The Monkey Paw is one of the most powerful – and dangerous – cursed objects that players can use in Phasmophobia.
In the right hands, you can use the Monkey Paw to unlock the front door during a hunt, rule out an entire evidence type, or bring back a dead player.
However, you can also cause cursed hunts, permanently impair your vision, and even kill you.
Read this guide to see how to use the Monkey Paw and a full list of the wishes you can make with it.
How to Use the Monkey Paw in Phasmophobia
Similar to the Ouija Board and Spirit Box, you must speak into your microphone to use the Monkey Paw. The Monkey Paw can recognize specific phrases that you say and will grant you powerful effects if you say a valid wish whilst holding it.
There is also a text-based system to select wishes if you don’t have a mic, which can be enabled through your Settings (turn Voice Recognition Mode to text). This lets you select your wish of choice in a drop-down menu.
List of Monkey Paw Wishes
There are 10 different wishes that you can ask the Monkey Paw to grant. Be aware that each wish comes with a dangerous consequence, so use them at your own risk.
| Wish | Effect | Consequence |
| “I wish to see the ghost” | Triggers the ghost to appear in front of the player, as part of a ghost event. | Five seconds later, a cursed ghost hunt will begin and the player’s visibility will be impaired. Once the hunt ends, the player’s vision will return to normal. |
| “I wish for activity” / “I wish the ghost would do something” | Doubles all ghost activity for 120 seconds. | All exit doors lock for 2 minutes and the fuse box permanently breaks. |
| “I wish to leave” | Unlocks all exit doors, even during a hunt. | Momentarily slows the player’s movement speed for 5 seconds and reduces the player’s vision. |
| “I wish for sanity” / “I wish to be sane” | Sets everyone’s sanity to 50%. | Your sanity will always go to 50%, even if a player’s sanity level was higher at the time the wish was made. Also increases the rate of any further sanity loss to 1.5 times. The ghost’s favorite room will be changed to a random room. |
| “I wish the ghost was trapped” / “I wish to trap the ghost” | This wish teleports the ghost to its favorite room and locks it inside for 60 seconds. The ghost cannot hunt, use abilities or roam during this period. | Also locks all the doors of the wisher’s room for 1 minute. Triggers a standard ghost hunt after 1 minute. |
| “I wish for life” / “I wish to revive my friend” | Brings a dead player back to life (this wish does not work if no one is dead or you’re playing in singleplayer) | There’s a 50% chance that the player who makes this wish will lose their life in exchange. |
| “I wish to be safe” | Unblocks the closest blocked hiding spot. | All the lights in the current room will explode. For the rest of the contract, the player who used this wish will have their active electronics sensed by the ghost at any distance. The ghost will also be able to hear the player at any distance. |
| “I wish for knowledge” | Rules out 1 evidence type in the journal. | A cursed ghost hunt will be triggered near to the player, the player’s visibility will be reduced and the player’s hearing will be muffled. These two effects will last until the player dies or completes the contract. |
| “I wish for: [weather]”. Options: Clear sky, fog, ran, snow, sunrise | Changes the current weather to your desired choice | Temporarily causes a blindness effect and reduces your sanity by 25%. |
| “I wish for anything” | Randomly grants any of the above wishes (as long as the wish hasn’t been used already) | Players suffer the consequence of whatever wish they get. |
When and Where Does the Monkey Paw Spawn
On regular difficulties, the monkey paw has a 1 in 7 chance of being the cursed object that spawns on the map.
On Insanity difficulty, no cursed objects can spawn.
The Monkey Paw has fixed spawn points at every location. Read our guide on the Monkey Paw spawn locations for every map.
How Many Wishes Can I Make?
The number of wishes you can make with the Monkey Paw depends on your difficulty.
On difficulties with reward multipliers between 0 and 1, you can make 5 wishes. Between 1.01 and 2 multipliers, you can make 4 wishes. And on difficulties with a reward multiplier over 2.01x, you can only make 3 wishes.
It’s important to note that you can only use each wish once per contract (i.e. you can’t wish for the same wish more than once).
On insanity difficulty, no cursed possessions will spawn during your investigation (so you won’t be able to make any wishes).
What are the Best Wishes to Use with the Monkey Paw?
My two favorite Monkey Paw wishes are “I wish to leave” and “I wish for safety”.
This first wish can be clutch in situations where the ghost is hunting you, and you have no chance of finding a hiding spot. As long as you have enough time to say the wish and leave before the ghost catches you, you can quickly escape through the front door, and live to tell the tale.
“I wish for safety” can be great as well if there aren’t any easily accessible hiding spots, or your go-to hiding spot is blocked. By unblocking the nearest hiding spot, you guarantee yourself someone safe to hide for future hunts, especially if the best hiding spots were randomly blocked at the start of the game.
Other Information on the Monkey Paw
- You can only use the Monkey Paw inside the investigation area (i.e. you cannot use it in the van).
- Taking a picture of the Monkey Paw rewards $5 and 5XP for a 3-star photo, $2 and 2XP for a 2-star photo, and $1 and 1XP for a 1-star photo. This is the same amount as all cursed objects. Read our complete Phasmophobia photo guide for more information on photo rewards.
- Aside from in custom games (where the number of cursed possessions can be increased/decreased) and insanity difficulty (no cursed objects), the Monkey Paw has a 1 in 7 chance of spawning as the map’s cursed object
Fun fact: When the Monkey Paw was first added to Phasmophobia in February 2023, players discovered the wishes through secret medical tags located on the Sunny Meadows map.
We hope that you found our guide on using the Monkey Paw useful. We also have a guide on using the Voodoo Doll, so make sure to check that out as well.
