Mid-America Paranormal Investigations

Here you will find paranormal terms used by Mid-America Paranormal Investigations.

Apparition-The visible appearance of a ghost or spirit. It can be full-bodied, a partial body, or vortex .

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.

Apport / Teleportation-

The name given to various objects, such as flowers, jewelry, and even live animals, reportedly materialized in the

presence of a medium, often during a séance. This was very popular during the early 20th century with the Spiritualist

movement, however, most instances were faked by the medium. —Based on Encyclopedia of Occultism and

Parapsychology, by the Gale Group, Inc.

In a broader sense, “An apport is the transference of an article from an unknown source, to you, or another place

by unknown means. The item can be anything, from coins and jewelry from ancient times, to modern objects such

as watches and keys. Apports are often associated with poltergeist activity, usually out of place items are found

around the house and on rare occasions actually being witnessed landing on the floor, in a persons lap or dropping

from the ceiling.” —Wikipedia

Asport-

The reverse of apport phenomena—the disappearance of objects from the séance room through the barriers of

intervening matter and their appearance at another spot. —Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, by the

Gale Group, Inc.

In a broader sense, “an asport is the transference of a small object from a known location to an unknown location

via unknown means. The most frequently reported asported items are: car keys, cigarette lighters, or a single sock

of a matched pair.” —Wikipedia

Astral Plane / Spirit Plane-

The level of existence through which spirits of the dead first pass. The level in which an astrally projected spirit

travels. Also known as the spirit realm.

Astral

Atmospheric Manifestations-

Manifestations related to atmospheric conditions, such as cold spots which are thought to result from a spirit person

draining ambient energy in order to manifest. Hot spots are also possible though not commonly reported.

Audio Recorders-

Audio recorders come in two varieties: analog tape and digital. Which one works best is simply a matter of preference.

Digital recorders have the added capability of uploading the audio to a computer

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

Ball Lightning-

Ball lightning reportedly takes the form of a glowing, floating object often the size and shape of a basketball, but

it can also be golf ball sized or smaller. It is sometimes associated with thunderstorms, but unlike lightning flashes

arcing between two points, which last a small fraction of a second, ball lightning reportedly lasts many seconds.

There have been some reports of production of a similar phenomenon in the laboratory, but some still disagree on

whether it is the same phenomenon. —Wikipedia

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.

Cell Nucleus Effect (Noise)-

“Cell nucleus effect” refers to the pattern that some orbs present when photographed. This pattern

is also called “noise,” which can also reflect tiny imperfections in the camera lens or of an object in

close proximity to the orb such as a wall or structure

Close Proximity Contamination (CPC)-

CPC simply refers to substances found within the natural environment that contaminates the physical area in close

proximity to the lens, such as dust, water droplets, rain, moisture, mist and fog, pollen, insects, breath on cold

days, cigarette smoke, camera straps, skin, follicles, dust, clothing fibers, hair, cobwebs and others.

Coaching-

Coaching is what you do with the client before an investigation, especially when malevolent entities are involved.

Coaching is intended to educate the client on the nature of paranormal activity and why he or she does not have

to fear it. It also involves helping the client to see him or herself in a new way. Coaching is primarily a self-esteem

building activity.

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

Dowsing-

Dowsing is basically the ability to find hidden things with the use of dowsing rods or a pendulum. Over the ages,

dowsing has been used to find anything and everything from water to lost items. Some researchers use them in

paranormal research to locate spirit activity.

Electro-Magnetic Field-

EMF meters detect the fluctuation of or changes in magnetic fields, electric fields, radio frequencies, and microwave

energy, depending on the model. Many of the most common EMF meters used in paranormal research detect

AC (alternating current) fields; but some, such as the TriFieldR Natural EM Meter, ignore AC and only detect DC

(direct current) fields. EMF meters also detect Extremely Low Frequencies (ELF

Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP)-

Disembodied voices captured on audio or video recorders. EVPs fall into three classes as established by the American

Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP, http://www.aaevp.com):

Class A: Voice can be heard and understood over a speaker by most people.

Class B: Voice can be heard over a speaker, but not everyone will agree as to what is said.

Class C: Voice can only be heard with headphones and is difficult to understand.

Class B or C voices may have one or two clearly understood words. Loud does not equal Class A.

EVPs are often heard as whispers and seem to have a specific and almost identifiable cadence about them.

Ghost / Spirit-

In a strict sense, the word “ghost” usually refers to the ethereal body of a deceased human, as opposed to an inhuman

entity (an entity who never lived as a human).

In contrast, the English word "spirit" comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning "breath." It can also mean "soul,

courage, vigor, vitality, or attitude," among others. For example, a person can be “present in spirit though absent

in body,” or a horse can be referred to as “spirited,” or sometimes we might say to another person, “That’s the

spirit!”

Some researchers draw a further distinction between the words “ghost” and “spirit.” Some use “ghost” to describe

Residual Hauntings, and “spirit” to describe Intelligent Hauntings (both discussed below). Others say that

“ghosts” are earthbound, but “spirits” have already passed over and can freely travel between both realms.

Other words are also often used to convey similar meanings such as, apparition, entity, revenant (returning), specter

(or British, “spectre”), wraith, phantom, shadow, discarnate, incorporeal, angel, demon (or British, “daemon”),

and banshee.

For this course and ease of discussion, we will use the terms “ghost” and “spirit” interchangeably to denote any

entity that is not made of flesh and blood, and who exists on a spiritual plane

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