TRi-state Area Paranormal Phenomena Exploration & Research Society

Paranormal Definitions and Different Types of Paranormal Activities.

Paranormal

Paranormal is an umbrella term used to describe unusual phenomena or experiences that lack an obvious scientific explanation. In parapsychology, it is used to describe the potentially psychic phenomena of telepathy, extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis, ghosts, and hauntings. The term is also applied to UFOs, some creatures that fall under the scope of cryptozoology, purported phenomena surrounding the Bermuda Triangle, and other non-psychical subjects. Stories relating to paranormal phenomena are widespread in popular culture and folklore, but some organizations such as the United States National Science Foundation have stated that mainstream science does not support paranormal beliefs.

Ghost

A Ghost is said to be the apparition of a deceased person, frequently similar in appearance to that person, and usually encountered in places she or he frequented, or in association with the person's former belongings. The word "Ghost" may also refer to the spirit or soul of a deceased person, or to any spirit or demon. Ghosts are often associated with hauntings.

Haunted Locations

Haunted locations are sites of reported ghost activity. The reports of these hauntings are often referred to as ghostlore. Ghostlore is fueled by history and legends and is a part of folklore. These accounts can be subjective in nature and there is no commonly accepted objective evidence that ghosts or similar phenomena exist.

Types of Hauntings

Traditionally, there are three basic types of hauntings: Intelligent, Residual, and Poltergeist hauntings.

Intelligent Hauntings

Intelligent hauntings are the most often type of haunting reported. In this circumstance, the entity is aware of itself, and aware of the living. The entity remains in a location for whatever reason, and continues to dwell perhaps as it did in life. Sometimes the entity manifests itself and even tries to communicate with the living. These types of hauntings usually produce EVPs, often resulting in EVPs that seem to be direct responses to questions asked by the Investigators at the time of the recording.

Residual Hauntings

Residual Hauntings are often reported in locations marked by violence and tragedy. A Residual Haunt can be thought of as a recording set on repeat. Manifestations can be both visual and audible phenomena. A Residual Haunt will often manifests at a particular location and time, consistently repeating its actions over and over. In this style of haunt, it is believed that the entity is unaware of itself or its surroundings, it is merely a form of energy that remains at the location, bound by its circumstance of death.

Poltergeist Hauntings

Probably the most compelling type of haunt is Poltergeist activity. Poltergeists are ghosts that make noises or move objects through the air. Although rare, hundreds of incidents have been reported around the world. Poltergeists could be considered a type of intelligent haunting, as the entity is physically interacting with its environment, often quite violently, and is aware of itself and the living. Objects are moved and thrown, people are attacked, slapped, scratched, bitten, or assaulted. It is believed that most poltergeist activity centers not necessarily around a location, but often around a person. Many reports have been made of families fleeing their homes due to such hostile activity, only to be confronted again with the same activity in a new location. Poltergeists are more rare than the typical intelligent or residual hauntings.

Some researchers believe Poltergeist activity tends to occur around a single person called an agent or a focus. Foci are often, but not limited to, pre-adolescent and teenage children (most commonly female). One hypothesis among parapsychologists is that the "poltergeist effect" is a form of psychokinesis generated by the agent themselves.

Another popular theory posits that poltergeists originate after a person dies in a powerful rage at the time of death. According to yet another opinion, ghosts and poltergeists are "recordings" of powerful emotions. According to this theory, sometimes during traumatic events such as death, or other 'powerful emotions' in general, a recording is believed to be "embedded" in a place or, somehow, in the "fabric of time" itself. One possible explanation is that during traumatic events, so much energy is expelled that they take a mind of their own.

However some poltergeists have had the ability to articulate themselves and to have distinct personalities, which suggests some sort of self-awareness and intent.

UFOs

An unidentified flying object, or UFO, is any object in the air or upper atmosphere that cannot be identified. Some definitions, such as that which is used by the USAF, define a UFO as an object unable to be identified after scrutiny, while other definitions define an object as being a UFO from the time it is first reported as being unidentified, even though most subsequently become IFOs, Identified Flying Objects.

Reports of unusual aerial phenomena date back to ancient times, but modern reports and the first official investigations began during World War II with sightings of so-called "foo fighters" by Allied airplane crews, and in 1946 with widespread sightings of European "ghost rockets". UFO reports became even more common after the first widely publicized United States UFO sighting, by private pilot Kenneth Arnold in mid 1947. Hundreds of thousands of UFO reports have since been made worldwide.

Since its introduction the term has become heavily associated with flying saucers and alien spacecraft, though an object may be classified as a UFO independently of opinion as to its origins. Most military and civilian UFO investigations concluded that the majority of objects can be identified either directly, or by applying Occam's Razor.

Cryptozoology

Cryptozoology (from the Greek, kruptos, "hidden" + zoology; literally, "study of hidden animals") is the study of and search for animals which fall outside of contemporary zoological catalogs. It consists of two primary fields of research:

• The search for living examples of animals taxonomically identified through fossil records, but which are believed to be extinct.
• The search for animals that fall outside of taxonomic records due to a lack of empirical evidence, but for which anecdotal evidence exists in the form of myths, legends, or undocumented sightings.

Those involved in cryptozoological study are known as cryptozoologists; the animals that they study are often referred to as "cryptids", a term coined by John Wall in 1983.

Discoveries of previously unknown animals are often subject to great attention, but cryptozoology per se has seen relatively little interest from mainstream scientists. As historian Mike Dash[6] notes, few scientists doubt there are thousands of unknown animals, particularly invertebrates, awaiting discovery. However, as Dash notes, cryptozoologists are largely uninterested in researching and cataloging newly-discovered species of ants or beetles, instead focusing their efforts towards "more elusive" creatures that have often defied decades of work aimed at confirming their existence.

The majority of mainstream criticism of cryptozoology is directed towards the search for megafauna cryptids such as Bigfoot, the Yeren, the Chupacabra, and the Loch Ness Monster which appear often in popular culture, but for which there is little or no scientific support. Scientists argue that mega-fauna cryptids are unlikely to exist undetected in great enough numbers to maintain a breeding population, and are unlikely to be able to survive in their reported habitats due to issues of climate and food supply.

As such, cryptozoology has never been embraced by the scientific community. Most experts on the matter consider the Bigfoot legend to be a combination of folklore and hoaxes and cryptozoology is considered to be a pseudoscience by mainstream zoologists and biologists. Noted objections to cryptozoology include unreliable eyewitness accounts, lack of scientific and physical evidence, and over-reliance on confirmation rather than refutation.

Cryptozoologists contend that much of the planet remains unexplored, especially deep oceans, and that therefore cryptozoological claims about oceanic cryptids should be given more credence. By plotting the discovery rate of new species, C. G. M. Paxton estimated that as many as 47 large oceanic species remain undiscovered. The discoveries of the Coelacanth and the Megamouth Shark are examples of how deep-sea animals can remain undetected for years.

List of Suspected Cryptids