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Historical engraving showing Robertson’s phantasmagoria, with lantern operators, an apparition and spectators in a dark theatrical setting.
Look closely. Let the image settle.

Explore a surviving phantasmagoria lantern ↗

Compare a later illustration of a ghost-lantern show
An 1867 illustration of Robertson’s phantasmagoria, with ghostly figures above the audience.
A later, 1867 interpretation of Robertson’s show. It illustrates the spectacle rather than recording a performance photographically. Image: Alphonse de Neuville or A. Jahandier · Source · Public domain. An 1867 interpretation of Robertson’s phantasmagoria; a later historical illustration.; viewing previews may be resized.
Holography & tricky projections / Late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries

Phantasmagoria — magic-lantern ghost shows

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Ghosts and skeletons appear in darkness, grow larger and seem to approach the audience. Hidden magic lanterns turn painted slides into an unsettling moving spectacle.

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Look at the lantern operators, the apparition and the spectators in the engraving. Imagine the illuminated image growing as the lantern moves away from its screen. Compare this projected ghost with the reflected figure in Pepper’s Ghost.

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History, evidence & image credit

THE IMAGE IN THIS ARCHIVE

Étienne-Gaspard Robert (designer & publisher), Lejeune (engraver)

Original file & attribution · Public domain

Original image downloaded from Wikimedia Commons; the downloaded file is unchanged. Gallery previews may be resized or converted to WebP; animated previews show the first frame.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Phantasmagoria — magic-lantern ghost shows?

Ghosts and skeletons appear in darkness, grow larger and seem to approach the audience. Hidden magic lanterns turn painted slides into an unsettling moving spectacle.

What should I look for in Phantasmagoria — magic-lantern ghost shows?

Look at the lantern operators, the apparition and the spectators in the engraving. Imagine the illuminated image growing as the lantern moves away from its screen. Compare this projected ghost with the reflected figure in Pepper’s Ghost.

What explains Phantasmagoria — magic-lantern ghost shows?

A lantern sends light through a painted slide and a lens onto a screen or another receiving surface. Rear projection can hide the apparatus. Moving the projector while adjusting focus changes the image’s size and suggests an approaching or retreating apparition. Pepper’s Ghost achieves apparent presence through reflection instead of lantern projection.

Another way to see it

Explore this category
Original two-panel diagram showing an object wave and reference wave meeting at a holographic plate, then a developed transmission hologram reconstructing a virtual object for a viewer on its opposite side.

Transmission holography — Optical Interactions

Gary Fisher · Optical Interactions

A flat glass plate reconstructs light from a still life. Move sideways and the objects reveal a different view, as though you were looking through a window.

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Original reflection-hologram diagram showing a lamp and viewer on the same side of a plate, with selected light returning to the viewer and dashed extensions locating a virtual image behind the plate.

Reflection holography — Cassadaga (Spirit Pond)

Matthew Schreiber · Cassadaga (Spirit Pond)

A lamp illuminates a flat plate and an image appears to occupy depth. The light returns towards the viewer from a recorded structure inside the holographic material.

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Original comparison of rainbow-hologram viewing: two side-by-side views of a generic sphere show horizontal parallax, while vertically stacked views change from red to green to blue without adding a new vertical perspective.

Rainbow holography — Benton’s Sphere

Stephen A. Benton · Sphere, made at Polaroid

A hologram becomes visible in ordinary white light. Move sideways to explore depth; move vertically and its colour changes through the spectrum.

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Historical engraving showing Robertson’s phantasmagoria, with lantern operators, an apparition and spectators in a dark theatrical setting.

Phantasmagoria — magic-lantern ghost shows