We have two Pepper's ghosts at our museum - a Chinese herbalist and a John Muir ghost. The effect is created just as some others have already explained - there is an image reflected off a 45 degree sheet of glass. In our case, the source is a 56" rear-screen projection television that is mounted facing down at ceiling level, out of sight of the visitor. (In one, it's outside the window of a cabin; in the other, it's behind a counter & cabinets.) The image, which is mirror-image inverted, then projects off the sheet of glass toward the visitor. The visitor has to be kept back a certain distance in order for the illusion to work properly, which is achieved in one case by a bar partition, and in the other by the counter. We have found our ghosts to be quite popular - I enjoy hearing kids run over to their classmates or parents to tell them about the "ghost." It's a pretty simple technology, and we haven't had any problems, except that one of the televisions did break down and had to be replaced (it was still under warranty, thank goodness!) In reply to Lisa's question about the origin of the term, my understanding is (I could be wrong) that in the 19th century, there was a magician by the name of Pepper who pioneered this technique in his magic shows. Feel free to contact me if you need any more detail. Amanda Meeker Golden State Museum 1020 O Street Sacramento CA 95814 http://www.goldenstatemuseum.org <http://www.goldenstatemuseum.org> [log in to unmask] ---------- From: prospero [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, December 02, 1999 4:40 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: pepper's ghost The museum I work at is thinking of adding several exhibits in one of our halls. Someone suggested using a device called "peppers ghost." I've looked on the web and found it is a sheet of glass reflecting an image in front of a 'scene'. I was wondering if anyone has created a display using this technique and if they would share any of problems or solutions they encountered. Thanks for the help. James Crawford Preparator Rochester Museum and Science Center Rochester, NY ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ museum-l.html. You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ museum-l.html. You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).