John Truitt
I'd put the time of death between eight and 12 hours ago. No sign of battery or sexual assault. All we have is this.
Season 1 · Episode 1
Pilot
Character-labelled dialogue prepared from the official DVD subtitle track.
Production code1X79Original airdate · September 10, 1993
282 dialogue entries
Collum National Forest · Northwest Oregon
(grunting, panting)
(groaning)
(rustling)
(rattling)
Detective Miles
Can we turn her over? Karen Swenson.
Assistant Coroner
Is that a positive ID?
Detective Miles
She went to school with my son.
John Truitt
That would be the class of '89? It's happening again, isn't it?
FBI Headquarters · Washington, D.C.
Dana Scully
Agent Dana Scully.
Scott Blevins
Come in. Thank you for coming on such short notice. Please... You've been with us just over two years.
Dana Scully
Yes, sir.
Scott Blevins
You went to medical school, but you chose not to practice. How did you come to work for the FBI?
Dana Scully
Well, sir, I was recruited out of medical school. My parents still think it was an act of rebellion but I saw the FBI as a place where I could distinguish myself.
FBI Official
Are you familiar with an agent named Fox Mulder?
Dana Scully
Yes, I am.
FBI Official
How so?
Dana Scully
By reputation. He's an Oxford-educated psychologist who wrote a monograph on serial killers and the occult that helped catch Monty Propps in 1988. Generally thought of as the best analyst in the violent crime section. He had a nickname at the academy: "spooky" Mulder.
Scott Blevins
I'll also tell you that agent Mulder has developed a consuming devotion to an unassigned project. Are you familiar with the so-called X-Files?
Dana Scully
I believe they have to do with unexplained phenomena.
Scott Blevins
We want you to assist Mulder. You will write field reports on your activities along with your observations on the validity of the work.
Dana Scully
You want me to debunk the X-Files project?
Scott Blevins
We trust you'll make the proper analysis. You'll want to contact agent Mulder shortly. We look forward to seeing your reports.
Fox Mulder
Sorry, nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted.
Dana Scully
Agent Mulder. I'm Dana Scully. I've been assigned to work with you.
Fox Mulder
Isn't it nice to be so highly regarded? Who did you tick off to get stuck with this detail?
Dana Scully
Actually, I'm looking forward to working with you.
Fox Mulder
I was under the impression that you were sent to spy on me.
Dana Scully
If you have any doubt about my qualifications...
Fox Mulder
You're a medical doctor. You teach at the academy. You did your undergraduate degree in physics. "Einstein's twin paradox: a new interpretation." Dana Scully's senior thesis. Now that's a credential, rewriting Einstein.
Dana Scully
Did you read it?
Fox Mulder
I did. I liked it. In most of my work the laws of physics rarely seem to apply. Maybe I can get your medical opinion on this. Oregon female, age 21. No explainable cause of death. Autopsy shows nothing. Zip. There are, however, these two distinct marks on her lower back. Dr. Scully, can you ID these marks?
Dana Scully
Needle punctures, maybe. An animal bite, electrocution.
Fox Mulder
How's your chemistry? This is the substance found in the surrounding tissue.
Dana Scully
It's organic. I don't know. Is it some kind of synthetic protein?
Fox Mulder
Beats me. I've never seen it, either but here it is again in South Dakota, and again in Texas.
Dana Scully
Do you have a theory?
Fox Mulder
I have plenty of theories but maybe what you can explain to me is why it's bureau policy to label these cases "unexplained phenomena" and ignore them. Do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?
Dana Scully
Logically, I would have to say no given the distances needed to travel from the far reaches of space the energy requirements would exceed a spacecraft's capabilities.
Fox Mulder
Conventional wisdom. This Oregon female-- she's the fourth person in her graduating class to die under mysterious circumstances. When convention and science offer us no answers might we not finally turn to the fantastic as a plausibility?
Dana Scully
The girl obviously died of something. If it was natural causes, it's plausible there was something missed in the postmortem. If she was murdered it's plausible there was a sloppy investigation. What I find fantastic is any notion that there are answers beyond the realm of science. The answers are there. You have to know where to look.
Fox Mulder
That's why they put the "I" in FBI see you tomorrow morning, Scully, bright and early. We leave for the very plausible state of Oregon at 8:00 a.m.
Airplane to Oregon
Airline Pilot
I'd like to ask all passengers to fasten their seat belts as we're about to make our descent...
Fox Mulder
This must be the place.
Bellefleur, Oregon
Dana Scully
You didn't mention yesterday this case has already been investigated.
Fox Mulder
Yeah, the FBI got involved after the first three deaths when local authorities failed to turn up any evidence. Our boys came out here, spent a week enjoyed the local salmon-- which is just to die for, if you pardon the expression. Without explanation, they were called back in. The case was reclassified and buried in the X-Files until I dug it up last week.
Dana Scully
And you found something they didn't? The autopsy reports of the first three victims show no unidentified marks or tissue samples but those reports were signed by a different medical examiner than the latest victim.
Fox Mulder
That's pretty good, Scully.
Dana Scully
Better than you expected, or better than you hoped?
Fox Mulder
Well, I'll let you know when we get past the easy part.
Dana Scully
Is the medical examiner a suspect?
Fox Mulder
We won't know until we do some grave digging. I've arranged to exhume one of the other victims to see if we can get a tissue sample to match the girl's. You're not squeamish, are you?
Dana Scully
I've never had the pleasure.
(indistinct radio)
(audio feedback)
Dana Scully
What's going on? What the hell was that about?
Fox Mulder
Oh, you know... Probably nothing.
Coastal Northwest Oregon · March 7, 1992
John Truitt
Mr. Mulder, county coroner's office.
Fox Mulder
Yeah, hi. This is agent Scully. How soon can we get started?
John Truitt
We're ready to go.
Fox Mulder
Were you able to arrange for an examination facility?
Dr. Jay Nemman
Excuse me. Excuse me. No. Please stay in... I don't know who you people think you are. You think you can come up here and do whatever you damn please, don't you?
Fox Mulder
I'm sorry. You are..?
Dr. Jay Nemman
Jay Nemman, county medical examiner.
Fox Mulder
Surely, you must have been informed.
Dr. Jay Nemman
No. No, we've been away.
Fox Mulder
Well, that answers a question we had: why you hadn't done the recent autopsy. You're aware of the tissue sample that was taken from her body.
Dr. Jay Nemman
What is the insinuation here? Are you saying I missed something in those kids' exams?
Dana Scully
We're not insinuating anything, sir.
Dr. Jay Nemman
Wait a minute! Well, I think you are. If you're making an accusation you'd better have something to back it up.
Theresa Nemman
Daddy, please, let's just go home. Let's go home, please!
Fox Mulder
Guy obviously needed a longer vacation.
Dana Scully
Ray Soames was the third victim. After graduating high school he spent time in a state mental hospital. Treated for post-adolescent schizophrenia.
Fox Mulder
Soames confessed to the first two murders. He pleaded to be locked up but he couldn't produce any evidence that he committed the crimes. Did you read the cause of death?
Dana Scully
Exposure. His body was found in the woods after escaping the hospital.
Fox Mulder
Missing for only seven hours in July. How does a 20-year-old die of exposure on a warm, summer night in Oregon?
John Truitt
This isn't official procedure.
Fox Mulder
Really? It's probably a safe bet Ray Soames never made the varsity basketball team. Seal this up right now. Nobody sees or touches this. Nobody.
Examination Facility · 10:56 P.M.
Fox Mulder
This is amazing, Scully. Do you know what this could mean? It's almost too big to even comprehend.
Dana Scully
The subject is 156 centimeters in length weighing 52 pounds in extremis. Corpse is in advanced stages of decay and desiccation. Distinguishing features include large ocular cavities oblique cranium-- indicates subject is not human. Could you point that flash away from me?
Fox Mulder
If it's not human, what is it?
Dana Scully
It's mammalian. It's a chimpanzee or something from the ape family possibly an orangutan.
Fox Mulder
Buried in the city cemetery in Ray's grave? Try telling that to the good townsfolk or to Ray's family. I want tissue samples, x rays, blood typing, toxicology and a full genetic work-up. What we can't do here, we'll order to go.
Dana Scully
You don't honestly believe this is an extraterrestrial? This is somebody's sick joke.
Fox Mulder
Is there any reason we can't do those x rays right now? I'm not crazy, Scully. I have the same doubts you do.
Scully's Hotel Room
Dana Scully
Visual laboratory inspection of the body and x-Ray analysis
Dana Scully (recorded)
Confirms homologous, but possibly mutated, mammalian physiology. However, does not account for small, unidentified object found in subject's nasal cavity. A grey, metallic implant forming...
(knocking)
Dana Scully
Who is it?
Fox Mulder
Steven spielberg. I'm going for a run. Want to come?
Dana Scully
Pass.
Fox Mulder
Figure out what that little thing is?
Dana Scully
No. And I'm not losing any sleep over it. Good night.
Raymon County State Psychiatric Hospital
Dr. Glass
Ray Soames was a patient of mine. I oversaw his treatment for over a year for clinical schizophrenia. Ray had an inability to grasp reality. He seemed to suffer from some kind of post-traumatic stress.
Fox Mulder
Is that something you've seen before?
Dr. Glass
I've treated similar cases.
Dana Scully
Were any of those Ray Soames' classmates?
Dr. Glass
Yes.
Fox Mulder
We're trying to find a connection in these deaths. Did you treat any of these kids with hypnosis?
Dr. Glass
No. I did not.
Dana Scully
Are you treating any of these kids now?
Dr. Glass
Currently? Yes, I'm treating Billy Miles and Peggy O'Dell.
Dana Scully
They're here at this hospital?
Dr. Glass
Going on four years now.
Dana Scully
Would it be possible to talk to them?
Dr. Glass
Well, you might find it difficult. Certainly in Billy Miles' case. Billy's experiencing what we call a waking coma. Functionally, his brain waves are flat.
Dana Scully
How did it happen?
Dr. Glass
He and Peggy were involved in an automobile accident. Peggy? We have some visitors. Would you talk with them?
Peggy O'Dell
Billy wants me to read now.
Fox Mulder
Does he like it when you read to him?
Peggy O'Dell
Yes.
Fox Mulder
Doctor I'm wondering if we can do a cursory medical exam on Peggy?
(crashing, yelling)
Nurse
Peggy, what are you doing?
Dr. Glass
No one will hurt you.
(screaming)
Dr. Glass
Get an orderly! Get an orderly! Nobody's going to hurt you.
(screaming)
Peggy O'Dell
Stop it!
Dr. Glass
It's all right.
Nurse
Honey, you're going to be fine. Calm down. You know that you will be all right.
Fox Mulder
Billy said he was sorry he didn't get to say good-bye.
Dana Scully
How did you know she would have the marks?
Fox Mulder
I don't know. Lucky guess?
Dana Scully
Damn it, Mulder, cut the crap. What is going on here? What do you know about those marks?
Fox Mulder
I don't think you're ready for what I think.
Dana Scully
I'm here to solve this case. I want the truth.
Fox Mulder
I think those kids have been abducted.
Dana Scully
By who?
Fox Mulder
By what.
Dana Scully
You don't really believe that.
Fox Mulder
Do you have a better explanation?
Dana Scully
I'll buy that girl is suffering some kind of pronounced psychosis. Whether it's organic or the result of those marks I can't say but to say that they've been riding around in flying saucers-- there is nothing to support that.
Fox Mulder
Nothing scientific, you mean.
Dana Scully
There has got to be an explanation. You've got four victims-- all of them died in or near the woods. They found Karen Swenson's body in the forest in her pajamas ten Miles from her house. How did she get there? What were those kids doing out there in the forest?
(mechanical humming)
Collum National Forest · Northwest Oregon
Dana Scully
Mulder?
(mechanical hum increasing)
Dana Scully
Mulder, is that you? Mulder? Special agent Dana Scully, FBI drop your weapon.
Detective Miles
I'm with the county sheriff's department. You're trespassing on private property here.
Dana Scully
We are conducting an investigation.
Detective Miles
Get in your car and leave or I'll have to arrest you. I don't care who you are.
Fox Mulder
This is a crime scene.
Detective Miles
Did you hear what I said? You are on private property without legal permission. Now, I'm only going to say it one more time. Get in your car and leave!
Fox Mulder
What's he doing out here all by himself?
Dana Scully
Maybe it has something to do with this. What do you think it is?
Fox Mulder
I don't know. Is it a campfire?
Dana Scully
It was all over the ground. I think something's going on out here. Some kind of a sacrifice, maybe. What if these kids are involved in some kind of a cult and that man knows something about it? I want to come back here. You okay, Mulder?
Fox Mulder
Yeah. I'm just, uh...
Dana Scully
What are you looking for? What happened?
Fox Mulder
We lost power. Brakes, steering, everything. We lost nine minutes. Whoo!
Dana Scully
We lost what?
Fox Mulder
Nine minutes! I looked at my watch just before the flash and it was 9:03. It just turned 9:13. Look. Look! Oh, yes! Abductees. People that have made UFO sightings. They've reported unexplained time loss.
Dana Scully
Come on.
Fox Mulder
Gone! Just like that.
Dana Scully
No, wait a minute. You're saying that... That time disappeared. Time can't just disappear. It's a universal invariant.
(engine starts)
Fox Mulder
Not in this zip code.
Scully's Hotel Room
Dana Scully
Great.
Mulder's Hotel Room
Fox Mulder
Hi.
Dana Scully
I want you to look at something.
Fox Mulder
Come on in.
Dana Scully
What are they? Mulder, what are they?!
Fox Mulder
Mosquito bites.
Dana Scully
Are you sure?
Fox Mulder
Yeah. I got eaten up a lot myself out there. You okay?
Dana Scully
Yes.
Fox Mulder
You're shaking.
Dana Scully
I need to sit down.
Fox Mulder
Take your time. I was 12 when it happened. My sister was eight. She just disappeared out of her bed one night. Just gone. Vanished. No note, no phone calls, no evidence of anything.
Dana Scully
You never found her.
Fox Mulder
It tore the family apart. No one would talk about it. There were no facts to confront nothing to offer any hope.
Dana Scully
What did you do?
Fox Mulder
Eventually, I went off to school in England. I came back, got recruited by the bureau. Seems I had a natural aptitude for applying behavioral models to criminal cases. My success allowed me a certain freedom to pursue my own interests and that's when I came across the X-Files.
Dana Scully
By accident?
Fox Mulder
At first, it looked like a garbage dump for UFO sightings, alien abduction reports. The kind of stuff that most people laugh at as being ridiculous. But I was fascinated. I read all the cases I could get my hands on. Hundreds of them. I read everything I could about paranormal phenomenon about the occult and... There's classified government information I've been trying to access but someone has been blocking my attempts to get at it.
Dana Scully
Who? I don't understand.
Fox Mulder
Someone at a higher level of power. The only reason I've been allowed to continue is because I've made connections in Congress.
Dana Scully
They're afraid of what? That you'll leak this information?
Fox Mulder
You're part of that agenda, you know that.
Dana Scully
I'm not a part of any agenda. You've got to trust me. I'm here just like you-- to solve this.
Fox Mulder
I'm telling you this, Scully, because you need to know because of what you've seen. In my research I've worked very closely with a man named dr. Heinz Werber. He's taken me through deep hypnosis. I've been able to go into my own repressed memories to the night my sister disappeared. I can recall a bright light outside and a presence in the room. I was paralyzed unable to respond to my sister's calls for help. Listen to me, Scully. This thing exists.
Dana Scully
How do you know?
Fox Mulder
The government knows about it and I got to know what they're protecting. Nothing else matters to me and this is as close as I've ever gotten to it.
(phone ringing)
Fox Mulder
Hello? What? Who is this? Who is th..? That was some woman and she said Peggy O'Dell was dead.
Dana Scully
The girl in the wheelchair?
Rural Highway 133 · Bellefleur, Oregon
Emergency Worker
Yeah, I'll bring it over in a minute.
Fox Mulder
What happened?
Truck Driver
She ran right out in front of me.
Deputy
Who are you?
Fox Mulder
She was running? On foot? Well, that's just... Let's go. Let's go. Someone trashed the lab and stole the body. We're going back to the motel.
Dana Scully
What?! They stole the corpse?
Hotel
Fox Mulder
FBI
Dana Scully
There goes my computer.
Fox Mulder
Damn it! The x rays and pictures!
Firefighter
I need a couple of men out here. We'll need a light safety curtain.
Theresa Nemman
My name is Theresa Nemman. You've got to protect me.
Fox Mulder
Come with us.
Diner
Theresa Nemman
This is the way it happens. I don't know how I get out there. I'll just find myself out in the woods.
Fox Mulder
How long has it been happening?
Theresa Nemman
Ever since the summer we graduated. It's happened to my friends too. That's why I need you to protect me. I'm scared I might die like the others. Like... Peggy did tonight.
Fox Mulder
Your father's the medical examiner. You were the one on the phone. You told me Peggy O'Dell had been killed.
Dana Scully
Theresa, your father knows about this, doesn't he? About what happens?
Theresa Nemman
Yes. But he said never to tell anyone about any of it.
Fox Mulder
Why?
Theresa Nemman
He wants to protect me. He thinks he can protect me, but I don't think he can.
Fox Mulder
Do you have the marks, Theresa?
Theresa Nemman
Yes. I'm going to die, aren't I? I'm going to be next.
Dana Scully
No, you're not going to die. Oh, god.
Dr. Jay Nemman
Let's go home, Theresa. Theresa, come on. Come on, honey.
Fox Mulder
I don't think she wants to leave.
Dr. Jay Nemman
I don't care what you think. She's a sick girl.
Detective Miles
Your father wants to take you home. He'll get you cleaned up.
Dr. Jay Nemman
Going to take you where you'll be safe, Theresa. Detective Miles and I won't let anything happen to you.
Fox Mulder
You're Billy Miles' father?
Detective Miles
That's right, and you stay away from that boy.
Fox Mulder
You got to love this place. Every day is like Halloween.
Dana Scully
They know, Mulder. They know who's responsible for the murders.
Fox Mulder
They know something.
Dana Scully
Dr. Nemman's been hiding medical evidence from the beginning. He lied on the autopsy reports. Now we find out about the detective. Who would have reason to trash the lab and our rooms?
Fox Mulder
Why would they destroy evidence? What would they want with that corpse?
Dana Scully
I don't know.
Fox Mulder
Makes you wonder what's in those other two graves.
Cemetery · 5:07
Fox Mulder
They're both empty.
Dana Scully
What is going on here?
Fox Mulder
I think I know who did it. I think I know who killed Karen Swenson.
Dana Scully
Who? The detective?
Fox Mulder
The detective's son. Billy Miles.
Dana Scully
The boy in the hospital? The vegetable? Billy Miles? A boy in a coma for the last four years dug up these graves?
Fox Mulder
Peggy O'Dell was bound to a wheelchair but ran in front of that truck. I'm not making this up. It fits the profile of alien abduction.
Dana Scully
This fits a profile?
Fox Mulder
Peggy O'Dell was killed at 9:00. That's right around the time we lost nine minutes. Something happened in that nine minutes. Time as we know it stopped and something took control over it. You think I'm crazy. What?
Dana Scully
Peggy O'Dell's watch stopped a couple of minutes after nine. I made a note of it when I saw the body.
Fox Mulder
The kids come to the forest because the forest controls them and the marks are from some kind of tests that's being done on them and that maybe causes some kind of genetic mutation which would explain the body that we dug up.
Dana Scully
And the force summoned Theresa Nemman's body into the woods tonight.
Fox Mulder
Yes, but it was Billy Miles who took her there. Summoned by some alien impulse. That's it. Come on. Let's get out of here.
Dana Scully
Where are we going?
Fox Mulder
To pay a visit to Billy Miles.
Raymon County State Psychiatric Hospital
Nurse
Now, we could stand here until the second coming waiting for Billy to get out of this bed. It ain't going to happen. He blinks and I know about it.
Fox Mulder
I guess you changed his bedpan last night.
Nurse
Nobody else here's going to do it.
Fox Mulder
You noticed nothing unusual? Do you remember what you were doing last night around 9:00?
Nurse
Probably watching TV. Yeah.
Fox Mulder
Do you remember what you were watching?
Nurse
Um, let's see... You know, I don't really remember what I watched. Miss... What is she looking for?
Dana Scully
Mulder, take a look at this.
Fox Mulder
You know who's taking care of Peggy O'Dell last night?
Nurse
Not me. It's not my ward, not my aisle of the produce section. I do have a job of my own to do. What is she doing now?
Fox Mulder
Thank you for your time, ma'am.
Nurse
Okay.
Fox Mulder
Good day.
Dana Scully
That kid may have killed Peggy O'Dell. I don't believe this. It's crazy. He was in the woods.
Fox Mulder
You're sure?
Dana Scully
This is the same stuff I took a handful of in the forest.
Fox Mulder
Maybe we should run a lab test...
Dana Scully
We lost the original sample in the fire.
Fox Mulder
I want you to understand what it is you're saying.
Dana Scully
You said it yourself!
Fox Mulder
Yeah, but you have to write it down in your report.
Dana Scully
You're right. We'll take another sample from the forest and run a comparison before we do anything.
Collum National Forest · Northwest Oregon
Dana Scully
The detective's here. What do you think?
(girl screams)
(groans)
Detective Miles
You wouldn't listen to me. I told you to stay out of this.
(girl screaming)
Detective Miles
Hold it. Hold it right there! You got no business out here.
Fox Mulder
There were screams.
Detective Miles
Down on the ground. Now!
Fox Mulder
You know it's Billy. You've known it all along.
Detective Miles
I said down on the ground.
Fox Mulder
How long are you going to let it happen? He's going to kill her.
Detective Miles
Billy! No! Let her go. Leave her alone.
(gunshot)
(mechanical rattling)
Billy Miles
Dad?
Detective Miles
Billy. Oh, god.
Fox Mulder
Scully. Scully!
Dana Scully
Mulder, what happened? There was a light.
Fox Mulder
It was incredible.
FBI Headquarters · March 22, 1992
Dr. Heitz Werber
If you can hear me, raise your right hand. Tell me about the light, Billy. When did you first see the light?
Billy Miles
In the forest. We were all in the forest having a party. All my friends. We were celebrating.
Dr. Heitz Werber
What were you celebrating?
Billy Miles
Graduation. And then the light came. It took me away to the testing place. They would tell me to gather the others so that they could do tests. They put something in my head. Here. I would wait for their orders.
Dr. Heitz Werber
Billy, who gave the orders?
Billy Miles
The light. They said it would be okay. No one would know. But the test didn't work. They wanted everything destroyed. They said they were leaving. I'm afraid. I'm afraid they're coming back.
Dr. Heitz Werber
Don't be afraid, Billy.
(indistinct whispers)
Section Chief Blevins' Office · FBI Headquarters
Scott Blevins
What we've just witnessed what we've read in your field reports the scientific basis and credibility just seem wholly insupportable. You're aware of that?
Dana Scully
Yes, sir. My reports are personal and subjective. I haven't gone so far as to draw any conclusion about what I've seen.
FBI Official
Or haven't seen-- as seems to be the case. This, uh... Time loss you did or did not experience it?
Dana Scully
I can't substantiate it, no.
Scott Blevins
What exactly can you substantiate? I see no evidence that justifies these investigations.
Dana Scully
There were, of course, crimes committed.
Scott Blevins
Yes, but how do you prosecute a case like this? With testimony given under hypnosis from a boy who claims he was given orders from some alien force through an implant in his nose. You have no physical evidence.
Dana Scully
This is the object described by Billy Miles as a communication device. I removed it from the exhumed body. I kept it in my pocket. It was the only evidence not destroyed in the fire. I ran a lab test on it. The material could not be identified.
Scott Blevins
Agent Mulder-- what are his thoughts?
Dana Scully
Agent Mulder believes we are not alone.
Scott Blevins
Thank you, agent Scully. That will be all.
(phone ringing)
Scully's Apartment
Dana Scully
Hello.
Fox Mulder
Scully, it's me. I haven't been able to sleep. I talked to the DA's office in Raymond county, Oregon. There's no case file on Billy Miles. The paperwork we filed is gone. We need to talk, Scully.
Dana Scully
Y-yes. Tomorrow.
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About this transcript
The dialogue comes from the official DVD subtitle track supplied by Boggsfiles. Speaker and scene attribution was cross-checked against character-labelled reference material. Subtitle wording is preserved while capitalization and spacing are standardized for easier reading.