Illustration of a performance by Flemish magician, huckster, and phantasmagoria pioneer Paul Phylidor (17??–1829), from a 1791 handbill. He claimed to be able to summon the dead but was reported to rely on projections, smoke machines, and mechanical devices. 🎃☠️

@betonnie.bsky.social

As K&R's C Language book said, about subroutines, "I can call spirits from the vasty deep." "Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?"