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Pepper's ghost 1
Pepper's ghost
Pepper's ghost is an illusionary technique
used in theater and in some magic tricks.
Using a plate glass and special lighting
techniques, it can make objects seem to
appear or disappear, or make one object
seem to "morph" into another. It is named
after John Henry Pepper, who first
demonstrated the technique in the 1860s.
Illusion
In order for the illusion to work, the viewer
must be able to see into the main room, but
not into the hidden mirror room. The edge
of the glass may be hidden by a cleverly
designed pattern in the floor. Both rooms
may be identical mirror-images; this
approach is useful in making objects seem
to appear or disappear. This effect can also
be used to make an actor reflected in the
mirror appear to turn into an actor behind
the mirror (or vice versa). This is the
principle behind the "Girl-to-Gorilla" trick
found in many haunted houses and in the
James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever.
The mirror room may instead be painted
black, with only light-coloured objects in it.
An example of the Pepper's ghost effect used on The
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The mirror line can be
seen on the floor
A viewer looking through the red rectangle sees a ghost floating next to the table.
The illusion is created by a large piece of glass or a half-silvered mirror, situated
between viewer and scene (green outline). The glass reflects a mirror-image room
(left) that is hidden from the viewer.
When light is cast on the objects, they reflect strongly in the glass, making them appear as ghostly images
superimposed in the visible room. The world's largest implementation of this illusion can be found at the Haunted
Mansion and Phantom Manor attractions at several Walt Disney Parks and Resorts theme parks. Here, a 90-foot (27
m)-long scene features a single Pepper's ghost effect. Guests travel along an elevated mezzanine, looking through a
30-foot (9.1 m)-tall pane of glass into an empty ballroom. Animatronic "ghosts" move in hidden black rooms
beneath and above the mezzanine.

Pepper's ghost 2
The reflections in the glass, which is vertical
rather than angled, create the appearance of
three-dimensional, translucent ghosts. These
swarm through the ballroom, seeming to
interact with props in the physical ballroom,
disappearing when the lights on the
animatronics are turned off. The
walk-through attraction Turbidite Manor
employs variations of the classic technique,
enabling guests to see various 'spirits' that
also interact with the physical environment,
but that are viewable at a much closer
proximity. This adds startling realism to the
illusion, which is also boosted when the
'ghosts' transition into real-life characters
(actors) in the latter scenes of the show. The
House at Haunted Hill, a halloween
attraction in Woodland Hills, CA, employs a
similar variation in their front window to
display characters from their storyline.
An example which 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 theme park
in Buena Park, California and the Ghosts of
the Library exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library and Museum in
Springfield, Illinois (both created by the
company BRC Imagination Arts using the
patented technique known as "Holavision"),
as well as the depiction of Maori legends
called A Millennium Ago at the Museum of
[1] [2]
Wellington City & Sea.
If the mirror-image room (left) is darkened, it does not reflect well in the glass. The
empty room (top) is brightly lit, making it very visible to the viewer.
When the lights in the mirror-image room are raised (with the empty room being
dimmed slightly to compensate), the ghost "appears" out of nowhere.
Pepper's ghost exhibits are beginning to be more widely used in museums, as they attempt to create livelier
attractions that will appeal to contemporary visitors accustomed to multimedia experiences. In the mid-70s 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 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 and use a video variation on the illusion known as the Musion Eyeliner and Arena3D's XSTAGE®.
Examples of these in the United Kingdom are a "ghost" of John McEnroe 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. [3] Other examples include the ghost of Sarah (who picks up a candle and walks through the wall)

Pepper's ghost 3
and also the ghost of the Eighth Duke at Blenheim Palace.
In October 2008 a life-sized Pepper's ghost of Shane Warne was opened at the National Sports Museum in
Melbourne, Australia. [4] produced by The Shirley Spectra. [5] The effect is also used at the Dickens World attraction
at Chatham Maritime, Kent, United Kingdom.
The five Pepper's Ghost displays that have just recently opened in Dover Castle on the South Coast of Great Britain,
have been meticulously engineered by Simon Beer of Integrated Circles. Because the visitors are so close to the
illusions, hiding the mirrors and replay images became a priority. Getting the mirrors into position through the
vaulted rooms of the Castle with just a 5 mm clearance was a major achievement. The result is a variety of close
field, full-scale Pepper's ghosts that look stunning even if you know how they work. The close interaction by the
ghosts, with the set, works particularly well in this mediaeval setting.
Dutch Igloo [6] is a company based in the Netherlands that specializes in Pepper's ghost films. This company shows
that Pepper's ghost films don't necessarily have to have a paranormal theme; they instead use the Pepper's Ghost
technique to tell poetic stories. In Europe, the technique can be seen in the Dutch Railway museum in Utrecht,
Holland. (in old travel trunks in a lost luggage installation in the railway station). New improvements for the
Peppersghost experience are the real 3d experience in peppers ghost, to be seen in the Media Experience in
Hilversum, Holland. Also new is the Peppers ghost film combined with an ordinary film projection, to be seen
Kasteel Groeneveld, Baarn, Holland.
John Pepper and Henry Dircks
The Royal Polytechnic was a permanent science-related fair, first opened in 1838. With a degree in chemistry, John
Henry Pepper joined the institution as a lecturer in 1848. The Polytechnic awarded him the title "Professor." In 1854,
he became the director and sole lessee of the Royal Polytechnic.
In 1862, inventor Henry Dircks developed the Dircksian Phantasmagoria, a technique used to make a ghost appear
onstage. He tried unsuccessfully to sell his idea to theaters. His method would require theaters to be completely
rebuilt just to support the effect. Later in the year, Dircks set up a booth at the Royal Polytechnic, where it was seen
by John Pepper. [7]
Pepper realized that the method could be modified to make it easy to incorporate into existing theaters. Pepper first
showed the effect during a scene of Charles Dickens's The Haunted Man, to great success. Pepper's implementation
of the effect tied his name to it permanently. Though he tried many times to give credit to Dircks, the title "Pepper's
ghost" stuck.
Commercial video versions
Two companies produce versions of this effect using a video as the source. Shirley Spectra Australia's product,
"SpectraVision", is aimed at the exhibition market. A recent production is a life-size Shane Warne at the National
Sports Museum in Melbourne. [8] Musion's product Musion Eyeliner is aimed at use on stage, a recent production
being Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.
The South African Jewish Museum in Cape Town uses elaborate Pepper's Ghost video technology in their permanent
exhibit. The Artist Group PXNG.LI is showing evolutionary processes in a Peppers Ghost Box at the Natural
Science Museum in Karlsruhe, Germany. [9]

Pepper's ghost 4
See also
• Head-up display
• Schüfftan process
• Teleprompter a modern variation on Pepper's ghost used primarily in the television industry typically to allow a
newsreader to read text and maintain eye contact with the camera simultaneously
Notes
[1] museumofwellington.co.nz Museum of Wellington City & Sea (http:/ / www. museumofwellington. co. nz)
[2] shirleyspectra.com.au SpectraVision and Soundscapes (http:/ / www. shirleyspectra. com. au/ ProjectnzFrame-1. htm)
[3] manutd.com Meet Sir Alex - the hologram (http:/ / www. manutd. com/ default.
sps?pagegid={48C41513-A376-4D1F-981D-660FC5BB193E}& newsid=516793)
[4] nsm.org.au Shane Warne - Cricket Found Me (http:/ / www. nsm. org. au/ Exhibitions/ Shane Warne Hologram. aspx)
[5] shirleyspectra.com.au The Shirley Spectra (http:/ / www. shirleyspectra. com. au)
[6] http:/ / www. dutchigloo. com
[7] Timeline for the history of the University of Westminster (http:/ / www. wmin. ac. uk/ page-9781), University of Westminster, , retrieved
2009-08-28
[8] Shane Warne - Cricket Found Me (http:/ / www. nsm. org. au/ Exhibitions/ Shane Warne Hologram. aspx)
[9] Dynamics of Life: A scientific, interactive walk-through exhibiton (http:/ / pxng. li/ dynamik_des_lebens/ en/ ?smm=material/ 03_Video&
ssm=content& sid=2& spl=1)
References
• Steinmeyer, Jim. Discovering Invisibility. 1999.
• Steinmeyer, Jim. Hiding the Elephant. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2003.
• Steinmeyer, Jim. The Science Behind the Ghost. 1999.
• Surrell, Jason. The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies. New York: Disney Editions,
2003.
External links
• The History of the Discovery of Cinematography (http:/ / www. precinemahistory. net/ 1860. htm) An Illustrated
Chronology, Paul Burns
• A description and illustration of the illusion (http:/ / www. phantasmechanics. com/ pepper. html)
• Shane Warne Hologram (http:/ / www. nsm. org. au/ Exhibitions/ Shane Warne Hologram. aspx)
• The Shirley Spectra Australia (http:/ / www. shirleyspectra. com. au)

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