We have all seen mannequins used well in our museums. But this one at the North Carolina Transportation Museum jumped out at me because it makes a perfect black and white scene.

The Pennsylvania Railroaders Memorial Museum at Altoona has quite a collection.

What's made them a bit unique is that many, if not all of them, were body casts of employees and staff put in different roles. I only know one.

http://www.railroadcity.com/graphics/buildingawheel.jpg

I'm not sure if it was by accident or by choice, but somehow they have now turned into 'ghosts'.... check about halfway down on this web page.

http://www.pennsylvania-mountains-of-at ... thunt.html

Like I said, I don't think that was the interpretation goal here!

The "ghost hunter" should have cleaned his camera lens beforehand which would have eliminated 'ghostly orbs of energy'. Good grief.

While ARMM is one of my favorite places, the ghost hunter show I saw was insulting (running around yelling threats is not the way to talk to anyone, dead or alive) and the crew tried to pass off the noise of an empty spine car with a flat wheel as "ghostly". The sound long cars make when they howl around Horseshoe Curve would have put them six feet under.

That said, some of us do believe the museum is...populated, to put it in a more kindly way. If you can see through the tour guides, they aren't on the official roster. That doesn't mean they're scary, and I don't think it's necessary to "investigate" them by running around yelling at them.

There is definitely a philosophy behind these decisions. You can have "realistic" looking human figures, but they can dip into the "Uncanny Valley" and can be distractingly creepy in appearance. The other approach is intentionally abstract. We all recognize that these less-realistic figures (all white, flat cut-outs, faceless mannequins, etc) represent people, but they are intended to do so in a less-specific manner that calls upon the viewers' imaginations.

The California State RR Museum has installed realistic looking figures in their history museum, and they look pretty good (and expensive), but I am a bit concerned about their appearance over time. I saw at least one person get "squicked out" when she thought one of them was real for a second.

I like the use of these solid white figures. Most dummies don't look all that great anyway, so it's best to not make it look like you got your mannequins from Goodwill. And a side benefit is that your docents won't be mistaken for the plastic kind after you've established that the 'all white people' aren't people at all, and everything not solid white is a living person.
One of my hobbies is WW2 living history, and I've bene mistaken for a mannequin on several occasions in museum events when I'm sitting or standing and not moving. I've scared more than a few people over the years (some intentionally, I have to admit, sitting in the pilot's seat of a B-17 in full WW2 pilot gear and facing away, it's easy to do this to someone touring the plane). I've felt bad when I'm taking a breather from talking to folks then I get up and scare the bejeezus out of some poor old lady or kid who thought I was a dressed up mannequin...

Galveston Railroad Museum used to have a bunch of these in the station waiting room.

Did they scrap them due to flood damage?

No, they were salvaged, cleaned, and returned to display.

http://www.galvestonrrmuseum.com/