In Phasmophobia, the Spirit Box is a piece of equipment that you can use to gather Spirit Box evidence, helping you to identify the ghost you’re dealing with. When used under the right conditions, players can use the Spirit Box to communicate with the ghost by asking valid questions or saying recognized phrases. If the ghost has Spirit Box as one of its pieces of evidence, it will likely respond–though higher difficulty levels with less evidence may impact this.
Its responses may not necessarily prove useful in identifying it, but any response counts as valid Spirit Box evidence and takes you one step closer to determining your spectre. In addition, using the Spirit Box can also be useful when trying to identify a certain ghost’s unique abilities. For example, if the ghost’s age response changes across the course of the contract, you likely have a Thaye on your hands, while a heavy breathing response is specific to the Deogen.
There are a lot of questions you can ask the ghost through the Spirit Box in Phasmophobia, but below, we’ve rounded up those most likely to get a response and what that response could be–though you may not like it.
How to use the Spirit Box
The most important thing to note about the Spirit Box is that not all ghosts will respond to your questions; only those with the Spirit Box as evidence will successfully do so. However, being able to rule out the Spirit Box as evidence is just as useful, so always make sure to try it. You can’t just run in and start bothering the ghost with your questions, though; certain conditions need to be met to ensure you get a successful response from eligible ghosts.
Before you start using the Spirit Box, check (if available) the board in the van that reveals who the ghost responds to, either ‘everyone’ or ‘people who are alone’ (requiring you to be in the room alone when using the Spirit Box). If this information isn’t available and the Ouija Board cursed object is available, you can ask the Ouija Board to tell you–but it’ll cost you some Sanity.
With this determined, take the Spirit Box to the ghost room and turn off the lights in the room, ensuring you’re alone if needed. Toggle the Spirit Box on and use your selected voice input to ask the ghost a question. Note that the Spirit Box needs to be within a certain range of the ghost for it to respond: three meters for Tier 1, four meters for Tier 2, or five meters for Tier 3. These tier levels also impact the chance of the ghost responding, with higher-tier Spirit Boxes having a greater chance to elicit a response.
If the ghost gives an audible response through the Spirit Box, then you can mark it down as evidence. If you see the ghost icon light up white (Tier 1), a ghost icon appear (on Tier 2), or a line of white LEDS (Tier 3), this also counts as a successful reading. If you see a red ghost icon light (Tier 1), an X instead of a ghost icon (Tier 2), or a line of red lights (Tier 3), this means the question was valid, but the ghost didn’t respond–in this case, it’s worth trying a few more times before you rule it out. Anything else means your question was either invalid or there’s an issue with your mic/voice recognition.
While you can stand and hold the Spirit Box, asking questions one at a time, my advice if you’re using voice chat is to activate the box and then place it on the floor, allowing you to ask questions and await responses while searching for other evidence.
Spirit Box questions and responses
There are three main categories of Spirit Box questions in Phasmophobia: how aggressive is the ghost, its location, and its age. The ghost will not provide an answer to your specific question, but the category of that question will determine its potential response, which typically takes the form of a news report sound bite. For example, if you ask “Are you friendly?”, a ghost won’t say yes or no, but it may(if eligible) respond with a short phrase that includes the word “kill” or “death,” indicating it’s probably not friendly.
But it’s not necessarily the response that matters here, but whether the ghost does respond. So, really, you can get what you need from the Spirit Box by remembering three main questions: “Are you friendly?,” “Where are you?,” and “How old are you?” These cover all three categories and are valid questions that the ghost, if eligible, should respond to. However, below, we provide a list of other popular questions you can ask and the responses the ghost might give.
Spirit Box aggression questions and responses
To ask the ghost about how aggressive/friendly it is, you can ask the following:
