This page is designed as an encyclopedia for those that do not know ghost hunters terms & equipment
Agent - Somone who is at the site of a haunting. They often are the cause of the unexplained activity.
Apparition - What is a full blown ghost or imprint of with distinct features of a person
Apport - A physical object that can appear/materialize at will.
Automatic Writing - A method used by a person who can unconciously write information given to them by the spirit world. Often psychic mediums claim that a spirit is in them at the time of the writing.
Banshee - Known in Scotland & Ireland to be an omen or spirit that attaches itself to particular families.According to folklore the banshee is often heard screeching before someone dies in the family
Bogey - A spirit that enjoys antagonizing humans
Channeling - A New Age word for mediumship, channeling involves allowing a spirit entity to speak through or gives info to the channeler.
Claraudience - Mentally perceiving sounds beyond the range of ordinary hearing. A form of ESP so to speak.
Collective Apparition - Where more than one person witnesses a ghost.
Dematerialization - Where a ghost fades out in front of your eyes.
Digital Recorder - The same thing as a tape recorder but it does not use a plastic magnetic tape, coated with iron oxide for use in magnetic recording, it actually converts analog physical quantity into a numerical value.
Dimensional Shift Photo - Where something portrays itself more than once in a picture. The ending picture result looks as if someone was moving the camera while taking a photo.
Diving Rod- See Dowsing Rod
Dowsing Rods -A forked rod or branch which is used to for dowsing . Many people use them to find things under ground such as oil and water, but some use them to detect valuables and even spirits. they are also known as Divining Rod.
Earthbound - Often referred to when a ghost is stuck here.
Ecto Mist - What appears as a cloud of smoke or more like a fog cloud. They are often seen in haunted loacations and is a form a ghost takes on at times.
Ecto Plasm - A white foamy like substance that is seen on or around various haunted objects or even come out of people at times while they are possessed. Often misconstrued in ghost investigations, in photos which are actually ecto mist.
Electronic Voice Phenomena - It is the use of radios, tape recorders or other electronic audio devices in an attempt to pick up communications from ghosts or spirits. Ghost hunters know that some electronic devices can pick up ghostly communications that are often inaudible to the human ear.
Elemental Being -A creature (usually a spirit) that is attuned with, or composed of, one of the classical elements: air, earth, fire and water
EMF - A field of force associated with an electromagnetic charge in motion. Electromagnetic energy has both electric and magnetic components.
EMF Meter - EMF stands for Electro Magnetic Field. This is a device that originally was designed for electricians to detect leakage of electricity around electrical outlets and/or electrical panels. The reason we use an EMF meter is because ghosts often appear or center themselves around an area that contains a high amount of electrical energy. EMF meters actually measure in milligauss units.
EVP - See Electronic Voice Phenomena
Exorcism - A ritual used to get rid of a spirit.Gauss Meter - A device that is used to measure the electromagnetic field, also referred to as EMF detectors or magnetometers. The meters basically pick up and display magnetics that ghost use, plus also any other type of magnetics.
Geiger Counter - Picks up changes in background radiation of the environment.
Ghost - The traditional view of ghosts is that they are the spirits of dead people that for some reason are "stuck" between this plane of existence and the next, often as a result of some tragedy or trauma. Many ghost hunters and psychics believe that such earth bound spirits don't know they are dead, or have yet to cross over for some reason
Ghost Lights - Ghost lights are orbs that appear illuminated as balls of light. Ghost lights may also appear as a twinkling light in the dark. Most of the time, the lights appear in the colors of light green to green. They often look like car headlights tracking across the walls at night.
Infrared & Infrared Cameras - Light that is so red humans cannot see it. A band of the electromagnetic spectrum between the visible and the microwave. Photons of infrared light are less energetic than photons of visible light. Ghost hunters use infrared cameras to pick up ghosts on camera then display it on a monitro so we can see them easily. These are used in dark environments.
Ion Particle Counter - it picks up all the particles in the air.If an orb has any density to it, it will tell you how much
Motion Deteector - Infrared detector that sends off an alarm when something moves in front of it
Orb- This is tough... there are 2 definitions that we know of. One is that an orb is a ball of energy given off by a ghost, another is that it is the actual spirit of the ghost. It depends upon the person as to what they think it is. We do know that is is of made of energy.
Ouija Board - Now owned by Parker Brothers and often called a game WHICH IT IS NOT, it is a board where players rest their hands on a planchette and it spells out answers to questions, or talks with people. Most ghost hunters will tell you NOT to use these as you do not know which enitity is talking to you. People have claimed to have become possessed by spirits that have come through the board.
Poltergeist - A noisy, mischievous spirit. Will move things, make noise, or attempt to grab attention. Can also be harmful and dangerous.Todays theories and studies don’t associate poltergeist activity with a ghost however. Some think it is produced by humans that are under some type of extreme stress, or emotional turmoil. The agent is often unaware that they are actually causing the phenomenon to occur. It is really hard to say......
Portal - In ghostly terms it is the opening between their world and ours
Reciprocal Apparition - When a ghost and a human both see eachother.
Simulacra - This is where people make ghostly faces out of ANYTHING ! They see faces in trees, grass,doors, wood anything at all. Kind of like looking into a cloud and seeing images.
Specter - Another word for ghost
Spirit - A discarnate being/ghost, that are in the invisible world
Spirit Photography - To capture a ghost on film or try to capture ghosts on photos
Supernatural - NOT NORMAL to our laws of physics or the laws of nature
Thermal Scanner (aka Thermo Scanner) A device used to detect different tempertures. Used in ghost hunting it detects cold or hot spots often associated with ghosts. Typically you will get colder readings, and a huge drop in temperatures when a ghost is present.
Tri Field Meter - (aka Trifield Natural Em Meter) detects extremely weak DC fields. Much better to use than an emf meter. Not for use during high magnetic storms.
Vortex - A vortex is a spinning turbulent flow ,or any spiral whirling motion with closed streamlines. The shape of mass rotating rapidly around a center forms a vortex. It is a flow involving rotation about an axis.it is basically a whirling mass of air in the form of a column or spiral. Many ghost hunters have captured a vortex or two in their day. One has to be sure they actually captured a vortex in a photo rather than just a camera strap.
Wraith - An omen that appears before a death happens