How Does Ghost Writing Work in Phasmophobia

In Phasmophobia, identifying the ghost type hinges on gathering evidence, with ghost writing being one of 7 evidence types. Many people find ghost writing one of most annoying evidence types to find, with the ghost taking forever to interact with the book. This guide explains the mechanics of ghost writing, and strategies to effectively utilize the ghost writing Book during your investigations.

Understanding Ghost Writing

As its name suggests, ghost writing evidence occurs when a ghost interacts with and writes in the ghost writing Book. If you’re in the room (or watching through the video camera) when the ghost chooses to write in the book, you’ll see the book and pen levitate and hear the sound of writing.

Don’t worry! If you’re not in the room whilst it’s writing, you’ll be able to see distinct markings in the book on your return.

For the ghost to interact with the book, it must be placed within a specific range, and the book must be properly placed and open (see how to place the book below). 

If ghost writing is one of the ghost’s evidence types, it has a chance to write in the book approximately every 45 to 90 seconds, provided it’s within range. As such, it’s essential to position the book in areas the ghost frequents, such as its favorite room, to increase the likelihood of interaction. As we will explain later, the ghost has the highest chance of interacting with the Tier 3 book, meaning it’s usually quickest to trigger ghost writing with the Tier 3 book.

When a ghost writes in the book, it triggers an EMF Level 2 reading. If the ghost has EMF Level 5 as one of its evidence types, there’s a 25% chance that the interaction will register as EMF Level 5, potentially giving you two pieces of evidence simultaneously.

If the ghost throws the book instead of writing in it, it’s potentially an indication that ghost writing is not one of its evidence types, as ghosts with ghost writing will not throw the book on normal difficulties. However, there are two caveats to this rule:

• On higher difficulties like Nightmare and Insanity, ghosts may hide certain evidence types, including ghost writing. If the evidence is hidden, the ghost can still throw the book.
• Ghosts with ghost writing can throw the book after they have written it. As such, if you see that the book has moved, make sure to open it and look whether there is writing inside before ruling out ghost writing.

How to Place the Ghost Writing Book

The ghost writing book can only be written in if it’s placed correctly. You have to place the book using the Secondary Interact button (by default, this is by holding the F key on PC, or LT / L2 on Consoles). 

The ghost will not interact with the ghost writing book if the book is closed, or if it’s thrown onto the ground, so make sure to properly place it using the Secondary Interact key.

The Difference Between the 3 Ghost Writing Book Tiers

The ghost writing Book has three tiers. The only difference between the tiers is the range and interaction rate (i.e. how often the ghost will try to interact with the ghost writing book):

• Tier 1: 3-meter range with a low interaction rate.
• Tier 2: 4-meter range with a medium interaction rate.
• Tier 3: 5-meter range with a high interaction rate.

Holding down the Secondary Use key when placing the book will display a white circle indicating its range.

Tips on Using the Ghost Writing Book

• Since the ghost writing Book levitates slightly when placed, positioning it within the view of a video camera allows team members to safely monitor whether the book has been used from the truck.

• The ghost writing is a passive evidence type (you place the book down and then leave it until the ghost writes in it), so you should place the book down in the ghost’s favorite room as soon as you locate it, to give the ghost plenty of time to interact with it.

• If you place the ghost writing book in a room with lots of objects, the ghost will have a lot of choices between what to interact with. If you remove objects from the room, you can help to increase the chance that the ghost interacts with the book (as it won’t interact with other objects instead).

• Another way you can force interactions is by using the Voodoo Doll (if it appears as your cursed possession in the contract). Pulling pins from the Voodoo Doll will force a random interaction, which may include the ghost writing in the book. You can also increase the number of interactions by saying the ghost’s name (make sure your microphone is on and working!).

• You can bring two ghost writing books into a contract. If you position them correctly, you can typically cover the entire space of the room with their radius, increasing the likelihood that the ghost interacts with the book.

• Since you can usually tell that the evidence isn’t ghost writing if the ghost throws the book (minus the two caveats we mentioned above), make sure to place the book in an easily recognisable place (e.g. in line with another object, or right next to an object). If you return and see the ghost writing in a different location, this tells you that the book was moved, and thus isn’t one of the ghost’s evidence type.

Ghosts with Ghost Writing Evidence

Several ghost types can provide ghost writing as evidence:

• Spirit
• Poltergeist
• Mare
• Demon
• Myling
• Moroi
• Revenant
• Deogen
• Shade
• Thaye

On higher difficulties, such as Nightmare and Insanity, the ghosts are able to hide 1 (or 2 on insanity) evidence types. Because some ghost abilities correspond with evidences, some ghosts have forced evidence types (for example, Hantus will always show Freezing Temperatures evidence). However, no ghosts have ghost writing as a forced evidence, meaning that all of the above ghosts may hide ghost writing on harder difficulties.

Ghost Writing Book Photo Rewards

Capturing a photo of the Ghost Writing Book after the ghost has written in it rewards players with $5 and 5 XP for a three-star photo. For more details on photo rewards, refer to our Guide to Taking Photos & Photo Rewards in Phasmophobia.

We hope you’ve found this ghost writing guide useful! Please check out our full range of Phasmophobia guides to give you and your team the best chance of success in your contracts.