Magnetometer (EMF detector, gaussmeter) - A device to measure the presence of a magnetic field as well as its strength, direction, and fluctuation. Paranormal researchers use the device in an attempt to detect a ghost’s magnetic or energy aura.

Mean Chance Expectation (MCE) - The most likely chance score in a psi test.

Medium - A person who professes to be able to communicate with spirits.

Medium (direct voice) - A trance medium who apparently acts as a transmitter for the voices of disembodied spirits.

Medium (materialization) - A medium who seems to be able to give physical form to the deceased from a substance called “ectoplasm�?

Medium (physical) - A medium who is the center of moving objects and other physical incidents supposedly caused by spirits.

Mesmerism - The induction of a sleep or trance state, discovered during the work of Friedrich Anton Mesmer, from whose name the word is derived. Also known as hypnotism.

Miss - A choice that proves incorrect.

Mist - A photographed anomaly (not seen at time of photo) that appears as a 'blanket' of light. Theory suggests that this is the appearance of a 'ghost' or 'spirit' of the dead. As with other photographed anomalies there is environmental issues that are of concern to the validity of their existence (moisture, reflection, dirty lens, etc.). There has been no substantial proof that these are, or are related in any way, to 'ghosts' or paranormal behavior.

Motor automatism - Bodily movement of an intelligent and purposeful kind of which the person is not aware, as with automatic writing.

Necromancy / necromancer - A form of prophecy, in which the seer or sorcerer / sorceress raises the ‘spirit�?(not corporal remains) of the dead in order to have the wraith foretell future events. It was thought that upon entering eternity, the ‘spirit�?would have full knowledge of the past, present, and future.

NDE - Near-death experience - the out-of-body and other experiences people report having when they are close to death. Events within NDE include: an OBE, life review, a tunnel experience (drifting in darkness), encounters with guides (or angels), seeing dead relatives or friends, a moment of decision (or being told) to turn back.

Noise-reduction model - The idea that psi information may be more accessible if normal sensory information is reduced to a minimum (reducing sensory ‘noise�?to make the psi ‘signal�?clearer) (see Ganzfield experiment).

OBE - Out-of-body experience - the experience that the self is in a different location than the physical body.

Objective apparitions - Apparitions or phenomena that appear independent of our minds, thoughts, or feelings.

Occam's Razor - The principle that we should always prefer the simplest explanation of events.

Open Deck - A series of cards used in a card guessing test where each card is chosen randomly and independently. This enables each target to be selected any number of times. Statistical analysis of research data using an open deck differs from statistical analysis of data using a closed deck.

Open Matching (OM) - A card guessing procedure in which key cards are placed face up on the table. The subject then places the unseen target cards in piles in front of each key card, according to their guesses.

Orb - A photographed (not seen at time of photo) anomaly that, in theory, represents an ongoing 'spirit' of a deceased person. It appears as a ball of light and may occasionally seem to be moving. This is a highly controversial subject since there are many reasonable circumstances that identify this as environmental (dust, rain, snow, dirty lens, insects, reflection, lens flare etc.). There has been no substantial proof that the balls of light are associated with 'ghosts', the dead or any paranormal behavior.

Ouija Board - A board pre-printed with letters, numerals, and words used by mediums to receive spirit communications. Usually a planchatte (palm-sized triangular platform) is employed to spell out words or point out numbers or letters. A game version of the Ouija board was mass-marketed as OUIJA by Parker Brothers in 1966 and is currently distributed by Hasbro.

Cont. on side-bar  Part lll

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