I thought I had seen and heard it all when it comes to Phasmophobia ghost identification. Nearly a year after the horror game was released, countless investigations into the unknown rooted just about everything there was to know about ghost behavior, or so I thought. My mental journal automatically crossed off potential candidates after recording even a fleeting glimpse of a phantom orb, and I developed a (usually) accurate sense of when one phantom seemed more aggressive than others.

So one night when I heard something new from the spirit box, it stopped me. This sound was not your usual “behind you” or the other common expressions of the restless dead. It wasn’t even a statement at all, not technically. I heard a loud sigh come from the spirit box, the sound of someone standing too close and squeezing every possible drop of discomfort from their unwanted proximity.

It scared me, and I don’t scare easily in Phasmophobia, if at all. But I dismissed it as a surprising interaction I’ve never heard before or, more cynically, well-timed encouragement from a teammate trying to fool everyone else. The investigation continued, we solved the mystery and I thought nothing of it.

Then I saw a Reddit post from OctoberWish asking if anyone else had found breath before, and it turns out that the breathing noises emerging from the spirit box are unique to just two ghosts: the Deogen and the Mimic.

The discovery impressed me. Admittedly, it adds a chilling new edge to the use of the spirit box, but even more interesting is the question it raised as to whether it was a genuine in-game phenomenon. Maybe this interaction is the only one of its kind, or maybe Kinetic Games cleverly included multiple alternate interactions in each category that only occur with very specific ghosts.

Whatever the answer, it points to a phenomenon beyond what the ghosts manage to pull out of their proverbial hats. Even after all the time I’ve spent playing Phasmophobia, I can’t wait to dive back in and find out what else they have to show me.

If you’re looking for more scares, check out our recommendations on the best zombie games, and if you really want to up the ante, the best VR horror games you should definitely play.