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Pepper's ghost is an
illusion An illusion is a distortion of the senses, which can reveal how the mind normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. Although illusions distort the human perception of reality, they are generally shared by most people. Illusions may ...
technique, used in
theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...
, cinema,
amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...
s,
museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
s,
television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
, and
concert A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...
s, in which an image of an object offstage is projected so that it appears to be in front of the audience. The technique is named after the English scientist John Henry Pepper, who popularised the effect during an 1862 Christmas Eve theatrical production of the
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
novella '' The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain'', which caused a sensation among those in attendance at the
Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George IV of the United Kingdom, George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash (architect), J ...
theatre in London. An instant success, the production was moved to a larger theatre and continued to be performed throughout the whole of 1863, with the Prince of Wales (future King
Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...
) bringing his new bride (later
Queen Alexandra Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was List of British royal consorts, queen-consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 Januar ...
) to see the illusion, and it launched an international vogue for ghost-themed plays that used this novel stage effect during the 1860s and subsequent decades. The illusion is widely used for entertainment and publicity purposes. These include the Girl-to-Gorilla trick found in old carnival
sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, traveling carnival, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. They historically featured human oddity exhibits (so-called “Freak show, freak shows”), pr ...
s and the appearance of "ghosts" at
the Haunted Mansion The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride, dark-ride attraction located at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Tokyo Disneyland. The haunted house attraction features a ride-through tour in Omnimover vehicles called “Doom Buggies”, and a walk-through s ...
and the "Blue Fairy" in Pinocchio's Daring Journey, both at
Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...
in California.
Teleprompter A teleprompter, also known as an autocue, is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script. Using a teleprompter is similar to using cue cards. The screen is in front of, and usually bel ...
s are a modern implementation of Pepper's ghost. The technique was used to display a life-size illusion of Kate Moss at the 2006 runway show for the
Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen (brand), Alexander McQueen label in 1992 and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His ac ...
collection '' The Widows of Culloden.'' In the 2010s, the technique was used to make virtual artists appear onstage in apparent "live" concerts, with examples including
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
,
Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...
, and
Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...
. It is often wrongly described as "
holographic Holography is a technique that allows a wavefront to be recorded and later reconstructed. It is best known as a method of generating three-dimensional images, and has a wide range of other uses, including data storage, microscopy, and interfe ...
". Such setups can involve custom projection media server software and specialized stretched films. The installation may be a site-specific one-off, or a use of a commercial system such as the Cheoptics360 or Musion Eyeliner. Products have been designed using a clear plastic pyramid and a
smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...
screen to generate the illusion of a 3D object.


Effect

The core illusion involves a stage specially arranged into two rooms or areas, one into which audience members can see, and a second (sometimes referred to as the "blue room") that is hidden to the side. A sheet of
plate glass Plate glass, flat glass or sheet glass is a type of glass, initially produced in plane form, commonly used for windows, glass doors, transparent walls, and windscreens. For modern architectural and automotive applications, the flat glass is ...
,
acrylic glass Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bran ...
or plastic film is placed somewhere in the main room at an angle that reflects the view of the blue room towards the audience. Generally, this is arranged with the blue room to one side of the stage and the plate on the stage rotated around its vertical axis at 45 degrees. Care must be taken to make the glass as invisible as possible, normally hiding the lower edge in patterning on the floor and ensuring lights do not reflect off it. The plate catches a reflection from a brightly lit actor in an area hidden from the audience. Not noticing the glass screen, the audience mistakenly perceive this reflection as a ghostly figure located among the actors on the main stage. The lighting of the actor in the hidden area can be gradually brightened or dimmed to make the ghost image fade in and out of visibility. When the lights are bright in the main room and dark in the blue room, the reflected image cannot be seen. When the lighting in the blue room is increased, often with the main room lights dimming to make the effect more pronounced, the reflection becomes visible and the objects within the blue/hidden room seem to appear, from thin air, in the space visible to the audience. A common variation uses two blue/hidden rooms, one behind the glass in the main room, and one to the side, the contents of which can be switched between "visible" and "invisible" states by manipulating the lighting therein. The hidden room may be an identical mirror-image of the main room, so that its reflected image exactly matches the layout of the main room; this approach is useful in making objects seem to appear or disappear. This illusion can also be used to make an object, or person—reflected in, say, a mirror—appear to morph into another (or vice versa). This is the principle behind the Girl-to-Gorilla trick found in old carnival
sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, traveling carnival, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. They historically featured human oddity exhibits (so-called “Freak show, freak shows”), pr ...
s. Another variation: the hidden room may itself be painted black, with only light-coloured objects in it. In this case, when light is cast on the room, only the light objects strongly reflect that light, and therefore appear as ghostly, translucent images on the (invisible) pane of glass in the room visible to the audience. This can be used to make objects appear to float in space. The type of theatre use of the illusion which John Henry Pepper pioneered and repeatedly staged in the 1860s were short plays featuring a ghostly apparition which interacts with other actors. An early favourite showed an actor attempting to use a sword against an ethereal ghost, as in the illustration. To choreograph other actors' dealings with the ghost, Pepper used concealed markings on the stage floor for where they should place their feet, since they could not see the ghost image's apparent location. Pepper's 1890 book includes such detailed explanation of his stagecraft secrets, disclosed in his 1863 joint application with co-inventor Henry Dircks to patent this ghost illusion technique. The hidden area is typically below the visible stage but in other Pepper's ghost set-ups it can be above or, quite commonly, adjacent to the area visible to the viewers. The scale can be very much smaller, for instance small peepshows, even hand-held toys. The illustration shows Pepper's initial arrangement for making a ghost image visible anywhere throughout a theatre. Many effects can be produced via Pepper's ghost. Since glass screens are less reflective than mirrors, they do not reflect matte black objects in the area hidden from the audience. Thus Pepper's ghost showmen sometimes used an invisible black-clad actor in the hidden area to manipulate brightly lit, light-coloured objects, which can thus appear to float in air. Pepper's very first public ghost show used a seated skeleton in a white shroud which was being manipulated by an unseen actor in black velvet robes. Hidden actors, whose heads were powdered white for reflection but whose clothes were matte black, could appear as disembodied heads when strongly lit and reflected by the angled glass screen. Pepper's ghost can be adapted to make performers apparently materialise from nowhere or disappear into empty space. Pepper would sometimes greet an audience by suddenly materialising in the middle of the stage. The illusion can also apparently transform one object or person into another. For instance, Pepper sometimes suspended on stage a basket of oranges which then "transformed" into jars of marmalade. Another 19th century Pepper's ghost entertainment featured a figure flying around a theatre backcloth painted as the sky. The hidden actor, lying under bright lights on a rotating, matte black table, wore a costume with metallic spangles to maximise reflection on the hidden glass screen. This foreshadows some 20th century cinema special effects.


History


Precursors

Giambattista della Porta was a 16th-century Neapolitan scientist and scholar who is credited with a number of scientific innovations. His 1589 work ''
Magia Naturalis ' (in English, ''Natural Magic'') is a work of popular science by Giambattista della Porta first published in Naples in 1558. Its popularity ensured it was republished in five Latin editions within ten years, with translations into Italian (1560 ...
'' (''Natural Magic'') includes a description of an illusion, titled "How we may see in a Chamber things that are not" that is the first known description of the Pepper's ghost effect. Porta's description, from the 1658 English language translation (page 370), is as follows. From the mid-19th century, the illusion, today known as Pepper's ghost, became widely developed for money-making stage entertainments, amid bitter argument, patent disputes, and legal action concerning the technique's authorship. A popular genre of entertainment was stage demonstrations of scientific novelties. Simulations of ghostly phenomena through innovative optical technology fitted these well.
Phantasmagoria Phantasmagoria (), alternatively fantasmagorie and/or fantasmagoria, was a form of horror theatre that (among other techniques) used one or more magic lanterns to project frightening images – such as skeletons, demons, and ghosts – typicall ...
shows, which simulated supernatural effects, were also familiar public entertainments. Previously, these had made much use of complex
magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that uses pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lens (optics), lenses, and a light source. ...
techniques, like the multiple projectors, mobile projectors, and projection on mirrors and smoke, which had been perfected by Étienne-Gaspard Robert/Robertson in Paris early in the century. The new illusion, soon to be labelled Pepper's ghost, offered a completely different and more convincing way to produce ghost effects, using reflections not projection. A claim to be the first user of the new illusion in theatres came from the Dutch-born stage magician Henrik Joseph Donckel, who became famous in France under the stage name Henri Robin. Robin said he had spent two years developing the illusion before trying it in 1847 during his regular shows of stage magic and the supernatural in Lyons. However, he found this early rendering of the ghost effect made little impression on the audience. He wrote: "The ghosts failed to achieve the full illusory effect which I have subsequently perfected." The shortcomings of his original techniques "caused me great embarrassment, I found myself forced to put them aside for a while." While Robin later became famous for many effective, imaginative, and complex applications of Pepper's ghost at Robin's own theatre in Paris, such shows only began mid-1863 after John Henry Pepper had demonstrated his own method for staging the illusion at the London Polytechnic in December 1862.
Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (; 7 December 1805 – 13 June 1871) was a French watchmaker, magician and illusionist, widely recognized as the father of the modern style of conjuring. He transformed magic from a pastime for the lower classes, se ...
, contemporary French grand master of stage magic, regarded Robin's performances and other 1863 ghost shows in Paris as "plagiarists" of Pepper's innovation. Jim Steinmeyer, a modern technical and historical authority on Pepper's ghost, has expressed doubts as to the reliability of Robin's claims for his 1847 performances. Whatever Robin did in 1847, by his own account it produced nothing like the stage effect whereby Pepper, and later Robin himself, astonished and thrilled audiences during 1863. In October 1852 Pierre Séguin, an artist, patented in France a portable peepshow-like toy for children, which he named the "polyoscope". This used the very same illusion, based on reflection, which ten years later Pepper and Dircks would patent in Britain under their own names. Although creating illusory images within a small box is appreciably different from delivering an illusion on stage, Séguin's 1852 patent was eventually to lead to the defeat of Pepper's 1863 attempt to control and license the Pepper's ghost technique in France as well as in Britain. Pepper described Séguin's polyoscope:
"It consisted of a box with a small sheet of glass, placed at an angle of forty-five degrees, and it reflected a concealed table, with plastic figures, the spectre of which appeared behind the glass, and which young people who possessed the toy invited their companions to take out of the box, when it melted away, as it were, in their hands and disappeared."
In 1863, Henri Robin maintained that Séguin's polyoscope had been inspired by his own original version of the stage illusion, which Séguin had witnessed while painting magic lantern slides for another part of Robin's show.


Dircks and Pepper

Henry Dircks was an English engineer and practical inventor who from 1858 strove to find theatres which would implement his vision of a sensational new genre of drama featuring apparitions which interacted with actors on stage. He constructed a peepshow-like model which demonstrated how reflections on a glass screen could produce convincing illusions. He also outlined a series of plays featuring ghost effects, which his apparatus could enable, and worked out how complex illusions, like image transformations, could be achieved through the technique. But in terms of applying the effect in theatres, Dircks seemed unable to think beyond remodelling theatres to resemble his peepshow model. He produced a design for theatres which required costly, impractical rebuilding of an auditorium to host the illusion. The theatres which he approached were not interested. In another bid to attract interest, he advertised his models for sale and in late 1862 the models' manufacturer invited John Henry Pepper to view one. John Henry Pepper was a scientific all-rounder who was both an effective public educator in science and an astute, publicity-conscious, commercial showman. In 1854, he became the director and sole lessee of the Royal Polytechnic where he held the title of Professor. The Polytechnic ran a mix of science education courses and eye-catching public displays of scientific innovations. After seeing Dircks' peepshow model in 1862, Pepper quickly devised an ingenious twist whereby, through adding an angled sheet of glass and a screened-off orchestra pit, almost any theatre or hall could make the illusion visible to a large audience. The first public performance in December 1862—a scene from Charles Dickens's '' The Haunted Man—''produced rapturous responses from audience and journalists. A deal was struck between Pepper and Dircks whereby they jointly patented the illusion. Dircks agreed to waive any share of profits for the satisfaction of seeing his idea implemented so effectively. Their joint patent was obtained provisionally in February 1863 and ratified in October 1863. Before Dircks' partnership with Pepper was a full year old, Dircks published a book which accused Pepper of plotting to systematically stamp Pepper's name alone on their joint creation. According to Dircks, while Pepper took care to credit Dircks in any communications to the scientific community, everything which reached the general public—like newspaper reports, advertisements and theatre posters—mentioned Pepper alone. Whenever Dircks complained, he said, Pepper would blame careless journalists or theatre managers. However, the omission had occurred so repeatedly that Dircks believed that Pepper was deliberately striving to fix his name alone in the minds of the general public. A good half of Dircks' 106-page book, ''The Ghost'', comprises such recriminations with detailed examples of how Pepper hid Dircks' name. An earlier 1863 ''Spectator'' article had presented the Dircks/Pepper partnership thus:
"This admirable ghost is the offspring of two fathers…. To Mr. Dircks belongs the honour of having invented him…. and Professor Pepper has the merit of having improved him considerably, fitting him for the intercourse of mundane society, and even educating him for the stage."


Popularity

Short plays using the new ghost illusion swiftly became sensationally popular. Pepper staged many dramatic and profitable demonstrations, notably in the lecture theatre of London's Royal Polytechnic. By late 1863, the illusion's fame had spread extensively with ghost-centred plays performed at multiple London venues, Manchester, Glasgow, Paris, and New York. Royalty attended. There was even a shortage of plate glass because of demand from theatres for glass screens. A popular song from 1863 celebrated the "Patent Ghost": By his own account, Pepper, who was entitled to all profits, made considerable earnings from the patent. He ran his own performances and licensed other operators for money. In Britain, he was initially successful in suing some unlicensed imitators, deterring others by legal threats, and defeating a September 1863 court action by music-hall proprietors who challenged the patent. However, while in Paris in summer 1863 to assist a licensed performance, Pepper had proved unable to stop Henri Robin and several others who were already performing unlicensed versions there. Robin successfully cited Séguin's pre-existing patent of the polyoscope, of which Pepper had been ignorant. During the next four years Robin developed spectacular and original applications of the illusion in Paris. One famous Robin show depicted the great violinist Paganini being troubled in his sleep by a demon violinist, who repeatedly appeared and disappeared. During the next two decades, performances using the illusion spread to several countries. In 1877 a patent was registered for the United States. In Britain, theatre productions using Pepper's ghost toured far outside major cities. The performers travelled with their own glass screens and became known as "spectral opera companies". Around a dozen such specialist theatre companies existed in Britain. A typical performance would comprise a substantial play where apparitions were central to the plot, like an adaption of Dickens' ''
A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...
,'' followed by a short comic piece which also used ghost effects. One company, for instance, "The Original Pepper's Ghost and Spectral Opera Company" had 11 ghost-themed plays in its repertoire. Another such company during a single year, 1877, performed at 30 different places in Britain, usually for a week but sometimes for as long as six weeks. By the 1890s, however, novelty had faded and the vogue for such theatre was in steep decline. Pepper's ghost remained in use however at sensational entertainments comparable to "dark rides" or "ghost trains" at modern funfairs and amusement parks: a detailed account survives of audience participation in two macabre entertainments, which both used Pepper's ghost, within a "Tavern of the Dead" show which visited Paris and New York in the 1890s. Since the 1860s, "Pepper's ghost" has become a universal term for any illusion produced via a reflection on an unnoticed glass screen. It is routinely applied to all versions of the illusion, which are now quite common in 21st century displays, peepshows, and installations in museums and amusement parks. However, the specific optics in these modern displays often follow Séguin's or Dircks' earlier designs rather than the modification for theatres which first brought Pepper's name into enduring usage.


Modern uses


Systems

Several proprietary systems produce modern Pepper's ghost effects. The "Musion Eyeliner" uses thin metalized film placed across the front of the stage at an angle of 45 degrees towards the audience; recessed below the screen is a bright image supplied by an LED screen or powerful projector. When viewed from the audience's perspective, the reflected images appear to be on the stage. The "Cheoptics360" displays revolving 3D animations or special video sequences inside a four-sided transparent
pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...
. This system is often used for retail environments and exhibitions.


Amusement parks

The world's largest implementation of this illusion can be found at
The Haunted Mansion The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride, dark-ride attraction located at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Tokyo Disneyland. The haunted house attraction features a ride-through tour in Omnimover vehicles called “Doom Buggies”, and a walk-through s ...
and
Phantom Manor Phantom Manor is a dark ride attraction in Frontierland at Disneyland Park (Paris), Disneyland Park in Disneyland Paris. Phantom Manor is the park's version of The Haunted Mansion attractions at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland, a ...
attractions at several
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Disney Experiences, commonly known as Disney Parks, is one of the three major divisions of the Walt Disney Company. It was founded on April 1, 1971, exactly six months before the opening of the Walt Disney World Resort. Led by Josh D'Amaro, ...
. There, a -long scene features multiple Pepper's ghost effects, brought together in one scene. Guests travel along an elevated
mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...
, looking through a -tall pane of glass into an empty
ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called ''balls''. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially histori ...
.
Animatronic An animatronic is a puppet controlled electronically to move in a fluent way. Animatronics are the modern adaptation of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions. Anim ...
ghosts move in hidden black rooms beneath and above the mezzanine. A more advanced variation of the Pepper's Ghost effect is also used at
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ''The Twilight Zone'' Tower of Terror, or simply Tower of Terror, is a series of similar accelerated drop tower dark rides located at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Tokyo DisneySea, Walt Disney Studios Park, and formerly located at Disney Californ ...
. The walk-through attraction Turbidite Manor in Nashville, Tennessee, employs variations of the classic technique, enabling guests to see various spirits that also interact with the physical environment, viewable at a much closer proximity. The House at Haunted Hill, a Halloween attraction in Woodland Hills, California, employs a similar variation in its front window to display characters from its storyline. An example that combines the Pepper's ghost effect with a live actor and film projection can be seen in the ''Mystery Lodge'' exhibit at the
Knott's Berry Farm Knott's Berry Farm is a amusement park in Buena Park, California, United States, owned and operated by Six Flags. In March 2015, it was ranked as the List of amusement park rankings#North America, twelfth-most-visited theme park in North Ameri ...
theme park in Buena Park, California, and the ''Ghosts of the Library'' exhibit at the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum documents the life of the 16th U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln, and the course of the American Civil War. Combining traditional scholarship with 21st-century showmanship techniques, the museum ...
in
Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its population was 114,394 at the 2020 United States census, which makes it the state's List of cities in Illinois, seventh-most populous cit ...
, as well as the depiction of Maori legends called ''A Millennium Ago'' at the Museum of Wellington City & Sea in New Zealand. The
Hogwarts Express The Hogwarts Express is an broad gauge cable railway, people mover, and attraction within the Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida, United States. The route runs between Hogsmeade station in the Islands of Adventure theme park and Kin ...
attraction at
Universal Studios Florida Universal Studios Florida is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida, that opened on June 7, 1990. Owned and operated by NBCUniversal, it features numerous rides, attractions, and live shows that are primarily themed to movies, television, and ...
uses the Pepper's ghost effect, such that guests entering "Platform " seem to disappear into a brick wall when viewed from those further behind in the queue. The Curse at Alton Manor, an attraction at the
Alton Towers Alton Towers Resort ( ) (often shortened to Alton Towers) is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton, Staffordshire, Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments, Merlin Entertainments Group a ...
theme park in
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
, England, uses multiple Pepper's ghost effects. These include the ride's preshow, where characters are projected inside an empty dollhouse before disappearing as the room is bathed in
ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...
light, and a scene where Emily Alton, the attraction's central antagonist, appears in a corporeal form before vanishing, in a similar fashion to effects used at the Disney parks. The effect was also used in the ride's previous iterations, ''The Haunted House and Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back''; where Emily Alton and her cat Snowy could be seen as small corporeal ghosts inside a doll's house in the attraction's queue, similar to the preshow in the current iteration of the attraction.


Museums

Museums increasingly use Pepper's ghost exhibits to create attractions that appeal to visitors. In the mid-1970s James Gardener designed the Changing Office installation in the London Science Museum, consisting of a 1970s-style office that transforms into an 1870s-style office as the audience watches. It was designed and built by Will Wilson and Simon Beer of Integrated Circles. Another particularly intricate Pepper's ghost display is the Eight Stage Ghost built for the
British Telecom BT Group plc (formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-li ...
Showcase Exhibition in London in 1978. This display follows the history of electronics in a number of discrete transitions. More modern examples of Pepper's ghost effects can be found in various museums in the United Kingdom and Europe. Examples of these in the United Kingdom are the ghost of Annie McLeod at the New Lanark World Heritage Site, the ghost of
John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...
at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, which reopened in new premises in 2006, and one of Sir Alex Ferguson, which opened at the Manchester United Museum in 2007. In October 2008 a life-sized Pepper's ghost of
Shane Warne Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire ...
was opened at the Australian Sports Museum in Melbourne, Australia. The effect was also used at the
Dickens World Dickens World was a themed attraction located in the Chatham Dockyard, Chatham Dockside retail park in Kent, England. It was themed around elements of the life and work of Charles Dickens. After a soft opening in April, Dickens World officially ...
attraction at Chatham Maritime, Kent, United Kingdom. Both the York Dungeon and the Edinburgh Dungeon use the effect in the context of their "Ghosts" shows. Another example can be found at the Our Planet Centre in
Castries Castries () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Saint Lucia, an island country in the Caribbean. The urban area has a population of approximately 20,000, while the eponymous Castries Quarter, district has a population of just under ...
,
Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...
, which opened in May 2011, where a life-size
Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
and Governor-General of the island appear on stage talking about
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
. German company Musion installed a holostage in the German Football Museum in Dortmund in 2016.


Television, film and video

The 1940 film '' Beyond Tomorrow'' uses the technique to show the three ghosts in the second half of the film.
Teleprompter A teleprompter, also known as an autocue, is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script. Using a teleprompter is similar to using cue cards. The screen is in front of, and usually bel ...
s are a modern implementation of Pepper's ghost used by the television industry. They reflect a speech or script and are commonly used for live broadcasts such as
news programmes News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or tel ...
. A 1985 episode of '' Mr. Wizard's World'' demonstrates Pepper's ghost in one of its educational segments. On 1 June 2013, ITV broadcast ''Les Dawson: An Audience With That Never Was''. The program featured a Pepper's ghost projection of Les Dawson, presenting content for a 1993 edition of '' An Audience with...'' to be hosted by Dawson but unused due to his death two weeks before recording. In the 1990 movie ''
Home Alone ''Home Alone'' is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dar ...
'', the technique is used to show Harry with his head in flames, as the result of a blowtorch from a home invasion gone bad. CGI was not able to produce the desired results. The
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
movie '' Diamonds are Forever'' features the girl-to-gorilla trick in one scene. Early electro-mechanical arcade machines, such as Midway's "Stunt Pilot" and Bally's "Road Runner," both made in 1971, use the effect to allow player-controlled moving vehicles to appear to share the same space as various obstacles within a
diorama A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional model either full-sized or miniature. Sometimes dioramas are enclosed in a glass showcase at a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies like mili ...
. Electrical contacts, connected to the control linkages, sense the position of the vehicle and obstacles, simulating collisions in the games' logic circuits without the models physically touching each other. Various arcade games, most notably
Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...
's 1978 video game ''
Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Taito for Arcade video game, arcades. It was released in Japan in April 1978, with the game being released by Midway Manufacturing overseas. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed s ...
'' and
Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
's 1991 video game '' Time Traveler'', used a mirror-based variation of the illusion to make the game's graphics appear against an illuminated backdrop. The effect has been used in a few pinball games, in the Pinball 2000 system games at the back of the playfield, in Stern's ''Ghostbusters'', and more extensively in Jersey Jack's '' Dialed In!''.


Concerts

An illusion based on Pepper's ghost involving projected images has been featured at music concerts (often erroneously marketed as "holographic"). At the 2006
Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...
, the Pepper's ghost technique was used to project Madonna with the virtual members of the band
Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...
onto the stage in a "live" performance. This type of system consists of a projector, usually DLP, or LED screen, with a resolution of 1280×1024 or higher and brightness of at least 5,000 lumens, a high-definition video player, a stretched film between the audience and the acting area, a 3D set/drawing that encloses three sides, plus lighting, audio, and show control. During
Dr. Dre Andre Romell Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, and actor. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and co-founder of ...
and
Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...
's performance at the 2012
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colora ...
, a projection of deceased rapper
Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...
appeared and performed "
Hail Mary The Hail Mary or Ave Maria (from its first words in Latin), also known as the Angelic or Angelical Salutation, is a traditional Catholic prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the ...
" and " 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted". On 18 May 2014, during the
Billboard Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by '' Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...
, an illusion of deceased pop star
Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...
, other dancers, and the entire stage set was projected onto the stage for a performance of the song "Slave to the Rhythm" from the posthumous '' Xscape'' album. On 21 September 2017, the
Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...
estate announced plans to conduct a reunion tour with
the Mothers of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as the Mothers) were an American rock music, rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an ...
that would make use of Pepper's ghosts of Frank Zappa and the settings from his studio albums. Initially scheduled to run through 2018, the tour was later pushed back to 2019. A projection of Ronnie James Dio performed at the Wacken Open Air festival in 2016.


Political speeches

NChant 3D telecast, live, a 55-minute speech by
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...
, then-Chief Minister of Gujarat, to 53 locations across Gujarat on 10 December 2012 during the assembly elections. In April 2014, they projected Narendra Modi again at 88 locations across India. In 2014, then-Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...
delivered a speech via Pepper's ghost in Izmir. In 2017, French Presidential candidate
Jean-Luc Mélenchon Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who has been the ''de facto'' leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) since it was established in 2016. He was the Deputy (France), deputy in the National Assembly ( ...
gave a speech using Pepper's ghost at a campaign event in
Aubervilliers Aubervilliers () is a communes of France, commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis departments of France, department, Île-de-France regions of France, region, northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. Geography Localisation Aubervilliers is one of th ...
.


See also

* *
Camera obscura A camera obscura (; ) is the natural phenomenon in which the rays of light passing through a aperture, small hole into a dark space form an image where they strike a surface, resulting in an inverted (upside down) and reversed (left to right) ...
* Catadioptric telescope *
Front projection effect A front projection effect is an in-camera visual effects process in film production for combining foreground performance with pre-filmed background footage. In contrast to rear projection, which projects footage onto a screen from behind the pe ...
* * * * *
Schüfftan process The Schüfftan process is a special effect in filmmaking named after its inventor, German cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan (1893–1977). The technique consists of covering part of the camera's view with a mirror, allowing filmmakers to ass ...


References


Further reading

* Pepper, John Henry (1890). ''The True History of the Ghost''. London: Cassell & Co. * * * * *
Gbur, Gregory J. (2016). ''Dircks and Pepper: a Tale of Two Ghosts''
''Skulls in the Stars'' website] * iarchive:magicstageillusi00hopk/, Hopkins, Albert A. (1897). ''Magic, Stage Illusions, Special Effects and Trick Photography''. New York: Dover Publications. * Dircks, Henry (1863). ''The Ghost'', London: E & F.N. Spon. * Robert-Houdin, Jean-Eugene (1881). ''The Secrets of Stage Conjuring''. London: George Routledge.


External links

* * {{Display technology 1862 introductions Articles containing video clips Haunted Mansion Magic tricks Optical illusions Phantasmagoria