
Pepper’s ghost is an illusion technique, used in the theatre, cinema, amusement parks, museums, television, and concerts, in which an image of an object off-stage is projected so that it appears to be in front of the audience.
The technique is named after the English scientist John Henry Pepper (1821–1900), who popularised the effect with a theatre demonstration in 1862. This launched an international vogue for ghost-themed plays which used this novel stage effect during the 1860s and subsequent decades.
The illusion is widely used for entertainment and publicity purposes. These include the Girl-to-Gorilla trick found in old carnival sideshows and the appearance of “ghosts” at the Haunted Mansion and the “Blue Fairy” in Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, both at Disneyland in California. Teleprompters are a modern implementation of Pepper’s ghost. The technique was used to display a life-size illusion of Kate Moss at the 2006 runway show for the Alexander McQueen collection The Widows of Culloden