Glossary

Electromagnetic field readings used by some investigators as environmental context during a session.

Sounds captured on audio that some investigators interpret as voices or responses not heard at the time of recording.

Camera or lighting setups that capture light beyond ordinary visible wavelengths, such as near-infrared.

Attempts to communicate using electronic devices such as recorders, radios, or cameras.

A round light artifact in a photo or video, frequently caused by dust, moisture, or insects near the lens.

A radio-sweep device some teams use hoping fragmented audio resembles answers during a session.

A visual appearance of a person or figure that witnesses believe should not be physically present.

An object said to appear in a space with no ordinary explanation for how it got there.

A localized drop in temperature that some people associate with paranormal activity.

A general word for a non-ordinary presence or being described in a report.

A place with repeated reports of unusual activity, or a zone teams return to during a session.

A model where reported activity seems to respond to people, questions, or changes in the room.

Reports of noisy or physical disturbance — knocks, thrown objects, or disruption — often focused around a household.

A model where reported activity repeats like a recording, without interacting with living observers.

A dark humanoid shape, often seen briefly in peripheral vision or low light.

A claimed focal point of unusual energy or activity at a location; meanings vary widely by tradition.

A Hynek-style scale describing how near a witness came to an unexplained aerial event.

Originating outside Earth — often used for claimed non-human intelligence tied to UFO/UAP discussions.

Official and research shorthand for unexplained aerial or anomalous observations that have not been identified.

A classic term for an airborne object that could not be identified at the time it was seen.

An animal or creature whose existence is suggested by reports or folklore but not confirmed by mainstream science.

A first-person description of something seen or heard, before later theories are layered on top.

Traditional stories, beliefs, and legends passed through communities, often about places, creatures, or warnings.

Interpretations of the past that challenge mainstream timelines, builders, or causes — sometimes carefully, sometimes wildly.

A claimed alignment of ancient sites or landmarks that some people treat as a map of special paths or energy.

A proposed advanced culture said to have existed before the societies recorded by mainstream history.

A large stone structure or monument, often prehistoric, such as standing stones, chambers, or stone circles.

A practised or claimed form of leaving the body to travel in a non-physical “astral” state.

The half-asleep state when falling asleep (or waking) where vivid images, sounds, or a sensed presence can appear.

A rapid, vivid replay or re-evaluation of one’s life sometimes reported during near-death experiences.

A dream in which the dreamer knows they are dreaming and may influence what happens next.

A reported set of experiences around clinical crisis or apparent dying, such as leaving the body, a tunnel, or a life review.

A sense of perceiving the world from outside your physical body, during sleep, crisis, meditation, or spontaneous episodes.

A state between sleep and waking where the body cannot move, sometimes with a sensed presence or pressure.

Claimed ability to gain information visually or intuitively beyond ordinary senses.

Claimed ability to influence physical objects or systems with the mind alone.

A structured attempt to describe a distant or hidden target without ordinary sensory access.

Claimed mind-to-mind transfer of thoughts, images, or feelings without ordinary senses.

Very low-frequency sound that people may feel more than hear, sometimes linked to unease or vibration.

A shared false or conflicting memory that a group of people remembers differently from recorded history.

Investigator slang for seeing meaningful shapes in visual noise, similar to pareidolia in photos and video.

The tendency to perceive familiar patterns — faces, words, figures — in random or ambiguous stimuli.

Beliefs or reports about continued existence after physical death.

A person who claims to communicate information from spirits or deceased people.

A board and planchette used for spelling messages; movement is often explained by ideomotor action.

The idea that some aspect of a person is reborn into a new life after death.

A gathering intended to communicate with spirits, historically often led by a medium.

Claimed communication of messages from a non-physical source through a person who speaks or writes them.

A broad modern spiritual current mixing personal growth, alternative healing, metaphysics, and borrowed traditions.

A claimed prediction or revelation about future events, often tied to spiritual or apocalyptic traditions.

A meaningful coincidence that feels connected without an obvious cause-and-effect link.

An effort to hide, destroy, or spin evidence so the public does not learn what happened.

False or misleading information spread deliberately to confuse, persuade, or bury a story.

A claim that an event was staged or blamed on the wrong party to justify a response or hide the real actors.

Short for psychological operation — influence campaigns designed to shape beliefs or behaviour.

A programme that mixes documentary material with dramatised scenes, which can blur fact and re-enactment.

Relating to odd phenomena collected in the spirit of Charles Fort — strange falls, sightings, and anomalies filed for curiosity.

A film or video style that pretends to be raw recovered recordings, common in horror and paranormal entertainment.

A phrase for cases that pile up bizarre, overlapping details beyond a single neat category like “ghost” or “UFO.”

Testing a claim against ordinary explanations and documenting whether the extraordinary story still holds.

An item placed during an investigation in the hope it draws activity or becomes a focus for interaction.