Part 8 - Gotta light? (SPOILERS)

[sycamore]

After watching this masterpiece four times so far, here's some of my thoughts and musings. Let's take a deep dive into the secrets of the Woodsman poem and the dates on the title cards and try to figure some of that out.

Title Card #1:
"July 16, 1945
White Sands, New Mexico
5:29am (MWT)"

We know this is the first atomic bomb explosion. THE experiment. Trinity Atomic Test Site. [Note: The desert sand, largely made of silica, melted and became a mildly radioactive light green glass, which was named trinitite. This is possibly the material that makes up the Owl Cave ring, but that's for a future post.]

But what about Title Card #2:
(starts with 1945 then clicks through each year until it reaches):
"1956
August 5
New Mexico Desert"

Other than title card #1, at no time ever in any Twin Peaks episode, is the date given so obviously in a title card. So why is the second date given? Why is this specific date even important? The 1945 date is obvious. The 1956 date, not so obvious. Searching for August 5, 1956 on Google offers ten pages of a hundred answers that don't seem to matter at all. Let's get back to the dates a little later - after we analyze the scenes that take place on August 5, 1956 and first try to make some sense of that Woodsman poem.

Scene 1 - Egg hatching and moth/frog climbing out. [side note: someone earlier today noted that the moth/frog has a 'cone nose' - similar to the Jumping Man in FWWM; and Carlton Lee Russell, who played the Jumping Man in FWWM is on the official cast list revealed in 2016 (also, he hasn't yet appeared this season - even as a different character):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... A/htmlview
Scene 2 - Girl and boy walking away from gas station; she finds a penny and hopes for good luck.
Scene 3 - Woodsman (Robert Broski) descending from the sky and starting to walk; another Woodsman (Christian Calloway) is also walking. [side note: both of these woodsmen were also seen in SD when Mr C was shot by Ray Monroe]
Scene 4 - These same two Woodsmen stop two cars on a road and one of them (Robert Broski) asks, "Got a light?" three times, then three times again before the husband and wife speed off, swerving around a third Woodsman.
Scene 5 - The boy and girl finish walking to her house, he kisses her and she goes inside.
Scene 6 - Woodsman (Robert Broski) walks towards KPJK radio station while the Platters song 'My Prayer' plays. [side notes: I cannot find any reference to KPJK ever existing; one of the seven members of The Platters is actually named David Lynch, a tenor vocalist; also this was the Billboard #1 song from July 29 through August 11, 1956]. He squeezes the heads of the receptionist and disc jockey, stops the record, and recites his now famous poem: "This is the water. And this is the well. Drink full and descend. The horse is the white of the eyes and dark within." (11 times until the credits roll).
Scene 6A - The waitress, listening to KPJK in Pop's diner passes out.
Scene 6B - The mechanic, listening to KPJK passes out.
Scene 6C - The girl, now inside her home on her bed, listening to KPJK passes out; the moth/frog climbs into her mouth.
Scene 6D - The woodsman leaves the radio station and walks away as horses neigh.
Scene 6E - The girl lies on her bed while we hear electrical arcing.

OK, let's break down and analyze the precise editing of Scene 6C-6E a lot more (and yeah, I'm REALLY emphasizing the first two syllables of analyze here!):
52:50 - The moth/frog crawling (no poem being read)
53:20 - Closeup shot of radio dial ("... and dark within")
53:23 - Girl sitting on bed starts to lie down ("This is the water. And this is the well. Drink full and descend ...")
53:33 - Closeup shot of radio dial ("... The horse is the white of the eyes ...")
53:36 - Girl puts her head down and passes out ("... and dark within.")
53:37 - The moth/frog crawls closer and flies onto the windowsill (..."Drink full, and descend. The horse is the white of the eyes and dark within. This is the water. And this is the well. Drink full and descend ...")
54:00 - Closeup of girl asleep on her bed ("... The horse is the white of the eyes and dark within. This is the water. And this is the well. Drink full and descend ...")
54:15 - Continued closeup of girl asleep on her bed as the moth/frog walks up to her face ("... The horse is the white of the eyes ... ")
54:18 - Continued closeup of girl asleep on her bed as the moth/frog stops and flutters it's wings (" ... and dark within ...")
54:20 - Continued closeup of girl asleep on her bed as the moth/frog looks slightly at the camera ("... This is the water ...")
54:23 - Continued closeup of girl asleep on her bed as she opens her mouth wide (" ... And this is the well ...")
54:26 - Continued closeup of girl asleep on her bed as the moth/frog starts to climb into her mouth ("... Drink full, and descend ...")
54:29 - Continued closeup of girl asleep on her bed as the moth/frog continues to climb into her mouth ("... The horse is the white of the eyes and dark within. This is the water. And this is the well. Drink full and descend.")
54:47 to 54:51 - [note the pause in the poem after "Drink full and descend."] Continued closeup of girl asleep on her bed as the moth/frog finishes climbing into her mouth - and she swallows.
54:54 - Closeup of Woodsman's dark face [note: the only white part of his entire body are the whites of his eyes] ("... The horse is the white of the eyes and dark within. This is the water. And this is the well. Drink full and descend. The horse is the white of the eyes and dark within.")
55:20 - The Woodsman is now finished reciting his poem and crushes the skull of the disc jockey.
56:03 - The Woodsman walks out of the radio station and bright lights flash as he exits through the door.
56:15 - The Woodsman walks way from the camera and becomes invisible in the nighttime desert as the wind blows, crickets chirp, and horses neigh (ten times).
56:53 to 58:06 - Closeup of girl asleep on her bed as electrical arcing sounds play and the wind continues to blow. [note her eyelid flutters and forehead tightening]

Analysis of the Woodsman poem:
1. The moth/frog looks slightly at the camera ("... This is the water ...")
2. The girl asleep on her bed as she opens her mouth wide (" ... And this is the well ...")
3. The girl asleep on her bed as the moth/frog starts to climb into her mouth ("... Drink full, and descend ...")
4. The girl asleep on her bed as the moth/frog continues to climb into her mouth ("... The horse is the white of the eyes and dark within. This is the water. And this is the well. Drink full and descend.")
5. [note the pause in the poem after "Drink full and descend."] The girl asleep on her bed as the moth/frog finishes climbing into her mouth - and she swallows.
6. Closeup of Woodsman's dark face [note: the only white part of his entire body are the whites of his eyes] ("... The horse is the white of the eyes and dark within.
7. The Woodsman walks way from the camera and becomes invisible in the nighttime desert as horses neigh (ten times).

Meanings of the Woodsman poem:
1. The moth/frog is the 'water'.
2. The girl's mouth is the 'well'.
3. The girl 'drinks full' when she swallows and the moth/frog 'descends'.
4. The whites of the eyes of the Woodsman represent the 'horse', yet the Woodsman is 'dark within'.
Taken this way, the Woodsman poem is an ethereal call to the moth/frog to inhabit any person that it can find (or possibly a specific person). It's a command for the water to find the well, then, for the person to drink and the moth/frog to descend inside that person. Probably, of course, to incubate.

There are many theories about the white or pale horse in Sarah Palmer's visions. "Perhaps the most straightforward theory regarding the white horse is that it is a character foreshadowing death or impending danger. This equates the pale horse with the 'Pale Horse of Death', of one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Bible. The white one being traditionaly associated with conquest."
http://twinpeaks.wikia.com/wiki/Pale_horse

Okay, so maybe those answers only scratch the surface of the secrets. But they don't really get to the deeper 'why' ... as in 'why' is all this happening. We can surmise that the atomic bomb opened a rift 'between two worlds' where one experiment (bomb) created another 'experiment' (Mother) who birthed an incredible fiery evil (Bob), followed by the Fireman providing an antidote (Laura) [hmmm... water???]. I guess we'll really have to wait for the rest of the parts to unfold.

Now, back to the dates. There are no references to the year 1956 in TSHOTP. But there is a reference to White Sands:

In November of 1944--although his records throughout the war are frustratingly incomplete--it appears that while stationed on Guam, now-Sergeant Douglas Milford was brought up on serious charges of black market trafficking of stolen Army property, primarily liquor and cigarettes.

But rather than endure the normal protocol of a court-martial, it appears D. Milford accepted instead an offer to "volunteer" into a special detachment stateside. [footnote: I can confirm that those charges were dismissed - although he was demoted - and Milford was transferred to the base mentioned below - TP]

After vanishing from the ranks in the Pacific, he next turns up as a buck private in Alamogordo, New Mexico, at the White Sands Missile Range in 1945. [footnote: White Sands was the site of the first atomic bomb testing in the late stages of WWII - TP]

What exactly he was doing in this "special detachment" remains unclear, but one theory rises above the others. Although their existence has never been acknowledged, this may have been the unit assigned to various hazardous duties around the Manhattan Project, bearing the risk of possible radiation exposure. [footnote: Unconfirmed, but then the existence of this unit has never been officially verified - TP]
TSHOTP, page 78/80

With Douglas Milford at White Sands, where Bob came into existence, and later, Doulas Milford training Garland Briggs, we now have a potential correlation for how Bob ends up in Milford's hometown of Twin Peaks. Exactly how, I don't know. According to TSHOTP, the boy and girl cannot be a young Leland and Sarah. Leland would have been born in 1944, Sarah in 1945 and the book doesn't give any indication they even have New Mexico ties.

The facts say her father killed her. Leland Palmer, 45. Pride and only son of a wealthy Seattle family. Private schools. Summa cum laude, University of Washington, 1966, president of the Law Review. Outstanding professional career, culminating in an eight-year run as chief counsel to the Horne Corporation, which is what brought the Palmers to town. No drugs, no alcoholism, no criminal record or history of mental illness. Happily married twenty-one years to Sarah Novack Palmer, 44. Political science major. College sweethearts. [footnote: Verified - TP]
TSHOTP, page 324

So, finally, what DID happen on August 5, 1956? This Google search led nowhere:
"August 5, 1956" "New Mexico"
But when I added "UFO" to that search, ... I got this page with references to Devil's Gate in LA, Native Americans, portals, negative energy, Jack Parsons (founder of JPL), rituals, occult, the 'Mother Abominations', and the kidnapping and murder of a boy (13) and girl (11) on August 5, 1956.
http://hauntedlosangeles.blogspot.com/2014/02
However, that occurred in Los Angeles, not New Mexico. But for those who have read TSHOTP and have seen Part 8, the correlations are way to much to ignore. It seems as though Jack Parsons awoke some very big dark energies when his rituals concluded and he died on June 17, 1952. And it seems to have had an effect far wider than the LA area. When you get to the end of this webpage, do you recognize something similar to the picture of the "Jersey Devil???"

Wow. Bob. Wow.

PS - Who owns this website? The posts are all written in the last few years by 'ManofMystery24'. Do you think Mark Frost wrote it? A further search for the names of the boy (13) and girl (11), indicates they were very real people and that this and similar 'catastrophes' were connected to Jack Parsons and the supernatural. These 'catastrophes' seem to begin on the date in the title card: August 5, 1956.

Well, I hope that research helps with some Twin Peaks secrets. Who knows, everything I wrote might turn out to be a big red herring stew. But I sure do love Twin Peaks! And that's how I spent hours and hours of my Sunday night. Thanks David Lynch!!!

"Why am I telling you this?" he went on. "A secret's only a secret as long as you keep it. Once you tell someone it loses all its power--for good or ill--like that, it's just another piece of information. But a real mystery can't be solved, not completely. It's always just out of reach, like a light around the corner; you might catch a glimpse of what it reveals, feel its warmth, but you can't know the heart of it, not really. That's what gives it value: It can't be cracked, it's bigger than you and me, bigger than everything we know. Those tight-ass suits can keep their secrets, they don't add up to anything. This deep in the game, pal, I'll take mystery every time."
- Douglas Milford, TSHOTP, page 350

[wxray]

Thanks for the sleuthing, sycamore. I checked the date but didn't drill down like you. Very interesting about the boy and girl. That's a real event, not just some dreamings of a blogger. And this Mack Ray Edwards (another real person) sounds like a Bob-possessed candidate for sure.

Perhaps these events were Mark Frost inspiration of a story that focuses more on New Mexico (to tie with his bomb mother) instead of L.A.

[rocketsan22]

. [Note: The desert sand, largely made of silica, melted and became a mildly radioactive light green glass, which was named trinitite. This is possibly the material that makes up the Owl Cave ring, but that's for a future post.

Something I suggested earlier in this thread

[PeaksCarnivaleLost]

it's Monday without a new ep to digest.

figure it's time to bust out this gem.

That bell rang (sounded?) 64 times before it was shut off.

other than a perfect square and Lynch prefers to do things slowly i got nuttin.

[sycamore]

. [Note: The desert sand, largely made of silica, melted and became a mildly radioactive light green glass, which was named trinitite. This is possibly the material that makes up the Owl Cave ring, but that's for a future post.

Something I suggested earlier in this thread

That was you? Outstanding theory. Sorry, I just didn't dig back these 80 pages to find your theory. When I get time, I really want to dig deeper into that Owl Cave ring, it's origin, it's symbol, the tattoos on Garland Briggs and Margaret Lanterman (and others), the nuclear symbol, the 'special detachment' that Douglas Milford was in at White Sands ... and more. If someone has the time and wants to beat me to it, I think it just might turn out to be an interesting angle.

[guildnavigator]

Interesting, for the ring to be made of that material, the ring would have to have somehow traveled from the time of the nuclear explosion back to the Native Americans who had possession of it before Lewis and Clark explored North America.

[boske]

When someone sped up the music from the nocturnal scene where Ray shot DoppleCoop, it was found that the music piece is the Moonlight Sonata. Still, listening to the sped up version what we assumed were Ray's screams are, to me at least, monkey screams! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMSoY4Ud1uI

[chromereflectsimage]

Wasn't it implied in FWWM that the owl cave ring was made of Formica like the table?

[Mr. Reindeer]

Wasn't it implied in FWWM that the owl cave ring was made of Formica like the table?

That's been a theory due to the missing chunk in the table, but wouldn't jibe with the ring's history in TSHoTP (formica was invented in 1912), unless, as others have noted, time travel is involved. FWIW, the ring always looked to me to be a very different color and consistency from the tabletop.

I believe TSHoTP describes the ring stone as both jade and emerald at various points. Maybe Invitation to Love is more relevant than we thought.

[firefly2193]

So, finally, what DID happen on August 5, 1956? This Google search led nowhere:
"August 5, 1956" "New Mexico"
But when I added "UFO" to that search, ... I got this page with references to Devil's Gate in LA, Native Americans, portals, negative energy, Jack Parsons (founder of JPL), rituals, occult, the 'Mother Abominations', and the kidnapping and murder of a boy (13) and girl (11) on August 5, 1956.
http://hauntedlosangeles.blogspot.com/2014/02
However, that occurred in Los Angeles, not New Mexico. But for those who have read TSHOTP and have seen Part 8, the correlations are way to much to ignore. It seems as though Jack Parsons awoke some very big dark energies when his rituals concluded and he died on June 17, 1952. And it seems to have had an effect far wider than the LA area. When you get to the end of this webpage, do you recognize something similar to the picture of the "Jersey Devil???"

Wow. Bob. Wow.

PS - Who owns this website? The posts are all written in the last few years by 'ManofMystery24'. Do you think Mark Frost wrote it? A further search for the names of the boy (13) and girl (11), indicates they were very real people and that this and similar 'catastrophes' were connected to Jack Parsons and the supernatural. These 'catastrophes' seem to begin on the date in the title card: August 5, 1956.

- Douglas Milford, TSHOTP, page 350

Although normally not a fan of rabbit holing like this, your post had me intrigued!

To add to the 'Was this written by Mark Frost?' conspiring, there are two comments underneath the blog one both of which simply add levels of mystery to the story (no challenging etc). The second comment in particular, which seems to suggest some sort of intrigue around a young teen's death (under the name '~M~') is written by someone who only set up their account the same month as their comment, and has made no blogs or seem to have done anything else. I'm not super familiar with Blogspot as a platform but can't seem to see any real information about either. ~M~ for Mark?

[indyit]

Wasn't it implied in FWWM that the owl cave ring was made of Formica like the table?

That's definitely the suggestion from FWWM. But it's possible that it's "table" and "Formica" in a similar way pain and suffering is creamed corn. I think it's interesting that there are a few parallels we can draw there. Table being a flat surface in their birthing/meeting grounds at the convenience store and the glass coming from the ground of the same location.

[Aerozhul]

Anyone who was craving world building and mythology expansion should be pretty pleased with Part 8.

LOL.

I neither loved nor hated this episode. After last week's very straight-forward episode 7, I guess I was falsely lulled into thinking the narrative would continue in that vein and pick up some of those threads, but instead we went totally off the rails into a Lynchian mindf**k, which was actually (mostly) pretty interesting stuff. The creepiness factor alone in the 50s scenes was worth the price of admission. And I actually liked the NIN part, fit in well with the mood and tone of what came before.

Having said all of that, I think the "pure heroin Lynch" aspect of the show works better when countered and balanced with some of the modern day stuff, both in Twin Peaks, Vegas and elsewhere. Episode 3 is a good example of this, or maybe I just thought so at the time since it was paired with Episode 4.

Not trying to complain because I think that was an incredible piece of art, but it's also frustrating knowing that we now have to wait 2 more weeks to see the town proper again. I want the weirdness, but I also want to see Big Ed and Audrey again in the same hour. Small-minded?

Not at all. I completely get where you're coming from. I think a lot of this is going to play better once every part has been released. It will be like a gigantic tapestry we can see all of and dip in and out of at our leisure, rewatching either from the beginning or out of order, or dipping into parts we like more than other parts. I think episodes like this are frustrating when released on a weekly basis, especially before a two-week break. I neither loved or hated it either, though I appreciated how beautiful much of it was.

I appreciate that, thanks. Thought I was going to get flamed for sure as the vast majority seemed to like this episode best of all so far. Now that I've had some time to let it soak in, I appreciate it a lot more than I did last week. I agree, as a whole this will be a lot more palatable.

[silvo]

In the map of the cave owl! The huge thing is the mother? If it's the mother then is the evil in the one side and the good ( the giant and the arm) to the other?

Also, i found every planet in the image, expect the one near this huge thing

Left is Uranus, up of it is Neptune, next to the fire is Mars and Jupiter and under Mars is Saturn. Near the Sun is Mercury and Venus. What about the others?

Maybe inside the fire is the symbol of comet? As the symbol of an atomic bomb? And maybe the other one near Jupiter is Pluto. I have found 2 symbols for Pluto! One is a match

[silvo]

Looking at the map i come up with a theory!

We have seen 2 different Giants! The first Giant symbolize Jupiter. The second Giant symbolizes Poseidon ( Neptune). We might have seen a third Giant who is Pluto. The NeptuGiant lives in the White Lodge. ( The one wing of the Owl). The other one is in the waiting room and can communicate with the outer world.

Neptune symbolizes dreams ( the dream of the Giant for the creation of Laura Palmer) and healing ( counter the catastrophe that the Mother created).

I came up also with this. I am not sure that I can believe this one though!
The most close symbol for the being in the Map could be Thetis! Thetis was the mother of Achilles in one part of the mythology but for others she was the creator of the universe! If i make a combination Achilles should be BOB and should have only one weakness. Like Achilles has his heel as a weakness, BOB has the ring maybe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thetis


P.S The Map is like an owl that is the king of both lodges!

[Meaxylon]

In the map of the cave owl! The huge thing is the mother? If it's the mother then is the evil in the one side and the good ( the giant and the arm) to the other?

Also, i found every planet in the image, expect the one near this huge thing

Left is Uranus, up of it is Neptune, next to the fire is Mars and Jupiter and under Mars is Saturn. Near the Sun is Mercury and Venus. What about the others?

Maybe inside the fire is the symbol of comet? As the symbol of an atomic bomb? And maybe the other one near Jupiter is Pluto. I have found 2 symbols for Pluto! One is a match

The symbol inside the fire must be the owl ring symbol - turned upside down - no?

And also - in TSHoTP, the map is described by someone who says there's both a moon and a sun in the map. I guess the sun is on the right side. But the moon? Is it on the left side - the circles with a large dot inside, with the giant/s? I'm drawing this conclusion because it has the same size as the sun as if to show that it is of the same importance, and also, it is on opposite side to counterpart the sun? If this is the case it isn't a moon symbol that I'm familiar with, if it's intended to be a moon. Maybe symbolizing a full moon rather than a crescent?