I'm working on a hypothesis on the nature of Ms. Packard which runs like this (this may be old hat to you old hands but I hope you will indulge this newbie);

Josie is a spirit being akin to but substantively different from BOB & Mike. While BOB feeds on fear Josie feeds on desire or perhaps love. Josie is a less 'wild' being of a type that has enjoyed/suffered from a long association with humans. She was originally summoned and/or bound by or for Eckhardt. This suggests several possible explanations for her rapid demise at the end of episode 24. 1)It was brought about by a violation of the original of the original contract ('the party of the 2nd part shall not cause injury or death to the party of the 2nd part). 2)With the death of Eckhardt, the person she was originally bound too, her spirit was severed from this world. 3)Trumans love for her, the energy that sustained her, died and she went with it. 

This has led me to consider the possibility that the Great Northern was constructed as some kind of spirit trap that caught her after her death.  BOB, possibly the original target of the trap, is delighted when it catches somebeing else.  This suggests that someone involved with the construction of the GN knew of the beings/lodges and was interested in containing their threat/exploting their power.  If this was 'Gramps' Horne it also brings up a possible backstory involving his early death before he was able to transmit that knowledge to his boys.

Well that's the bare bones of the theory, weird and an abject failure of Occums Razor but I certainly don't think that puts it too far outside the norm for the TP world.

Thank you for your indulgence, rb

"It's not so bad as long as you can keep the fear from your mind." - D. Cooper

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." - P. Atreides

"Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe" - L. tzu

Hmmm, I'd have to think about that. I've never put that much thought into Josie's character, though I recall the strangeness of her death scene.

While on the topic of the Great Northern and strangeness, I remember reading somewhere ("Wrapped In Plastic" magazine perhaps?) that at the end of season two, that Ben Horne might have glimpsed Josie or something from the Lodges (when Ben makes his final startled look at the camera, after Audrey runs off to Billy Zane).

Just to confuse things further, I've also read somewhere that the "Judy" mentioned by Agent Jeffries in FWWM is actually a twin sister of Josie. But I've never read the FWWM script so I don't know if there's any validity to that.

Anybody think there is any truth to any of this either? I don't really have any concrete opinions regarding Josie...

Some interesting ideas here!

LODGE4's theory seems the most probable to me, but it doesn't explain the 65lb thing or why her spirit ends up trapped in a drawer...I keep wondering if there were plans to expand on the story of what happened to Josie that never came to fruition?

I like the original theory about Josie being a Lodge spirit. Perhaps she was an agent of Mike and/or BOB like the Tremonds, and like the Tremonds, assumed different names in different locations. Perhaps Judy and Josie are simply one and the same person. And perhaps Josie was killed because she overstepped her boundaries as a Lodge spirit when she killed Eckhardt...

Personally, I've always seen it like this: Leland was possessed by a supernatural being to rape and kill his own daughter. But what excuses did the other people have?

Passing the blame of the other characters' faults onto lodge spirits takes away their weaknesses and guilt, which in many cases - all but Cooper, actually - defines the whole character.

--
Vesa 'wtw' Ahola  wtw@iki.fi.REMOVE
"Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought."
- Graham Greene

Interesting.  I was thinking of digging this thread up to post my most recent variation on the theory.

Josie is inhabited by a domestic companion spirit who I'll call Mary.  Mary was bound to Josie at a very young age in order to form a perfect companion for Eckhardt.  The nature of a DCS is that it plays the part of the perfect companion for whomever it is with; lover, friend, even an adversary who gives one a thrilling contest but in the end looses out.

Life in TP was a joy for Josie because no one there knew of her nature, she knew a freedom unlike that she/they had ever experienced.  Her fear came from the thought of losing this freedom, of returning to a life of bondage and (for the spirit) the potential for an eternity of lives in bondage.

As to her death, the reasons I articulated in the original post might still apply and I'll add 4)An extreme reaction to the fight or flight impulse.

So Josie is bound in the Great Northern and eventually she tries to find her way out.  Spirits find children the easiest to posses.  Unfortunately for Mary/Josie there aren't many children around the GN, at least not on a regular basis so it is difficult for her to find anyone to inhabit.  She ends up 'in' the only person who comes close to fitting the bill; Johnny Horne!

The spirit retains all of its Josie identity.  Thus we come to the whole point of this revision to the theory, the idea of Harry dealing with the fact that his lover has come back to him in the body of a fully grown man!  "It's still me Harry!  Do love me or was it just my body!"

"It's not so bad as long as you can keep the fear from your mind." - D. Cooper

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." - P. Atreides

"Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe" - L. tzu

Hey!  I'm new here, but have been a Peaks Freak since the beginning.

I had always thought that Josie's soul was possessed by the wood of the dresser.  The whole bit of Josie's face stuggling in the wood made me think of the Log Lady, and how there was a "spirit" within her log.  I wish that we knew more about the origins of Margaret's log, but from what I gather, she did not know her log until after her husband's death in the fire.  I kind of always thought that the soul in Margaret's log was that of her late husband.

I also thought it strange that Joan Chen's name was in the opening credits for the remainder of the second season, and I kept waiting for her or her doppleganger to show up in town.  Has Lynch, Frost or anyone ever hinted that Josie would be back in Season 3?  Ah, what might have been...

Greg... thank you, thank you, thank you!

You have no idea the piece of mind you have given me with this information.  I must admit, I did not love FWWM, and I did not pay much attention to it, or the information given.  Perhaps it is time to watch it again.

I had never heard about this interview in which Judy, Josie's sister was introduced.  I suppose she would have popped up in TP during Season 3.  Mystery solved.  Again... ah, what might have been.

Thanks, Greg.  I'm so happy to have an outlet to share my beliefs.  To people who actually care!

Addison DeWitt is only a pseudonym, taken from the great film, All about Eve, starring Bette Davis.  If you appreciate the writing in Twin Peaks, you will love All about Eve.  Rent it! 

Just like the planet of corn and the Lady in the Lake that writers discussed, if it didn't make the final cut, it's just a loose idea in the ether.

 Couple checks in to Great Northern (same room Josie died in)

"Damn, honey, that knob is sooooooooo beautiful..."

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper