Hey, it's Brian, back with another episode for those of us getting an early start on the Christmas season,

or at least getting ready for Halloween, because today I have another Christmas ghost story for you.

Well, sort of. It does involve Christmas, and it does involve a ghost,

but it's unlike anything you've ever heard on Christmas Past before.

You see, back in 2017, after the first season of Christmas Past, I started a second podcast,

though it didn't last very long. It was called illusion. The idea was that I would tell true stories from history that involved illusions. The tagline was true stories of impossible things

and the people behind them.

This is a topic that's always fascinated me.

The idea that humans have seemingly

always found ways to bend reality

by exploiting the gaps in our ability

to sense and perceive.

Experiencing illusions large and small

is part of our daily lives, and I believe

it's one of the things

that makes us human. Well, anyway, illusion isn't available anymore, but I thought you'd be

interested in hearing this particular episode. It's about an innovation in stagecraft that

revolutionized storytelling in its day. I hope you like it. I'll come back at the end to wrap up,

but for now, here's the 2017 episode of Illusion, The Professor and the Tilted Glass.

Christmas Eve was as good a night as any to haunt a house. And when the ghost materialized,

appearing from nowhere before their eyes, all anyone in the room could do was watch.

Anyone except the student reading at his desk by candlelight, in his waistcoat and mutton

...