I was reading about the phantasmagoria---entertainments that were popular in the period of the French Revolution and also during the Victorian era. They were forerunners of the modern horror movie, as they used magic lanterns (a forerunner of the movie projector) to cast images of ghosts, devils, and fantastic creatures on screens, smoke, or even a supposedly bare stage.
While it's hard to find a magic lantern these days, I did find a Youtube video that explains the principle behind 'Pepper's Ghost,' a technique developed by these entertainers around 1860. It's pretty amazing. I apologize for the potty mouth on the one girl, but I can certainly understand why she says what she does!
If you've ever been in the Haunted Mansion at Disney World, this same technique is used, very effectively, in the scene where ghosts whirl in and out of a ballroom.
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