Twin Peaks: An Access Guide to the Town Book Pocket Books 1991

A visitor's access guide to the town of Twin Peaks, Washington.

Didja Know?

This book was written as if it was the visitor's guide of a real town. It is interesting for its insight into details of the town and its inhabitants, but goes a bit overboard with the humorous aspects, destroying the illusion of it being a "real" access guide to a town.

Didja Notice?

On the back cover of the book is an overview map of the Twin Peaks area, depicting a roughly 200 square mile section of the northeast corner of the state of Washington, and portions of neighboring Idaho and Canada. Basically, all of the labeled locations/landmarks in Washington are fictitious except for the Columbia River and references to Spokane and Kettle Falls. In the Canadian portion of the map, Black Lake, Vanessa's Landing, and Highway 21 are fictitious; references to Castlegar and Salmon Arm are real. In the town of Twin Peaks are seen Lynch Road and Frost Avenue, named for series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost.

The letter from the mayor on the first page of the book is dated April 1, 1991. This would be about two years after the timeline of the original TV series!

Page 3 reveals that the boating accident which is presumed to have taken Andrew Packard's life occurred on September 26, 1987.

Andrew Packard's will on page 3 reveals that he left some of his money for printing the access guide to the town. Packard requests that his personal friend, Richard Saul Wurman, be made editor-in-chief of the book. Wurman is a real world graphic designer who was involved with the production of this book.

In 1888, Twin Peaks was a collection of shacks on the shores of Black Lake, served by Wakahannawawak Trading Post, later renamed Thor's.

James Packard and his wife, Unguin, started the lumber business that is the basis of the town's employment in 1890. The photo of Unguin gives her birth date as 1878, making her just 12 or 13 years old as Packard's wife in 1890!

James Packard was educated at Harvard and Yale. This is a bit unusual in that the two schools are notorious rivals.

In the book Conversations With Mark Frost by David Bushman, an old letter from Mark Frost to his literary agent describes his ideas to write a Twin Peaks novel while the original TV series was still in production. In the letter, he describes the Packard matriach (presumably James Packard) as a sea captain driven by religious visions to build a city at the site of the twin peaks. Since that is not mentioned here or in The Secret History of Twin Peaks, it is probably an idea that was discarded.

Unguin Packard was a dabbler in the mystic arts who spent portions of her life in sanitariums, claiming her true home was the Land of Bloon, beyond the solar system. She formed and headed a club in Twin Peaks called Those of Bloon for 10 years until it was disbanded during one of her frequent institutionalizations.

Page 6 mentions that James Packard was inspired by the Guilder Mill in Tacoma. Tacoma is a real city in Washington, but the Guilder Mill is fictitious as far as I can tell. 

Rudolph and Pixie Martell settled in Twin Peaks in 1891. Page 7 states they headed west from St. Louis with intentions of settling in San Francisco, CA, but their mules died en route and they settled in Twin Peaks instead. The Martell family is said to be cursed by bad luck, and I guess Rudolph and Pixie were since Washington is not even along the route to California from St. Louis; they must have gone drastically off course before their mules died!

Page 7 states that Rudolph Martell married Pixie shortly after she caused an accident for her family's performing circus aerialist troupe, as documented in Great Circus Tragedies, Odler and Press, 1923. The book and publisher appear to be fictitious.

The Martells built the Martell Mill to compete with the Packard Mill.

Continuing the theme of the Martell family being known for generations of bad luck, Rudolph Martell's mother died of scabies (a skin disease not classified as fatal). Rudolph later died of gangrene and Pixie left their son, Nealith, to carry on with the Martell Mill while she joined an Indian tribe in the southwest. Nealith later sold the Martell Mill to Ezekial Packard (father of Andrew Packard).

Orville and Brulitha Horne came to Twin Peaks around this time and opened Horne's General Store and, later, Horne's Department Store. But, in Episode 3:_"Rest in Pain", Audrey tells Cooper that her father named his department store after himself.

Brulitha was both athlete and poetess, writing the epic poem "Twin Peaks, My Land, My Home", which has been compared to the region's poet laureate, Hugo Boot and his 1937 book Formidable or Fake from Iambic Press. These are all fictitious persons, poems, books, and publishers.

Page 7 reveals that Mark Twain (1835-1910) visited the Twin Peaks region in 1892. He walked through the forests around Twin Peaks and later remarked, "I feel as though I've been only a very few steps ahead of Death's hand the entire journey through that gloomy wood. The owls seemed to murmur my name as though my soul was already theirs." Mark Twain, of course, was a famous American author and humorist of the late 19th Century. Page 9 reveals that Oscar Wilde also traveled there in 1902 (however, Wilde died in 1900...at least in our world).

Page 8 reveals a cocktail called the Little Scottie, invented by Twin Peaks' first mayor, John Hanford, in 1891, in what is now the Roadhouse. The drink is two parts bourbon, one part rye, a dash of Drambuie and a twist of lime (quite a strong drink since the liquors are not cut by anything except a twist of lime!). This drink is said to have been featured in Spirits magazine, discussed on The Jerry Allen Show, and incorporated into Jared Back's bestseller Backstop. Drambuie is a real world liqueur. The magazine, TV show, author, and novel are all fictitious.

Pete's parents were Nealith and Bessie (Spoon) Martell.

Even though this guide would seemingly have been published some time after April 1, 1991 (judging by the date of Mayor Milford's message on page 1), it mentions Josie Packard without mentioning her death in Episode 23: "The Condemned Woman".

The Ben Horne seen in the TV series is actually Ben Jr., his father being Ben Sr. and the son of Orville Horne. Ben Sr. built the Great Northern Hotel in 1927.

Ben Horne's nickname at Stanford was Peacock.

An opera house was built in Twin Peaks in 1882 and has featured the likes of Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), Enrico Caruso (1873-1921), and the Guess Who. It is currently a movie theater. The Guess Who is a real world Canadian rock band. A slightly different story of the opera house is told in The Secret History of Twin Peaks, but the two are not irreconcilable. Both sources state that Caruso performed there.

Page 10 mentions Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush and Sergei Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin, playing at the Opera-House-turned-movie-theater in 1925. These are both actual silent films that debuted in 1925.

The Twin Peaks movie theater's phone number is 555-FILM. The 555 prefix of the phone number is a long-time convention in Hollywood TV and film.

Page 11 mentions the Flathead tribe and their use of huckleberries as part of their diet. The Flathead tribe is more properly known as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation and they did live in what is now the U.S. northwest and British Columbia, Canada. Huckleberries do, indeed, grow in northeast Washington.

At the Twin Peaks Opera House, Enrico Caruso sang arias from Rigoletto, La Boheme, Tosca, Pagliacci, and other operas. These are all real Italian operas.

On page 11, Enrico Caruso is quoted as comparing Twin Peaks' huckleberry pie as better than dolce torinese. Dolce torinese is a chocolate confection from Italy.

Page 12's description of the region's first inhabitants arriving via the Laurentian Ice Shield about 25,000 years ago is roughly accurate.

The 1932 book The Function of Neurosis in Snoqualmie Culture by T. Billings, mentioned on page 12, is fictitious.

Many of the Native American artifacts, legends, and customs mentioned in the history section of the book I've not been able to verify as true, though the tribes mentioned are all real. The word and custom called potlatch (a gift-giving feast) is a real custom of several indigenous tribes of the American northwest and even adopted by the European settlers.

Page 13 mentions a few warlike northwestern tribes as having secret societies of cannibalism among them. There are a few tribal secret societies that make a claim to ritual cannibalism, though because the societies are secretive, it is unknown among Anglocentric researchers whether the ritual cannibalism is literal or symbolic.

Russian explorer Ivan Pritikoff and the 1795 Treaty of Vladivostok signed with the Chinook mentioned on page 15 appear to be fictitious (though the "Chinook wind" term mentioned on this page is in actual use).

The Millhouse family of Twin Peaks claimed to be related to the famed millionaire fur trader John Jacob Astor. Astor (1763-1848) was a real person, the first multi-millionaire in the United States, making fortunes in numerous enterprises throughout his life.

The information about the Hudson Bay Company (actually Hudson's Bay Company) and Alexander Mackenzie on page 15 is accurate. 

Dominick Renault is said to have established the first trading post in the area that would one day become Twin Peaks at a spot a half-mile above Whitetail Falls around 1803 or so. Renault's diary suggests he suffered from bouts of severe depression and believed he'd been talking with animals during these instances. No historians or researchers have been able to determine what ultimately became of him, though the portrait on page 16 states a year of death of 1855.

The book mentioned on page 16, French Explorers: Enigmas in Fur by E. Targaski, Overseas Press, 1917 appears to be fictitious.

Page 16 postulates that the Lewis and Clark expedition may have made a detour to the Pacific Coast that brought them through the region that would become Twin Peaks, with the Lewis diary entry of July 13, 1805 as evidence: "To the southwest arose from the plain two mountains of a singular appearance and more like ramparts of high fortifications than works of nature." This is an actual quote from the Lewis diary on that date; however, the expedition was in the region of the Great Falls of the Missouri River, at what is now Great Falls, Montana, hundreds of miles from the northeast corner of Washington. The Secret History of Twin Peaks also strongly implies that Lewis visited the region.

Twin Peaks has a County Museum on Route 21, featuring Amerindian artifacts, exhibits of flora and fauna of the region, and once even had on loan a photo exhibition by the controversial artist Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989).

The small sidebar bio of Catherine Martell on page 20 states that she has a remarkable command of French, Japanese, and the Kama Sutra. The Kama Sutra is a world renown Hindu book on human sexual behavior composed in India between 400 BC and 200 AD.

The Packard Mill uses various debarkers and saws made by Nicholson, Schurman, Salem, Gunnarson, and Albany.

The Plant Boss of the Packard Mill, Arnie Moulton, says, "Safety is paramount, after profit and management perks."

Packard Mill manager of holding and drying of timber, Bill Grose, is a Theosophist. Theosophy is an esoteric philosophy involving the search for knowledge of nature, being, and divinity. The Religious Worship section of the book lists the Twin Peaks Theosophist Society; presumably Grose is a member, as is Pete Martell and the Log Lady, with rumors that Cooper once attended, which the FBI denies.

The book talks about rebuilding the Packard Mill, again in 1991, when the Mill burned early in 1989.

Page 23 states that actress Sarah Bernhardt had a wooden leg and, while she was in Twin Peaks, it was damaged when the spiritually-minded actress was enacting a paean to Aurora on the shore of Black Lake one morning (Aurora is the Roman goddess of dawn). But page 10 states that she was in Twin Peaks for a performance of Camille in 1882, while she did not lose her right leg to gangrene until 1915. Reportedly, Bernhardt was not particularly spiritual, once claiming to be an atheist. Bernhardt did star in Camille on stage and in a silent film.

Page 25 lists the types of coded information often found on lumber. Item C is the type of preservative used for treatment and, in the example given, is CCA. CCA is Chromated Copper Arsenate, the world's most widely-used wood preservative. Item D refers to the standards for treatment of lumber; in this case, LP-22 indicates lumber for ground-contact use.

Bjorn Brogger was the former director of Meals on Wheels in Twin Peaks. 

Page 32 remarks that the Douglas fir stands in the region provide cover for many animals, especially the great horned owl and the pygmy owl. Amusingly, the drawing of the pygmy owl is the same one used for the great horned owl, just shrunken! In reality, the northern pygmy owl of the region does not have the "horned" tufts of feathers on the head that great horned owls do.

The Log Lady majored in Forestry and Wildlife Management during her time at Evergreen State University. She is known to teach fire prevention and ballroom dancing.

On page 34, it's odd that the writers use the name of French writer Gaston Leroux (author of the 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera and other books) as the name of a French trapper in 1787 and then label him a pedophile (which I've not seen discussed in any of the limited searches I've done on Laroux the author). The trapper's bones are stated to have been found not far from Owl Cave, possibly suggesting a connection with the Black Lodge, so perhaps the trapper had committed evil acts under possession, much as Leland Palmer does in the series.

The sketches of different moss species found in the Ghostwood forest on page 34 are all the same! Additionally, the four species mentioned all appear to be fictitious, and probably based on names related to the TV series (though the genus names are for actual lichens): Cladonia peaksidata (from "Peaks"), Cladonia duoflorica (duo=two or twin), Cetraria dobbiata (?), Cetraria frostifera (frost=Mark Frost).

The book states that Hawk is the son of a Zuni shaman (the Twin Peaks card set also lists him as a Zuni). However, The Secret History of Twin Peaks states that he is a full-blooded Nez Perce. The Nez Perce reference makes more sense, as they are native to the Pacific Northwest; the Zuni are from the New Mexico area.

In 1892, the Ladoux Tannery opened on the banks of the Rattail River south of Twin Peaks. Both the tannery and the river appear to be fictitious.

Page 36 describes whittlers in Twin Peaks who used to scavenge the remains of hemlock trees from tanneries and whittled large, graceful statues used in a series of lurid tableau vivants on Saturday nights. Tableau vivant is a French term for a type of performance art in which actors or models are dressed and posed in positions from which they do not move, nor speak, for the duration of the exhibit.

Page 38 states that the pine weasel found in the Ghostwood National Forest resembles the marten, but is closely related to the European polecat and is not mentioned in Amerindian cultures, leading researchers to speculate that the pine weasel was brought there by European settlers for their excellent ability to ferret out rats. In the real world, there is no such species as the pine weasel, but the American marten is known in that area of Washington.

Amerindian legends and early settlers claim a white moose will appear to troubled souls who visit a lone, 85-foot tall ponderosa pine that grows amidst marsh flats out beyond Owl Cave.

Twin Peaks has an Owls Club lodge on Sparkwood Road.

The two-page spread photo of a great horned owl on pages 46-47, is from the end of Episode 16:_"Arbitrary Law", an image, seemingly, of BOB escaping after causing Leland's death.

Page 48 is a black-and-white reproduction of a trout, salmon, and char poster chart. The description says to see page 112 for information on how to order this poster, but page 112 has only a mail order form for the Dale Cooper biography and Laura Palmer diary tie-in books. This is an actual poster however, available at various poster outlets online.

Pete Martell writes a fairly lengthy article on fishing for the book.

Page 49 states that Pete can tie a Duncan loop in the dark. A Duncan loop is the typical knot used in modern times to tie a hook to a fishing line. It is also known as a uni-knot, gallows knot, and grinner knot.   

The ad for the Fish or Cut Bait Shop in Twin Peaks lists real world brands of fishing equipment.

The photo of Big Ed's Gas Farm on page 54 is from the pilot episode, with James pulling up to the pumps on his motorcycle.

Page 56 states the greatest snowfall in all of North America for one season was 1224.5 inches at Mt. Rainer's Paradise Ranger Station in 1971-72. Records about this conflict, but some do suggest this snowfall measurement at Mt. Rainier at the time as accurate.

During the Blizzard of 1889 that killed dozens of people in Twin Peaks, James Packard's secretary, Katy Mullen, recorded in her diary that she heard him talking to the mounted great horned owl in his office, "What have we done, this town, our people, that you cannot warn of such calamity? We are industrious. Why are we not blessed?" This would seem to hint that James Packard was aware of the significance of the owls around Twin Peaks, possibly even having some kind of relationship with the beings of the Black and/or White Lodges.

Page 57 prints an obituary that appeared in the Twin Peaks Gazette, which ends with Sic transit gloria mundi. Sic transit gloria mundi is Latin for "Thus passes the glory of the world."

Page 64 states that the first white men to stumble onto Owl Cave were Edwardo Delegato and former prison inmate Jose "Shorteyes" Manuela. "Shorteyes" is prison slang for a child molester.

Queen Isabella is mentioned on page 64. She was the Queen of Spain 1833-1868.

Page 64 also features a newspaper excerpt from the 1920s which states that Owl Cave was a popular spot for a man to take his favorite girl and woo her, going on to say, "There were enough hopes and dreams in that cave to make Ali Baba green with envy". Ali Baba was the protagonist of the story "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" from the Arabic story collection One Thousand and One Nights, believed to have originated around the 8th Century AD. In the story, Ali Baba discovers the treasure cave of a group of thieves.

The Circular Lodge took control of Owl Cave from 1948-1953 and changed the name to Elk Cave, but it was never taken seriously by the community and was called Owl Cave again after 1953. Page 101 states that Circulars were originally a small Amerindian tribe of 50-62 members that believed in a cyclical/circular nature of existence. It's possible that this "circular" idea is part of the "timeline changes" I have speculated as taking place to bring slightly different iterations of the storyline as the Twin Peaks storyline progresses (see The Secret History of Twin Peaks).

Some couples have gotten married at Owl Cave.

The books mentioned on page 66, Redemption in Wood and Marble: The Twin Peaks Grange, Architrave Press, 1949 by N. Mailer (Norman Mailer?) and Some Pretty Good Speeches I Have Heard, Vanity Press: Ashtabula, 1913 by A. P. Johnson are fictitious.

This book states that Sheriff Truman's father was millworker Boyd Truman. However, The Secret History of Twin Peaks states that his father was Frederick Truman, a sheriff of Twin Peaks.

The train graveyard lies on the Idaho side of the Washington-Idaho border and holds the dead locomotives and cars of the Union Pacific and James J. Hill's Great Northern railroads. Railroad tycoon James J. Hill (1838-1916) founded the Great Northern Railroad, running from St. Paul, MN to Seattle, WA in 1857; in 1970, it merged with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad to form the Burlington Northern Railroad, now BNSF (Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway). Union Pacific still operates.

    Every five years, a Passion Play is performed at Glastonbury Grove. Mystery surrounds the sponsors of the event, but it's believed by many to be the Bookhouse Boys. Page 54 states that one of Ed Hurley's "bests" is the Passion Play and Ed is one of the Bookhouse Boys.

   The play is always performed at night on a night in April and it is always sunny the following morning, an indication of Good vanquishing Evil as sunlight obliterates darkness.

   At the time the book was published, the next Passion Play was scheduled to occur sometime in April of 1992.

In January, Twin Peaks celebrates the Scandinavian tradition of Winterskol, with glugg flowing liberally. "Winterskol" is the Scandinavian celebration of winter. "Glugg" is a Scandinavian word for mulled wine.

The Twin Peaks annual chess tournament takes place two weeks into February at the Great Northern Hotel.

Page 73 states that Pete Martell is a soon-to-be-Grandmaster of chess. If this is not just a bit of hyperbole, this would imply the Twin Peaks annual chess tournament is endorsed by the FIDE (Fédération internationale des échecs, or World Chess Federation), as this is the organization that officially confers the title. Pete once played Vladimir Nabokov at the tournament. Nabokov (1899-1977) was a Russian novelist and chess player/composer. The book states Anatoly Karpov has not attended the tournament, though did once send his regrets; Karpov is a Russian grandmaster and world champion.

Twin Peaks has replaced St. Patrick's Day with the Caribou Festival. Caribou Festivals are normally celebrated by the Alaskan Inuit people.

In April, the town celebrates the Yellow Lupine Festival (even though the plant is not known to grow in North America).

Page 73 states that the Miss Twin Peaks pageant takes place in April. Then why does it occur in March in the TV series?

Page 74 mentions a secret women's philanthropic society called the PEO. This is presumably a reference to the real world North American women's society called the P.E.O. Sisterhood, founded in 1869. The meaning of P.E.O. was a secret for decades, but the organization revealed in 2008 that it stands for Philanthropic Educational Organization.

The man called Toad, seen frequently at the RR Diner, has been the winner of the July Fourth frog jumping contest for 10 years running.

Page 74 states that the town's July Fourth fireworks are accompanied by the high school band playing the 1812 Overture by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847). Though the classical piece has become a popular accompaniment to the United States' Independence Day celebrations, it was written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), not Mendelssohn.

Page 76 states that Amory Battis used to stand atop the Horne's Department Store float in the Twin Peaks Halloween Parade dressed like a druid before his untimely demise.

Page 76 also mentions Kool-Aid.

Big Ed holds the record at the Twin Peaks Fire Department's monthly Lumberjack Breakfast for the most pancakes eaten, 110 in 20 minutes.

The cherry pie recipe on pages 78-79 calls for w-13 cornstarch. I don't know what the w-13 stands for.

The pie crust recipe on page 79 calls for Crisco. Crisco is a brand of vegetable oil shortening.

Some say the donut craze in Twin Peaks started with Sheriff Truman, who's been known to toss down a half-dozen at a sitting. Others say it started with Mrs. Howard's donuts that won the blue ribbon at the state fair in 1985.

Page 82 describes the coffee at the RR Diner as being made in a J.H. Mckie coffeemaker. This was an actual brand of restaurant coffeemakers, but I've been unable to confirm the manufacturer still exists.

Page 82 also states that the RR serves Susie-Q curly fries. "Susie-Q" is a term used as a name for curly fries in some parts of the country.

Page 82 states that Norma Jennings believes in longer prison terms. This is a reference to the release of her husband, Hank, from prison in Episode 5:_"Cooper's Dreams".

Page 83 has a list of the song selections on the RR jukebox, but does not list "I’m Hurt Bad" by Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch, played on the jukebox by Bobby Briggs in Episode 0A: "Wrapped in Plastic", nor "Audrey's Dance" (by Angelo Badalamenti) played by Audrey Horne in Episode 2:_"Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer". Of course, since this book was published two years after the events of the series, the selections may have changed. The tunes listed all appear to be real tunes by the performers listed.

Page 85 states that one of James Hurley's bests is Julee Cruise at the Roadhouse. Julee Cruise is the actual performer seen at the Roadhouse in several episodes, not to mention she provides a couple of songs to the Twin Peaks soundtrack.

Some items on the menu of the Timber Room restaurant at the Great Northern Hotel were discovered by Jerry Horne, who travels the world in search of bizarre and wonderful taste bud ticklers.

Page 85 suggests ordering a bull shot from the bar at the Timber Room. A bull shot is another name for a Bloody Mary.

Page 88 shows the Twin Peaks zip code as 99153. This is the actual zip code of the small town of Metaline Falls, WA, near the area of the fictional Twin Peaks. But Episode 25: "On the Wings of Love", gives the zip code of 59219 and The Secret History of Twin Peaks lists several others!

In the Lodging section of the book, on page 89, is listed the Pine View Motel (4 hour minimum). This is the motel where Ben and Catherine have their illicit rendezvous in Episode 4:_"The One-Armed Man".

Truman's gait on the high school football team reminded many of that of Crazy Legs Hirsch, while Big Ed was said to be the next Leon Hart. Crazy Legs Hirsch (1923-2004) was an American professional football player known for his unusual running style. Leon Hart (1928-2002) was an American pro footballer who won three national titles in both college and the pros.

Page 93 mentions a fumble ruskie (sic) used by Hank Jennings during a 1968 high school football game. The fumblerooski is a type of technical fumble of the ball used intentionally by the offensive team to gain an advantage. It is currently considered an illegal play by both the NCAA and NFL, though there are variations that pass the muster.

Pages 93-96 mention the towns of Northport, Colville, Evan (sic; Evans), Knife River, Marcus, Chewelah, and Kettle Falls.

Page 93 states that Northport High School was thrown out of the Northwest Nine football league for hiring adult men to play athletics for them. Northport High School is a real school in that town, but never had this scandal as far as I can determine.

Page 95 mentions Knute Rockne. Rockne (1888-1931) is widely considered the greatest coach in college football history. During a speech by Coach Hobson, Hawk says he was, for that moment, a "Golden Domer". This is a reference to the dome at the University of Notre Dame, where Rockne coached.

On page 95, Hawk is said to have fallen and hit his head during a football game and misquoted his homework assignment of Shakespeare's Hamlet, saying, "There is special providence in the flight of the eagle. If it be now, let it be. If it be not now, let it be so." The actual quote from Hamlet is, "There's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come..."

Page 96 states that Coach Hobson was such a fan of Knute Rockne that he had the dates on his tombstone read 1889-1937 (even though Hobson lived a far different set of years). Yet, those are not Rockne's officially recognized birth and death dates; his was 1888-1931.

The photo of Twin Peaks locals on page 98 is actually one of David Lynch and Mark Frost.

Page 99 mentions Eames chairs. Eames lounge chairs and ottomans are made by Herman Miller, Inc. and are quite expensive.

The Religious Worship section of the book discusses churches and religious organizations in town. The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd is said to require knowledge of the Nicene Creed for membership; the Nicene Creed is the profession of faith in the Christian God, in use in various forms since 325 AD. One of the ministers at the Third Baptist Church of Black Lake is named Oliver Twist, obviously suggestive of Charles Dickens' 1838 novel by that name. Reverend Clarence Brocklehurst leads the Twin Peaks Episcopal Church; he also presides over Laura Palmer's funeral in Episode 4:_"Rest in Pain" and the marriage ceremony of Dougie and Lana in Episode 18: "Masked Ball".The Twin Peaks Theosophist Society holds eisteddvodai (poetry blow-out) after a Blue Moon; not sure of the spelling seen here, but eisteddfod is a Welsh celebration of literature, music, and performance. A blue moon is the rare second full moon in a month or fourth full moon in a season.

Page 100 mentions St. Hubert having seen a crucifix between the antlers of a stag. St. Hubert (c. 656–727 AD) is the Christian patron saint of hunters who is said to have had such a vision.

The book Fear and Loathing in Early Black Lake Tribes by J. Potter, TP Press, 1979 is fictitious.

Page 102 remarks that since the end of the Northern Pacific spur, passenger operations out of Seattle ended in 1962, with Trailways and Greyhound bus lines now the only public transportation into and out of Twin Peaks.

The former Unguin Air Force Base is located 15 miles south of Twin Peaks. Perhaps this former (?) base has something to do with USAF officer Major Garland Briggs' presence in Twin Peaks? (Sort of, according to The Secret History of Twin Peaks).

Twin Peaks does not currently have an official bus hub. Page 102 states first the embarking/disembarking is in the parking lot at the RR Diner. But the bus chart at the bottom of the page states that buses depart from the Roadhouse!

The text paragraph and the bus chart also differ in the phone number for Tim and Tom's Taxidermy and Taxi. The paragraph says the phone number is 555-TAXI (8294), while the chart says their number is 555-8238.

The bus chart on page 102 lists a number of arrival and departure cities associated with Twin Peaks. They are all real world places except for the ones associated explicitly with Twin Peaks (Twin Peaks, Black Lake Dam, and Packard Sawmill). B'hampton, LI, NY refers to Bridgehampton, Long Island, New York.

    According to page 102, two radio stations originate out of Twin Peaks, KSNM 89.9 FM (country/western, plus NPR's All Things Considered) and KILL 63.5 AM (news and weather).

    The call letters of KSNM are actually licensed to a station operating out of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico (98.7 FM).

    One of the announcers on KILL is Ned Buntline; in the real world, a man by that name (1821/23-1886) was a fairly well-known teller of tall tales. KILL also features Comedy Hour at 7 PM on Fridays, with comics such as Olson and Johnson (sic), Lord Buckley, and replays of Amos 'n' Andy; these are all actual radio comedy programs from (mostly) the first half of the 20th Century.

Page 102 also lists a few other radio stations from other locations that can, at times, be received in Twin Peaks. These all appear to be fictitious stations.

Page 102 states that television stations are only available in Twin Peaks via satellite dish. This may explain why residents are seen watching Invitation to Love at all hours; they just tune into a satellite station that happens to be showing an episode at the moment!

The advertisement for the Twin Peaks Gazette on page 103 is actually an ad for the fan club newsletter.

The Twin Peaks phone book lists residents by first name instead of last.

    The book states that Sarah and Leland Palmer organized the Twin Peaks Timber Players in 1974. Leland was a frequent actor and tenor singer on the TPTP stage. The plays listed as performed by the TPTP are all real world plays except for The Paranormal Review.

   However, The Secret History of Twin Peaks implies that Leland, Sarah, and Laura did not move to Twin Peaks until 1981.

Page 107 states that the illustrious General George McDowell of the Army of the Potomac in the Civil War is buried in Black Lake Cemetery. General McDowell appears to be fictitious, though the Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army during the American Civil War.

One of Leland Palmer's bests is listed as big bands at the Roadhouse playing Artie Shaw (1910-2004) favorites and the 1952 hit, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is a 1952 Christmas song with music and lyrics by Tommie Connor (1904-1993), performed by Jimmy Boyd (1939-2009).

Page 109 reveals there has been an ongoing proposal for a maximum security prison facility in the area. Maybe this was conceived as a plotline of season three of the series, if it had come to pass?

On page 110, a heavily redacted article about the Unguin Field Observatory appears. The approved words form the statement: "Nobody...knows...the...trouble...we've...caused."

The distances between Twin Peaks and a number of other cities listed on the inside back cover are very roughly accurate.