Hellow from Southern Minnesota

**dawn78** · 09-02-2008,09:36 AM

Hello from Southern Minnesota. I’m new to this forum and I’m looking for some creative ideas to improve on my Halloween set up / decorations. Up until this year we only used simple store bought decorations that were kid friendly but I would like to start making the transition into something scary. I’m fascinated with the “Pepper’s Ghost” illusion and would love to make that work. We get around 1200 TOT’s and this year being it’s on a Friday, I would guess we’ll get even more, weather permitting of course. I’ve lurked here only a few days and I will say that you all are very creative! Hopefully some of that will rub off onto me.

**maleficent** · 09-02-2008,10:11 AM

**Runwolf** · 09-02-2008,11:06 AM

Originally Posted by dawn78

Hello from Southern Minnesota. I’m new to this forum and I’m looking for some creative ideas to improve on my Halloween set up / decorations. Up until this year we only used simple store bought decorations that were kid friendly but I would like to start making the transition into something scary. I’m fascinated with the “Pepper’s Ghost” illusion and would love to make that work. We get around 1200 TOT’s and this year being it’s on a Friday, I would guess we’ll get even more, weather permitting of course. I’ve lurked here only a few days and I will say that you all are very creative! Hopefully some of that will rub off onto me.

Welcome!

Pepper's Ghost is an amazingly powerful illusion that is fun to build and can give great results. But it is also a rather generic term that covers lots of ideas. Exactly what do you want to create with your pepper's ghost? That determines the difficulty of the illusion.

The effect has created everything from the simple (floating heads) to the complex (Disney's ballroom scene at the haunted massion, to the weird (Turning a girl into an ape) to the ghostly (spectral organ player) What you want to do with it will determine how hard it is to build.

**spookineer** · 09-02-2008,11:26 AM

Welcome Dawn!

**Bilbo** · 09-02-2008,11:37 AM

And another welcome from Northern Minnesota!! Was just down south last week cleaning out the local Dollar Tree's and Big Lots of their skulls, ravens and what nots.

I'm in the Duluth/Cloquet area... whereabouts are you from?

**dawn78** · 09-02-2008,12:06 PM

Thanks for the welcomes!

Bilbo - I'm from New Ulm. Duluth is such a beautiful area.

Runwolf - I'm working on a thread that will explain what I would like to do with "peppers ghost" I just never have the time to complete my thread. But in short, I saw a video on You Tube with a girl playing the piano that I just loved. I’m planning on linking it but I think it's under the title “ghost in the window”. I really need to figure this out and recreate that type of illusion. It doesn’t have to necessarily be playing the piano but maybe a child riding a squeaky tricycle in a circle and then disappearing & reappearing. I also would like to figure out how to do this with a projector on my porch. I’m pretty sure the video on You Tube used a projector because he said it was a recording from 10 years ago. Quick question, do you know if the person viewing the illusion has to be right in front of the glass looking through it for the effect or can you see the illusion if you are standing & looking adjacent to the glass. I don't think I explain that very well!!

Wow I didn’t mean to write a book here in the introductions!

**Runwolf** · 09-02-2008,12:20 PM

Originally Posted by dawn78

Runwolf - I'm working on a thread that will explain what I would like to do with "peppers ghost" I just never have the time to complete my thread. But in short, I saw a video on You Tube with a girl playing the piano that I just loved. I’m planning on linking it but I think it's under the title “ghost in the window”. I really need to figure this out and recreate that type of illusion. It doesn’t have to necessarily be playing the piano but maybe a child riding a squeaky tricycle in a circle and then disappearing & reappearing. I also would like to figure out how to do this with a projector on my porch. I’m pretty sure the video on You Tube used a projector because he said it was a recording from 10 years ago. Quick question, do you know if the person viewing the illusion has to be right in front of the glass looking through it for the effect or can you see the illusion if you are standing & looking adjacent to the glass. I don't think I explain that very well!!

Not seeing the specific video in question, I have to guess on what you're trying to do. Peppers Ghost is a reflective illusion, where putting a pane of glass angled between two scenes, you can overlay one scene on top of the other. Viewing angle is important for the success of the prop. You control how much "overlay" each scene gets by the amount of ambient light in each scene.

If what you want is a small child riding a toy that disappears and reappears, you can do it several different ways, depending on the desired effect. You can do it live, building a classic peppers ghost chamber and having a child in the "Ghost" arm ride a toy, while in the "display" arm have the playroom set up. Then by dimming the light on the child, he will disappear in a ghostly fashion.

Or you can do it modern, videotaping a child riding a toy in front of a chromakey and projecting that onto a sheet of glass.

Getting a specific example will help narrow down your options.