Did you know that on Jupiter and Saturn will be conjunct on December 21, 2020? According to Twin Peaks, this is the time that a doorway to the Black Lodge will be open (cue Windom Earle’s singing). With that said, I figured the best way to start the New Year is by examining the film location for Glastonbury Grove in a series of stories. This first article highlights the initial appearance of this portal to another world in Episode 2020.
FINDING THE LOCATION
Glastonbury Grove was among the first film locations I visited during a trip to southern California in July 2010. With thanks to Charles from the former InTwinPeaks.com site, I was able to quickly locate the iconic spot found in Franklin Canyon Park at these coordinates:Â 34.12181, -118.40985.
The spot is down a small hill off of Franklin Canyon Drive the Park outside of Beverly Hills, California. Numerous scenes were filmed throughout the wooded park. Nearby, you will also find the locations for the deleted scene of Laura Palmer and the trucker from Twin Peaks – Fire Walk With Me and the road where the law enforcement team walks after Maddy Ferguson’s death.
Located in the Ghostwood National Forest and close to Pearl Lakes and the town of Twin Peaks, Glastonbury Grove features a circle of twelve sycamore trees that surround a portal filled with something resembles scorched engine oil. A visual representation of the sycamore trees was included in the petroglyph found in Owl Cave.
APPEARANCE IN EPISODE 2020
The first draft of Episode 2020’s script was written on January 31, 1991. It was revised several times including an edit on February 8, 1991 which included this scene (it was printed on pink pages).
32. EXT. MONTAGE/ WOODS – NIGHT
Suddenly: a series of IMAGES, fast-paced, accompanied by
the appropriate music, the sounds of owls, raging wind.
JOSIE screams, trapped within the drawer pull.
CAMERA POV races madly through the woods,
headed toward the Black Lodge.
Sadly we don’t see Josie or hear owls, and the camera does not “race madly though the woods.” Instead, the camera pans down right to the ring of twelve trees.
I visited the location with my fellow location hunter Ivan Bukta on May 26, 2019. The giant tree on the left side of the image above can be seen behind the tree ring.
Then, in an instant, quite jarringly – SILENCE, a grove of trees, the air still and calm. An eerie beat. An ARM coalesces in midair, inch by inch, now reaches about testing the cool night, fingers prodding. The wind begins to rise. Satisfied, the arm recedes, disappears.
Here’s a look at the same spot on May 26, 2019. Luckily it was an overcast day which added to the Twin Peaks-vibe.
I returned to this spot in September 2020 to take a more wide-angle shot.
My first visit to the spot was on July 13, 2010. I brought a water jug and found two rocks nearby to recreate the portal location. I arrived at the location around 4:30 but the sun was blazing! I waited until around 6:00 before it dropped behind the trees. Totally worth it!
SELFIES AT THE GROVE
Ivan and I couldn’t help taking a photo near the spot where the portal was located.
I returned again for another selfie September 19, 2020, Â this time sporting my Twin Peaks-theme face covering.
BOB REACHES OUT
The script continues:
A beat. BOB’S disembodied HEAD follows. Fierce winds blow, shaking the trees with mighty force. Bob’s floating head peers about, now snaps back into a feral HOWL. Then Bob VANISHES in a BLINDING FLASH OF LIGHT.
Instead of seeing Bob’s disembodied head, we see an illuminated arm which is followed by the rest of his body. The aforementioned tree is seen just behind his hand.
The camera then pans down to the portal. I combined the pan down shot with Bob reaching out to create the image above.
AN ENTRANCE
The winds recede. All is calm again.
Save for the patch of SCORCHED earth below.
The scene concludes with a reflection of red drapes in the scorched engine oil.
Here’s a closer look at my attempt to recreate the shot. I realize that the portal was not made of rocks but you get the idea [cue the saxophone].
INTWINPEAKS.COM
As mentioned, I used InTwinPeaks.com to find this site. I loved Charles’ story about how Travis Blue and he first found this spot. I owe them both a big thanks for helping me visit this favorite spot.
“Needless to say, Glastonbury Grove was among the most exciting and difficult to find locations from the series. The funny thing about locating this spot was that my friend Travis and I had actually been there already (the day before we officially found it) while photographing Windom Earle’s cabin location, which is directly behind the grove. The thing is, we were so frantically trying to find Glastonbury, assuming it would be deep in some forest, that we didn’t think for a moment that we were actually standing right in it!
Thankfully, a little bird who will go unnamed told us the next day that it was directly behind Windom’s cabin plot. We could hardly wait till the next day to go back and soak in the vibes!
When we arrived back at the location, it felt amazing. I could easily imagine that I was standing in Glastonbury Grove. We found no sign of a portal into another universe, but then … we didn’t wait till nighttime.Â
We go there about two hours early for the right light. The sun was blazing onto the trees so it was necessary to wait for the sun to fade, a little later in the afternoon. Meanwhile, this gave us plenty of time to find where the oil puddle was! There was still a very distinct indentation where the hole used to be. I photographed it, but it didn’t register at all on camera. Travis and I decided we had better fill it with water from the nearby pond so that it would show up. That we did and it turned out pretty well, as you can see … okay, so the water bled outside the lines a bit.”
