Picture this: you're deep into a contract at Grafton Farmhouse, sanity draining, ghost unidentified, and your teammate spots a glowing Summoning Circle on the floor. Do you light the candles? Most players hesitate. The ones who know exactly what they're dealing with don't.
Phasmophobia has seven cursed possessions scattered across its maps, and each one is a double-edged tool. Used correctly, they can crack a stubborn investigation wide open. Used carelessly, they hand the ghost exactly what it needs to end your run.
What cursed possessions actually do for your investigation
Here's the thing: cursed possessions aren't just atmospheric set dressing. They serve real mechanical purposes, and knowing which one to grab in a given situation separates efficient investigators from players who die confused.
The Haunted Mirror is the clearest example. Pick it up, interact with it, and you get a live feed of the ghost's favorite room. On a small map like 6 Tanglewood Drive it's almost trivial to identify the room. On Brownstone High School, with its rows of near-identical classrooms, you'll need to pay close attention to wall colors, decor, and any equipment you've already placed. Every second you hold the mirror active costs 7.5% sanity per second (minimum 20% per use), so one focused look beats three casual glances.
The Voodoo Doll is arguably the most useful tool for identifying shy ghosts like the Shade. Each of its 10 pins forces a ghost interaction when pushed, giving your team a window to catch EMF or UV evidence. The catch: each pin costs 5% sanity, and if the heart pin triggers, all remaining pins fire simultaneously, your sanity craters, and a cursed hunt begins. Push pins deliberately, not frantically.
The Ouija Board lets you ask the ghost direct questions, including its location, which makes it genuinely powerful on larger maps. Place it on a flat surface, activate it, and ask away via voice or text input. The sanity drain scales with how useful the question is: asking "where are you?" costs significantly more than "when did you die?" The most important rule with the Ouija Board is one players constantly forget: always say or select "Goodbye" when finished. Leave an active board unattended with no one within 5 meters and it burns, breaks, and triggers a cursed hunt immediately.
The Music Box is high-risk, high-reward. When activated, it plays music that causes the ghost to sing if it's within 20 meters, letting you track its location by sound. Get the ghost within 5 meters of an active box and it manifests physically, walking toward it. That's your window for a ghost photo or video. The danger is real: players within 3 meters of the active box lose 2.6% sanity per second, and the full 30-second song can drain up to 77% total. Drop the box while music is playing and a cursed hunt triggers. Have a smudge ready, keep your sanity above 80% before using it, and know your hiding spot before you activate it.
The Monkey Paw grants wishes at a cost. The number of available wishes scales with difficulty: five wishes on 0x to 1x multiplier, four between 1x and 2x, and three on anything above 2x. Each wish is single-use, and the effects always come with a drawback. Lower difficulty runs give you more room to experiment; on higher difficulties, every wish counts.
The Summoning Circle is the most theatrical option. Light all five candles surrounding the red symbol on the floor and the ghost appears in physical form, trapped for 5 seconds. Each candle costs 16% sanity, meaning you need above 80% sanity before you start lighting. The ghost is free the moment those 5 seconds are up, and a hunt triggers immediately. Capture your photo or video the instant it appears, then run. Lighting a candle with less than 16% sanity triggers an instant hunt, and activating the circle during an ongoing hunt teleports the ghost directly to you.
The Tarot Cards are the wildcard. Draw a random card from the 10-card deck and something happens, positive or negative. The deck contains 10 randomly selected cards, not necessarily all 10 unique types, so you may draw duplicates. The Hanged Man card kills you outright with no counterplay. The Devil and Death cards can be countered with a specific in-game trick that negates their negative effects, but that knowledge needs to be in your back pocket before you draw.
Spawn locations across every map
Each cursed possession has a fixed location per map, though only one (or occasionally more on custom difficulty) will actually appear per contract. Knowing where to look saves time.
On small residential maps (6 Tanglewood Drive, 42 Edgefield Road, 10 Ridgeview Court, 13 Willow Street), possessions are spread through the house. The Summoning Circle almost always ends up in the basement. The Haunted Mirror tends to be near the entrance hallway. The Voodoo Doll gravitates toward bedrooms, and the Ouija Board favors utility spaces.
On farmhouse maps (Grafton Farmhouse, Bleasdale Farmhouse), possessions are distributed across multiple floors and outbuildings. Grafton's Summoning Circle hides in a room full of creepy dolls on the upper floor. Bleasdale's Tarot Cards sit in the attic bedroom near a crystal ball.
The large maps consolidate spawns. In Brownstone High School and Prison, all seven possessions spawn in the lobby and entrance hallway respectively. Sunny Meadows and Sunny Meadows Restricted place everything in the Chapel, clustered around a large floor symbol beneath the crucifix.
On outdoor and campsite maps (Camp Woodwind, Maple Lodge Campsite), possessions are scattered across the grounds. Camp Woodwind's Haunted Mirror leans against the large tree in the center of camp. Maple Lodge's Summoning Circle requires a blue key from beside a cabin door near the pier to access.
Point Hope is the outlier among medium maps: possessions are spread across all seven floors, one per floor, making a full sweep of the building necessary if you want to locate all of them.
The risk calculus before you pick one up
Every cursed possession is worth photographing for XP and cash even if you never use it. That's free money with zero downside. Using it adds the object to your lobby trophy case, which is a nice bonus, but the real question is whether the investigation benefit outweighs the sanity cost and cursed hunt risk at your current difficulty level.
At lower difficulties with more evidence available, cursed possessions are training tools. At higher difficulties where evidence is restricted and every sanity point matters, they become calculated gambles. The Haunted Mirror and Voodoo Doll tend to offer the best risk-to-reward ratio for experienced players. The Tarot Cards and Music Box demand the most preparation.
For a deeper look at what you're actually hunting, the Phasmophobia ghost behaviors and secret abilities guide covers all 27 ghost types with speed data and identification strategies that pair directly with what these possessions reveal. If you're running seasonal content alongside your investigations, the Cursed Hollow cosmetics guide walks through the event goals worth completing. Find the full Phasmophobia guide collection for everything else.
