Phantasmagoria was a form of theatre
which used a modified magic lantern to
project frightening images such as
skeletons, demons, and ghosts onto
walls, smoke, or semi-transparent
screens, frequently using rear
projection. The projector was mobile,
allowing the projected image to move and
change size on the screen, and multiple
projecting devices allowed for quick
switching of different images. Invented
in France by a Belgian physicist in the
late 18th century, it gained popularity
through most of Europe throughout the
19th century.
History
The magic lantern has been credited to
both Athanasius Kircher and Christiaan
Huygens both in the mid-17th century.
Kircher's device consisted of a lantern
with a candle and concave mirror inside.
A tube was fitted into the side of the
lantern and held convex lenses at either
end. Near the center of the tube, a
glass slide of the image to be projected
was held. Huygens' magic lantern has
been described as the predecessor of
today's slide projector and the
forerunner of the motion picture
projector. Images were hand painted onto
the glass slide until the mid-19th
century when photographic slides were
employed. Though Huygens' magic lantern
was often used for amusement by
projecting quaint and pastoral imagery,
phantoms, devils, and other macabre
objects were also sometimes projected,
thus giving rise to phantasmagoria.
In the mid-18th century, in Leipzig,
Germany, a coffee shop owner named
Johann Georg Schröpfer began offering
séances in a converted billiards room
which became so popular that by the
1760s he had transformed himself into a
full-time showman, using elaborate
effects including projections of ghosts
to create a convincing spirit
experience. In 1774, he committed
suicide, apparently a victim of
delusions of his own apparitions.
Versailles was home to several
significant developments in this field.
In the 1770s François Dominique Séraphin
used magic lanterns to perform his
"Ombres Chinoises", a form of shadow
play, and Edmé-Gilles Guyot experimented
with the projection of ghosts onto
smoke.
Paul Philidor created what may have been
the first true phantasmagoria show in
1789. A combination of séance parlor
tricks and projection effects, his show
saw success in Berlin, Vienna, and
revolution-era Paris in 1793. These last
decades of the 18th century saw the rise
of the age of Romanticism. This movement
had elements of the bizarre and
irrational, and included the rise of the
Gothic novel which often centered on
mystery and the psychology of its
characters. The popular interest in such
topics explained the rise and, more
specifically, the success of
phantasmagoria for the productions to
come.
Étienne-Gaspard "Robertson" Robert, a
Belgian inventor and physicist from
Liège was known for his phantasmagoria
productions and is the most imitated. He
is credited for coining the word
fantascope, and would refer to all of
his magic lanterns by this term. Most of
his projections were done from behind
the screen, as opposed to other
projectionists at the time who usually
worked from the front of the screen.
This was due to the large size of
Robertson's fantascope. The fantascope
was not a magic lantern that could be
held by hand, but instead required
someone to stand next to it and
physically move the entire fantascope
closer or further to the screen.
Oftentimes, he would eliminate all
sources of light during his shows in
order to cast the audience in total
darkness for several minutes at a time.
Robertson would also lock the doors to
the theater so that no audience member
could exit the show once it had started.
He was also known for including multiple
sound effects into his show, such as
thunder clapping, bells ringing, and
ghost calls. A projection technique that
was pioneered by Robertson was his use
of smoke. Robertson would pass his glass
slides through a layer of smoke while
they were in his fantascope, in order to
create an image that looked out of
focus. Along with the smoke, he would
also move most of his glass slides
through his fantascope very quickly in
order to create the illusion that the
images were actually moving on screen.
Robertson's first "fantasmagorie" he
presented in 1797 at the Pavillon de
l'Echiquier in Paris. The macabre
atmosphere in the post-revolutionary
city was perfect for Robertson's Gothic
extravaganza complete with elaborate
creations and Radcliffean décor.
After discovering that he could put the
magic lantern on wheels to create either
a moving image or one that increased and
decreased in size, Robertson moved his
show. He sited his entertainment in the
abandoned cloisters kitchen of a
Capuchin convent near the Place Vendôme,
he staged hauntings, using several
lanterns, special sound effects and the
eerie atmosphere of the tomb. This show
lasted for six years, mainly because of
the appeal of the supernatural to
Parisians who were dealing with the
upheavals as a result of the French
Revolution. Robertson mainly used images
surrounded by black in order to create
the illusion of free-floating ghosts.
However, he also would use multiple
projectors, set up in different
locations throughout the venue, in order
to place the ghosts in environments. For
instance, one of his first
phantasmagoria shows displayed a
lightning-filled sky with both ghosts
and skeletons receding and approaching
the audience. In order to add to the
horror, Robertson and his assistants
would sometimes create voices for the
phantoms. Often, the audience forgot
that these were tricks and were
completely terrified:
In fact, many people were so convinced
of the reality of his shows that police
temporarily halted the proceedings,
believing that Robertson had the power
to bring Louis XVI back to life. Once
the show was back, Robertson was exposed
to the law again, this time in the form
of a lawsuit against his former
assistants who had started their own
phantasmagoria shows using his
techniques. It was this lawsuit in 1799
in which Robertson was required to
reveal his secrets to the public and
magic lantern shows popped up across
Europe and in the United States shortly
after, though many were not as elaborate
as Robertson's.
In 1801 a phantasmagoria production by
Paul Philidor opened in London's Lyceum
Theatre in the Strand, where it became a
smash hit. While he had previously been
a showman, by this time Philidor had
decided to no longer attempt to fool the
audience members into believing that the
apparitions were real. In an opening
speech, Philidor would make it clear
that these phantasmagoric images are
purely for entertainment. This was in
keeping with the growth of the
fascination with science at the time. In
fact, many of the phantasmagoria showmen
were a combination of scientists and
magicians, many of them stressing that
the effects that they produced, no
matter how eerily convincing, were in
fact the result of ingenious equipment
and no small measure of skill, rather
than any supernatural explanation. This
even extended as far as the exhibitions
at the Royal Polytechnic Institution
demonstrating the "Pepper's ghost"
effect in the 1860s.
Phantasmagoria came to the United States
in May 1803 at Mount Vernon Garden, New
York. Much like the French Revolution
sparked interest in phantasmagoria in
France, the expanding frontier in the
United States made for an atmosphere of
uncertainty and fear that was ideal for
phantasmagoria shows. Many others
created phantasmagoria shows in the
United States over the next couple of
years, including Martin Aubée, one of
Robertson's former assistants.
John Evelyn Barlas was an English poet
who had written for several
phantasmagoria shows during the late
1880s. He used the pseudonym Evelyn
Douglas for most of the works written
for phantasmagoria. He has written
several different works, most of them
focusing on the idea of dreams and
nightmares. Some of his works include
Dreamland, A Dream of China, and Dream
Music. His work is known for including
extravagant descriptions of settings
with multiple colors. Most of Barlas'
work also mentions flames and fire. The
flames are meant to represent the
burning of emotions laced throughout
Barlas' poems, and fit well within the
realm of phantasmagoria.
By the 1840s phantasmagoria became
already outmoded, though the use of
projections was still employed, just in
different realms:
Phantasmagoria in other media
Before the rise of phantasmagoria,
interest in the fantastic was apparent
in ghost stories. This can be seen in
the many examples of ghost stories
printed in the 18th century, including
"Admiral Vernon's ghost; being a full
true and particular Account as how a
Warlike apparition appeared last Week to
the Author, Clad all in Scarlet, And
discoursed to him concerning the Present
State of Affairs." In this tale, the
author's reaction to the ghost he sees
is much like that of the audience
members at the phantasmagoria shows. He
says that he is "thunderstruck", and
that "astonishment seized me. My bones
shivered within me. My flesh trembled
over me. My lips quaked. My mouth
opened. My hands expanded. My knees
knocked together. My blood grew chilly,
and I froze with terror
Early stop trick films, developed by
Georges Méliès most clearly parallel the
early forms of phantasmagoria. Trick
films include transformations,
superimpositions, disappearances, rear
projections, and the frequent appearance
of ghosts and apparent decapitations.
Modern day horror films often take up
many of the techniques and motifs of
stop trick films, and phantasmagoria is
said to have survived in this new form.
Phantasmagoria is also the title of a
poem in seven cantos by Lewis Carroll
that was published by Macmillan & Sons
in London in 1869, about which Carroll
had much to say. He preferred that the
title of the volume be found at the
back, saying in a correspondence with
Macmillan, "it is picturesque and
fantastic—but that is about the only
thing I like…" He also wished that the
volume would cost less, thinking that
the 6 shillings was about 1 shilling too
much to charge.
Phantasmagoria in modern times
A few modern theatrical troupes in the
United States and United Kingdom stage
phantasmagoria projection shows,
especially at Halloween.
Walter Benjamin was fascinated by the
phantasmagoria and used it as a term to
describe the experience of the Arcades
in Paris. In his essays, he associated
phantasmagoria with commodity culture
and its experience of material and
intellectual products. In this way,
Benjamin expanded upon Marx's statement
on the phantasmagorical powers of the
commodity.
Phantasmagoria's influence on Disney can
be found in the countless effects
throughout the themed lands and
attractions at the theme parks but are
likely most memorable in the practical
and projection effects of the Haunted
Mansion, and Phantom Manor, as well live
shows such as Fantasmic, which feature
film/video projections on water screens.
From February 15 to May 1, 2006, the
Tate Britain staged "The Phantasmagoria"
as a component of its show "Gothic
Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake and the
Romantic Imagination." It recreated the
content of the 18th and 19th century
presentations, and successfully evoked
their tastes for horror and fantasy.
French painters of the time, including
Ingres and Girodet, derived ideas for
paintings from the phantasmagoria, and
its influence spread as far as J.M.W.
Turner.
A series of photographs taken from 1977
to 1987 by photographer and model Cindy
Sherman are described as portraying the
phantasmagoria of the female body. Her
photographs include herself as the
model, and the progression of the series
as a whole presents the phantasmagoric
space projected both onto and into the
female body.
In 2006, David J. Jones discovered the
precise site of Robertson's show at the
Capuchin convent. See David J. Jones,
'Gothic Machine: Textualities,
Pre-Cinematic Media and Film in Popular
Visual Culture', 1670-1910.
See also
Grand Guignol
History of film
Limelight
References
Further reading
Castle, Terry. The Female Thermometer:
18th-Century Culture and the Invention
of the Uncanny. Oxford University Press.
ISBN 0-19-508097-1. 
Grau, Oliver. "Remember the
Phantasmagoria! Illusion Politics of the
Eighteenth Century and its Multimedial
Afterlife", Oliver Grau: Media Art
Histories, MIT Press/Leonardo Books,
2007.
Guyot, Edme-Gilles. Nouvelles
Recréations Physiques et Mathématiques
translated by Dr. W. Hooper in London
"Robertson". Mémoires récréatifs,
scientifiques et anecdotiques d'un
physicien-aéronaute.
David J. Jones(2011). 'Gothic Machine:
Textualities, Pre-Cinematic Media and
Film in Popular Visual Culture,
1670-1910', Cardiff: University of Wales
Press ISBN 978-0708324073
David J Jones'Sexuality and the Gothic
Magic Lantern, Desire, Eroticism and
Literary Visibilities from Byron to Bram
Stoker', Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN
9781137298911.
Douglas, Evelyn. Phantasmagoria. 1st ed.
Vol. 1. Chelmsford: J. H. Clarke, 1887.
Print.
Barber, Theodore. Phantasmagorical
Wonders: The Magic Lantern Ghost Show in
Nineteenth-Century America. 2nd ed. Vol.
3. N.p.: Indiana UP, 1989. Print.
External links
Mervyn Heard's "Phantasmagoria: The
Secret Life of the Magic Lantern"
Adventures in Cybersound: "Robertson's
Phantasmagoria"
Mervyn Heard's short history of the
Phantasmagoria
Visual Media site with lots of
pre-cinema information
Another short history, with more
description of Philipstal's shows in
London
Burns, Paul The History of the Discovery
of Cinematography An Illustrated
Chronology
Utsushi-e
Esther Leslie on Benjamin's Arcades
Project
The Museum of Precinema Precinema
Museum, Italy. Collection includes
original Phantasmagoria magic lanterns
and slides
