Home Barbie to Gorilla Materials & Instructions
Barbie into Gorilla
Another example of using Pepper’s Ghost is the famous carnival illusion of Girl to Gorilla, by means of the same devices and concepts as the Candle in the Water exhibit. In this trick, a young lady stands behind a large glass sheet which is set at a 45 degree angle to the ‘audience.’ Unseen by the audience is a small, hidden room in front of and to the right of the girl (in our case, the girl is a small Barbie doll, and the gorilla is a plastic toy gorilla). The room is not lit at first.
In the ‘gorilla room,’ the toy stands before the same color background as the Barbie doll. Both the Barbie and gorilla are precisely position for the illusion to work. When one moves the dimmer switch up, the lighting on the Barbie decreases at the same rate that the light on the gorilla increases. Done properly, the background illumination seems to remain unchanged. To the ‘audience,’ however, the Barbie seems to slowly transform into the gorilla. In reality, the Barbie is no longer illuminated but the gorilla is, its image reflected in the glass.
Directions:
1. Make sure the top lid/cover is tightly closed.
2. Peek your eye through the small hole. You should see the Barbie doll.
3. Then take hold of the dimmer switch, and place your fingertips on the fingerprint marking as indicated.
4. Move the switch upward first, keeping your eye focused on the Barbie doll. As you do this, our Barbie will turn into the gorilla (shift switch downward to bring Barbie back)!
5. *Optional*~ Lift up outside lid to see into the box and the workings inside. WOW and HOW!