We have received many questions about the terminology in the paranormal field. We are going to start a ghostly glossary for you.

AGENT
In a test of general extrasensory perception, the individual (human or animal) who looks at the information constituting the target and who is said to “send” or “transmit” that information to a percipient; in a test of telepathy, and in cases of spontaneous extrasensory perception, the individual about whose mental states information is acquired by a percipient; the term is very occasionally used to refer to the subject in a test of psychokinesis or the focus in a poltergeist case. [From the Latin agens (agentis), derived from agere, “to drive, do”]

ALPHA
In the context of brain science: a distinctive brain-rhythm or brain-wave which occurs mainly in the occipital region of the cortex, and which is correlated, on the psychological level, with feelings of drowsiness, relaxation and disengaged attention on the part of the subject; it is of relatively high amplitude, and has a frequency range of between 8 and 13 Hz (cycles per second); of parapsychological interest as a possible physiological indicator of a psi-conducive condition in the subject. [From the Greek alpha, first letter of the Greek alphabet]

ALTERED STATE(S) OF CONSCIOUSNESS (ASC)
Expression popularized by Charles T. Tart which can refer to virtually any mental state differing from that of the normal waking condition; of parapsychological interest as possibly psi-conducive states; they include dreaming, hypnosis, trance, meditation of the yoga or Zen tradition, the hypnagogic-like state induced by the ganzfeld, and drug-induced states.

ANOMALISTIC PSYCHOLOGY
Term first used by Leonard Zusne and Warren Jones (1982) to indicate that part of psychology that investigates “anomalistic” psychological phenomena, that is, phenomena which have tended to be explained in terms of the paranormal, the supernatural, magic, or the occult; the term is also meant to include belief in UFOs, in astrology, and in such creatures as the Loch Ness Monster.

ANOMALOUS
Having the quality of an anomaly.

ANOMALY
Neutral term applied to a phenomenon which implies that the phenomenon is unexpected according to conventional scientific knowledge, but which does not commit the user to any particular type of explanation; sometimes sometimes preferred to “paranormal.”

ANPSI
Term coined by J. B. Rhine to refer to psi ability in non-human animals. [Contraction of “animal psi”]

APPARITION
An experience usually visual but sometimes in other sense-modalities in which there appears to be present a person or animal (deceased or living) and even inanimate objects such as carriages and other things, who/which is in fact out of the sensory range of the experient; often associated with spontaneous extrasensory perception, for example, in connection with an agent who is dying or undergoing some other crisis (in which case, it is likely to be termed a “crisis apparition,” or in connection with haunting (in which case, it is likely to be referred to in non-technical contexts as a “ghost”)

APPORT
A physical object which has been paranormally transported into a closed space or container, suggesting the passage of “matter through matter,” that is, through intervening solid material objects. [From the Latin apportare, “to carry to (a place)”]

ASTRAL BODY
An entity said to be an exact, quasi-physical replica or “double” of the individual physical body, which can separate itself from the physical body, either temporarily, as in dreaming or in the out-of-the-body experience, or permanently, at the moment of death. Also known as the “etheric” body. [From the Latin astralis, derived from astrum, “star,” derived from the Greek astron]

ASTRAL TRAVEL
See Astral Projection under Out-of-[the]-Body Experience.

AURA
A field of subtle, multicolored, luminous radiations said to surround living bodies as a halo or cocoon; the term is occasionally used to refer to the normal electromagnetic field forces surrounding the body. [Latin, from the Greek,“breath of air”]

AUTOMATIC WRITING
A motor automatism in which a person’s hand writes meaningful statements, but without the writer consciously premeditating the content of what is produced.

AUTOMATISM
Any complex sensory or motor activity the details of which are carried out by a person without their conscious awareness or volition, thus constituting instances of dissociation; examples of sensory automatisms are certain visual and auditory hallucinations; examples of motor automatisms are sleep-walking, trance-utterances and automatic writing.

BILOCATION
The phenomenon in which a person’s body is seen in two different geographical locations at the same time; also, according to Myers (1903), the sensation of being in two different places at once, namely, where one’s organism is, and a place distant from it, involving some degree of perception (whether veridical or not) of the distant scene.

BIOFEEDBACK
A technique which enables a person to monitor on-going changes in one of their own physiological processes; as a result of such information, the individual may be able to acquire some degree of control in regulating internal processes normally outside the range of voluntary influence; of parapsychological interest mainly in connection with altered states of consciousness and with the possibility of controlling the incidence of the alpha brain-rhythm.

ALLOBIOFEEDBACK
Term used by William G. Braud (1978) to denote the situation in which one subject, A, is attempting to influence, psychokinetically, the physiological processes of another person, B, aided by biofeedback to A concerning those processes in B. [From the Greek allos, “other,” + bios, “life,” + feedback]

BIO-PK
Term used to refer to psychokinetic effects brought about on living systems; examples of such effects would be the paranormal speeding up or slowing down of the sprouting of seeds or of the growth of bacteria, the resuscitation of anæsthetized mice, and so on; may also include psychosomatic effects; symbolized “PK-LT” (“psychokinesis on living targets”) by J. B. Rhine; modern researchers refer to it as DMILS, or direct mental influence on living systems.

BOOK TEST
A test for survival sometimes conducted during a sitting in an attempt to exclude telepathy between medium and sitter as an explanation for the information paranormally acquired by the medium: the communicator is requested to transmit a message referring to topics on specified pages of a book that the medium could not have normally seen. (As a noun), the overt response made by the percipient in guessing the target; in a test of extrasensory perception; (as a verb), to make a response or call.

Hello All!

As rarely as I see activity wandering around on the pub tours, last night gave me an overdose!  We started off at a little pizza place where we love to go hang out with the amazing and sweet staff.  I know enough stories to know there are probably multiple hauntings there, but last night we got a good taste of one of them.  We sat down in the dining room and were chatting before I started in on my stories when my EMF meter spiked.  I said hello and the meter spiked up twice (perhaps responding with a “Hello”?).  I said “Thanks for joining us” and the meter spiked a few more times.  I launched into my stories and everyone seemed really involved (and really intrigued that we got spikes so early).  After I finished the meter started spiking again.  We laughed because it felt as if the ghost was waiting for me to finish before he communicated again.  As everyone was talking amongst themselves, a 21 year old girl on the tour turned to me and said “I thought you should know there’s a man sitting in that empty chair next to you.” He’d been there the whole time, listening, and was turning off everyone’s cameras because he didn’t want his picture taken! I figured that would be the best we got all night, but in the next place we went, one of my couples took the meter into the back lounge area and came back.  They both looked pretty impressed.  Apparently, in the lounge the meter was spiking by a moniter.  Thinking maybe the moniter was interfering
with the meter, they said “If there’s someone here, will you follow us to the other side of the room and make the meter spike.”  Sure enough, they crossed the room and the ghost followed along. We then ended up at a bar that I go to sometimes, but don’t know much about the history of that particular building.  I tend to tell some stories about the city and the fort outside.  After telling those, we went inside to chat and have a drink.  One woman came up to me after we’d been there a few minutes, showed me her camera and asked if she got an orb.  She certainly had something.  So my 21 year old proceeded to take a necklace and start channeling some energy to talk to our haunting.  We found out that he was an older gentleman who was a soldier (but didn’t die in battle) and had some sort of affiliation with a drugstore.  And we did get a few orbs on camera. Every tour I go out and we find something new.  Open up your instincts and you can find something just about anywhere in St. Augustine.  Thanks for reading everyone!
~Celynda

A few years ago I was hanging out with my friend walking around downtown St. Augustine. She knew I worked for GhoSt Augustine and asked me to take her to a haunted spot that was included on one of our tours. We just happened to be near Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grille, a normal stop on the Haunted Pub Tour, so I brought her inside. She follwed me up the stair case to the second floor asking, “Where the heck are we going!?”
“Almost there”, I said as we walked down an ‘L’ shaped hallway before I pushed open the paint peeling door to the ladies restroom. “Oh, you have to go the restroom,” she said chuckling. I responded, “Actually, I don’t.” She looked confused.
I continued, “this is where Katalina’s bedroom was hundreds of years ago before the building became many other things, like Harry’s.” I continued telling her the tragic story of Katalina and watched as her eyes widened in excitement. She started calling Katalina tauntingly. We sat down on the wicker love seat waiting for something to happen. After about 10 minutes, I myself, was feeling very impatient and yelled out, “Katalina’s just afraid to meet new people! Forget this girl!” My friend joined in, “Yeah, what a coward!”
I added, “What a pathetic excuse for a haunting!” as we laughed ourselves out of the bathroom and on to other activities for the evening.

Quite a bit of time had passed from that night and since I had gone on the Haunted Pub Tour. One night, on a spur of the moment, I decided to go on the tour with an old boyfriend for some fun. We stopped at Harry’s and went up to the second floor where the tour guide went over the history to the group, including the tragedy of Katalina. While she was telling the story, I had a sudden urge to use the restroom. When I pushed opened the familiar paint peeling door, I had a flashback of that night with my friend and smiled. There was no one in the restroom and it was very quiet. After coming out of the stall I went over to the sink to wash my hands. After shutting off the faucet I realized the towel dispenser near me what out, so I had to walk to the other side of the room and use the other one. While pulling the paper towel off, I could hear the water running in the sink I had just used, behind me. I slowly turned around. The water pressure seemed
like it was increasing, or as if someone was turning the handle. I walked over to the sink. “Did I forget to turn the faucet off?” I asked myself before I realized that the water was up to full blast. I put my hand under the water to test its temperature before immediately yanking it away followed by an, “Ouch!” The water felt boiling hot! I quickly turned the handle and ran out of the bathroom back to the group. After seeing the horrid expression on my face the tour guide asked, “Are you ok?” I mumbled in disbelief, “She turned the hot water on- full blast.”
The tour guide laughed, “You must’ve done something to piss her off, because that means she doesn’t like you.” The next time I went on the Haunted Pub Tour, I made sure to go into the girls’ restroom on the second floor at Harry’s and apologize to Katalina.
I have now learned NEVER to provoke another spirit again.  ~MM

The most direct means of encountering the paranormal is through the use of the five senses. Ordinarily, because of the physical orientation of the senses, they block out far more signals than they bring to awareness.
The senses are often quite acute when danger is present, linking us to the instinctual world of our primal ancestors. Sensory data then seems intensified or heightened, even riveting.

It’s probable that at one time in human evolution what we think of as paranormal encounters were far more commonplace. The boundary between life and death, between the ordinary physical and the realms of spirit would have been far more permeable. This seems to be the case even now with psychically gifted people.  As our species chose more and more to literalize physical experience, granting it an independence that it does not possess (for all is energy,) the closely linked living energy field we share with all else became seemingly more dense, opaque and separate. We conceived a world of objects rather than an animate realm of interdepedent subjects.

Primal peoples around the world have generally maintained their intimacy with nature as a participant living framework. What we think of as heightened sensory abilities or psychic/intuitive awareness remain far more commonplace. There is no abrupt break or chasm between what we call the paranormal and the normal. Evidence suggests that most of us can extend the use of our senses and psychic awareness with some training in harnessing these natural abilities, for example through meditative or similar practices. Learning to explore the paranormal is also learning to know ourselves more, including a wide range of abilities we probably all possess that remain latent until called into service. The paranormal is certainly one trajectory for expanding our consciousness, and deserves our respect for that reason alone among many others.

Harry C. Stafford
Copyright 2010