Paranormal Terminology

Here we have gathered together words and terms thrown around the paranormal world.
Talking of which...

“The Nightshift team aims to investigate alleged haunted public and private locations in a logical, professional, scientific manner and report those findings for the scrutiny of others and the furtherance of our understanding of the paranormal.”

Paranormal

It is rather remiss of us to use this term 'paranormal' left, right and centre all over the site without explaining what it means! In short it means 'outside the normal' and is a general term that covers many things, not just ghosts and apparitions, but UFO's, bigfoot, yeti, psychokinesis, precognition etc.

Supernatural

'Super' meaning above and 'natural' combined means 'above the natural'. In other words, something that is beyond our understanding of the natural world. This is a word that has fallen out of fashion being superceded by 'paranormal'. Probably since 'paranormal' sounds more 'scientific' and therefore more acceptable in most peoples eyes. Probably a vain attempt to be more acceptable with skeptics.

Ghost

Now we're talking! So what is a ghost? No one knows, but the accepted usage of the word is to describe the type of apparition in every horror or ghost film you have ever seen. A vaporous, semi transparent, vaguely human apparition that you can see. This is where it gets complicated. Most 'real' ghosts that are seen are usually not perceived as ghosts as they appear as solid as you or I. Only the type of clothing or the absence of legs or a head might give you a clue that all is not well in the state of Denmark. This is a 'real ghost'. Anything that isn't a 'human' (or animal) is called an apparition. Got that? Basically, a ghost is the recognisable 'soul' or 'spirit' of a dead person or animal.

Apparition

So the term apparition is used to cover anything that isn't a true ghost. So when you see a dark shadow move out of the corner of your eye, that's an apparition. When you see a free floating mist, that's an apparition. The appearence of strange lights, that's an apparition unless it's very round, then it's called an orb. Confused yet? There are other terms that are used to describe an apparition such as; phantom, spirit, phantasm, spectre, shade, spook, vision, wraith etc. If in doubt, call it an apparition. Again, the term 'ghost' seems to be avoided probably for the same reasons we don't refer to things as 'supernatural'.

Haunting

If a place experiences regular paranormal activity it is said to be haunted. There is then the distinction as to the type of haunting activity. Are we talking about full body apparitions (a 'ghost'), poltergeist activity, bangs and footsetps, phantom smells, voices, shadows, strange lights etc? There is also a very important distinction that needs to be clarified, either 'Intelligent' or 'Residual' haunting.

Intelligent Haunting

This is any paranormal activity that attempts to interact or respond to the actions of the living. This is where you get bangs in reply to 'Is there anybody there'. This is where you get EVPs responding to 'what is your name'. This is a tap on the shoulder when you ask 'can you affect me in some way'. This is where you get answers to questions on a Ouija board, although not all responses could be from something in residence of the venue you are at. El, our psychic friend, has often talked about spirits that have followed her to a haunted location. You may have heard the expression 'in visitation'; something that has come to have a chat.

Residual Haunting

This is any paranormal activity that operates in accordance with its own schedule. This is the regular appearance of a 'white lady' (or blue, black, red, turqoise, apple blossom pink etc) every Halloween, or Tuesday afternoon around 2:30. It could be the sound or smells of someone cooking a meal at certain times. This type of paranormal activity is not aware of, or does not seem to interact, with the living. It is like a snapshot in time or a recording being replayed when conditions or the right person is around to percieve it. This is often called the 'Stone Tape' theory.

Stone Tape Theory

This is the concept that a building or area can somehow record the activities of a traumatic or emotional event. So violent deaths, suicides or other trauma is 'recorded' for play back at some other point in time, or even regularly. If sound and visual signals can be captured on magnetic tape or on the surface of a disc, why not on the very fabric of a building? Sounds plausible? The general thought is that there is some sort of unresolved business that needs to be sorted out before the spirit can move on. Not all events are traumatic, that wouldn't explain phantom parties or phantom cooking however, why is cooking a meal 'unresolved business'?

So are we looking through a window in time? A wormhole of some sort? Who knows, that's a debate that is still being thrashed out. Indeed, the window in time idea may explain some intelligent hauntings. Maybe the 'spirit' you are having an interaction with isn't aware that they are dead, because they aren't, maybe they are interacting through a portal in time? Are we just looking through a window in time and communicating using the paranormal equivalent of Skype? Or is it that the spirit is dead and has merely returned to a point in time that was important to them? See our discussion of William Edwards in the 'Nags Report'.