Animal Crossing: New Horizons: Wisp - How To Catch Spirit Pieces And Wisp's New Or Expensive Reward Explained

If you're playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons of an evening, you may well have run into Wisp, a benign and easily-startled spirit wandering around your deserted island in the dark. If you speak to this friendly ghost, Wisp will shed five pieces of his spirit in fright and ask you to retrieve them for him.

In this guide we'll cover how to catch the five pieces of Wisp's spirit as well as what reward you'll get for your troubles.

When does Wisp visit in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

Wisp the ghost (or spirit) appears on your island on random nights--sometimes multiple nights in-a-row--but there's no way to predict when he will visit (just like how Gulliver appears on random, and sometimes consecutive, days). Instead, you'll have to look out for his telltale glow as he floats around your island at nighttime. He doesn't appear in just one location, either, so keep an eye out for this friendly ghost.

Wisp first appeared on a higher level of our island on the third night of our island getaway before we had the ladder, so we couldn't access him immediately, although you may not encounter this issue. Fortunately, he returned again the following night.

How to catch Wisp's 5 spirit pieces

After speaking to Wisp and startling him, this body will divide into 5 glowing spirit pieces which shoot off to random locations around your island. Having shed a considerable amount of weight from fright, Wisp will politely ask you to retrieve is spiritual essence and return him to his former glory.

You catch these spirit pieces using your Net in exactly the same way you'd catch a butterfly or other flying bug. Handily, they don't disappear if you miss them, so just keep swinging and you'll soon have them collected in your inventory.

Wisp's five spirit pieces can be found floating around the island in random locations. They move slowly, but they do move, so keep a close eye on your surroundings as you search and make sure you don't miss one floating behind a tree or other feature of your island. Just keep circling your island to find them all.

After you've collected the five spirit pieces, return to Wisp and talk to him. In return for your help he'll offer you a reward which comes with a choice to make...

Wisp's rewards - Should I get 'something new' or 'something expensive' from Wisp?

Upon returning the five spirit pieces to Wisp the ghost (sorry, spirit) he'll reward you by making an offer of "something you don't have yet" or "something expensive".

If you choose something expensive, Wisp will confide that he's actually quite bad at judging a gift's worth and you'll soon find out that he's telling the truth there. He's not doing it on purpose, you understand, he's just not quite in tune with the materialist tendencies of the beings occupying our plane of existence. He operates on a higher level to simple consumers like us, you see.

On top of that, he may well gift you something you already own if you go for 'something expensive', so we'd argue that 'something new' is the best option to go for.

It seems Wisp is able to discriminate between dull old things and new shiny things, so we'd prefer to get a shiny new thing for our catalogue rather than be stuck with yet another stripy tee.

And that's it! Happy busting (sorry, catching)!

This article is part of our Animal Crossing: New Horizons walkthrough, which includes a Complete Fish List, Complete Bug List and Complete Sea Creatures List. If you're looking for specific fish or bugs, we can tell you how to catch the elusive Coelacanth, Mahi-Mahi, Giant Trevally, Stringfish, Golden Trout and all the Sharks and Beetles, along with a full list of critters leaving at the end of the month (unless you visit Kapp'n's Boat Tour islands, of course!).

We can also help with How to Spot Redd's Fake Paintings and Statues, How to Make Bells Fast, How to Breed Flowers, How to Get more DIY Recipes, How to Upgrade Nook's Cranny, where and when to find special characters like Gulliver, Sable, Label, Wisp, Celeste, Pirate Gulliver and Jack, plus tips on using the Star Wand, Tool Ring, Rock Trick, Cutting Down and Moving Trees, using amiibo on Harv's Island, How to Back Up Your Island Data, How to Time Travel, How to Get a 5-Star Island Rating and a whole lot more.

If it's new content you're looking for help with, we can help you find gyroids, unlock Brewster's café, use the new Pro Camera App for selfies, enact new ordinances, get the beloved Froggy Chair, and even learn How to Cook.

And finally, Where to Buy Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Nintendo Switch, if for some reason you haven't yet picked up the game, and How To Buy The Happy Home Paradise DLC, too!