Friday, October 27, 2017

Ghosts of Christmas Past

Having read some of my posts, you might begin to think I was a deprived child, living vicariously through the toys of my neighbors and friends. And indeed, I never had as many or as expensive of toys as my friends (I'm sure many kids felt that way). But every once in a while, my parents would come through.

Somewhere around Christmas of 1976, I received a gift for which I'm fairly certain I hadn't asked.  In fact, recently browsing Wishbookweb, I couldn't even find a page in either the Sears nor J.C. Penney's catalogs (our staple of Christmas toy perusal) displaying this toy.  But under the tree that Christmas Eve I unwrapped a Hasbro "Ghost Gun".






I recall scouring the house for "C" batteries (we never had batteries around our house) and only being able to scavenge 2 (it required 3).  My dad, known for this "jimmy rigging" skills, fashioned a spring between the second battery and the contact, thus closing the circuit and providing an adequate, if weak, projection.

The gun itself appears to have been modeled after the M3 Submachine Gun.


What would be the ammunition magazine held the batteries and a lightbulb.


The gun came with paper target strips that when loaded into the side would project images of ghosts, monsters, and other ghouls.  Inside the gun was a needle that when viewed through the projection looked like a target point.  Adjust the gun stock until the point is on the ghost and pull the trigger.  The needle punched a hole in the paper giving the appearance that you'd just blown a gaping hole in the ghost.(I know, it doesn't really make sense to shoot a ghost, but let's get beyond that, okay?)









The best photo I could get of the projected image.




My Ghost Gun eventually ceased serving its intended purpose and became just another toy gun in the toy box.  At some point, during one of my mom's cleaning sprees, it was thrown out. I found the above at a garage sale some years ago.

A few years after the "Ghost Gun",  Hasbro re-purposed it as the "Lite-Blaster Moving Monster Gun".

Image courtesy Plaidstallions.com

6 comments:

  1. That's pretty cool - I think I felt deprived and that everyone had better stuff. I was one of six - I always felt I could use more. But looking back, my parents were awesome. We got plenty.

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    1. I was one of six as well, the youngest. We didn't have a lot of money, but we made do and still managed to get some pretty cool presents.

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  2. Totally want a Ghost Gun now! Wonder if any made it over to this side of the pond?

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  3. Well, you were one up on me! Never even heard of this before now. Kinda cool!

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  4. Had one and mostly used it to play army. Shooting the projected ghost was a novelty that wore off after the first day, if I remember right. Still a cool toy.

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    1. Yeah, that's what I ended up doing with it as well. It was in the toy box in our basement for years.

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