Glossory of Terms and Equipment List
v Apophenia (Matrixing) - “The spontaneous perception of connections and meaningfulness in unrelated things; seeing patterns where none, in fact, exist.” (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004) Common incidents of apophenia include seeing recognizable shapes in clouds, seeing faces in orbs or other photographic specimens, the Rorschach Inkblot Test, and the man on the moon. There is also a lesser known form of apophenia known as auditory pareidolia (interpreting random sounds into voices in their own language which might otherwise sound like random noise to a foreign speaker), some reported EVP can be attributed to radio interference or other well-documented phenomena.
v Apparition - a physical manifestation of a ghost or spirit in the form that it appeared in life.
v Atmospheric apparition - a visual imprint of people and/or an event that was left behind in the environment that continues to replay. An atmospheric apparition is not actually a spirit or ghost and has no consciousness. See "residual haunting."
v Aura - the field of energy that surrounds all living creatures. Invisible to the naked eye, it is a glow surrounding each individual and changes color and form depending on the mental and physical well being of the individual.
v Automatic writing - a form of communication in which a ghost or spirit takes control of a medium and writes a message or answer to a question in their own words and handwriting.
v Auditory Manifestation - Any spirit manifestation related to hearing. Can include actually hearing a spirit speak, recorded voices, raps, knocks, or other unusual and unexplained sounds.
v Baseline Tests - Baseline Tests are performed at the beginning of every investigation and/or vigil. These tests determine natural causes of draughts, cold spots, EMF readings, creaky floorboards, or anything that happens normally. Baseline Test data is then used to check any differences that may occur during investigations.
v Cold Spots / Hot Spots - Cold spots are fairly common on paranormal investigations. Hot spots from paranormal activity are far less common, if they exist at all. Cold spots are thought to result from a spirit entity drawing energy from the local atmosphere in order to manifest in some way. Cold spots can also appear as type of quick cool breeze. Cold spots must be validated by corroborating evidence in order to be paranormally significant. Always check air vents and natural sources of cold spots and breezes before deciding on a paranormal source.
v Channeling - the method in which mediums allow themselves to be used in order to manifest something which comes from outside themselves. For example, during a trance, mediums listen to instructions of a spirit guide and converse with other people while passing on messages.
v Cold readings - a technique that allows fraudulent mediums, mind readers, and magicians to obtain previously unknown information about a person using a series of statements, questions, and answers.
v Doppelganger - A ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its fleshly counterpart. They are generally regarded as harbingers of bad luck. In some traditions, a doppelganger seen by a person's friends or relatives portends illness or danger, while seeing one's own doppelganger is an omen of death. In the vernacular, "Doppelganger" has come to refer (as in German) to any double or look-alike of a person—most commonly an "evil twin”
v Direct writing - a phenomenon in which spirit hand writing appears on a previously unmarked surface.
v Electromagnetic field (EMF) meter - an instrument used to detect electromagnetic fields over different frequencies. Ghosts are suspected to produce strong changes and distortions in the electromagnetic field while manifesting.
v Electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) - the recordings of noises and voices that are not heard by humans during the recording process. EVPs are often hard to hear and often times something different can be heard with headphones then with the naked ear.
v False-Positive - A term used in reviewing evidence that describes a natural occurrence misidentified as a paranormal phenomenon. For example, an intermittent banging sound that originates from a home furnace identified as having a paranormal source. The vast majority of orbs are false-positives.
v Ghost - the disembodied spirit of a formerly living being.
v Haunting - the continuous manifestation of inexplicable phenomena associated with the presence of ghosts or spirits attached to a particular location. The term Haunted is generally not used by the KCPS to describe a location under investigation.
v Levitation - a phenomenon in which a person or object is raised into the air by an unseen force.
v Malevolent inhuman spirit (Inhuman or Demonic) - an evil spirit that was never a human being, and that seeks to cause trouble and harm or worse.
v Object haunt - a type of haunt that involves a psychic echo or imprint on a particular object that the ghost had a particular attachment to in their physical life.
v Orb - A true orb (if it exists at all) is a rarely observed sphere or ball of light or energy seen with the naked eye and associated with paranormal activity. However, most orbs that are captured in photographs are simply the reflection of airborne dust particles, rain, pollen, or snow. In the vast majority of cases, orbs are paranormally meaningless and do not constitute evidence of paranormal activity. KCPS in general does not consider Orbs as proof of paranormal activity as there are too many natural causes for an orb such as dust or moisture in the air.
v Ouija board - a board pre-printed with letters, numerals, and words used by mediums to receive spirit communications. Usually, a planchette is used to spell out words or point out numbers or words. Ouija boards are in no way endorsed by and will never be used by the KCPS
v Paranormal - existing outside of the normal, not explainable by conventional science.
v Poltergeist - German for "noisy ghost." Poltergeist is a paranormal phenomenon centered on a human, typically a teenager, in which unexplained, disrupting activity occurs through the manipulation of material objects. Typically manifestations are knockings and rapping’s, slamming of doors and cabinets, levitation of objects, and objects being thrown about and knocked down. Poltergeist is generally thought to be the result of the emotional distress of the agent, who is unconsciously using telekinetic energy to create the phenomena, rather than the work of a spirit or ghost.
v Phantom Traveler / Phantom Hitchhiker - Just what the name implies; a spirit who manifests in certain locations to travelers, drivers, or passersby, sometimes even traveling along with them.
v Psychokinetic Manifestation - Objects moving of their own volition. Objects disappearing and reappearing in the same or a different place. Appliances such as TV’s and radios turning on or off by themselves. Lights turning on or off by themselves. Many of the various types of manifestations fall into this category because any manifestation by a spirit is technically psychokinetic, that, is, accomplished without physical contact.
v Reciprocal apparition - a rare type of spirit phenomenon in which both the apparition and human see and respond to each other.
v Residual haunting - a phenomenon in which an event is seen replayed over and over again, like a piece of film. Residual haunting may require certain atmospheric conditions to appear, or may appear only at certain times of the year, such as upon the anniversary of the event. They are not thought to be the result of ghost or spirit activity, and have no consciousness, but rather are the result of the psychic energy left behind by the event itself.
v Séance: A group effort to contact the spirit world. In standardized format, the lighting of the chamber in which the séance is conducted is subdued, and the participants sit around the table, either holding hands or with hands palm down, flat against the table's surface and with fingertips touching those of the adjacent partners. A candle generally is set on the center of the table. The appointed director or "medium" addresses the spirit(s) with whom contact is sought, and then it's "We await a sign..." KCPS does not endorse the use of séances.
v Shadow People - “Shadow People” is the term used to describe a particular kind of manifestation. The witness will often just catch a glimpse of something out of his or her peripheral vision. Seeing a Shadow Person is usually a quick event, although there are reports of longer sightings. Some have even claimed that the Shadow person walked up the wall, or along the ceiling. Some have speculated that Shadow People are Inhuman rather than Human spirits.
v Trigger objects - Objects used in paranormal investigations to measure spirit presences or activity. For example, a Styrofoam ball may be placed on a bed with its location clearly documented and then checked later to see if it has moved. Talc, wind chimes, and pendulums can also be used, or any other object. However, if a certain object was known to have been special to a deceased person, it would be the first choice.
v Wraith - The apparition or double of a living person, generally supposed to be an omen of death. The wraith closely resembles its prototype in the flesh, even to details of dress. There are accounts of people seeing their own wraith, and among those who were warned of approaching death in this way are said to be Queen Elizabeth I, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Catherine of Russia. The latter, seeing her double seated upon the throne, ordered her guards to fire upon it.
v Vortex - a tornado-shaped energy field thought to be an entrance to the spirit world.