Pepper's ghost
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- For the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based rock ensemble, see Pepper's Ghost (band). For the album by Buckethead, see Pepper's Ghost (album).
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.
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. The mirror room may instead be painted black, with only light-coloured objects in it. 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 long scene forms a single Pepper's Ghost effect. Guests travel along an elevated mezzanine overlooking an empty ballroom. Animatronic "ghosts" animate out of sight in black rooms beneath and above the mezzanine. The reflections in the glass create the appearance of three-dimensional, translucent ghosts that swarm through the ballroom. This use of the effect is notable for two other reasons; it uses a vertical pane of glass that is parallel to the scene and the reflected objects are located both below and above the viewers.
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, the Ghosts of the Library exhibit, located at the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois, as well as the depiction of Maori legends called A Millennium Ago at the Museum of Wellington City and Sea, Wellington, New Zealand. More of the Museum of City and Sea. 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. The first two examples in the United Kingdom were 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. [1]
[edit] John Pepper & 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.
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.
[edit] External links
- Burns, Paul. The History of the Discovery of Cinematography An Illustrated Chronology
- A description and illustration of the illusion
- A photo and brief description of Mystery Lodge at Knott's Berry Farm
[edit] References
- "History of the University." University of Westminster. 18 February 2006 <http://www.wmin.ac.uk/page-42>.
- 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.
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