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Ghost 24 of 30

Spirit

The base ghost: it has no strength. What gives it away is Incense.

Hunt threshold
50%
Speed
1.7 m/s
Speeds up on sight
Yes
On this page

The journal

StrengthNone.

WeaknessA Spirit can be temporarily stopped by burning Incense near them.

How it hunts

Hunt sanity threshold

  • Always: 50%

Standard: 50% average sanity.

Speed

1.7 m/s, the same as most ghosts.

Speeds up with line of sight, up to 2.8 m/s over 13 s.

All its footsteps
  • After Incense is used near it, it can’t start a hunt for 180 s (90 s for most ghosts, 60 s for the Demon).
  • It also counts if the Incense is used during a hunt.
  • It doesn’t prevent cursed hunts.
  • A second Incense while the effect is still active doesn’t reset it.

How it behaves

  • It has no other special behavior.

How to test it

  • 3-minute timer

    Strong

    How: With average sanity at 50% or lower, use Incense during a hunt and time it.

    Result: If it hunts before 3 min, it’s NOT a Spirit. If it hunts within the first minute, the Incense didn’t hit it (try again). If it goes 3 min without hunting, it’s very likely a Spirit (not for sure: another ghost might just not have wanted to hunt).

  • Double Incense

    Strong

    How: Smudge it, wait 160-170 s and smudge it again.

    Result: Since the second one doesn’t reset the effect, if it hunts within the next 60 s, it’s a Spirit.

What rules it out

  • Hunting between 60 s and 3 min after an Incense that did hit it.

Often confused with

Share two evidence

If those two are all you’ve found, it could still be any of these.

How to survive

  • Incense buys you 3 minutes of peace.

Why it happens

Why the double Incense works: the second Incense does nothing if the first one’s effect is still active. On a normal ghost, by 160-170 s the first one has already worn off (it lasts 90 s), so the second one gives you another 90 s of peace. On a Spirit, the first one stays active until 180 s, the second one doesn’t count, and it can hunt again as soon as the 3 minutes are up.

More facts

Myth

  • Myth: the Spirit is the most common ghost, as the journal says. False: every ghost has the same chance. It probably means it’s the “base ghost.”

    Wikiphasmophobia.fandom.com

Trivia

  • The journal selects the Spirit by default at the start of every contract; it’s probably a leftover from when it was first on the list.

    Wikiphasmophobia.fandom.com

In depth

Based on the article “Spirit” on the Phasmophobia Wiki on Fandom (version of April 11, 2026, authors), under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license. Rewritten and adapted by Phasmopedia.

Activity

  • If you use Incense near a Spirit, it can’t start a hunt for 180 s, double the 90 s of most ghosts. This also applies if you smudge it during a hunt.
  • As with any ghost, Incense doesn’t prevent hunts triggered by cursed possessions.
  • It has no other special behavior.

Strategy

With no special powers and a stronger reaction to Incense, the Spirit is the baseline that other ghosts are measured against. Precisely because it has no traits of its own, it can be confusing: without clear evidence, it’s easy to mistake it for another ghost.

How to identify it

Basic test. Get the average sanity below 50% and smudge it while it’s hunting:

  • If it hunts again before the 3 minutes are up, it’s not a Spirit.
  • If it only hunts after the 3 minutes, it’s very likely (but not certain) a Spirit.
  • If it hunts within the first minute after the Incense, the Incense didn’t work: try again.
  • Without a Sanity Monitor, wait for a hunt or a burned Crucifix to confirm that sanity is already low, and avoid anything that raises it (so the ghost doesn’t stop hunting).

More reliable test. Smudge it, start a timer, wait about 160 to 170 s and smudge it again (Motion Sensors help you know where it is). Since the Incense effect isn’t renewed if one is still active:

  • If it hunts within 60 s of the second Incense, it’s a Spirit.
  • If it hunts between 60 and 90 s after it, it’s probably still a Spirit, though it could be a Demon. That’s almost never a problem, because a Demon would almost certainly hunt before the second Incense, and that already rules out the Spirit.

Trivia

  • The journal says it’s the most common ghost, but all ghost types actually have the same chance of showing up. It may mean that it was the “base” ghost the others were built from during development.
  • By default, the Spirit is selected in the journal at the start of every contract. This probably dates back to before version 0.15.1.0, when the journal wasn’t sorted alphabetically and the Spirit was first on the list.

Change history

Version Change
Alpha, 13 March 2020 Now requires Fingerprints as evidence instead of Bug.
Alpha, 10 September 2020 Incense (Smudge Stick) prevents it from hunting for 3 minutes.
0.3.0 Before this version, its evidence was Spirit Box, Fingerprints and Ghost Writing.

Source: phasmophobia.fandom.com/wiki/Spirit. Verified for game version v0.19.0.2 (September 26, 2026).