First Peppers’ Ghost
Pepper’s ghost first made its appearance with theatre shows in the 1860’s. The effect was named after John Pepper who brought the illusion into the mainstream with ghost themed plays. The illusion works by reflecting an image off a piece of glass at a 45 degree angle to the viewer, thus creating a ghosting appearance. When preformed correctly, the viewer will not notice the glass or the actual object and be in awe by what is magically appearing right in front of them.
Today, the illusion can be found in museums, concerts, and even at Walt Disney World on the Haunted Mansion attraction (where I discovered it).
My first attempt of the illusion took place in 2015 after I returned home from the Disney College Program. I was luck enough to be apart of an overnight engineering experience that opened my eyes to illusions and projection mapping.
To create my illusion I found a glass in the kitchen and modeled it’s shape inside Cinema 4D. I then did a simple simulation of some balls falling into the glass from above. Using my laptop and a piece of glass I took from a picture frame, I angled it all just right so that the real world glass was in line with the reflection on the screen.
