Essential Parapsychology

The Barnum Effect is where people believe vague, general statements apply specifically to them, despite them being broad enough to apply to almost anyone.

Illusory correlation refers to a psychological phenomenon where people mistakenly believe there is a relationship between two events, even when no connection exists.

The principle of replication is a fundamental concept not just in psychology but in all of science, and it should be applied to the field of paranormal research.

Confirmation bias is our psychological tendency to favour information that confirms our existing beliefs or expectations, regardless of whether it is true.

In the context of the paranormal, a vigil is a period of sustained observation or watchfulness during which investigators aim to witness paranormal activity.

"Spirit" refers to the essence or soul of a deceased individual that is believed to exist in some form even after death, the term is often used interchangeably with "ghost."

Shotgunning is a technique used during performances by mediums that involves throwing out statements in the hope that some will have meaning to the participants or audience members.

The term "premonition" refers to a feeling or intuition that something, often of significant or disastrous nature, is about to occur before it actually happens.

In the paranormal world, "manifestation" can refer to both the process of manifesting as well as "a manifestation," which is something that has manifested.

In recent years, many paranormal investigators have opted to use this trendier, catch-all term "entity" instead of more traditional ones like "ghost."

Many ghost hunting devices and apps claim to allow spirits to communicate by converting environmental anomalies into perceivable words or phrases using a built-in word bank.

A walk-in is said to involve a consensual transfer where one soul leaves and another soul enters a human body, often resulting in a significant alteration in the person's personality.

Trigger objects are used in paranormal investigations to entice spirits or paranormal entities to interact with the environment in order to provide evidence of their presence.

Therapeutic touch involves sensing and balancing a patient's energy field without making physical contact in order to promote healing and reduce discomfort.

The term "telepathy" refers to the alleged ability to communicate information from one person's mind to another without using any of our known sensory channels or physical interaction.

Spirit photography, the art of capturing images believed to show ghosts on camera, dates back to the late 19th century, but remains a popular part of paranormal investigations to this day.

Shadow figures are frequently reported ghostly sightings, seen as dark, shadowy silhouettes of human-like figures that appear and move in peripheral vision or directly in line of sight.

Séances have been part of human culture for centuries and are the practice of sitting together in a quiet, often dimly lit room in an attempt to reach out to the spirit world.

Scrying is a form of divination that allows individuals to tap into what lies beyond our normal sensory experiences or communicate with the spirit world.

Residual energy captures past events, replaying them as sights, sounds, or feelings in specific places, like echoes from history without any conscious presence.