LITTLE KNOWN TERMS OF THE PARANORMAL

By Dina Ely
A collection of lesser-known terms and concepts relating to the paranormal, parapsychology, and parascience. Includes phone calls from the dead, deathbed visions, kachinas and more.

Animal Psi (or "Anpsi")
Anpsi is the apparent ability of animals to experience various clairvoyant phenomena, such as telepathy, precognition, and sixth sense. Though the studies into anpsi hardly present conclusive evidence for or against the existence of anpsi, many pet owners are firm in their belief in the clairvoyant abilities of their pets.
It is worth noting that owing to the fact that humans are also animals, if animal psi truly does exist then it would exist in all species, including humans.
Manifestation of anpsi includes, but is not limited to:
The ability to see ghosts and spiritual beings The ability to sense events in the very near future (such as the return of a loved one to the pet's home, before the loved one's car can be heard, etc.) The ability to sense impending danger or death of a loved one The ability to find the way home, oft against seemingly impossible odds (homing instinct) The ability to "psi trail" (to find its owner if separated, returning even across tremendous distances)

Apport
An apport is an object created by mediums and poltergeists, which materialises out of thin air and takes solid form. Most are small objects like coins and jewelry, but larger objects like books and newspapers have been reported. The Scole Experiment Group has had tremendous success with apportation, as the “spiritual scientists” (deceased humans working from the afterlife to achieve contact with the living) wove energy into matter to produce extremely rare artifacts during their sessions.
Most apports are considered gifts from spirits, but some mediums claim to pull objects from other dimensions, or that objects existing in other places are disintegrated, transported by the medium into the medium’s location, and then reassembled--all by the power of the medium’s psyche.
The Sufis of Islam and Hindu swamis are well known for their delicate and precious apports.

Automatisms
Motor automatisms are unconscious muscular movements which are apparently guided by spirits or the psyche of another person. Automatic writing is a type of motor automatism. In automatic writing the medium clears his or her mind of all thought and invites the spirits of the dead to "possess" his or her hand, and write whatever they will. Automatic painting is a similar phenomenon, only with painting instead of writing. People with little or no artistic ability or experience can suddenly produce tremendous masterpieces, claiming to be guided by spirits.
Sensory automatisms include hallucinations, dreams, sudden inspiration and visions. It is not uncommon for sensory automatisms to include voices that give instructions, sometimes in conjunction with motor automatism.

Book test
The "book test" was a test of life after death, which has its origins in the early 20th century, by an English medium named Gladys Osborne Leonard. The test involved a communicating spirit that delivered message to one of the living via a medium. The method for discerning the message was that the spirit would specify (to the medium) a book which the medium would not have readily accessible, and given the room and the shelf in which the book rested, and the page number on which the message could be found. By finding the book and reading the given page, the message would be revealed to the person for whom it was intended. These messages were oft of a personal nature. Leonard had a great deal of success with the book test, and the test itself was common after World War I, when interest in communicating with the dead (no doubt, the recently deceased soldiers) peaked.

Clairsentience
Clairsentience, oft used in conjunction with clairvoyance ("clear vision") and clairaudience ("clear hearing"), is the psychic perception of emotions, taste, smell, and other physical sensations. Clairsentience is largely based on "gut feeling" or intuition. Though not all clairsentience is a result of ghostly presence, it is a psychic tool that can be employed in the sensing of and communication with ghosts.

Deathbed Visions
Apparitions of the dead, or significant religious figures, that manifest to the dying. These visions are said to bring peace to those who are about to die. Incidence of deathbed visions has been recorded since ancient times. Regardless of race, gender, education, age and other discriminating factors, deathbed visions all share common traits like extreme beauty, bright light, and the glowing forms of people significant to the dying.

Drop-in Communicator
A spirit that presents itself suddenly and unexpectedly at a seance, without attempt to contact it prior to its appearance. Experiences with drop-in communicators can lend validity to a medium and to the entire concept of communication with the dead, as the most stellar cases provide information that is not available to the public and only known by a few. This demonstrates that the spirit entity is not simply a figment of the medium’s subconscious. Occasionally drop-in communication is accompanied by physical manifestations of spiritual presence, such as apports, noises, and strange lights.

Kachinas
A kachina is a spirit of the ancestral dead, worshipped among the Pueblo. Kachinas were believed to perform beneficial actions, such as bringing rain. Some kachinas, however, were said to murder ruthlessly. Kachinas were considered to be the spiritual equivalent of an intermediary between humans and the gods. In Zuni beliefs, kachinas are called "koko," and they reside at the bottom of the Lake of the Dead.

Newspaper Test
Similar to the book test, and developed by the same medium. Spirit communicators, in theory, would give a medium information about a news story that would be published the next day, including the page number upon which the story would appear. The medium would then read the next day's paper to see if the spirit's prediction came true. Like the book tests, newspaper tests were remarkably successful, but not considered conclusive evidence of life after death.

Phone calls from the Dead
Quite literally, a phone call from a deceased person. The phone may ring normally, but the line may sound flat or the reception/connection may be poor. The voice of the dead can be heard, usually softly, and oft fading abruptly. Sometimes, if the person being called does not realise the caller is dead, the conversation can continue for up to thirty minutes. The purpose of the call is usually to say "goodbye," or to give an important piece of information to the living.
My own grandmother believes that she receives a phone call from her deceased sibling every year on the anniversary of his death. True enough, someone in the family will always receive a phone call that is picked up after the first ring, and there is nothing but eerie silence on the other end of the line. Whilst no voices are heard, the fact that the phone call comes every year on the anniversary certainly adds to the legend!

Planchette
The 19th century precursor to the Ouija board, the planchette was developed to open a person up to the phenomena of automatic writing or automatic painting. Mediums used the planchette to communicate with the dead, or to look into the future. The planchette consists of a heart-shaped platform on three legs, two of which are on wheels and the third is a pencil. Placing one's fingertips on the planchette invites spirits to communicate through the planchette and write messages or sketch pictures.

Source:
Harper's Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal Experience, by Rosemary Ellen Guiley