Crazy Charlie Chaplin mask illusion

[Midnight Palace]

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[Marc Chevalier]

Cool illusion. It's been a part of Disneyland's "Haunted Mansion" ride since the late 1960s.

.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Weird,....

How do you do that,....

 

[Marc Chevalier]

"Of the major effects in the Haunted Mansion, the simplest is the application of a simple optical illusion found in the sinister busts which turn to follow you.

... we are allowed to move back and forth in front of the busts in order to appreciate that they really will follow you, no matter where you stand.

The illusion is, quite literally, only a trick of the light. The busts you see are actually not three-dimensional objects, but rather, negative space. To clarify: imagine the inside of a mask. You are actually looking at the inside of two "negative" busts that face away from you. These busts are made of a filmy, transparent material and are lit from behind the wall. Since the light plays over the outside of the face as if it were a "positive" image rather than a "negative" one, and you view this light through the bust from the other side, your mind assumes that the bust is a normal object. Then, by passing the busts, the changing perspective of the faces cannot be accounted by your brain by normal means, so it assumes that they are turning to follow you.


However, since the busts are actually recessed inside a niche in the wall, and jut “backwards” from a flat back surface further recessed within the niches (which your brain assumes is the back of the niche) at a certain angle the “edge” of the effect becomes apparent, and it is obvious that the bust is actually an impression in the wall."




Bust as seen from the front (concave): --------------- Bust from the back (convex):

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--------------------

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[Maj.Nick Danger]

Awesome effect. I'm thinking of going to work for a guy that does haunted houses. Maybe I could use this trick. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Nashoba]

I hate those things at DL. They freaked me out as a kid and I never really got over it. I love the ride, always go on it a million times but I don't linger at those busts. They still creep me out

 

[HadleyH]

Looooove it ! Show me more!!!! :eusa_clap

 

[Tomasso]

Looooove it ! Show me more!!!! :eusa_clap

So you liked it, Had?

 

[MudInYerEye]

My Grandfather Arthur told me he once smoked pot with Charlie Chaplin in the late 1920's, San Francisco. This demonstration would have freaked them both out I'm sure.

 

[thebadmamajama]

The Haunted Mansion is my favorite thing @ Disney World, and has been since I was 3. (don't ask)

Sweet illusion AND explanation!!

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

I saw this video a year or two ago when I was looking for a Charlie Chaplin mask. Always fun to see it again.

 

[Phil]

I love the ride. All the optical illusions are awesome. I love the song too.

 

[Nashoba]

what's always fun is when we get into the elevator room with a group that knows the whole intro by heart word for word and is reciting it along with the narrator....and my husband pretending to be scared wraps his arms around me in a mock death grip whispering 'dark and scary dark and scary' in my ear ahhh memories.....and he does it EVERY time...