When I started playing Demonologist, I only had a couple friends who would play occasionally. We would do our best, but we usually died. We were broke. The only ones who made any money at all were those who would get scared and go hide outside.

I knew there had to be a better way. Determined to find that better way, I started playing a lot of single player rounds with whatever equipment I could afford, which usually was nothing more than a camera or crucifix. To teach myself even faster, I always played on Hard difficulty.

I was discouraged early on and was tempted to give up, but I am glad I kept trying. At the time of this writing, I am now level 88 and am sitting on a comfy $100,000. I would like to share what I have learned for players still struggling to prevail against the principalities of darkness.

I discovered that once a ghost has been exorcised, it is still possible to use your tools and even interact with the ghost in specific ways. This helped me learn a lot about how to use certain tools and allowed me to discover, in a safe and controlled way, what the tools can and cannot do. The ability to do this stuff after the ghost has been exorcised may not always remain in the game, but I recommend you try experimenting with different tools in the ghost room after you exorcise it if you want to do your own experiments.

I recommend playing on Easy or Medium difficulty if you're struggling to learn. Once you start getting better at those levels, you can advance to Hard.

Early on, you're going to be very limited in what tools you can bring with you. Even if you've got $15,000, that money is going to go very quick, and all it takes is one death for you to lose all your gear and be broke again having to replace your stuff. Because tools are expensive and money is hard to earn, it's critical that you invest wisely.

If you are currently broke, don't be discouraged. You will learn later in this guide how to make money and be able to start buying gear.

If you have some money saved up and can afford a few additional pieces, then pay special attention to what follows. (Please remember this is just a basic explanation of what to buy early on and why. The detailed instructions for using these items will be explained later.)

The Bare Minimum

If I could only afford a couple pieces of gear, here's what I would buy: A thermometer, a crucifix, and a camcorder tripod.

The thermometer is your best friend for detecting the ghost quickly. It's literally the first tool I grab when I begin an investigation. I don't care about EMF readers or the Ecto Glass, or any other tool. Cold temperatures show up before other types of evidence. You'll lose far less sanity trying to find a cold spot in a haunted house than you will searching for any other type of evidence.

The camera tripod allows you to conduct large parts of your investigation from outside the building where the ghost cannot eat you. If you can investigate from outside the building, do so. We will cover investigative procedures in a later chapter where you will learn the proper way to use a camera tripod.

The crucifix allows you to survive being hunted by the ghost and not lose all your cash and purchased gear. This item is very important while you're learning. And even after you're a pro, you'll want to bring them along. I am an atheist and I always carry two.

Additional tools that really help

If I had enough money to buy the minimum tools discussed above plus a few more items, I would add in another crucifix and some sanity pills.

Sanity pills keep you in the game longer and allow your investigations to be more thorough due to the protection they give you. Ghosts will almost never hunt somebody who has 50 sanity or greater.

Tools can generally be divided into two categories: Active and Passive.

"Active" tools would be those which need to be operated by a ghost hunter on-scene.

"Passive" tools are ones you can drop in the ghost room and simply check on periodically, or watch from a camera. Watching these tools through a camera should be your objective, especially as a new player.

Here's what you should know about each tool and its capabilities:

EMF Reader (Passive)

You probably have two thoughts right now. The first is that this is the most popular ghost hunting tool on Earth, and your second thought is that it should absolutely be considered an Active tool. You're right on the first count, but incorrect on the second count. The EMF Reader, while very familiar, is not put to its best use as an Active tool. It is absolutely possible to drop this thing on the floor in front of a camcorder and never need to touch it again. When placed at the right distance from the camera tripod, you'll be able to read it just fine and get your EMF 5 evidence from the safety of the command tent.

ESG (Passive)

This is a device which makes the ghost visible temporarily. Only certain types of ghosts will interact with this thing, and it's very tough to get them to do so. This is probably the most difficult tool in the game to get evidence from. For that reason, I use two of them at once. The good news is that the ESG is a Passive tool. Put it in the ghost room and get out. Never stand around inside the building to watch an ESG. You will almost certainly get eaten by the ghost before it reveals itself through the ESG.

Flashlight (Active)

This helps you see in the dark but it requires that you have it in your possession in order to do so. Having your flashlight on also helps reduce your sanity drop. You basically will always have one of these with you. Each ghost hunter on your team should have one unless you are all so broke you cannot afford additional lights.

Easel Canvas (Passive)

Some ghosts like to paint. Don't ask why. This needs to placed in the ghost room very quickly after the ghost room has been located. The more time it spends in the room with the ghost, the more likely you are to get a painting that is both useful for identifying the vile spirit which still lingers on our mortal plane, and also lovely to look at.

Ecto Glass (Active)

This is an arcane device through which you can locate ectoplasm left behind by the ghost. It will also be used to locate things that are part of the secondary objectives which must be completed to reach the Exorcism stage of your investigation. Because these have a tendency to get dropped after finding ectoplasm in the ghost room, it may be a good idea to purchase a second one to leave near the front door of the building so you have it available to complete secondary objectives. This saves you wandering through a dark house losing sanity as you try to figure out where your only Ecto Glass was dropped. Only buy the additional Ecto Glass if you can comfortably afford it.

Spirit Box (Active)

This tool is used to communicate with the ghost. This tool may confuse new players at first. It certainly confused me. Whenever I would guess a ghost incorrectly, it was almost always because I missed Spirit Box evidence. This tool is extremely dependent on being close to the ghost, and requires you to use very specific phrases. I wasted huge amounts of sanity stumbling through the dark asking the ghost how it died, if it was in the room, if it was alone, and so on. You need to know that some phrases are more likely to trigger a response, so long as you're close enough to the ghost.

The absolute best phrase that gets a response basically 100 percent of the time (provided you're close enough) is also the easiest: "hello."

Seriously. Just walk around saying "hello" into your Spirit Box again and again when you're in the ghost room. The radius of this tool is generous enough that it's usually possible to get a reply after saying "hello" at least twice anywhere in a ghost room that is comparable in size to the living room at Cyclone Street.

The Spirit Box works between floors. That means you may be on the floor above or below the ghost room, and still get an answer. If you're just relying on the spirit box and nothing else, it may confuse you as to where the ghost actually is in buildings where there are multiple floors. Do not try to use the Spirit Box to locate the ghost room. The purpose of this tool is to determine what the ghost is, not where it is.

UV Light (Active)

This groovy purple lamp will reveal the fingerprints of certain ghost types. You need to have this in your hand for it to reveal anything at all. Look for purple prints on doors and light switches. Currently, ghosts do not leave prints on anything other than doors and light switches, so if you don't have any of these in your ghost room, you're not going to collect this type of evidence.

Crucifix (Active)

If the ghost starts hunting you, pull this baby out and teach that ghost who calls the shots around here. The crucifix won't save you unless it's actually in your hand. It is not enough to just have it in your inventory or on the ground near you. It will buy you a second chance to keep investigating, or at least get out alive. Even though the crucifix is consumed once it stops a hunt, you will not lose the crucifix from your loadout so long as you do not die.

Thermometer (Active and Passive)

This is the tool that really changed the game for me. I never used these things until I realized they are the key to victory. The reason this tool is so important is that ghosts will lower the temperature of their room before they start doing anything else. This is your best chance to find the ghost as quickly as possible without losing a lot of sanity fumbling with other tools that aren't going to reveal anything that early in the investigation anyway. These are so important that I buy as many as I can and make my team carry them around the building as soon as our investigation begins.

This is an Active tool in the beginning. What you're looking for is a rigid drop of 5 - 10 degrees or more. As soon as you see a sudden drop in temperature, you can pace in and out of the area to see if the temperature consistently hops up and down as you move in and out. If so, this means you probably have located the ghost room.

Once you think you have established the ghost room, drop the thermometer. It will become a Passive tool you can watch through a camcorder to see if the temperature reaches freezing. It's important to note that ghosts which produce freezing temps will not necessarily produce those freezing temps right away. It takes time for them to cool the room that severely.

Sanity Pills (Active)

You want as many of these as you can get, especially when playing on higher difficulties. Generally, you'll want to take a sanity pill if your sanity is dropping in the low 50s. I have had ghosts hunt me down when my sanity was in the 60s, but that's rare. I believe that it is the average sanity of the entire team which determines when the ghost will hunt in multiplayer games. You need this in your hand to make use of it, so it's an Active tool.

Please move onto part 2 of "Understanding Tools" to learn about the remaining tool types.

This chapter picks up where the previous chapter left off in describing tools and their uses.

Remember, an Active tool is one you need to have in your hand to make use of, while Passive tools can be set and monitored remotely via camera.

Candle (Passive)

This is useful for completing secondary objectives when you must get a ghost to blow out a candle. However, it has the added benefit of protecting your sanity every bit as well as a flashlight. You can place these around the building in strategic locations where lights break and where investigators will be passing back and forth a lot to help minimize sanity drop. I used to always carry the maximum number of candles so I could place them around the building to protect my sanity when I was still an intermediate ghost hunter. That may or may not be useful depending on how much sanity it costs you to place these things.

Tripod Camera (Passive)

This is the only other tool that I would say approaches the importance of a thermometer. The Tripod Camera allows you to watch what is happening in the ghost room without even being in the building. You can monitor cameras from the TV in your command tent. The idea here is you want to drop a bunch of Passive tools in front of this thing and just watch from the tent where the ghost cannot eat you. Please remember, you will continue losing some sanity while in the tent, but you can drop all the way to zero sanity and still safely watch for evidence you wouldn't live long enough to collect if you were inside the building looking for it. You need at least one Tripod Camera if you want to start winning consistently.

Photo Camera (Active)

This is required to complete secondary objectives sometimes. It's always a good idea to have one if you've got plenty of money. Do not spend money on this if you struggling financially. Those optional objectives do not pay very well compared to simply identifying the ghost correctly.

If you are going to use this to capture a photo of the ghost, you'll want a crucifix with you, because you basically are going to have to get hunted by the ghost in order to take its picture.

Fulu (Active or Passive)

Set this on fire to make the ghost more active without damaging your sanity. It's basically like a voodoo doll without the risks. From my experience, it doesn't really matter where you are in the building when you burn this. It also doesn't appear to matter if you hold it while it burns, or simply light it and drop it on the floor. Save this thing for if you're struggling to collect evidence.

Most teams of beginners prepare for their investigation by simply having an argument about who gets the EMF Reader and then they go inside and get eaten by the ghost. I know, because this is what I and my friends always did.

A successful investigation is one that follows procedure and uses the right tools at the right time. I divide investigations into phases during which we will complete specific actions with specific tools. The first phase is Gear Staging.

This is where you get all your tools out of the tent and drop them inside the building. You want to drop everything in one place. If you're playing alone, this can take a few minutes if you've got a lot of gear. If you're in a group, it will go faster, but make one thing absolutely clear to everyone: Only one person is allowed to switch on the light in the entry way. The reason this matters is that there are cases where groups of people will all enter the building together, and they all reach for the light switch at the entry way and interact with it at the same time. This causes the light to switch on and off multiple times, and will invariably cause the light to break on harder difficulty levels.

If necessary, designate a "Keeper of the Flame" at the start of the investigation whose job it will be to turn on lights in the house, and place candles if you have some. To be honest, the only light I want turned on is the one inside the entry room of the building, if there is a light there. I do not even attempt to turn on other lights until I know where the ghost room is. Keep in mind, I play on Hard difficulty, so you do not need to manage lights so aggressively if you're playing on easier difficulty levels.

Whether you want to light and place candles to help preserve sanity is up to you. If you want candles placed, do it quickly, and place them in areas where investigators will often be present. They are especially useful in long, dark hallways where you and your team will be passing back and forth a lot. Candles can be spaced pretty far apart, usually 7 - 12 feet or more.



A Keeper of the Flame can go place candles if they want, but everyone else should be moving gear into the front door and placing it on the floor. Do not worry about turning on other lights during the Gear Staging process.

You want to get basically everything you have into the building as quickly as possible. I always leave all the sanity pills in the tent. The reason for this is that I will frequently leave the building and go check the sanity monitor in the tent. If I or somebody else needs a pill, we always know exactly where they are.

Once the gear is in the building, it is now time to figure out which room the ghost is in. You need to grab a thermometer and a Spirit Box. If you've got teammates, they can grab thermometers too, and other tools like the easel, EMF Reader, Ecto Glass, etc. But everyone should be using thermometers first and foremost. If you don't have enough thermometers for everyone, then they should use EMF Readers or Ecto Glasses.

With your thermometer equipped, look for a sudden drop in temperature of about 5 - 10 degrees or more as you explore. Step in and out of the area where you notice the change to see how the temperature jumps back and forth according to where you're standing. What you're looking for is a drop in temperature that is definite, repeatable, and more significant than what you observe just wandering around all over the building. Temperature drops are the fastest way to find the ghost room that I know of. If you find a temperature drop, get an EMF Reader and a Spirit Box on the scene quickly to see if you can confirm. Spirit Box only applies to certain ghosts, so don't ignore that room just because there's no Spirit Box response. Do keep in mind it is normal for basements to be cooler than upper floors.

If you're using EMF, you're likely going to take longer to find the ghost room. EMF can be detectable between floors. The ghost could be upstairs but the EMF won't tell you for sure until you go check upstairs. And that's assuming the signal is even still lingering once you get there. The thermometer is limited to reading only the room it is in, so you won't be left wondering if the ghost is on a different floor above or below you. Temperature drops are permanent so long as the ghost is still in the room. If you're using any other tool to find the ghost room besides the thermometer, Ecto Glass, or EMF Reader, it's going to take even longer. Thermometers are the first choice, always.

You may accidentally discover the ghost room just by hearing or seeing the ghost messing around with stuff in its environment. It may shut a door, activate a light, or throw something. Listening is as important as watching.

Once you've found the ghost room, everyone needs to start bringing whatever they're carrying to the ghost room immediately, where Phase 3 will begin.

You've got the Where, now you need the What.

Everyone needs to start piling tools in the ghost room quickly. Now that everyone knows which room the ghost is in, it may be a good idea to try to get some lights on in the room, and also along the path that leads to and from the room. Since people will be spending time in this room, and coming and going, we want to preserve their sanity.

Once again, if you've got candles, you or your designated Keeper of the Flame (see Investigation Phase 1: Gear Staging) can place candles on a path leading from the ghost room to the area where the gear was all piled by the front door in Phase 1. You or your Keeper of the Flame can try to turn on lights along that pathway, and in the ghost room, and hope they don't break.

It's important to get an easel into the ghost room as soon as possible. The longer that easel is in the room, the more likely you are to get a painting. As far as Passive tools go, the easel is the only one to worry about at this moment. This phase is all about using tools that cannot be monitored through a camera.

It is also at the beginning of this phase where you need to get a Spirit Box into the room and start saying "hello" repeatedly. If you haven't gotten a response from the ghost after walking around the room saying "hello" a few times, then you and your team can scratch that off your evidence list. Any ghost that can communicate through the Spirit Box absolutely will do so within the first couple tries using that word. (Please note, the ghost may refuse to talk if more than one person is present. The TV monitor in your command tent will tell you if the ghost prefers to speak when only one person is present.)

As you're working, watch for the ghost to close a door or use a light switch. If this happens, get the UV lamp out and check for fingerprints. If the ghost used a light switch or a door, and it did not leave a print, you can scratch that off your evidence list. Ghosts who are able to leave prints will do so 100 percent of the time when using a door or switch. If there are no switches or doors in the ghost room, you're not going to get this evidence and will have to make an educated guess about the ghost type later.

This is also a good time to use the Ecto Glass to search the walls for white smears. If you don't find any right away, do not scratch ectoplasm off your list. It could be that it hasn't appeared yet, or that you haven't noticed yet. It can be a good idea to search the rooms just adjacent to the ghost room also.

Be prepared to have to come back in later to sweep the room again with Active tools like the Ecto Glass or UV light. The ghost isn't necessarily going to give you all its evidence right away.

After you've done your first sweep with your Active tools, it's time to get your video camera tripods in the room to begin Phase 4. It may be a good idea to go out to the command tent and check sanity levels. If somebody's sanity is in the 50s or 40s, it's a good idea for that somebody to take a sanity pill.

One thing to remember: Ghosts can move to other rooms. This is always a very frustrating event, but there's nothing you can do to prevent it. If you think the ghost has moved to another room, you'll need to go investigate that room for any evidence you're still lacking. Any gear you still need to use needs to be moved to that new room.

This is where you're going to monitor Passive tools via video camera. If you don't have the video camera yet, then you've got to do this manually. That means you're going to go outside and wait a little while (maybe 5 minutes) and then come back in and look for things like a canvas painting. Please note that if you have no camera, the ESG is useless so don't bother with it. The ghost will most likely eat you before it reveals itself on the ESG if you have to stand there and watch the ESG.

If you do have a tripod camera, it's time to get down to some serious investigation. The camera tripod should be positioned so that it has a clear view of the middle of the ghost room. If there is a door in the room, it may be a good idea to place the camera so that it can see the door as well as the middle of the room. That allows you to notice if the ghost opens or shuts the door.



In front of the tripod you want to place the following tools, assuming you have them:

EMF Reader: This is tricky to place so that it is clearly visible on the TV in the command tent. It will take some practice to get good at placing this.

Thermometer: This can also be tricky to place so it is readable from the TV in the tent. You want this to be visible because freezing temperatures can show up later in the investigation, and you want to be able to discover freezing temps by watching the TV screen in the tent rather than staring at the thermometer in the room where the ghost can eat you.

ESG: When the ghost appears through the ESG, it will be floating stationary above the device. It's usually pretty obvious when this happens, so you don't have to be real picky about where the ESG goes. The ghost will always glow when it's above the ESG, so don't worry if you don't have light in the room. You'll see it through the TV if it appears regardless of light.

Easel: Make sure this is facing the camera. It can be handy to place a candle near the easel if the room is dark. That makes it more obvious on the TV screen if a painting appears on the canvas.

Candle near a door: This is a handy trick if you're still needing to look for fingerprints but couldn't find any because the ghost had not yet interacted with a door. It's a good idea to have a camera pointing at any door that's in the ghost room. Place a candle near the door if the room is dark so that you'll be able to see the door get closed or opened by the ghost while watching the TV in the tent. If you or whoever is watching the TV notices the door move, then some brave soul can run into the building and look that door over with a UV light in search of fingerprints.



It is normal to be in this phase of the investigation and still not have all your evidence from your Active tools, such as the Ecto Glass or UV lamp. It's fine to go back into the building to do another sweep with your Active tools during this phase of the investigation. Just make sure you've got good sanity so you don't get eaten by the ghost.

When should you note evidence in your journal? When should you cross evidence off your list? What happens if you cannot get all the evidence you need to identify a ghost type with 100 percent certainty?

These questions are very important, and I'd like to answer them as best I can from my experience.

Note definitive evidence as soon as possible

Because ghost hunting is by its nature very scary, you and your team may forget what evidence has been witnessed if you do not quickly note the evidence in your journal. Be quick and decisive about recording hard evidence. For instance, if you see an EMF reading of 5, note it down quickly. Don't give yourself time to forget what you saw. Tell your team what you saw, and have them also record the evidence in their own journals.

Don't look for evidence you don't need

Suppose you've narrowed your possible ghost types down to either a Mare or a Jinn. That would mean you've recorded EMF 5 and Freezing Temps. What evidence should you look for next? The answer is in your tablet. Bring your tablet up and note what ghost types are still possibilities, then turn to your ghost encyclopedia and read about those types. You would find that the third piece of evidence you need to prove a Mare would be an easel painting. The third piece of evidence to prove a Jinn be an ESG response. So now you know what to look for. This saves you from wasting time and putting yourself at risk searching for evidence that you wouldn't even find for the remaining possible ghost types.

This practice of checking what evidence you should search for next according to what the remaining possible ghost types specify is something you need to get in the habit of doing if you're not already. I generally wait until I've collected 1 - 2 of the three pieces of evidence I need before I start studying the ghost types for that elusive third piece of evidence to look for.

When to scratch evidence off the list

Eliminate the following evidence types under the following conditions:

Fingerprints: The ghost moved a door or flipped a light switch and no fingerprints were visible under UV light.

Spirit Box: You know for sure which room the ghost is in and you've failed to get a reply after saying "hello" into the Spirit Box at least 4 - 5 times as you walk around the room.

Freezing Temp: This one will usually show up within 5 - 10 minutes if it's ever going to. The temperature will stay freezing once it reaches that level, so long as the ghost is still there. If you've been watching for a while, and especially if you've gotten your other two evidence types already, you can be fairly safe striking this from the list.

EMF Reader: It's tricky advising you when to scratch this off the list because EMF 5 can take a while to appear. Generally, I would scratch this off if I have seen the ghost being very active (throwing things, hunting) right next to the EMF Reader and it still never hit 5. Be cautious not to eliminate this evidence type too quickly. I feel better eliminating this if I've already got my other two evidence pieces for sure.

Easel: It takes a while sometimes to get a painting. You want to eliminate this only if you're getting bored and want to move your investigation forward. It pays to have two easels in the room rather than just one. If they're both still blank after 10 - 15 minutes of being in the room, then you can feel better about eliminating this evidence type.

ESG: This is the last thing you want to eliminate because it takes so long to get a positive result, and it is so difficult to get a positive result. Have two ESGs in the room and watch them for 10 minutes or more before you get anxious to eliminate this evidence type.

Sometimes you just can't get evidence

There may be times when you find it extremely difficult to collect all three pieces of evidence you need to identify a ghost with 100 percent certainty. Patience is an important virtue. I've stared at cameras for 10 minutes waiting for an ESG response or easel painting before I finally got one.

But there are cases when the ghost will simply not give you the remaining evidence you need. This might happen in cases where the ghost is a type that leaves fingerprints but it is refusing to touch any door or light switch.

If one of your remaining ghost types is a ghost that interacts with ESGs, it's always a safe bet to conclude that is the correct ghost. ESGs are very difficult to get evidence from, and I would be more inclined to think the ghost is the type that uses an ESG, rather than choosing the type that leaves fingerprints but is surrounded by doors and light switches, or which uses a Spirit Box, etc.

If you're struggling to get evidence, burn a Fulu stick. Burn two. They can really help.

Also be sure to read details in your encyclopedia about how your remaining ghost types behave. You can gather clues that way. For instance, Demons are very calm, passive ghosts. If you haven't seen a lot of activity, haven't heard a lot of chatter, have not been hunted much by the ghost, that would be consistent with the behavior of a demon. Mares are chatty. If you've heard a lot of talking from the ghost, and Mare is on the list, be willing to consider it might be a Mare.

Choosing the correct ghost type is your ultimate goal

It doesn't matter how many objectives you complete. If you got the ghost type wrong, you're not going to make any real money. I would rather get the ghost type right and not complete secondary objectives than to get the ghost type wrong and complete every secondary objective plus do the exorcism.

You need to do whatever it takes to safely get the ghost type correct. That means you need to maximize the amount of time you have to look for evidence with sanity pills and crucifixes. If you have used all your sanity pills and crucifixes and you still haven't gotten the last evidence you need, it's okay to simply make your best guess and end the mission. It costs you nothing to guess wrong and leave the mission. It costs you everything to keep trying after you've run out of sanity and crucifixes and get eaten by the ghost.

You should not treat the secondary objectives and exorcism as though they are required. They are not. You can make tons of money just by guessing the ghost type correctly and ending the mission.

However, if you want to do these things to make extra money and XP, that's perfectly fine, so long as you can do these things safely.

Type the objectives into the chat at the beginning of the game

Assuming your chat log in the game is not going to be cluttered with a bunch of actual chatting, you can just hit ENTER when looking at the objectives in the command tent at the start of the game and make a note of each objective.

The reason you'd want to do this is that you're probably going to forget what the objectives are by the time you and your team all make your guess as to the ghost type to activate the objectives. If you happen to be inside the building when this happens, it's much more efficient to just hit ENTER and re-read the objectives you typed into the chat earlier than it is to go all the way back out to the tent to look at the monitor.

Try to save at least your crucifixes for the objectives and exorcism

Chances are you will have used some or all of your sanity pills during the investigation. If this is the case, you should hopefully still have one or both crucifixes available to protect you while you complete the optional objectives and attempt an exorcism.

If you have used your sanity pills and your crucifixes during the investigation and are thinking about attempting the optional objectives and exorcism without any protection, be prepared to get eaten by the ghost and lose everything you brought on the mission. The only way I would entertain this idea would be if I had just popped my last sanity pill and my sanity was in the 80s or higher. Even still, I wouldn't expect to complete all three optional objectives plus an exorcism before getting hunted and eaten by the ghost.

If you've established the ghost type and have some sanity pills and a crucifix, then I'd say you stand a pretty good chance of being able to complete the objectives and exorcism. This is especially true if you've got some teammates who will be helping you complete the objectives.

Optional objectives can require optional equipment

What this means is that you may not have brought items that will be required for you to complete the optional objectives. An example is when your objective is to take a photo of the ghost and you don't have a photo camera. It's okay if you don't have what you need to complete these objectives. You didn't do anything wrong.

But the deeper meaning of all this is that optional objectives can actually cost you money if you're having to buy stuff to complete them. Keep the cost of optional objectives in mind when deciding if they're worth the risk to you. If you're broke, don't blow money on gear like candles and photo cameras for optional objectives thinking that is how you're going to make money. You won't make money that way. You make real money by guessing the ghost type correctly.

How to take pictures of the ghost safely

If your objective is to take a photo of the ghost, that basically means you or somebody else is going to have to get hunted by the ghost. It's rare to be able to snap a photo of the ghost just in those fleeting moments when it likes to appear in front of you and harass you.

Whoever is going to go take the picture needs to either have a crucifix, or accept the fact that they're going to die and lose whatever gear they brought. Any picture you get of the ghost will still be counted as a win even if you died getting the picture.

To photograph a ghost safely, you need the photo camera and crucifix. Once you've equipped these two things, take a moment to figure out the fastest way to switch from the camera to the crucifix. For instance, if you're using the mouse wheel to swap gear, figure out if you need to roll your mouse wheel up or roll it down to switch from the camera directly to the crucifix. The last thing you want is to be panicking as you try to get out your crucifix but you bring up your flashlight instead. Make a mental note, "I need to roll the mouse wheel DOWN to get directly to my crucifix from my camera."

Go into the building and find a nice big room, or better yet, a long hallway. Hang around in there and let your sanity drop as you're facing the direction of the ghost room. Keep your eyes open and be alert for signs the ghost is hunting. That means you see its form blinking in and out of visibility from a distance as it approaches, and your flashlight begins to flicker. Ideally you want to be standing in a place where you've got room to walk backward as you're facing the approaching ghost. This buys you time to get the picture.

Do not button mash the camera! It takes a burst of three or four pictures and then has a brief cool down period before it can take another burst of photos. If you start mashing the button you are probably going to take a picture of nothing, as the ghost only blinks in and out of visibility briefly.

Wait for the ghost to be visible, then snap the pictures. Swap immediately to the crucifix once you get your picture.

Exorcism

Most exorcisms require you to locate things and use them, or bring them to a certain location. The hospital mission requires you to shoot the ghost with a salt gun, which you should handle in a way similar to the techniques described above for photographing the ghost.

The best advice for the exorcism is the same as for the secondary objectives: Don't get obsessed with it. The safest and most effective way to earn money and XP is by correctly identifying the ghost. Even at level 88, I often do not get all the way to the exorcism because it is not safe for me to do so.

Hunting ghosts is a lot of fun! Enjoy the process, learn the tools, figure out what works!

It is frustrating sometimes in the beginning, and there may come times when you feel confident but then slip up and get eaten by the ghost and lose $20,000 worth of gear. That is always displeasing.

But if I can go from having $200 in my account to $100,000 and climb to nearly level 100, by golly, so can you! I succeeded through hard work and determination, and am now living the life I always dreamed of in a possibly-haunted lighthouse with my own obese cat. Go win at ghost hunting, and be rich!