Overview
- Walt Disney Imagineering released a new Great Moments in Imagineering video on December 9 that details how the Pepper’s Ghost effect works.
- The piece outlines the effect’s 19th‑century roots with John Henry Pepper and Henry Dircks and its breakthrough use by Yale Gracey in The Haunted Mansion ballroom.
- It highlights The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, where the technique was reworked with video, moving sets, projections, and controlled lighting to create floating figures.
- The latest application shown is at EPCOT’s Test Track 3.0, where a garage “smart mirror” uses the illusion to transform a car’s reflected appearance.
- Imagineers emphasize iterative prototyping, from shoebox models to full-scale mock-ups, as part of an ongoing series sharing behind-the-scenes design methods.