1. Introduction
   
2. Haunted Mirror
   
3. Monkey Paw
   
4. Music Box
   
5. Ouija Board
   
6. Summoning Circle
   
7. Tarot Cards
   
8. Voodoo Doll
   
9. Friendly Ghost setting
   
10. Conclusion
    
11. Credits and References

Cursed Possessions were a fun addition to the game introduced in 0.5.0 in December 2021 but actually, a prototypical voodoo doll and the Ouija Board predated it and existed back in the pre-release alpha version. However, the overhaul of the Ouija Board and the inclusion of more items created a new aspect of the game which provided a potential reward but came with a serious risk.

The current Cursed Possessions are the: Haunted Mirror, Monkey Paw, Music Box, Ouija Board, Summoning Circle, Tarot Cards, and Voodoo Doll. There is normally one randomly provided Cursed Possession at each investigation but this is adjustable through Custom Difficulty settings. They can also provide a source of mischief in multiplayer games so always be on the look for trolls and potential troublemakers.

Each of the Cursed Possessions can be photographed, and each one provides a unique photo and not simply one overall classification. This can be important if you are playing with multiple Cursed Possessions.

The Haunted Mirror has basically one function and that is to see the Ghost's favorite room including anything in it and that also includes players. It either drains 7.5% Sanity per second or 20% Sanity per usage depending on which is higher. If the user runs out of and reaches 0% Sanity it will immediately break and start a Cursed Hunt from the Ghost's current location. The animation of raising the mirror apparently counts towards the time used but the lowering animation doesn't count.

The Haunted Mirror will also automatically break and trigger a Cursed Hunt if the user's Sanity level is at or below 20%.


Since the mirror is a guaranteed way to drain Sanity it serves a second purpose of allowing you to drain your Sanity at a relatively controlled rate and also allows you to start a Cursed Hunt on-demand by breaking the mirror.

The Monkey Paw, based on the classic story device, allows the user to make up to 5 wishes on Amateur difficulty (0x to 1.99x), 4 wishes on Intermediate (2x to 2.99x), or 3 wishes on any difficulty with a reward modifier of 3.0x or higher. However, these are limited to a number of valid wishes which can be discovered through clues on various maps.

The current valid wishes are:
"I wish to see the Ghost"
"I wish for activity" or "I wish the Ghost would do something"
"I wish to trap the Ghost" or "I wish the Ghost was trapped"
"I wish to be sane" or "I wish for Sanity"
"I wish to be safe"
"I wish to leave"
"I wish to revive my friend" or "I wish for life"
"I wish for knowledge"
"I wish for <insert weather>"
"I wish for anything"

Unlike other Cursed Possessions, there is no special action to take except to use voice chat to make your wish while holding the Monkey Paw. Since this is based on speech recognition it is entirely possible for the game to not hear you or to misunderstand your wish especially if you're making one of the valid wishes. If you don't want to accidentally make a wish you need to drop it, it won't grant wishes if not being currently held by a player.

There are options to use a text-based interface on both PC and console, with the advantage being that it can't misunderstand your wishes.

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The Ghost triggers a Ghost Event and appears in front of the player. The Ghost will disappear after 5 seconds and immediately start a Cursed Hunt while also obscuring the player's vision but once the Hunt is over then the player's vision will be restored to normal.

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The Ghost's activity will be doubled for the next 2 minutes which including roaming behavior, Ghost Interactions, and Ghost ability usage but the exit doors will also be locked for the next 2 minutes and the Fuse Box will be permenantly broken.

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The Ghost is teleported to its favorite room and prevents it from hunting, roaming, or using any of its abilities for the next minute. However, all the doors to the user's current room and the Ghost's favorite room will be immediately locked. When the duration is finished it'll immediately start a Cursed Hunt. There is a 25% chance that the doors won't unlock until after the grace period has concluded but this has no application if there isn't one because of difficulty settings.

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It sets the Sanity of ALL players to 50% and not just the user's Sanity. It increases the Passive Sanity Drain by 150% for the remainder of the contract. Lastly, it changes the Ghost's favorite room to a random room and does so even in the case of a Goryo, Banshee, or Mimic currently mimcking either.

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It opens up the nearest blocked hiding spot -- assuming there is one. However the lights in the user's current room will immediately shatter and the Ghost's vocal and electronic detection ranges for that specific user will be unlimited for the rest of the contract including across different floors..

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This wish unlocks all the exit doors -- including during a Hunt -- but will also decrease the user's speed and vision for 5 seconds. This is currently the only way to unlock exit doors during a Hunt.

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It will revive a random dead player but with a 50% chance that it'll immediately kill the user. This wish isn't valid during single-player games or if there isn't currently a dead player.

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This wish places a black smudge over one type of incorrect evidence and all ghosts in the journal that provide that kind of evidence. However, that player has muffled audio and visuals until the end of the contract or until they die. Lastly, the Ghost immediately starts a hunt near the user. This is often a suicidal wish in a multiplayer game for the sake of the rest of the team having an easier investigation.

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This changes the weather to any of the valid weather options but temporarily blinds the user for a few moments and drains 25% of their Sanity.

The valid options for weather are Sun, Rain, Clear Sky, Fog, Snow, and Wind. You don't have the option to specify Light or Heavy when it comes to Rain or Wind. You have a 50/50 chance of Light or Heavy upon specifying Rain or Wind.

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This wish grants a random choice of the valid wishes and if it happens to grant the weather wish it'll randomly pick one of the valid weathers. It has no additional effects or costs except those already specified by each type of valid wish.

The Music Box, thanks in part to its song "Adrift" by game developer Ben Lavender, is one of the most enduring of the Cursed Possessions. When it plays its melody the Ghost will immediately start singing along thus broadcasting its location if within 20 meters but will remain invisible. If the Music Box comes to within 5 meters of the Ghost, or 2.5 meters for Yokai, it will start a Ghost Event where it start to walk towards the Music Box which ends either when it comes within short range of the playing Music Box or the music ends causing the Ghost to disappear.

However, it comes at a cost in that any player within 2.5 meters of it while it plays will incur a Sanity drain of 2.5% per second for a maximum of 75% total Sanity if within that range for the entire duration of the song.

The duration of the song is 30 seconds, however, that can be made considerably shorter under a number of circumstances. The first is if a player within range (2.5m) reaches 0% Sanity it will immediately stop and start a Cursed Hunt. Secondly if the Ghost gives within short range of the box (essentially reaching it) it stops and brings a Cursed Hunt and lastly if thrown (not placed) to the ground it abruptly stops playing and begins a Cursed Hunt.

It is possible for a normal Hunt to occur as the Ghost doesn't stop function normally even while under the sway of the Music Box. However once it is within range of triggering the box-related Ghost Event it will cease all other activities.

If the Music Box is playing within approximately 5 meters of the Ghost's location it will start a Ghost Event where it'll walk towards the active Music Box and after either 5 seconds of this Ghost Event beginning or when it reaches the Music Box it'll stop the song and initiate a Cursed Hunt. Additionally, if the Music Box is ever thrown to the ground (instead of placed) it'll immediately end the song and also initiate a Cursed Hunt. This technique is often called "the grenade" since it can be used to grief or troll other players.

Lastly, the Music Box can only be used once and even an early cessation of its song won't allow it to be used for the remaining duration. A photo can be taken regardless of it being available or expended so it doesn't have to be taken before the Music Box has been used.

The Ouija Board is the oldest Cursed Possession and, aside from a pseudo-Voodoo Doll, used to be the only Cursed Possession in the game. If you're not familiar with how one operates it; you ask a valid question and it moves the planchette around the board to spell out the answer. It was overhauled with the introduction of the other Cursed Possessions in December 2021 with specific Sanity costs for each type of question.

It is important to note that the Ouija Board can break resulting in a Cursed Hunt under several circumstances. The first is Santy-based where if the player doesn't have enough Sanity left to cover the cost of the question, if the player's Sanity is already at 0%, or if the question reduces the player to 0% Sanity then the board will explode and no longer be usable even if the player later restores their Sanity.

The Ouija Board can also be asked to play "Hide and Seek" which triggers a 5-second countdown after which the board will explode and a Cursed Hunt will occur at the Ghost's current location. This is commonly used to grief or troll other players in the team but has a bit more leeway than using "the grenade" as it still provides a 5-second warning, assuming other members of the team heard the request in the first place.

Lastly, when a player is done using the Ouija Board they should immediately say the phrase "Goodbye" and they'll know they've done it correctly when the planchette or pointer removes itself from the board and failure to do will cause the board to explode, break, and start a Cursed Hunt.

While the Ouija Board is answering a question it will emit an EMF 2/3 signature which can be randomly upgraded to EMF 5 if the Ghost provides that evidence. This can be a useful way to test for EMF 5 if the Ghost is otherwise fairly inactive. A unique video can be taken of the Ouija Board while it is responding to a question.

Here is a list of valid questions, their costs, and possible responses:
(Keep in mind this isn't an exhaustive list and doesn't list all the possible responses)

The Summoning Circle is one of the Cursed Possessions introduced in December 2021 and, more or less, has only one use. It allows you, with the assistance of an Igniter, to summon the Ghost to the circle for 5 seconds, afterwards, it starts a Cursed Hunt from that location. This is deceptively simple as there are a number of conditions for this to occur and the Ghost Event that occurs as a result can be used to fulfill a number of different objectives.

There are five red candles at the Summoning Circle which require you to bring in an Igniter to the investigation and light the candles either with an Igniter directly or light a Firelight and use that to light the candles. Each candle, however, has a cost of Sanity drain of 16% from each nearby player when the candle is lit. Since there are five candles total that means 80% Sanity and if the user lacks the amount of Sanity to pay the cost it will either trigger an immediate Curse Hunt (with no summoning) or extinguish all of the candles. There is also always the chance of a normal Hunt occurring at any point before the actual Ghost Event or Cursed Hunt happens if the conditions for a hunt are present.

The candles naturally extinguish after a short period of time and can be blown out by the Ghost if it is present in the same room as the Summoning Circle. However, if a candle is blown out the Sanity cost isn't refunded and you must pay the cost again to re-light the candle. It's recommended that a high Sanity player do all of the lighting (and potentially other tasks) with other players staying out of the room altogether.

If all the conditions are met and the ghost appears then this is treated as a 5-second long Ghost Event which provides an EMF 4 signature, can step in Salt in the circle, can trigger the Motion Sensor if in the circle, and creates a perfect chance for a Ghost photo (which is often the reason to summon the Ghost). There are reports of the Ghost Event being prematurely interrupted by a player entering the inside part of the circle with the Photo but that could just be a bug or conjecture.

A Ghost photo can be obtained from the summoning as well as a Ghost video, although that requires several seconds to properly record.

The Tarot Cards is one of the most versatile but chaotic of the Cursed Possessions that were first introduced in December 2021. It is unique in the fact that it provides a deck of 10 randomly generated cards of which there are 10 possible cards and , in some cases, there are multiple possibilities for each card.

Unlike the rest of the Cursed Possessions if you want a photo of the Tarot Cards you must get it before all 10 cards have been drawn -- once the deck is empty it completely disappears for the duration of the investigation.

(The above video has Friendly Ghost turned on so there isn't a Cursed Hunt with the Heart Pin.)


The Voodoo Doll is one of the more straightforward Cursed Possessions that were introduced in December 2021. It has 10 pins which can pushed one at a time and 9 out of 10 of them force the ghost to perform a Ghost Interaction at their current location at a cost of 5% of the user's Sanity. The 10th pin, the heart pin, immediately triggers a Cursed Hunt and costs 10% of the user's Sanity.

Since it forces a Ghost Interaction it can potentially give EMF 5 evidence since each Ghost Interaction which gives EMF 2/3 and if EMF 5 evidence possible then any of them could be upgraded to EMF 5. If there is an unwritten Ghost Writing Book in range it is possible that it can get the Ghost to use it, if it leaves Ghost Writing evidence.

An important note is that having the Friendly Ghost setting turned ON on a Custom Difficulty may alter the way the various Cursed Possessions function since they can't start hunts of any description, including Cursed Hunts.

The Cursed Possessions allow for a more varied and interesting game-play, especially in multiplayer games, but can since they come with a price, and not an instruction manual, they can be a bit daunting for newer players. I hope guide has explained all of the current ones in the game and allow you to get a firmer grasp on how to use it, and more importantly, when to use them.

Contributors to Phasmophobia Wiki. “Cursed Possession | Phasmophobia Wiki | Fandom.” Phasmophobia Wiki, Fandom, Inc., https://phasmophobia.fandom.com/wiki/Cursed_possession. Accessed 29 Sept. 2023.