If you were a kid around 1975 and ever passed through the toy section of the local pharmacy or discount store, you may have seen a display of small boxes adorned with the graphic of an old manor-style house and printed all over with the description of its contents, "Pet Ghost."
No doubt it made its way into the impulse buy market on the coattails of the Pet Rock, only it was a much cooler concept. Essentially a small styrofoam ball wrapped in tulle, the tiny "ghost" came with stickers to give it a face and necktie and with the option of making yours a boy ghost, or a girl ghost. A line of thread was attached to the ghost so it could be controlled to appear to float, fly, dance, or whatever else you could make it do.
I, myself, never had much luck successfully puppeteering my ghost, but I did love the graphics of the house on the outside of the box.Now, years later, I thought it might be fun to visualize those great little graphics in 3D. The model was built using SketchUp Pro and 3DS Max with a little post done in Photoshop. Pet Ghost was created and distributed by FunStuf of Orlando, FL.
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UPDATE: A recent discovery has revealed the graphics used for the packaging of Pet Ghost were actually a near-direct copy of an illustration by Phillipe Fix used for the book Alexander and the Magic Mouse by Martha Sanders, copyrighted 1969--well before Pet Ghost appeared on the market.
Although disappointing after being intrigued by the Pet Ghost box for so many years, it was still a valid modeling exercise and will continue being based on a favorite part of childhood.
