Phantasmagoria : the secret life of the magic lantern

Ghosts of the departed, and apparitions of distant friends, appeared as if by supernatural forces to those who attended the Phantasmagoria presentations in London in 1801. In this new account of ghostly projections, the author provides a comprehensive history of such spectral appearances from ancient times to today, with a particular emphasis on the use of the magic lantern in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to project images of phantoms. The book is based on two decades of original research. Writing with humour appropriate to the subject - the protagonists were all eccentric, and their effects often ridiculous as well as genuinely frightening - Dr Heard has produced a rare addition to the very few published accounts of theatrical ghost-raising.