An optical effect produced by a magic lantern. The figures are painted in transparent colors, and all the rest of the glass is opaque black. The screen is between the spectators and the instrument, and the figures are often made to appear as in motion, or to merge into one another.
The apparatus by which such an effect is produced.
Fig.: A medley of figures; illusive images.
'Ghost-making' machines developed in the late 18th century, utilizing apparatus like a magic lantern to project ghostly images and figures before an audience. Widely employed in plays or other stage productions which demanded a 'ghostly' special effect. An image would often be projected onto a sheet of glass between the stage and the actors, giving the illusion of a semi-transparent "apparition" with an ethereal glow.
a constantly changing medley or real or imagined images (as in a dream)
a constantly changing phenomenon, particularly, in its primary meaning, one in which things rush out of the background to become larger in the foreground
A minor subsidiary stage of the Return, the second stage of the after-life, during which life and imagination are completed in order to exhaust emotion.
A crowd of dim or unreal figures. It is also a device used for ghost making as a popular entertainment in the 18th century developed by E.G. Robertson around the 1790's for projecting convincing figures before an audience.
Phantasmagoria was a precinema projection ghost show invented in France in the late 18th century, which gained popularity through most of Europe (especially England) throughout the 19th century.