enter a black-curtained room decorated with skeletons, two candles and a white circle on the ground. The very solemn performance would start with the sound of thunder that would grow louder and louder, accompanied by hail and wind. Lights would extinguish themselves one by one and flames would rise from the lamps before being extinguished and rendering the room in total darkness. Then ghosts of all sizes and shapes would fly around in a circle. After a very fierce storm a summoned, lifelike ghost of a person known to the audience would eventually rise from the floor to slowly sink back into the abyss in the ground. Ghosts would appear in various ways; one would suddenly be there, another would slowly shape itself from a grey cloud and yet another would approach from far away and come so close that one could touch it. Some apparitions would take a few steps closer to the audience before disappearing. Spectators were spared any annoyance of foul tastes or odors and could count on a pleasant experience. The show would start at seven in the evening and last one and a half hour. There would be three public performances a week and private shows for parties up to 24 people could be booked for the remaining days. One review stated that no optical or other tricks could be discerned.Wiener Zeitung. 1790-03-13 However, this "review" could have been part of Phylidor's newspaper promotions: it is somewhat similar to advertisements and handbills that also described the show. "Phantasmagorie", Paris (December 1792 to July 1793) A "Phantasmagorie" by Paul Filidort in Paris was first advertised on 16 December 1792. It was several years into the French Revolution and the audience were particularly open to the idea of seeing their dead heroes. However, with tensions running high and Philidor's shows increasingly making political references it was not long until he found himself in trouble with the authorities. Philidor made references to well-known revolutionaries of the day, making Maximilien Robespierre, Georges Danton, and Jean-Paul Marat appear as if they were the devil. According to the memoirs of Madame Tussaud, a "Monsieur Phillipstal" was arrested after the audience of a phantasmagoria show protested at what they interpreted as a depiction of the rise of Louis XVI to heaven, caused by a mistake by an assistant who was removing the slide during projection. Phillipsthal's wife would have bribed authorities so