Catherine E. Coulson, on one of Copy Chief Courtney Fergusons Twin Peaks trading cards.
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  • Catherine E. Coulson, on one of Copy Chief Courtney Ferguson's Twin Peaks trading cards.

I am in mourning today for Oregon actress Catherine E. Coulson, aka the Log Lady from Twin Peaks, one of the greatest characters to ever grace television with her kooky premonitions and admonishments. Coulson, who died yesterday at age 71, was born in Ashland, a staple of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and also worked as a camera assistant on David Lynch's Eraserhead.


Coulson's death comes at an odd convergence of things: Today, of all days, is National Coffee Day, a day that would surely earn the approval of Special Agent Dale Cooper. In North Bend, Washington, old-school diner Twede's Cafe has been restored to its original glory to appear once more as the Double R Diner in the show's third season, now filming. Coulson was set to reprise her role in season three, which means, unless she'd already completed any filming before Monday, her storyline will need to be reworked.

That's a damn shame. I've always considered the Log Lady (real name: Margaret Lanterman) to be the show's essential Lynch stand-in (aside from Lynch's own appearance on the show, as Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole). When the series was rebroadcast in 1993, Coulson filmed introductions to each episode in character as the Log Lady (think Laura Linney chatting about Downton Abbey before the opening credits, except much more cryptic). These read suspiciously like Lynch's musings in his own, non-television writing, like the introduction to the rereleased The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer and Catching the Big Fish. Losing her voice will change the series in a big, sad way.

Jay Yencich, who writes extremely detailed recaps of the show at Critically Touched, weighed in with this speculation on what could happen to Coulson's character next: "The show's mythology would seem to believe in a transmigration of souls, so I guess that there could be an incarnation of The Log Lady written into the show from here, but it won't be Coulson and that's upsetting," he says.

This is true. In case you're afraid of a 25-year-old show being "spoiled" for you, stop reading now. RAMPANT SPECULATION AWAITS, AFTER THE JUMP.

Twin Peaks is a show in which spirits shift around rather routinely, and, specifically, there's a mysterious connection between wooden objects and transmogrified souls. There's some strong implication that Margaret's log actually houses the spirit of her deceased husband, and the series' end finds the spirit of another character, Josie Packard (Joan Chen), trapped inside a wooden doorknob. So we might see the Log Lady again, but in a different form.

And while we are in mourning, I'm reminded of one of the Log Lady's most comforting monologues. Take heart, fans of Margaret, take heart: