Ghost hunters, paranormal investigators, and paranormal researchers may seem to all speak in tongues, but it’s because they have their own language to define the unexplained. Here are just a few words to clear things up:

Active – Used by paranormal investigators to indicate a place that has a great deal of unexplainable activity.

Anomaly – An object or occurrence that is abnormal and not easily classified within scientific terms.

Apparition – a supernatural appearance of a person or thing

Clairvoyance – In parapsychology, is the word used for a form of ESP (extra-sensory perception) in which a psychic aquires knowledge about an object or situation, without the use of the five senses i.e. by paranormal means. It literally means “Clear Seeing” which is taken from late 17th century French clair (clear) & voyant (seeing).C

Continuance – Commonly referred to as life after death, survival of the psyche post-cessation of the biological organism that had generated it.

Earthbound – Unable to leave the earth; attached to earthly concerns.

Ectoplasm Mist – An amorphous cloud that appears in a photograph as diffuse (widely spread, scattered, or dispersed), clear or blurred, light or dark, etc. A second photo taken within two minutes must show no mist. It also has allegedly been excreted from the pores of mediums. This manisfestation was particularly popular, and often faked, during the Spiritualist Movement during the Victorian Era.

Electromagnetism (also, electromagnetic field/force, or E.M.F.) A force given off by electric charges; found in anything that uses electricity. Some believe spikes in electromagnetism can be tied to paranormal activity.