Being an audience in the “Fantasmagorie” or any phantasmagoria show would scare me into thinking it was real, and I would react with fear mixed with fascination. France’s end of the 18th-century era was right after the French Revolution, and many people like Robertson were fascinated with death, ghost stories, and the supernatural. Many were genuinely frightened by the ghostly images and tales of terror, and I would be among those people.
When you see such an illusion that strikes you as real for the first time, you don’t expect it, which increases the shock and spookiness of the whole show. Robertson went to many lengths to make people believe that this was real. The “Fantasmagorie” show was more than the moving images of the Fantoscope that he invented; He wanted to create a frightening environment. The performance took place in a dark theater, lighted by a creepy candlelight, eerily sounds played on a glass harmonica, as he narrated tales of phantasmagoria (ghost stories).
I believe there are ways to achieve the same level of fascination and fear in today’s era. In most of them, you have the surprise element, but it’s lacking the – is this real? A sensation that Robertson’s show had.
You can get scared by horror movies, Haunted houses, Escape rooms with horror themes, and more.
When thinking about an illusion that can create the same uncertainty of what’s real and what’s not, I think about really great magic shows or mentalist performances. Even VR experiences can definitely make you feel diluted.
