David Lynch's Final Nightmare: How Filmmaker Went to His Grave Haunted by Encounter With Battered, Naked Woman Who Sparked His Career Churning Out Horrific Movies and Shows
Lynch hid a terrifying childhood trauma.
Feb. 6 2025, Published 6:20 p.m. ET
Twin Peaks director David Lynch was haunted to his grave by a terrifying childhood trauma, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
As a young boy, the recently passed Hollywood legend had a spooky encounter with a battered, naked woman that sparked his career as the creator of bizarre, chilling movies.
The late director died on January 15 at the age of 78 after battling emphysema.
Lynch was 78 when he died last month after a battle with smoking-caused emphysema. Before he passed, he reflected on the incident that shaped his life.
In his 2018 memoir, "Room to Dream," he recalled being outside his family's Boise, Idaho, home late at night when a beautiful, traumatized assault victim appeared, wandering down the street in a daze.
He wrote: "It was so incredible. It seemed to me that her skin was the color of milk, and she had a bloodied mouth."
Lynch's death was confirmed in a statement shared on his Facebook page.
The shocked boy was too stunned to follow the girl before she mysteriously vanished into the night like a ghost.
Sources said the extraordinary image haunted him and left him with puzzles in his mind that he tried to work out in such films as Blue Velvet.
An insider said: "He never found peace from that woman and his inability to help her. That woman would become a muse, an obsession, a ghost that he came back to again and again."
The source added it explains a lot of his movie magic: "His treatment of women in film is so violent and appalling that he's been accused of being a closet misogynist – but the truth is that he was trying to work out the extraordinary scene he witnessed as a child.
"It haunted him until his dying day."
The Hollywood legend had a childhood encounter that helped shape his vision.
Lynch was forever linked with pain, a subject he openly discussed. In one of his final interviews, he laid bare the "pain" he felt for the state of the world.
The Twin Peaks creator confessed he was "very upset with us on this planet right now" but believed there was still "hope" for humanity.
Two months before his death, Lynch revealed he was tortured by current affairs but believed people could one day overcome division, even if he would not be alive to see it.
In an interview with People, the director said: "People in the United States are divided, and one side almost literally and truly hates the other side.
"This is not a way to live."
Never Miss an
Daily updates from the heart of Hollywood, right to your inbox
By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Lynch went on to blast the "hatred" dividing the country, which he compared to being in a messy "nursery school" classroom.
He explained: "There is so much bulls--- going on these days, it's hard to believe.
"It's like a nursery school. It's like little nasty children in a nursery school, and we're pooping in our pants, we're smelling up the place, and it's not pretty. And it doesn't have to be this way."
Despite the Blue Velvet director's description of the state of the U.S., Lynch believed there was a light at the end of the tunnel and all hope was not lost for Americans to come together again one day.
"We need to be getting along together," he said at the time.
Lynch continued: "There's so many things we'd all agree on. We can solve these problems working together.
"Divided we fall, united we stand. This is a true thing. This life is not supposed to be a bad joke. This world is supposed to be beautiful.
"We're supposed to love each other as a family."
