Journal 3

3 is a cryptic journal, part of a series also containing 2 (previously owned by Gideon Gleeful) and 1 (owned by Stan Pines), that contains information about the supernatural elements of Gravity Falls, mainly creatures like the gnomes. Its author is unknown. It was formerly in the possession of Dipper Pines, before his great uncle Stan, "borrowed" it.

History
Prior to Dipper's and Mabel's arrival in Gravity Falls, as the journal's 'unknown' author had been studying the mysteries of the town and recording his/her data in the book, the author felt that (s)he was being watched and hid the book in the forest, in order to prevent an individual, possibly the same one watching him/her and/or the author's enemy, referred to as "He," from obtaining the book.



When Dipper goes into the woods to hang signs leading to the Mystery Shack, he comes across a metallic hollow tree containing a strange machine. After playing around with the switches, he opens a hidden compartment in the ground and comes across the journal for the first time. Dipper flips through the pages for a brief while before Mabel greets him, and after she inquires as to what he is reading, the two return to the Shack, where Dipper tells Mabel about the journal. Later, Dipper consults the journal for clues about Mabel's new boyfriend, "Norman," whom he comes to suspect is a zombie. He tells Mabel about his suspicions, showing her the entry that convinced him in the process, though she does not believe him. Dipper checks the gnome page for possible weaknesses as he and Mabel battle the gnomes, and writes about his experiences on a blank page at the end of the episode.



Dipper reads about a cave behind a waterfall, into which he and his friends to escape, as he, Mabel, and Soos flee from Old Man McGucket's gobblewonker robot. In "Headhunters," Dipper flips through a few pages at the scene of Wax Stan's murder, and is seen reading it at the living room table after Mabel returns from her first date with 'Lil Gideon, in "The Hand That Rocks the Mabel." Dipper shows the page on ghosts to Mabel in the gift shop in "The Inconveniencing," and later to Wendy Corduroy and her friends.

In "Irrational Treasure," the twins read about the town law stating it is legal to marry woodpeckers. In that same episode, after Pacifica Northwest teases Mabel, the two read about and decide to investigate the possibility of Nathaniel Northwest, alleged town founder and great-great grandfather of Pacifica, being a fraud, so they can put the popular girl in her place. Dipper reads about height altering crystals in "Little Dipper," wishing to use them to make himself taller, and checks on its position in his vest pocket as 'Lil Gideon interrogates him about how he came upon the crystals. In "Boss Mabel," Dipper uses the journal to help him catch a Gremloblin. In "Bottomless Pit!," Mabel, who reads it for the first time in the series, reads the journal about the truth teeth.

Contents
Pages from 3 include the following:
 * Cursed Doors
 * Floating Eyeballs
 * Ghosts
 * Giant Vampire Bats
 * Gnomes
 * The Undead
 * Cave behind a waterfall at Lake Gravity Falls
 * The conspiracy about Nathaniel Northwest
 * Height Alteration (deeper part of the forest)
 * Legalization of marrying woodpeckers
 * Squash with Human Face and Emotions
 * Maze Page
 * Gremloblin
 * Truth Telling Teeth
 * Bill Cipher

Page 1
"June 18 It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began researching the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon. In all my travels, never have I observed so many curious things! Gravity Falls is indeed a geographical oddity."

- Tourist Trapped

Gnomes
"Creature #24 Danger unknown. Little men of the Gravity Falls Forest. Weaknesses: _________? Pointy hats!"

- Tourist Trapped

In Gideon Rises, it's shown that Dipper had filled the weakness part with "Leaf blowers" and scratched out the question mark at the end.

Page 2
"Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed, I'm being watched. I must hide this book before He finds it. Remember, in Gravity Falls there is no one you can trust. Trust no one!"

- Tourist Trapped

The Undead
"Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes, these creatures are often mistaken for teenagers. Beware Gravity Falls' nefarious zombies."

- Tourist Trapped

Ghosts
"Always have a reason of some kind. Photographic Proof! Ectoplasm Sample (Gravity Falls town hall)"

- The Inconveniencing

Floating Eyeballs
"Are they watching me?
 * Visible only at night
 * No retinal cord
 * No response to contact
 * Spooky "

- Tourist Trapped

Giant Vampire Bats
"Giant Vampire Bats!! 10 feet, Desmodus Rotundus"

- Tourist Trapped

Unknown Page
"In Gravity Falls it used to be legal to marry woodpeckers."

- Irrational Treasure

Unknown Page
There is a cave behind the waterfall in Lake Gravity Falls.

The conspiracy around Nathaniel Northwest
"In my investigations I have recently made a discovery, Nathaniel Northwest may not be the founder of Gravity Falls. And his entire family legacy is in fact, a fraud! I believe the proof of this secret is buried somewhere in the enclosed document. If only I could crack the code..."

- Irrational Treasure

Height Alteration
"Legends telling of miniature buffalo and giant squirrels have lead me to believe that there are height altering properties buried deep within the forest..."

- Little Dipper

Dipper's Pages
The Left page has a few words cut off and a drawing of a Mystery Shack bumper sticker: "[cut off] go on enough road trips [cut off] s are, you've seen a [cut off] n bumper sticker: WHAT IS THE MYSTERY SHACK?"

- Tourist Trapped

Right page: "Finally back safe and sound from one of the weirdest days at Gravity Falls. This journal told me there was no one in Gravity Falls I could trust, but when you battle a hundred gnomes side-by-side with someone, you realize that they've probably always got your back."

- Tourist Trapped

Maze Page

 * See also: Secret of the Journals

There are some codes. Down below on the page, there's a binary code, which reads:

"0100101000011010", it means 'J'.

In a later episode the box on the left corner included a new code: "’.,."

- Gideon Rises

Once decoded, it reads "THE PORTAL WHEN COMPLETED WILL OPEN A GATEWAY TO INFINITE NEW WORLDS AND HERALD A NEW ERA IN MANKIND’S UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE. PLUS, IT WILL PROBABLY GET GIRLS TO START TALKING TO ME FINALLY."

Gremloblin
If you look into his eyes you can see your worst nightmares. "When fighting a gremloblin use water [next page] only as a last resort as water will make him much much scarier."

- Boss Mabel

Truth telling teeth
"Buried 'neath the tree stump in the deep forest are Truth Teeth, which force upon the wearer the inability to lie."

- Bottomless Pit!

On the page next to the one above is a map of where the tree is.

Squash with a Human Face and Emotions
"He's Gourd-geous! Seeds with warts Future generations of pumpkinmen"

- Gideon Rises

While looking for ideas to defeat Gideon, Dipper calls this page "Butternut squash with a human face and emotions" instead of just "squash".

The code in the top right corner of its page reads  ' . Once decoded, it reads "DON'T EAT HIM."

Barf Fairy
While looking for ideas to defeat Gideon in 3, Dipper mentions a page describing a "barf fairy".

Bill Cipher
Left page:

These is a symbol cipher cryptogram on the same place of the page where Bill's name is written:

(LIAR)

(MONSTER)

(SNAPPY)

(DRESSER)

"Bill has proven himself to be one of the friendliest and most trustworthy individuals that I've ever encountered in my life. What a guy! I honestly [cut off] trust him more. Not evil [cut off] a way, Bill is a true gentleman."

- Dreamscaperers

This part is crossed out and below wrote "Can't Be..." in red ink

Right page: "Beware Bill. The most powerful and dangerous creature I've ever encountered. Whatever you do, never let him into your mind."

- Dreamscaperers

"It is possible to follow the demon into a person's mind and prevent his chaos. DO NOT SUMMON AT ALL COSTS."

- Dreamscaperers

Following page: "One must simply recite this incantation: Fidentus omnium. Magister mentium. Magnesium ad hominem. Magnum opus. Habeas corpus. Inceptus Nolanus overratus. Magister mentium. Magister mentium. Magister mentium."

- Dreamscaperers

Other Items
Just inside the front cover, the book has an eyepiece (possibly a monocle) attached to the journal via a cord. Its purpose is unknown and it has been used as a bookmark by Dipper as seen in "Irrational Treasure". This bookmark separates book 3's appearence from book 1 and 2.

Secret of the Journals
In order to properly complete the device, one must posses all three journals. Apparently, the author believed if constructed, the result could be catastrophic, so he made sure the journals were well hidden safe distance from each other, also placing a warning to whom ever finds the journal: "TRUST NO ONE!"

But Dipper allowed Stan to learn of his possession of the journal, who then took it to activate a device using the combined algorithm of all three books.

Appearance
Journal #3 has the main color of burgundy and has various rips and tears on the cover due to age, it has two gold lines on its spine and all four of its corners are gold. In the middle of the book there is a gold hand with six fingers and the number 3 in the middle. On the back, it shows various alchemist symbols.

Trivia

 * Until "Gideon Rises", only books 3 (in Dipper's possession) and 2 (in Gideon's possession) had been seen, implying but never outright confirming the existence of 1. In "Gideon Rises", 1 was revealed to be owned by Stan.
 * In an early promo that aired on Disney Channel, the gnome page had a creepier but more accurate drawing of a gnome.
 * The hand on the cover has alternated from six to five fingers.
 * Random alchemist symbols of "fusion," "pulverize," "solution," "dryness," "extraction," "composition," "digestion," "coagulation," "reverberation," and "reduction" appear throughout the pages.
 * Dipper's handwritten page is the only revealed page to have lines on it.
 * On the page beside Dipper's page, you can see half a drawing of a bumper sticker Mabel was selling in "Boss Mabel".
 * Both 3 and 2 have pages on zombies as seen and heard in "Tourist Trapped" and "Little Dipper", respectively.
 * 3 shows signs of neglect that show of its storage in a tree. When it was first seen, it was layered with dust, and 2 has small tears on the cover, while 3 is in a worse state, as it has larger tears.
 * In the gnomes page of the book in "Gideon Rises", it is shown that the weakness line was filled by Dipper after "Tourist Trapped" in blue ink, being "leaf blowers".