, etc.
TOUCH HEALING – To impart through your hands soothing and healing vibrations of energy.
Trance – In general terms, a trance is a hypnotic or cataleptic state in which an individual remains awake but is mostly unaware of their surroundings. Hypnosis for example often induces a trance like state. Spiritualist mediums can also enter into a trance while attempting to conduct the spirits of the deceased.
Transient Lunar Phenomena – Term that is used by astronomers to describe anything on the lunar surface that is not supposed to be there, according to our current understanding of the moon as we know it.
TRANSMEDIUMSHIP, TRANSCHANNELING– To have severe personality shifts.
Transubstantiate – Literally means “to move across substance,” and the simplest definition is “changing from one substance to another.” In spiritual terms, especially in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions, it refers to the miraculous changing of substances. For example, Jesus transubstantiated water into wine. In regard to angels and sometimes demons, it means the ability to shift from their true spirit forms to a substantial/physical forms. This ability can be used by spirit entities, such as angels and demons, to either blend in among or physically interact with figures and elements in the human realm.
{U}
U.F.O. – An unidentified flying object that cannot be readily identified. The first modern UFO sighting was that of pilot Kenneth Arnold in 1947. Since then there have been thousands of reports of UFO’S from people all over the world.
Ultra- Terrestrials – Beings who appear human and visit our plane of existence with some form of message or mission, then inexplicably vanish. Speculation abounds!
Ultra-Violet – Light source from the upper spectrum of the light spectrum. Used in cameras and video cameras to catch ghost or spirit entities.
{V}
Vampire – A demonic (?) entity in the form of a deceased person, which perpetuates itself by draining the blood or psychic energy of the living.
Vodun – The root term from which the Western word “Voodoo” originated. The term comes from Africa, and literally means “spirit.” In the proper context, however, it originally referred to certain indigenous African religious rituals meant for communicating with or invoking the power of ancestral spirits, divine forces, or malevolent entities.
Voice Stress Analysis (VSA) – is a lie detection technology, which is newer than the polygraph, but still controversial. VSA technology records psychophysiological stress responses that present in human voice, when a person suffers psychological stress in response to a stimulus question and where the consequences of lying may be dire for the subject being ‘tested’. In the Detection of Deception (DOD) scenario, the voice-stress produced in response to a relevant question “did you do it?” is referred to as deceptive stress. In other words, the technique does not detect truth per se, but fear, unease, or other emotional stress about the question asked. Voice Stress Analysis is only applied as a type of lie detector.
Voita – One of the many regional names given to the Alma, a large ape-like creature thought to live in and around the Caucasus Mountains in Kazakhstan, Asia.
Voodoo – African magic traditions with a veneer of imposed Catholicism from the new world, taking root in the Caribbean, particularly the dark populous of Haiti. Similarities in origin and practices exist in the beliefs of ‘Obia’ (Jamaica) and ‘Santeria’ (Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic).
Vortex – This is a swirling funnel shape when in motion. They can also appear long and narrow and having a tread like design. Some theorize this is a vehicle to transport spirits in the shape of orbs from their realm to ours.
Vorthr – Norse guardian spirit. This name is the source of the word Wraith.
Voynich – A mysterious manuscript that in 1912 was purchased by a collector of rare books in Italy. Wilfred Voynich was unable to decipher the language in the manuscript and later took it back to America with him. The ‘Voynich Manuscript’ as it became known, consists of a total of 234 pages, and contains a large number of drawings, mostly of flowers. The book also consisted of sections about cosmology, biology, astronomy, and pharmaceuticals.
{W}
Warlock – Term originally meant “deceiver” or ” one who misleads,” in more modern parlance has become associated with a male witch.
Warp – 1. An area where conventional laws of physics break down, linear time does not apply.
2. An area of paranormal activity so intense that time itself changes. Time itself may speed up or slow down or even stop altogether.
Watcher – Those who are awake. Watchers were sent from heaven to watch over man. Some remain true to that task, while others took mortal women as wives and had offspring called the Nephilim. These were the fallen angels. There are two types of watchers; those from the fallen angels and those from the unfallen angels.
Werewolf – (Old/Middle English word for man = were) A human being capable of transforming into the form of a wolf (or any variety of animals), then back to human; sometimes referred to as a “Shape-Shifter.” See also “Lycanthrope”
Wiccan – A religion influenced by pre-Christian beliefs and practices of western Europe that affirms the existence of supernatural power, as magic, and of both male and female deities. It emphasizes ritual observances of seasonal and life cycles and honors all aspects of nature.
Witch – Broadly, a practitioner of the magic arts, spec. a woman who employs charms, herbs and incantations to affect the workings of her will. Also a practitioner of the Wiccan craft.
Wizard – A male sorcerer and conjurer who is especially adept and experienced in his craft.
White Noise – A hiss-like sound, formed by combining all audible frequencies.
Whole Real – When you are able to document an experience both subjectively and objectively. There are three types of Whole Real;
- When the objective and the subjective appear at the same time.
- When the objective and the subjective appear at different times.
- A combination of the first two, but additional information is acquired on either side.
Wild Peter – A feral child, who was only 12 years old, when he was captured in Hanover, Germany in 1724. He was described as being ‘naked, brownish, black-haired creature.’ He would climb trees and live off plants.
Winchester Mystery House – A famous 160 room Victorian mansion in San Jose, CA. It belonged to a Sarah L. Winchester. She was the very wealthy widow of the man who invented the Winchester rifle. The construction of this amazing house was started in 1884, and continued on until her death some 38 years later. The building itself was an architectural marvel, with a number of oddities.
Witching Hour – The time in which all paranormal activity is at its strongest according to superstition which takes place at midnight during a full moon.
Wandering Spirit – A spirit that travels to certain area can become distracted about an energy and will stay in a location until their curiosity abates. These spirits then will leave the location never to be heard from again in that location.
Wraith/Wrayth – The image of a person appearing shortly before or after his or her death; term can also be applied to a ghost. See also Apparition, Ghost.
Wright, Elsie – One of two girls who in the summer of 1917 took photographs of what they claimed to be fairies at Cottingly Beck. The photographs became known as the “Cottingly Fairies”.
{X}
Xeno-biology – From the Greek word “Xeno” = strange, the observation/speculation of the biology of very uncommon or unverified creatures. This term has usage in the research categories of cryptozoology and otherworldly aliens.
Xenophobia – A pronounced aversion to people, or beings, of foreign origins.
Xing-Xing – A possible undiscovered species of Orang-Utan, thought to live in southern China.
{Y}
Yahweh – pronounced “Yah-vay”) According to ancient Hebrew and Quaballistic teaching, the name of God abbreviated to “YHWH,” (in Hebrew, pronounced “Yud-hey vav hey”), which is the Tetragrammatons’’’, whence is derived “Jehovah.” It was deemed forbidden to pronounce, or even seek to learn, the full, true name of the Absolute. (The more archeological evidence uncovered which tends to support Biblical accounts, the more arises suggestion and speculation that, approx. 3,000 years ago, a powerful extra-terrestrial presence took a particular interest in a nomadic, mercantile, tribal group of desert dwellers who would come to be known as the Israelite, the “People of God.”)
Yama – Japanese term for “mountain.”
Yeti-The Yeti or “Abominable Snowman” is a tall ape-like creature that is rumored to be found in the Himalayan Mountains and has been sighted in both Nepal and China, by mountaineers and explorers around Mt. Everest. It is described as being up to 10 feet in height and having feet that are twice the size of a normal man. To the people of Nepal, it is considered to be more of a Spiritual entity than a physical animal.
YHVH – The Hebrew title for God, it is often spelled in its more Anglicized forms of Yahweh and Jehovah.
Yurei – A Japanese term that literally translates as “hazy or faint spirit” but is often interpreted in English as “ghost.” In ancient times, they were considered good. As time went on, however, they came to be regarded with certain amount of fear.
{Z}
Zana – A woman who was captured in the 1880’s in the western Caucasus region of Abkhazia. She resembled a Neanderthal rather than a human with unusual features and a full coat of hair from head to toe.
Zarcanor – A malevolent spirit which attacks people while they’re asleep, inspiring nightmares and sometimes even inflicting minor injuries such as scratches, bruises and what appear to be finger marks. The name is possibly of Slavic origin.
Zephyr – Spirit borne upon, governing, or manifesting as the western wind.
Zener Cards – A set of 25 cards for use in card-guessing tests of ESP. Each set contains 5 of each of the following cards:
Circle; Square; Greek cross; Three Wavy Lines; Five-pointed Star.
Zombie – The bodies of the deceased being reanimated by a sorcerer or other power that moves with mechanical like motions.
Zoomorphism – Representation of a deity or devil with animal attributes.
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18 Haunted Los Angeles Landmarks and Their Ghost Stories
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2012/10/18_haunted_los_angeles_landmarks_and_their_ghost_stories.php
Brings back the memories of tinsel town!
COMMUNICATING WITH GHOSTS
“How Do I Talk to Ghost? I want to contact them.”
I usually advise waiting until a ghost contacts you. There are several ways that a ghost will do this. Through our dreams being one of the most common. When we are asleep our mind is open to many things that we may not consider possible while awake. Ghost communication is one of these. Many times a spirit will use this avenue as it is less frightening to us also. So if you dream of a past loved one with a peculiar message, they might actually be visiting you in your dreams.
Phone calls are becoming more common from the afterlife, sometimes without us even knowing the loved one has passed yet. These phone calls are generally short and to the point giving information, love and hope in times when we need it most. There are many other ways that a ghost tries to communicate with the living from a feeling of not being alone, to messages being written, or words being whispered in the night.
The thing to keep in mind however is to try to be patient and wait for the ghost to contact you, which they will if they have a message for you, or you are involved in the reason they are still here and haven’t moved on to the next realm of existence. If you feel a loved one is trying to communicate you and find you cannot wait please do not try to take matters in your own hands. Find an experienced and highly recommended psychic or medium to help you make contact. It is never a good idea to use devises or rituals that manipulate ghosts such as Ouija Boards, seances, or automatic writing, all these procedures can be dangerous in untrained hands and can attract the attention of someone or something other than the loved one you are trying to contact.
Psychics, and mediums know the proper and safest ways to use these tools and can help you make the contact with the proper ghost in the huge world of the afterlife. If you feel the ghost is not a loved one but you still wish to find out who it may be or why, then please do research into your home or area to find out what events may have transpired to lead to who and why a ghost is still here. Many times just checking with your local library or newspaper will give enough information to help you determine who may be haunting a particular area.
Above all if you feel you are involved with the reason a ghost is still here or they wish you to help them, they will let you know in their own time. The hardest thing to do sometimes is be patient while you wait for them to reveal their reasons to you. These are just some of my thoughts. As always I welcome yours in email.
Bart
BCPR
BASIC SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION FOR PARANORMAL SOCIETIES
Introduction
Many paranormal societies have the same problem: they have a group of dedicated, skilled investigators, but few clients. They are unable to advertise via traditional avenues because of cost, so they build a basic website for the society. However, after some time they realize that they are in the same predicament as before. No one can find their site, and the search engines are pretending they don’t exist. What can be done to remedy this?
You need to optimize your site for the search engines. Although Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a daunting task, there are some basic things that you can do to increase your site’s visibility. To begin, first think of this: if a person went to Google and was looking for what it is you offer, what do you think they would type in to find you? If a person needed assistance with a paranormal problem, and they lived in Anytown, USA, it would be realistic for them to type in “Anytown Paranormal Society”, “Paranormal Society in Anytown”, “Anytown Ghost Hunters”, etc. Write down a few phrases that you come up with. These are the phrases for which you will probably want to be the #1 result.
Now, everyone wants to be the #1 result for the term “Ghost Hunters”, or “Paranormal Investigators”, or even “Ghosts”. Impossible? No, but it would require massive amounts of SEO and time. Basic SEO is about being realistic, and not getting greedy. Narrow it down, focus your efforts to something more specific.
Two effective ways of narrowing it down would be by geographic area (“Anytown Paranormal Investigators”), or by specialty (“Demonic Possession in Children”). By utilizing such a strategy, you will be optimizing your site for the general term (Paranormal Investigators) as well, because it is part of the narrowed term (Anytown Paranormal Investigators). Besides, most people who are using the internet to search for services, be it from a mechanic, caterer, jeweler, or paranormal society, will search by geographic area. They want to find local people who can help them quickly; they are not going to be interested in finding someone located 1,200 miles away.
Making it Happen
So how do you go about optimizing your site for the search engines? Let’s focus on two main components of SEO: content, and links.
Content:
You will want to create keyword rich content on your site. To do this, you must first identify your keywords and keyphrases. Take those terms and continually work them into the text of your site. Sometimes it can be difficult, but there are always ways to get those words and phrases into your content. For example, if your targeted keyphrase is “Anytown Paranormal Investigators”, you could put the following on your site:
“XYZ Paranormal is a team of Anytown Paranormal Investigators…”
Create a blog, write articles….do whatever you can to increase the content on your site. Just remember, your content is still primarily intended to be read by a human, so be sure that it would make sense to a human reader. You do not want to overload your text with the same keywords, otherwise it will not make sense, and the search engines may penalize your site. One aspect of the Google algorithm to identify sites using blackhat techniques (an SEO term meaning techniques meant to trick the search engines) is to check keyword density. If one word or phrase appears too often in your content, your site can be penalized, or banned altogether. Currently, the recommended amount of times any particular phrase or word should appear on a page is about 7%, or 7 times out of every 100 words. That number is not written in stone, however, so exceeding it on some pages should not be a problem.
Links:
Linking is huge in the SEO world, and you will want as many as you can get. Now when it comes to linking, I am referring to incoming links, or those that point to your site. Your search engine ranking can actually suffer from having too many outgoing links on your site. So before you link to another site from your own, try to get a reciprocal link back from them. If you can’t get a reciprocal link, then ask yourself if it’s really necessary to have that outgoing link. Usually a few outgoing links that are not reciprocated won’t hurt you, but it’s always worth asking for a back link.
It’s also not just the amount of links you get, but the quality of those links. The best links you can get are from sites that are both relevant to your what it is you are doing, and from sites that are in good standing with the search engines (which means don’t try to get links from link farms or other sites that have questionable content).
Luckily, the world of paranormal investigation is rife with lots of good people who will gladly exchange links with you. Ask other societies in your area or region to exchange links, ask mediums, paranormal radio stations, paranormal equipment dealers, etc. You will be surprised at how many people will agree to a link exchange.
What else can you do?
- Use a clear, text based navigation structure. It is imperative that search engines be able to easily navigate your site in order to index it. If you have an image based navigation structure, be sure to use alt tags on all the images, and insert a text based navigation bar at the bottom of every page. Use a title tag on all your links.
- Avoid Flash and excessive use of images! It might look nice, but search engines can’t read Flash content, which means they can’t read your keywords or navigate your site. Inserting a small Flash animation on your pages is fine, just don’t build your entire site in Flash.
- Use as much text as possible. When you do add images, use alt tags so that the search engines have more to read. This will also help make your site comply with usability standards for disabled visitors.
- Add a sitemap, and submit it to the search engines. This will help the search engines navigate your site.
Search Engine Optimization is an ongoing project for any site. By following the simple steps outlined above, your site will be well on its way to competing for the prime spots atop the search engine results.
Article from Bill Wilkens at Paranormal Cities
Greetings to everyone.
The launch or re-launch of this web site has been a long time coming. We made to mistake of enlisting local market help which turned out to be very amateurish in nature but sadly set us back a few month longer than we anticipated.
The important thing is we are here and now ready to help and serve our local and surrounding communities.
We have close to 100 years of paranormal investigative experience with all of our members combined and look forward to helping you out in the community.
There will be much more recent content and images that will be shared in this section and feel free to share your thoughts with us.
We are completely a non-profit organization but do gladly accept donations to assist us with our operating costs but we will never ask you for fees to assist you and be very wary of anyone who does!
We are the only ghost investigation / paranormal group based in the cities of Columbus, GA and Phenix City, AL.
Until later,
Bart
Founder
BCPR