Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
🔥✨ “Shut your eyes, Marion. Don’t look at it.”
Before CGI changed cinema forever, practical magic ruled the screen. And few moments proved it more than the Ark-opening finale of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
This is one of the original Angel of Death puppets created by ILM’s Steve Gawley, used to bring those swirling, spectral spirits to life as the Ark was opened. Crafted from torn white silk with a weighted head and torso, it was filmed underwater in a cloud tank and guided on wires to give it that eerie, drifting movement fans still talk about today.
The same technique was a signature of ILM’s early innovation, echoed in classics like Ghostbusters, Poltergeist, and the Emperor’s crackling energy in Return of the Jedi.
For fans who know the power of the Ark all too well, this is your chance to look… just not too closely! Make sure you check this incredible piece out now in our #PropstoreLiveAuction 👉 bit.ly/londonliveauction2025
#IndianaJones #HarrisonFord #RaidersOfTheLostArk #ILM #PracticalEffects #MovieMemorabilia #FilmCollectors #80sCinema #GhostEffects #Ghost #Paranormal #SpecialEffectsHistory #Propstore
🔥✨ “Shut your eyes, Marion. Don’t look at it.”
Before CGI changed cinema forever, practical magic ruled the screen. And few moments proved it more than the Ark-opening finale of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
This is one of the original Angel of Death puppets created by ILM’s Steve Gawley, used to bring those swirling, spectral spirits to life as the Ark was opened. Crafted from torn white silk with a weighted head and torso, it was filmed underwater in a cloud tank and guided on wires to give it that eerie, drifting movement fans still talk about today.
The same technique was a signature of ILM’s early innovation, echoed in classics like Ghostbusters, Poltergeist, and the Emperor’s crackling energy in Return of the Jedi.
For fans who know the power of the Ark all too well, this is your chance to look… just not too closely! Make sure you check this incredible piece out now in our #PropstoreLiveAuction 👉 bit.ly/londonliveauction2025
#IndianaJones #HarrisonFord #RaidersOfTheLostArk #ILM #PracticalEffects #MovieMemorabilia #FilmCollectors #80sCinema #GhostEffects #Ghost #Paranormal #SpecialEffectsHistory #Propstore
