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Imaginary Worlds

Haunted By Pepper's Ghost

Imaginary Worlds

Eric Molinsky

Arts, Science Fiction, Fiction, Society & Culture

4.82.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A play by Charles Dickens. The Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. A hologram of a famous dead pop singer. They’re all connected by a simple magic trick called Pepper’s Ghost. What’s most remarkable about this illusion is that it hasn’t changed much in over 160 years. I talk with Jim Steinmeyer and Ben Schrader, both designers of theatrical special effects, about why a Victorian magic trick is more popular than ever at modern theme parks and other live entertainment venues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

1863 London Winter Time A young man is heading to the theater.

0:10.6

He can't get there fast enough because there is a lot of excitement around this play.

0:16.1

It's called The Haunted Man.

0:18.6

It's based on a story by Charles Dickens.

0:21.1

In fact, Dickens himself might be in the audience tonight.

0:27.2

The man gets to the theater, takes a seat.

0:32.6

Onstage he sees another young man, an actor playing a student, working late at night at his

0:38.6

desk.

0:40.1

Suddenly a ghost appears on stage.

0:44.7

This isn't an actor walking on announcing he's a ghost like Hamlet's father.

0:50.6

This looks like a ghost.

0:52.6

I mean you can see right through him.

0:55.7

The audience gasps and the ghost is gone.

1:01.4

2023 London Summer Time A man in his 60s is heading to a concert.

1:12.0

He's excited.

1:13.0

There's a lot of buzz around this new show.

1:15.6

And when he finally gets to the arena, the lights go down and the group Abba appears

1:20.5

on stage.

1:22.2

They look exactly like you remember when he was a teenager.

1:27.6

In fact they literally look like they did in the 1970s because they're not really there.

1:34.4

They're holograms.

1:38.2

These two performances are taking place 160 years apart.

...

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