6 MORE Commonly Misspelled Paranormal Words

I swear I’m not a spelling/grammar Nazi; anyone reading my work can attest to the fact that my lack of sleep and neglectful proofreading have led to some very unprofessional looking blog and social media posts over the years!  However, I do make it a point to learn (and practice) the proper spelling of commonly used words in the paranormal field.  It all started several years ago when I got banned from a Facebook paranormal group by telling a guy that he shouldn’t call himself a paranormal expert until he could consistently spell ‘paranormal’ correctly.  That led to my fairly successful blog post, 6 Commonly Misspelled Paranormal Words.  I had fun writing that post, and wanted to share a few more words that I’m constantly seeing people in this field slaughter.  This post isn’t meant to be mean or condescending. Instead, I hope you’ll find it a light-hearted and fun way to bring attention to the issue of misspelled paranormal vocabulary.

1. Poltergeist: Ah, those noisy ghosts!  Whether you feel that poltergeists are an actual independent entity or a manifestation of RSPK (or some other explanation) there is only one acceptable way to spell the word, as far as I know.  There are no poltregeists, poltergiests, potergeists, or poultergistes  here!

2. Amityville:  Place names, especially if you’re unfamiliar with them or if they’re a little wonky sounding to begin with, can be difficult to spell correctly.  However, with all the movies, books, websites, and articles about this famous, yet controversial haunting, you’d think it would be more ingrained into the brains of paranormal enthusiasts. However, I can totally understand this one…my spell checker is telling me its spelled wrong when I KNOW its spelled correctly…

3. Ouija:  I used to think that ‘Ouija’ was a fairly straight-forward word to spell.  It is just ‘yes’ in French and German, smooshed together.  However, I am constantly seeing people on paranormal social media platforms spell this with a ‘Q.’  WHY?!?  What am I missing?  Please let me know in the comment section below if there is some actual reason why so many people spell it ‘Quija.’ I’m assuming that the ‘Q’ replaces the ‘O’ because people just assume that a ‘Qu’ should go together at the beginning of a word.  Bonus Fun Fact: Do you know how the Ouija Board got its name?  “Helen Peters Nosworthy is the woman responsible for giving the Ouija its mysterious name. Her identity was rediscovered by TBHS founder Robert Murch in a series of letters printed in the Baltimore Sun when the founders of Ouija took their grievances with each other public. Letters from Charles Kennard, the man who claimed to invent the Ouija board and his friend and business partner Elijah Bond, the man who patented it, stated that a woman by the name of “Miss Peters, Bond’s sister-in-law” who was known as a “strong medium,” asked the then-unnamed talking board what it would like to be called. The board spelled out O-U-I-J-A, and when asked what the term meant, it responded “Good Luck.””

4. Believe:  Whether you believe in the paranormal or not, you should be mindful that you’re ‘believing,’ and NOT ‘beleiving.’ The whole “I before E, except after C…etc.” thing can get super complicated with its many exceptions, so be careful with this one…especially if ‘believe’ is used as part of your investigation/research/social media group’s name.

5. Spirit: This is another one that I used to think was pretty straight-forward.  It is spelled just about how it sounds, but I keep seeing people write ‘sprit,’ which could be a simple typo, and also ‘sprite.’ Now, there is a being in paranormal lore known as a sprite, but too often when I see it spelled that way, its obvious that ‘spirit’ is the actual word the writer is looking for.

6. Zak Bagans:  Out of all the words on this list, I see Zak’s name slaughtered most often.  There are plenty of ways to spell ‘Zak’, and the para-celebrity in question, known for his work on Ghost Adventurers and his Demon House documentary, does use a fairly unpopular variation.  Still, if you’re going to write about a person, its always nice to look up and verify the correct spelling of his/her name.