Field lexicon
Plain-language definitions for reports, evidence, folklore, perception and the history of unusual claims.
These definitions explain how a word is used in a report or investigation. A label such as apparition, cryptid or UAP describes the claim or the state of the evidence; it does not prove a cause.
247 terms
An account in which a person says they were taken or detained by non-human beings, often with an interval of missing time. The label describes the reported experience and does not establish what caused it.
Find this term in published entriesA visual impression that continues after the original stimulus has gone. Bright lights can leave shapes or motion in vision that are mistaken for something still present.
Find this term in published entriesA faint natural emission of light from the upper atmosphere, visible most clearly on dark nights or in sensitive images. It can brighten a horizon without forming a solid object.
Find this term in published entriesA stairway built into an aircraft door or fuselage so that passengers can board without separate ground equipment. The rear airstair of the Boeing 727 is central to reconstructions of the D. B. Cooper escape.
Find this term in published entriesA person, object, phrase or idea placed in a period where it does not belong. Apparent anachronisms can reveal later editing, mistaken dating or a modern assumption about the past.
Find this term in published entriesEvidence based on an individual account or isolated example rather than a systematic body of observations. An anecdote may identify a question, but usually cannot show how common or representative an event is.
Find this term in published entriesThe angle an object appears to occupy in a viewer’s field of vision. It can be estimated without knowing distance, whereas converting it into true size requires a reliable distance.
Find this term in published entriesUnusual bending of radar or radio waves through layers of air with changing temperature or moisture. It can produce returns from beyond the normal horizon or place a return at a misleading apparent position.
Find this term in published entriesAn observation or result that does not fit the current account. An anomaly identifies a question; it is not, by itself, evidence for any particular extraordinary explanation.
Find this term in published entriesA reported figure or presence seen without an obvious physical person present. The word describes the experience without deciding whether its cause was environmental, psychological or unknown.
Find this term in published entriesAn object said to appear, disappear or move through paranormal means, especially during a séance. Investigation depends heavily on controlled conditions and an unbroken record of who handled the object.
Find this term in published entriesAn object’s recorded relationship to its layer, feature, surrounding finds and excavation location. Once that context is lost, claims about the object’s date and use become much harder to test.
Find this term in published entriesThe absence of expected information from surviving records. It may be significant, but it can also result from loss, selective preservation, restricted access or the fact that no record was created.
Find this term in published entriesAn object made, modified or used by people. Its material, manufacture, wear and archaeological context are evidence; an unusual appearance alone does not establish an unusual age or origin.
Find this term in published entriesThe bending of light as it passes through air layers of different density. It can shift, stretch or distort the apparent position and shape of distant lights, stars and landscape features.
Find this term in published entriesThe apparent movement of a small stationary light seen against a dark, featureless background. Without visual reference points, ordinary eye movements can make the light seem to drift or dart.
Find this term in published entriesWriting produced while the writer feels that the words arise without deliberate control. It has been interpreted as spirit communication, unconscious composition, dissociation or performance.
Find this term in published entriesA rare report of a luminous, usually short-lived sphere associated with storm conditions. The label is sometimes applied too broadly to any unexplained light near the ground.
Find this term in published entriesA figure in Irish tradition whose cry is associated with an approaching death in a family. Accounts vary by locality, family history and the period in which they were recorded.
Find this term in published entriesA measurement of normal conditions made before or alongside an investigation. It gives unusual readings something local and comparable to be judged against.
Find this term in published entriesA direction measured clockwise from north, usually in degrees. A bearing gives a line of direction rather than a distance; two or more reliable bearings may help locate a source.
Find this term in published entriesLight produced by living organisms through a chemical reaction. Marine organisms can create glowing water, wakes or patches that look unfamiliar when their biological source is not visible.
Find this term in published entriesA spectral or uncanny dog associated in British and Irish traditions with roads, churchyards, boundaries, storms or death omens. Similar motifs do not make every local story the same tradition.
Find this term in published entriesA test arranged so that a participant, observer or evaluator does not know information that could influence the result. Blinding reduces cueing and expectation but does not correct every design problem.
Find this term in published entriesAn exceptionally bright meteor, also called a fireball, often ending in fragmentation or an explosion in the atmosphere. Reports may include a delayed boom because light arrives before sound.
Find this term in published entriesWater containing a high concentration of dissolved salts. Dense brines can remain liquid below the usual freezing point and can move beneath ice or through sediments.
Find this term in published entriesA signal or noise spread across a wide range of frequencies. Its breadth can help distinguish a natural burst, interference or instrument noise from a narrow transmission.
Find this term in published entriesThe unauthorised replacement or interruption of a radio or television transmission. Investigators distinguish access to a studio feed from interference introduced at a transmitter, relay or receiving system.
Find this term in published entriesA remotely triggered camera used to record animals without an observer being present. Its evidential value depends on placement, trigger range, image quality, timestamps and secure retrieval of the original files.
Find this term in published entriesThe release of dissolved carbon dioxide from water, magma or rock. In a rare lake overturn, a large release can form a dense, oxygen-displacing cloud close to the ground.
Find this term in published entriesA radio-frequency wave altered to carry information. Detecting a carrier may indicate a transmitter, but identifying its source still requires frequency, timing and direction data.
Find this term in published entriesA structured record that separates the original claim, chronology, witnesses, evidence, later interpretation, sources and current status. A case file should preserve uncertainty rather than hide it.
Find this term in published entriesThe documented sequence showing who collected, stored, copied, tested and transferred an object or recording. Gaps make alteration, contamination or mistaken identity harder to rule out.
Find this term in published entriesFailure to notice a visible change when attention is interrupted or directed elsewhere. It shows why a witness may remember the main event while missing alterations in surrounding detail.
Find this term in published entriesIn European traditions, a fairy or substitute being said to have been left in place of a person, often a child. The belief has a documented history of explaining illness or difference and sometimes enabled serious mistreatment.
Find this term in published entriesA historical narrative organised broadly by time, often compiled from earlier records, testimony and tradition. A chronicle can preserve valuable material while also reflecting its author’s period and purpose.
Find this term in published entriesResearch in which members of the public contribute observations, classifications, computing or other work to an organised project. Clear protocols and review help turn many individual contributions into usable data.
Find this term in published entriesThe specific statement being proposed, such as “a figure crossed the room” or “this object is ancient.” A useful investigation tests the precise claim rather than a larger story built around it.
Find this term in published entriesA classification used for reported nearby encounters with an unusual aerial object or its alleged effects. It organises testimony; it does not certify that the reported object had an extraordinary origin.
Find this term in published entriesTwo or more events occurring together in a way that attracts attention without a demonstrated causal connection. Its evidential weight depends on how the match was defined and how many opportunities existed for it to occur.
Find this term in published entriesA proposed form of nuclear fusion occurring near room temperature, most famously claimed in electrochemical experiments announced in 1989. The central claims were not reliably reproduced under controlled conditions.
Find this term in published entriesA technique in which broad statements, observation and feedback are used to produce an impression of specific personal knowledge. Successful guesses are often remembered more strongly than misses.
Find this term in published entriesThe shared way a community remembers an event or place. Commemoration, tourism, news coverage and repeated storytelling can reshape that memory over time.
Find this term in published entriesA small Solar System body rich in ice and dust that can develop a bright coma and tails when heated near the Sun. Its apparent motion and changing form have historically encouraged unusual interpretations.
Find this term in published entriesAn image made by combining material from more than one exposure or source. Compositing can be artistic, practical or deceptive, so the original negative, file history and production method matter.
Find this term in published entriesA false edge, block, ringing pattern or lost detail introduced when an image, audio file or video is compressed. Repeated copying can make such artefacts more prominent than the original signal.
Find this term in published entriesThe unintentional production of inaccurate memories or explanations without an intention to deceive. A person may confidently fill a gap while remaining unaware that the detail was reconstructed.
Find this term in published entriesThe tendency to notice, seek and remember information that supports an existing expectation while giving less weight to conflicting details. It can affect believers, sceptics and investigators alike.
Find this term in published entriesAn uncontrolled factor associated with both an apparent cause and the measured result. Unless it is accounted for, the study may attribute an effect to the wrong condition.
Find this term in published entriesThe introduction of outside material or information into evidence. It may affect DNA, objects, recordings or witness accounts and must be considered before treating a match as independent.
Find this term in published entriesA record made at or near the time of an event. It is usually more useful for chronology than a later retelling, although it can still contain error, bias or second-hand information.
Find this term in published entriesA comparison condition that does not include the factor being tested. It helps show whether the same result occurs through background variation, expectation or the procedure itself.
Find this term in published entriesA pattern in which two things vary together. Correlation can suggest a question to investigate, but it does not show that one caused the other.
Find this term in published entriesIndependent information that supports part of an account, such as a record, trace or separately obtained observation. Repetition from a shared source is not independent corroboration.
Find this term in published entriesAn apparition report associated with a distant person’s death, danger or severe distress. Timing is central, so the earliest dated account and when the witness learned of the crisis matter greatly.
Find this term in published entriesAn animal or animal-like being reported in testimony or tradition but not established by accepted zoological evidence. The term covers very different claims and should not be treated as a biological category.
Find this term in published entriesThe search for animals known mainly through reports, traces or folklore. Useful fieldwork can document testimony and habitat, but a species claim ultimately requires reliable physical evidence.
Find this term in published entriesThe gradual increase in visual sensitivity after entering darkness. During adaptation, colour and fine detail become less reliable even as faint lights become easier to see.
Find this term in published entriesEstimating a current position from a known starting point, course, speed and elapsed time. Wind, current and small navigation errors accumulate, so the result carries growing uncertainty.
Find this term in published entriesA sound, figure, animal or event traditionally interpreted as warning of a death. The label records a cultural interpretation; establishing a prediction requires evidence that the report preceded the death.
Find this term in published entriesTesting a claim against evidence, source quality and ordinary explanations, particularly where a claim has been exaggerated or falsely presented. Good debunking explains the evidence rather than mocking the witness.
Find this term in published entriesDating wood by matching its sequence of annual growth rings to a regional reference sequence. It dates the sampled growth and felling range, not automatically the construction or later use of an object.
Find this term in published entriesA measure of how strongly a radio pulse is delayed at lower frequencies by free electrons between its source and the observer. Astronomers use it to help estimate the amount of intervening material and assess a burst’s origin.
Find this term in published entriesA set of genetic markers used to compare biological samples or assess biological relationships. A match must be interpreted with laboratory quality, population statistics and possible contamination in mind.
Find this term in published entriesA change in observed frequency caused by relative motion between a source and an observer. Radar and radio analysis can use it to estimate motion along the line of sight.
Find this term in published entriesTwo exposures recorded on the same photographic frame or combined to resemble one image. It may be accidental or deliberate and can create transparent figures or duplicated scenery.
Find this term in published entriesThe claimed detection of water, objects or other targets through the movement of rods or pendulums. Controlled tests must account for unconscious movement and prior knowledge of the search area.
Find this term in published entriesA calculation estimating how wind, current or other forces move a person, vessel or object over time. Search planners compare modelled paths with the last reliable position and update them as conditions change.
Find this term in published entriesThe trapping and guiding of radio or radar waves within an atmospheric layer. A duct can carry signals beyond their usual range and is one form of anomalous propagation.
Find this term in published entriesA substance that physical mediums claimed was produced during séances, sometimes forming faces or limbs. Historical photographs and exposures frequently revealed fabric, paper and other ordinary materials.
Find this term in published entriesSpeech-like sounds perceived in recordings where no voice was noticed at the time. Radio interference, compression, background speech and expectation should be checked before interpretation.
Find this term in published entriesGenetic material collected from water, soil, air or another environment rather than directly from an organism. It can indicate that a species was present, but sampling controls and reference databases determine how specific the result is.
Find this term in published entriesThe study of inscriptions, including their script, language, material, date and context. Reading a sign is only one step; authenticity and the history of the inscribed object also matter.
Find this term in published entriesA traditional story that explains why a place, custom, name or natural feature exists. Its purpose as an explanation does not make it a literal account of origin.
Find this term in published entriesInformation that changes how strongly a claim should be accepted. Its value depends on relevance, reliability, independence, preservation and whether competing explanations predict it too.
Find this term in published entriesThe controlled removal and recording of archaeological deposits. Because digging destroys the original arrangement, plans, photographs, samples and layer records are as important as the objects recovered.
Find this term in published entriesThe lawful recovery of buried human remains for examination, identification or reburial. Findings depend on preservation, documentation and the questions the examination can realistically answer.
Find this term in published entriesA change in perception, behaviour or measurement associated with what a person expects to find. It can affect witnesses, participants and investigators, including sceptical investigators.
Find this term in published entriesThe amount of light recorded by photographic material or a digital sensor. Long or uneven exposure can blur motion, wash out detail or make a faint source appear larger.
Find this term in published entriesThe loss of the last living member of a species. Failure to detect a rare animal is not instant proof of extinction, but repeated, well-designed surveys can make continued survival increasingly unlikely.
Find this term in published entriesThe disappearance of a species from a particular region while it survives elsewhere. Historical range and the date of the last reliable local record are therefore important.
Find this term in published entriesA person’s account of what they experienced. It can be sincere and important while still being affected by attention, viewing conditions, memory and later discussion.
Find this term in published entriesA memory that feels genuine but contains events or details that did not occur as remembered. Suggestive questions, repetition and information learned later can all contribute.
Find this term in published entriesA result that indicates a target, match or effect when it is not actually present. The expected false-positive rate matters especially when many images, signals or samples are searched.
Find this term in published entriesThe capacity of a claim to conflict with a possible observation. A claim protected from every contrary result cannot be tested in the same way as one that states what evidence would count against it.
Find this term in published entriesA very brief, intense pulse of radio waves arriving from far beyond the Milky Way. Some repeat and some have been traced to host galaxies; the label describes the signal class rather than one single cause.
Find this term in published entriesA complex superior mirage that can stack, stretch or rapidly change images of distant land, ships or ice. It forms when light is strongly refracted through layered air near the horizon.
Find this term in published entriesA popular term for a disc-like reported aerial object, widely adopted after press coverage in 1947. The phrase became broader than the shapes in the reports that helped popularise it.
Find this term in published entriesKnowledge, customs, beliefs and stories shared through communities and informal transmission. Folklore changes in use and retelling; it is evidence of tradition, not automatic proof of the event described.
Find this term in published entriesA recurring element such as a forbidden room, vanishing traveller or omen animal. Identifying a motif helps compare stories without assuming that one tale directly copied another.
Find this term in published entriesThe use of a forensic DNA profile with genealogical records and genetic matches to develop identity or kinship leads. Documentary research and direct confirmation are still required before a proposed identification is treated as established.
Find this term in published entriesAn object, document or image made or altered so that it will be accepted as something it is not. Demonstrating forgery requires evidence about manufacture, materials, provenance or transmission, not merely an unusual claim.
Find this term in published entriesA large design made on the ground by removing, arranging or contrasting surface materials. Its scale does not by itself imply that it was designed to be viewed from the air.
Find this term in published entriesA recurring local tradition or report involving unexplained lights, often near roads, marshes, railways or water. Different locations may involve different mixtures of environment, traffic and legend.
Find this term in published entriesA book or manuscript containing magical instructions, prayers, symbols, recipes or spirit catalogues. Its age, authorship and use must be established through the particular copy, not its reputation alone.
Find this term in published entriesRadar echoes from terrain, buildings, vegetation or other stationary surroundings. Filtering removes much of it, but changing atmospheric or equipment conditions can make clutter appear unusual.
Find this term in published entriesA pattern of unusual experiences attributed to a place, including apparitions, sounds, movement or sensed presences. A location log is more informative than treating every incident as one cause.
Find this term in published entriesAn account repeated by someone who did not directly witness the event being described. It may preserve a lead or tradition, but each step between the event and the surviving version increases uncertainty.
Find this term in published entriesThe study of how history has been written and interpreted. It asks why different periods or authors selected different evidence and produced different accounts of the same subject.
Find this term in published entriesA deliberate attempt to make false evidence or a false story appear genuine. A hoax can still become culturally important, but its later influence should not be confused with the original claim.
Find this term in published entriesThe single specimen designated as the name-bearing example of a newly described species. A photograph or report without a recoverable specimen cannot serve the same taxonomic role.
Find this term in published entriesAn underwater microphone used to detect pressure waves in water. Locating a source usually requires several instruments, accurate timing and knowledge of how sound travelled through the ocean.
Find this term in published entriesThe transition from wakefulness into sleep, when vivid images, sounds, movement sensations and a sensed presence can occur. The experiences may feel as if they are happening in the room.
Find this term in published entriesThe transition from sleep into wakefulness. Dream imagery and bodily sensations can briefly continue while awareness of the bedroom has returned.
Find this term in published entriesA sudden fracture or movement within ice that releases seismic or acoustic energy. Icequakes and breaking ice can produce powerful sounds in polar and glacial environments.
Find this term in published entriesThe study of subjects, symbols and conventions represented in images. Similar shapes may have different meanings across periods, so interpretation depends on cultural and material context.
Find this term in published entriesSmall movements made without conscious intention, often shaped by expectation. It can move pendulums, dowsing rods and talking-board pointers without deliberate fraud.
Find this term in published entriesA feature created by the camera, processing, storage or display rather than by the photographed scene. Sensor noise, sharpening, dust and compression are common sources.
Find this term in published entriesFailure to notice an unexpected but visible event while attention is occupied by another task. Expertise can direct attention effectively while still narrowing what enters awareness.
Find this term in published entriesEvidence obtained through a source or method that did not derive from the claim it appears to support. Several retellings of one account are multiple copies, not multiple independent observations.
Find this term in published entriesElectromagnetic radiation with wavelengths longer than visible red light. Infrared sensors can record heat-related or reflected signals, but the colours in a displayed image are often assigned during processing.
Find this term in published entriesSound below the usual range of human hearing. Some sources can cause vibration or discomfort, but it should be measured at a location rather than used as a universal explanation for unease.
Find this term in published entriesChecking and adjusting an instrument against a known reference. Calibration records help distinguish a real change in the environment from drift or error in the measuring device.
Find this term in published entriesA military aircraft tasked with reaching and identifying or challenging another aircraft or airborne target. An intercept report combines pilot observation with the limits of radar, position, timing and rules of engagement.
Find this term in published entriesWords or passages inserted into a text during copying or editing after its initial composition. Scholars assess vocabulary, manuscript differences and historical context when proposing an interpolation.
Find this term in published entriesMeasurement of isotope ratios in material such as bone, teeth, metal or water. Depending on the element and sample, it can inform questions about date, diet, movement or origin within stated limits.
Find this term in published entriesThe most recent location supported by reliable evidence for a missing person, ship or aircraft. Search planning distinguishes it from a planned destination or an unverified later sighting.
Find this term in published entriesA traditional narrative presented as connected to real people, places or history, whether or not every element is factual. Legends often carry local values and warnings.
Find this term in published entriesA visit to a place associated with a frightening or uncanny story, often to test, perform or experience the legend. The visit can generate new stories that feed back into the tradition.
Find this term in published entriesStray light reflected or scattered inside a lens, producing spots, streaks or veiling glare. Its position often changes predictably with a bright source and the camera’s optical centre.
Find this term in published entriesA graph showing how an object’s brightness changes over time. Astronomers use its shape, depth and repetition to investigate eclipses, stellar activity and material passing in front of a star.
Find this term in published entriesA boundary or transitional setting such as a crossroads, doorway, shore, bridge or edge of settlement. Such places gather stories partly because they sit between familiar categories.
Find this term in published entriesA rare, sudden release of dissolved gas from deep lake water. Carbon dioxide can flow downslope as an invisible, oxygen-displacing cloud, as occurred at Lake Nyos in 1986.
Find this term in published entriesAn informal label for a living organism that resembles relatives known from much older fossils. It does not mean the species stopped evolving or survived unchanged.
Find this term in published entriesA photograph made while the shutter remains open long enough for movement to be recorded as a trail or blur. Stars, vehicles, aircraft and hand movement can therefore create shapes not visible in a brief glance.
Find this term in published entriesA neutron star with an exceptionally strong magnetic field. Sudden magnetic activity can produce powerful high-energy flares and, in at least some cases, fast radio bursts.
Find this term in published entriesThe surviving network of handwritten copies and versions through which a text was transmitted. Differences between manuscripts can show editing, copying errors and the development of a story.
Find this term in published entriesThe spread of real symptoms through a group without an identified physical cause sufficient to explain the pattern. Stress, observation and social communication can influence how symptoms travel.
Find this term in published entriesThe objects, buildings and physical environments through which people organise and express life. Researchers interpret these remains alongside their manufacture, use, deposition and social setting.
Find this term in published entriesThe difference between a measured value and the value being estimated. It can arise from instrument limits, procedure, environment or reading and should be reported as uncertainty rather than ignored.
Find this term in published entriesA person who claims to communicate with the dead or other non-ordinary agents. Historical study distinguishes mental mediumship from physical performances involving objects, sounds or material effects.
Find this term in published entriesA large stone used in a prehistoric or ancient monument or structure. The term describes scale and construction material, not a single culture, date or purpose.
Find this term in published entriesA personal account of a supernatural or extraordinary experience as told by the person who says it happened. Folklorists study both the experience narrative and the traditions used to interpret it.
Find this term in published entriesA change in one person’s recollection after hearing another person’s account. Agreement between witnesses may therefore increase through discussion rather than independent observation.
Find this term in published entriesInformation stored about a record, such as its creation time, device, location, format or editing history. Metadata can support provenance but may be missing, altered or copied incorrectly.
Find this term in published entriesThe streak of light produced when a small extraterrestrial body heats the atmosphere during entry. The object in space is a meteoroid; material that reaches the ground is a meteorite.
Find this term in published entriesA recognisable legend that is repeatedly attached to new people and places as it circulates. Local detail can make each version feel unique while the narrative pattern travels.
Find this term in published entriesA displaced or distorted image produced when light bends through air layers at different temperatures. A mirage is an optical image of a real source, not a hallucination.
Find this term in published entriesA real object, animal, sound or event interpreted as something else because identifying information was limited. Distance, darkness and unfamiliar angles commonly remove useful scale and context.
Find this term in published entriesA period that a witness cannot account for, often identified by a clock discrepancy or incomplete memory. Fatigue, routine travel, sleep and the reliability of the timing evidence require examination.
Find this term in published entriesDNA found in cell mitochondria and usually inherited through the maternal line. It can link remains to a maternal lineage, but many relatives may share the same sequence, so it rarely identifies one person by itself.
Find this term in published entriesA period of heightened public concern in which a group, practice or threat is portrayed as endangering society beyond what the available evidence supports. News, authority and rumour can reinforce one another.
Find this term in published entriesThe archaeological study of burials, human remains and practices surrounding death. Interpretation combines context, biology, objects and cultural comparison without assuming that every structure held the same function.
Find this term in published entriesA reference system that assigns codes to recurring elements in traditional narratives. It helps researchers compare motifs across collections, but a shared code does not prove direct borrowing or historical fact.
Find this term in published entriesSmearing recorded when the camera or subject moves during an exposure. It can enlarge lights, erase outlines and turn an ordinary object into an unfamiliar shape.
Find this term in published entriesA signal concentrated within a small range of frequencies. It may be technologically produced, but interference and terrestrial transmitters must be excluded before its origin is judged.
Find this term in published entriesThe absence of an expected trace, record or result. It becomes informative only when the evidence should probably have existed, survived and been detected under the conditions examined.
Find this term in published entriesA light seen in the night sky whose structure or distance cannot be established from the report. The description is deliberately narrower than assuming a solid object.
Find this term in published entriesA broad historical label for hidden or esoteric knowledge and practices, including divination, ritual magic and spirit communication. Meaning varies sharply by period and community.
Find this term in published entriesA method estimating when mineral grains were last exposed to light before burial. Sampling conditions and the surrounding radiation environment determine the uncertainty of the resulting age.
Find this term in published entriesA recorded interview about remembered experience, usually created with attention to the speaker, context and purpose. It is a source to interpret, not a transcript of the past without mediation.
Find this term in published entriesKnowledge and narrative transmitted mainly through speech and performance across people or generations. Variation is part of the tradition and should not automatically be treated as corruption.
Find this term in published entriesThe acting out of an existing legend or traditional motif in real life. A prank, ritual visit or crime may imitate a story and then be retold as evidence that the story was true.
Find this term in published entriesAn object claimed to be inconsistent with its archaeological context or accepted chronology. Secure provenance, dating and excavation records are essential before the label has meaning.
Find this term in published entriesA chemical process involving loss of electrons, commonly seen when iron-bearing material reacts to form rust-coloured compounds. It can change the colour of water, rock, metal and biological deposits.
Find this term in published entriesThe study of historical handwriting and scripts. Letter forms, abbreviations and writing practices can help date and read a document, usually within a range rather than an exact year.
Find this term in published entriesAn apparent shift in an object’s position when viewed from different locations. Without a known distance, observers in separated positions may infer misleading size, speed or alignment.
Find this term in published entriesThe study of claimed telepathy, precognition, psychokinesis and related experiences using experimental or statistical methods. Results and methods remain disputed, making replication especially important.
Find this term in published entriesThe perception of a meaningful form, especially a face or figure, in ambiguous patterns. It is a normal feature of perception and becomes stronger when an expected shape has already been suggested.
Find this term in published entriesDeriving measurements or three-dimensional information from photographs. Reliable results require known camera geometry, scale or overlapping views rather than a single uncalibrated image.
Find this term in published entriesMediumship centred on claimed physical effects such as raps, object movement, materialisations or spirit voices. Historical evaluation depends strongly on lighting, access, controls and independent recording.
Find this term in published entriesA change in symptoms or experience associated with expectation and the context of treatment rather than a treatment’s specific proposed mechanism. It does not mean that a person is pretending.
Find this term in published entriesA cluster of reported noises, object movement or disruption traditionally attributed to an unseen agency. Cases require attention to household dynamics, access, building conditions and witness timing.
Find this term in published entriesA feeling, dream or impression later interpreted as anticipating an event. A dated record made before the outcome is much stronger evidence than a recollection shaped after it.
Find this term in published entriesInterpreting the past mainly through present-day assumptions or values. Historians try to reconstruct what words and actions meant in their own period while still examining their consequences critically.
Find this term in published entriesRadar that detects objects from reflected radio energy without requiring equipment aboard the target. Its return indicates reflected energy, not automatically the identity or exact nature of the object.
Find this term in published entriesMaterial close to the event or subject, such as an original letter, photograph, recording, official file, object or firsthand account. “Primary” describes proximity, not guaranteed accuracy.
Find this term in published entriesThe estimated chance that a search or test would find the target if it were present. A failed search is stronger evidence of absence when coverage and detection probability were high.
Find this term in published entriesThe documented history of an object’s origin, ownership, location and handling. A dramatic claim with weak provenance cannot reliably establish where or when an object came from.
Find this term in published entriesA practice presented as scientific while avoiding reliable testing, correction or disconfirming evidence. The label should be supported by examining methods, not used as a substitute for argument.
Find this term in published entriesThe organised investigation of claimed telepathy, apparitions, mediumship and related phenomena, particularly from the late nineteenth century. Its history includes field enquiries, experiments and persistent disputes over method.
Find this term in published entriesThe claimed influence of mind on matter without ordinary physical action. Experiments must exclude handling, air movement, vibration, selective reporting and procedural leakage.
Find this term in published entriesThe claimed ability to obtain information about a person or event by touching an associated object. Testing must conceal ordinary clues about the object and its owner.
Find this term in published entriesEnergy received by radar after a transmitted pulse interacts with a target or the environment. A plotted return requires interpretation and can represent an aircraft, weather, terrain, interference or anomalous propagation.
Find this term in published entriesA sequence of radar plots associated by equipment or an operator as the movement of one target. A track is an interpreted data product and can be broken or wrongly associated when returns are weak or intermittent.
Find this term in published entriesEstimating the direction from which a radio signal arrives. Bearings from separated stations can help locate a transmitter, subject to propagation, equipment and timing errors.
Find this term in published entriesAn instrument that receives radio waves from the sky, usually with an antenna and sensitive receiver. Recorded signals must be separated from terrestrial interference and instrument effects.
Find this term in published entriesUnwanted radio energy from transmitters, electronics or equipment that enters a receiver. It can imitate or obscure a target signal and may be intermittent or difficult to reproduce.
Find this term in published entriesDating once-living material by measuring radioactive carbon-14 remaining in it. Results are reported with uncertainty and calibrated against reference data; they date the sampled material, not every later use.
Find this term in published entriesThe geographic area in which a species is known to occur. A report outside that range can prompt investigation, but identification, dispersal and escaped animals must be considered.
Find this term in published entriesMeasurements or records in their earliest retained form before substantial selection, correction or presentation. Access to raw data helps others check processing choices, although even raw records reflect how an instrument was configured.
Find this term in published entriesA later model, image or account made to represent an event from surviving information. It can clarify a hypothesis but should remain visibly separate from contemporary evidence.
Find this term in published entriesA shift of light toward longer wavelengths. In astronomy it can arise from recession, gravity or motion and helps researchers study the distance and movement of distant sources.
Find this term in published entriesA surviving population left from a formerly wider distribution. Proposing one requires plausible habitat, breeding numbers and evidence stronger than isolated sightings.
Find this term in published entriesCollecting information about a place or object from a distance, commonly by satellite, aircraft, radar or sonar. Interpretation depends on sensor resolution, wavelength, viewing conditions and processing.
Find this term in published entriesRepeating a study or observation to test whether a result can be obtained again. Independent replication is especially important when an effect is small, surprising or sensitive to procedure.
Find this term in published entriesA claimed perception of a past event not learned through ordinary means. Later historical research can unintentionally reshape the remembered detail, so early records are crucial.
Find this term in published entriesAn account recorded well after the event it describes. It may contain valuable memory, but elapsed time and later information must be distinguished from details documented earlier.
Find this term in published entriesA repeated, structured action carrying social, religious or symbolic meaning. Similar-looking actions can have very different meanings, so local and historical context is essential.
Find this term in published entriesUnverified information circulated between people because it appears relevant or urgent. Repetition can make a rumour familiar without adding an independent source.
Find this term in published entriesThe number of observations, people or trials included in an analysis. Small samples are more vulnerable to chance patterns and usually support less precise conclusions.
Find this term in published entriesImages or measurements of Earth collected by instruments on satellites. Resolution, revisit time, cloud, viewing angle and processing limit what a scene can establish.
Find this term in published entriesAn object or measurement of known size included so dimensions can be estimated. Without reliable distance and scale, photographs often cannot establish an object’s true size.
Find this term in published entriesRapid changes in the apparent brightness or position of a distant light caused by turbulence in the atmosphere. Stars near the horizon can seem to flash colours or move.
Find this term in published entriesA gathering intended to communicate with spirits, usually through a medium, table movement, voices or other signs. Lighting, access and the exact procedure matter when evaluating physical claims.
Find this term in published entriesThe geographic region selected for a search from the last reliable position, likely movement, terrain and available time. It is a planning model, not proof that the missing subject entered every part of it.
Find this term in published entriesThe use of probability, detection performance and resource planning to decide where and how to search. The search plan is revised as new evidence changes likely locations or detectability.
Find this term in published entriesRadar that receives coded replies from an aircraft transponder. It can provide identity or altitude data, but only when compatible equipment is operating and replying correctly.
Find this term in published entriesA later work that interprets, summarises or analyses primary material. Good secondary sources reveal their evidence and make it possible to trace important claims back.
Find this term in published entriesGround motion recorded by a seismometer. Earthquakes, explosions, impacts, ice fractures and local activity can produce different patterns, but identifying a source requires location and waveform analysis.
Find this term in published entriesA distortion caused when the observations selected for study differ systematically from those left out. Collections built from famous, dramatic or volunteered cases may not represent all reports.
Find this term in published entriesA seal being in Scottish and Irish tradition who can take human form, commonly through removing a skin. Surviving stories vary, but often concern captivity, marriage, loss and return to the sea.
Find this term in published entriesThe strong impression that another being is nearby despite limited or absent sensory evidence. It can occur in sleep transitions, isolation, stress and some neurological conditions without settling the meaning of an individual experience.
Find this term in published entriesThe strength of a wanted signal compared with background noise. A low ratio makes detection and interpretation less reliable even when a pattern looks suggestive.
Find this term in published entriesThe difficulty of separating an object’s true size from its distance when reliable reference points are absent. A small nearby light and a large distant light can occupy the same visual angle.
Find this term in published entriesA temporary inability to move while falling asleep or waking, sometimes accompanied by pressure, fear, vivid imagery or a sensed presence. Cultural expectations influence how the episode is interpreted.
Find this term in published entriesA method of detecting or mapping underwater objects with sound. Returns depend on geometry, water conditions, equipment and operator interpretation and do not identify a target by shape alone.
Find this term in published entriesThe examination of who created a source, when, why, from what information and through what later copies or edits. It helps separate early evidence from repetition.
Find this term in published entriesSeparating light, sound or another signal into its component wavelengths or frequencies. The resulting pattern can reveal composition or periodic structure while also exposing noise and interference.
Find this term in published entriesIn early modern witchcraft proceedings, testimony that an accused person’s spirit or apparition harmed someone while the physical person was elsewhere. Its disputed legal use is distinct from modern scientific uses of the word spectral.
Find this term in published entriesA visual display of how the frequencies in a sound or radio signal change over time. It can reveal structure hidden to hearing while also displaying interference and processing artefacts.
Find this term in published entriesPhotography presented as showing spirits or unseen presences, especially in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Multiple exposure, substitution, staging and handling history are central to evaluating an image.
Find this term in published entriesA religious and cultural movement centred on communication with the dead, especially influential from the nineteenth century onward. It developed churches, publications, rituals and competing forms of mediumship.
Find this term in published entriesTracks, droppings, hair, feeding signs or other traces left by an animal. Reliable identification depends on documentation, comparison and, where possible, a securely collected sample.
Find this term in published entriesA result unlikely under a specified statistical model if there were no effect. It does not by itself show that an effect is large, important, correctly explained or free from bias.
Find this term in published entriesThe study of layered deposits and their sequence. An undisturbed lower layer is generally earlier than one above it, but digging, erosion and later intrusion can rearrange material.
Find this term in published entriesLocated, formed or occurring beneath a glacier or ice sheet. Subglacial water and sediments can remain hidden while transporting dissolved material and supporting chemical or microbial processes.
Find this term in published entriesInformation or expectation that influences what a person notices, remembers or reports. Even a well-meant question can introduce details that were not in the first account.
Find this term in published entriesA mirage that places an image above the true source, usually when colder air lies below warmer air. Distant land, ships or lights may appear raised, stretched or inverted.
Find this term in published entriesA coincidence experienced as meaningfully connected despite no demonstrated causal link. Its personal significance is separate from the statistical question of how surprising the coincidence was.
Find this term in published entriesA séance practice in which a table appears to tilt, rotate or answer questions beneath participants’ hands. Investigation considers conscious handling, the ideomotor effect and the physical arrangement.
Find this term in published entriesA classification for a complete traditional story built from a recognisable sequence of motifs. Different performances can belong to one type without having identical wording or details.
Find this term in published entriesThe scientific practice of naming, describing and classifying organisms. A proposed species is assessed through diagnostic features, comparison and a published description anchored to type material.
Find this term in published entriesThe claimed transfer of information between minds without known sensory communication. Controlled tests must prevent ordinary cueing and define success before results are examined.
Find this term in published entriesAn atmospheric layer in which temperature increases with height instead of decreasing. Inversions can trap pollution and bend light or radio waves in ways relevant to distant lights and radar returns.
Find this term in published entriesThe comparison of surviving versions of a text to understand copying, editing and the wording of earlier forms. It does not assume that the oldest surviving copy is identical to the original.
Find this term in published entriesA small force produced when heat is radiated unevenly from an object. Over long periods it can measurably alter a spacecraft’s motion and imitate an unexplained acceleration.
Find this term in published entriesA method estimating when certain heated minerals, such as pottery, were last fired. The result depends on sampling, environmental radiation and assumptions reported with the date range.
Find this term in published entriesAn experience interpreted as a brief encounter with another historical period or altered version of a place. Route, timing, fatigue, expectation and when the account was recorded are central evidence.
Find this term in published entriesA person who knows, performs or transmits material within a living tradition. Their version is shaped by knowledge, audience and occasion rather than being a passive copy of a fixed text.
Find this term in published entriesAn altered state of attention or awareness associated with ritual, mediumship, hypnosis or absorption. The term describes many states and does not establish their cause.
Find this term in published entriesEquipment that automatically replies to an interrogation signal, commonly providing aircraft identity or altitude to secondary radar. A missing reply is not the same as proof that no aircraft was present.
Find this term in published entriesLocating a point from measurements made at known positions, often using directions or distances. Informal estimates from witnesses are not equivalent to surveyed angles with synchronised timing.
Find this term in published entriesA preserved specimen to which the scientific name of an organism is formally attached. It anchors taxonomic comparison and is different from a specimen merely thought to resemble the species.
Find this term in published entriesThe classification of objects by shared form, manufacture or use. A type can help compare and date finds, but categories are analytical tools rather than proof that every object had one purpose.
Find this term in published entriesUnidentified anomalous phenomenon, a broad label for an observation not identified from the available information. Unidentified describes the state of the evidence, not an origin.
Find this term in published entriesUnidentified flying object, historically used for an aerial observation that remains unidentified at the time of reporting. In popular culture it often implies a spacecraft, which is a separate claim.
Find this term in published entriesThe stated limit on what a measurement, reconstruction or body of evidence can establish. Describing uncertainty is not indecision; it prevents a result from appearing more precise than the evidence allows.
Find this term in published entriesA contemporary story circulated as something that happened to a friend, neighbour or nearby stranger. Versions migrate between places while keeping a recognisable warning, shock or twist.
Find this term in published entriesA particular version of a story, belief or custom recorded from one teller, place or occasion. Differences between variants show how tradition is adapted and transmitted.
Find this term in published entriesBelief as expressed and practised in everyday community life rather than only in official doctrine or formal texts. It may be flexible, situational and mixed with other explanations.
Find this term in published entriesA preserved, documented specimen deposited so that an identification or study can be checked later. Photographs and DNA sequences are useful records but may not preserve every feature a specimen does.
Find this term in published entriesThe distance between repeating points in a wave. Different wavelengths of light, radio or sound interact differently with matter and determine what a sensor can detect or resolve.
Find this term in published entriesA wandering light reported over marshes and other dark landscapes and interpreted in many traditions as a spirit, omen or misleading guide. The name groups stories and observations that may not share one cause.
Find this term in published entriesThe alteration of an account through discussion, leading questions, news reports or exposure to other versions. Recording witnesses separately and early reduces the problem.
Find this term in published entriesA recorded account attributed to a particular witness at a particular time. The original wording, questions asked and edits are part of the evidence and should be preserved.
Find this term in published entriesHighly competitive reporting that emphasises sensation, striking presentation and dramatic claims over careful verification. The label is especially associated with the late nineteenth-century press but is often used more broadly.
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