The X-Files s01e05 Episode Script

The Jersey Devil

B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, and Bingo was his name-o There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O B-I-N-G-O, and Bingo was his name-o There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o - Dad! What was that? - What's happening? It's OK, it's OK.
I just had a flat.
- Oh, no! - No problem here, honey.
Darn it! Honey, would you hold the light? PauI! Where are you? PauI? What happened? PauI! Over here! I've found something! His leg's been eaten off.
Hey! Up here! I need some help! It's in here! It's as tall as a house! - We can smoke him out.
- And then what? - I see it! - He's coming at us! Agent Finley speaking.
Working hard, Mulder? This woman claims she was taken aboard a spaceship and held in an anti-gravity chamber for three days.
Anti-gravity is right.
Sorry to interrupt your serious investigation.
- I heard a story that'll take your knees out.
- What's that? They found a body in the New Jersey woods yesterday missing its right arm and shoulder.
They think they may have been eaten off By a human.
- Where in New Jersey? - Just outside Atlantic City.
Not an uncommon place to lose a body part.
They think it's the Mob? He was a homeless man.
There's no motive.
You feeling lucky, Scully? Relative to whom? It's not our case, Mulder.
The locaI police are handling it.
An X-File? Ever hear of something called the Jersey DeviI? A beast that's supposed to come out of the woods and attack cars like an East Coast Bigfoot.
Read the file about the case in 1947.
Save me the trouble.
get dragged off into the woods.
Cops find Dad with a few appendages gnawed off.
Cops corner a large, naked man in the woods and gun him down.
Autopsy shows human flesh and bones in his intestine.
A beast man.
- Is the autopsy report here? - Requisition for a car.
No.
The originaI disappeared from the files after the incident.
- There is a statement from the pathologist.
- I've heard this story since I was a kid.
- It's a folk tale, a myth.
- I heard the same story when I was a kid, too.
Funny thing is, I believed it.
Thanks, Doreen.
Fact is, we've got a cannibalised body in New Jersey.
Someone or something out there is hungry.
They say animals can develop an appetite for human flesh, but This is no animaI.
See the teeth marks, just below the clavicle? They're human.
- Who found the body? - A park ranger.
Was he alive when it happened? It's hard to tell.
There's no sign of a struggle.
His blood alcohoI leveI was up.
- Probably never knew what hit him.
- Any ideas about that? From the size of that bite mark, I'd say large, adult male.
- Detective Thompson is handling the case.
- Glenna? Hi.
I'm SpeciaI Agent Dana Scully and this is Agent Fox Mulder.
I don't remember anybody calling the FBI in on this.
We're not here officially.
Agent Scully is a medicaI doctor.
We heard about your victim and thought we'd look.
I'm sorry.
I'm going to ask you to leave.
- We have an investigation.
- Tommy, this is no time to get pissy.
- We have jurisdiction here.
- Any suspects yet? I don't work for you, sir.
Unless you hear from the attorney generaI, this is a locaI matter.
- Agent Mulder, we should go.
- No need to get bent out of shape! On the contrary, I think I've been exceedingly polite.
- So what's eating that guy? - He was perfectly in his rights.
The FBI has no overriding jurisdiction in a murder case.
You'd feeI the same if someone horned in on your work.
Chances are, he'll be scratching his head when they bring the next body in.
You could have really humiliated him and told him who the perpetrator was.
The Jersey DeviI.
What do you say we grab a hoteI, take in a floor show, drop quarters in the slot do a little digging on this case.
- You're kidding? - OK, skip the floor show.
- Mulder, I have to be back in DC.
- Have you got a date? No.
I have my godson's birthday party at 6.
30.
- What are you doing? - A little poking around.
- Maybe make a weekend out of it.
- It's a three-hour drive back by myself.
In Friday night traffic.
Change of fifty.
I found the body just over there, Iying face down on the rocks.
32 years with the Parks Service, I've seen some weird stuff but never anything like this.
The victim was a homeless man.
You get many wandering around? Well, occasionally, you'll see some, but most are scared of the woods.
Scared? Of what? I don't know.
The deviI.
- People say that's just a myth.
- Depends on who you talk to.
What do you think? Well, like I said 32 years I see a lot of weird stuff.
Like one time a little over four years ago I saw what I thought was a large man come out of a copse of birch trees.
Not a stitch of clothing.
He was about sixty yards away.
And he starts sniffing the air, you know, like a dog.
And then he looked straight at me, and I swear he smelled me because he took off into the woods so fast you'd swear he wasn't human.
Really? - You never saw him again? - No.
But I feeI him.
And I've found things.
Some scat half-buried, like a cat's, only more human.
Found a half-eaten rabbit with what looked like a human cuspid tooth and deer bones, looked like they'd been sharpened into tools.
You think it's responsible for the body you found? Well I got a pension coming up in a few years.
You know, you say the wrong thing I'll tell you one thing.
I don't ever come out here without my weapon any more.
How far is it into town from here? About a mile, a mile and a half.
I'm staying at the Galaxy Gateway for a couple of days.
- If you think of anything, will you call me? - Sure.
Look at this gorilla mask! Where am I? I can't see! It's OK.
It's all right.
What happened? Did you bump your head? Cruiser! Stop that! Go on.
What happened? - Jungle warfare.
- I could kill that dog.
If the hit squad doesn't get to him before you do.
I am so glad you're here, Dana.
Hey! Get off me! Cruiser! Cruiser, get down! Oh! - You're amazing.
- What? You're a naturaI.
I don't know how you keep it together.
Mommy radar.
I don't think I'm cut out for this, El.
You went to the FBI Academy.
What better training for motherhood? Seriously.
You're great with kids.
What do you mean? - When do I find the time? - First you have to get a life.
Of course, it helps if you can find a man.
- Know of any? - They're disappearing faster than the Brazilian rainforest.
- What about that guy you work with? - Mulder? - I thought you said he was cute.
- He's ajerk.
He's not ajerk.
He's He's obsessed with his work.
Hi.
I'm Rob.
Scott's dad.
- Oh! Come in.
- Thanks.
Hey, tiger! How you doing? You having a good time? Divorced.
Did anybody here know Roger Crockett? He was murdered two days ago.
Ma'am, can I Roger Crockett? Anybody? What do you want to know? Did you know Roger Crockett? Did you hear how he died? Yeah.
Any ideas who might have done it? You a cop? No, I'm FBI.
I'll show you something.
OK.
I need some money.
- What is this? - Stuck in the pocket of ajacket I found.
Does it mean anything to you? - I've seen it.
- Where? - Right here, digging in the trash.
- Here? Are you hustling me? Swear to God.
- What do you think it is? - I don't know.
It scared the hell out of me.
- Has anybody else seen it? - Everybody's pretty freaked.
- Anybody told the cops? - You think they don't know? - Where are you sleeping tonight? - You're standing in my bedroom.
You know the Galaxy Gateway? Room 756.
Go ahead.
They got HBO? Yeah.
They do.
Sir? - You got a man up on that roof.
- Nothing to be afraid of.
- We can give you a warm place to sleep it off.
- Hey! Back off! - There's a man up on that roof! - Get in the car! Now! - What the hell are you doing? - Enjoying the nightlife here in Atlantic City.
I'll go right to the DA's office if I have to.
- Obstructing an investigation.
Misconduct.
- Let's go see her together.
- We could add "withholding evidence".
- What are you talking about? Statements given to you describing something stalking the city.
This is the fishing trip they get me up at three in the morning for? Unbelievable! Why else would you be sweeping the streets tonight? You know it's out there.
I got a perpetrator out there.
Whether it's HannibaI the CannibaI or Elmer Fudd, I've got ajob to protect people.
Is that yourjob? Or is it to keep the dice rolling? The tour buses rolling in? You can't fill those casinos, this town disappears like a quarter down the slot.
I've seen it.
Seen what? You've been spending too much time in supermarket checkout lines.
That story's as old as the hills.
Who's gonna be responsible when you lose your first tourist, Detective? - You are.
- No, you are, sir.
Because you're wasting my time and impeding the solution of this case.
You wanna go on a safari, go to Africa.
In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Agent Scully! Agent Mulder, line three.
Where are you? - Not far from where you left me.
- You're still in Atlantic City? Scully, you got anything happening this morning? What's that noise in the background? - That's a guy getting sick.
- Mulder, where are you? The drunk tank? It's not hard to see why they mistook you for a vagrant.
Are you gonna rag on me or take me to get something to eat? Am I buying? Or did you manage to panhandle some change while you were at it? It moved like a cat.
Quick and gracefuI.
There's no way a human could've gotten up on the roof that fast.
- Mulder - What? What happens when word gets back to the Bureau? They dropped the charges.
Thompson did it to spite me.
- I'm talking about this Jersey DeviI.
- It's exactly like the ranger described.
The way it moved, sniffed the air - It's probably in search of food.
- Yeah, I'll say! It was in the garbage.
If it was a man-eater, why didn't it go for me? - It probably felt threatened.
- You've already given it a motive and alibi.
It chewed somebody's arm off.
Hardly a defensive posture.
- You do believe I saw something? - You saw something, I'll give you that.
But I'm not about to go in and sell a sighting in a dark alley.
- I've still got a hoteI room I'm paying for.
- I have to get back to Washington by 7.
30.
- Got another birthday party? - No.
I have a date.
Can you canceI? Unlike you, Mulder I would like to have a life.
I have a life.
Come on.
I have somebody I want you to meet on the way home.
Come on.
Hold on.
Just about every culture has one.
Yeti, Sasquatch Just about every culture has one.
Yeti, Sasquatch Russian almas, sonnequat.
- Why is that? - It's a universaI wild-man myth.
A fear of our duaI natures as humans, as creators of life and destroyers of it.
- What's this chart? - It shows the historic entry of man onto each continent, and the effect on other species - which, as you see, has been disastrous.
- Why? We humans have retained hereditary traits that have proven to be extremely destructive.
We tend to be tribaI, aggressively territoriaI oriented by selfish sexuaI and reproductive drives that make co-operation beyond the family or tribe extremely hard for us.
We kill other species in order to survive? Humans sit at the top of the food chain and we reduce other species' chances of survivaI.
I'm glad Dana left here with more than a degree! What if something entered the food chain above us? It won't happen.
Our intelligence virtually ensures that barring the introduction of alien life, we will live our days as rulers of the world.
But what if, by some fluke of nature a human was born who reverted to its most animaI instincts? A carnivorous NeanderthaI.
Wouldn't he be above us on the food chain? Sure.
All he'd have to do is wait outside any fast-food restaurant and eat us on the way in.
Haven't there been cases of men raised in the wilderness by animals who have no language and hunt like predators? SeveraI.
But cannibalism is rare.
- Even among the lower mammals.
- When faced with extinction? Maybe in the jungles of New Guinea It's highly unlikely that what you're suggesting could have survived in the woods of New Jersey.
Highly unlikely, but not outside the realm of extreme possibility? Well, it would be an amazing discovery.
The hard thing was when my wife remarried.
I felt very competitive for my son's attention.
- It was weird.
- I'm sure.
I became a superdad on the weekends with Scott.
I had this unconscious fear of being replaced.
I had dreams where I was running over his stepfather with my car.
You'll understand when you have kids.
They change everything.
That's what they say.
Maybe some weekend we could take the kids to the beach.
- Yeah! - Great.
Thank you.
Can I ask about the case you're on, or can't you say? I don't think it's a case we should discuss over dinner.
I don't suppose you want to hear about the finer points of estate planning and taxation? Mulder.
This is Peter Brullet of the Jersey Parks Department.
Oh, yeah.
Hi.
I found a body out in the woods today, looks like it's been dead six to eight months.
A long-haired male, missing the same tooth I found in that rabbit.
- Could be your deviI.
- Where's the body now? - With the coroner's office.
- You're sure it was a male? It had all the plumbing.
Excuse me.
I'm sorry.
Excuse me.
- Scully.
- Mulder.
- Sorry to interrupt your evening.
- That's OK.
What's up? I just had an amazing thought.
Maybe it isn't a beast man we're looking for, after all.
If they picked it up, nobody logged the body on the chart.
I sure haven't seen it.
What else would they have done with it? We may have called you for nothing.
- They're trying to sweep it under the carpet.
- Why? Any publicity, and the streets are crawling with people who aren't playing crap tables.
Word gets out it's on the loose, forget it.
- You said it was a female? - The body was a male.
There's a chance there was a mate.
We have to find out.
What are the chances of capturing it alive? If it is a primate, it would have a naturaI fear of heights.
It would also want to stay close to its food source.
This thing has no fear of heights.
We'll stay together and start with the lower floors.
- How much time will that dart give us? - It'll put down a bear for an hour.
If I hit it.
- What's a park-ranger vehicle doing here? - I don't know.
Check it out.
Run a check for me.
There's something here! It's blood.
She could be bringing her killing here.
She could be injured.
Roger.
Zebra Team in position.
What if it is a female, Scully? How close is she to you or me? Does she feeI emotion? Or are her days just spent Looking for food? Maybe she spends her day shopping.
Eight million years out of Africa.
We're not all that different.
We've put men into space.
Built computers that work faster than the human mind.
While we overpopulate the world and create new technologies to kill each other with.
Maybe we're just beasts with big brains.
What? No, I was just Thinking about my godson's birthday party.
Eight little six-year-old boys running around.
Talk about primitive behaviour! Mulder.
He's a federaI agent.
Ever hear of him? No.
- You know him? - No.
- What are you doing here? - I'm a professor of anthropology.
Mulder.
That sound familiar? I know he's here.
Check upstairs, Andrew.
I want this place searched top to bottom.
Move! Move! Mulder! Mulder, where are you? Mulder? Scully! Lay back.
Mulder, you're hurt! You should have seen her.
She was beautifuI.
She just about ripped your lungs out.
She could have torn my head off, but she didn't cos she sensed I wasn't a threat.
I need federaI jurisdiction on this case.
Mulder! - How old would you say she was? - The assistant DA's on the phone.
- He wants to know what the hell is going on.
- Tell him he's got a NeanderthaI on the loose.
- She was young.
- The Crime Unit has filed a complaint that we're endangering a murder investigation.
- That is such crap.
- They've got her cornered in a building.
- Can you see it? - It crawled into the wall.
- Can you get a man in there? - Affirmative.
- Keep these people out of here! - Take her alive! What's going on in there? I've got a man down! A naked woman jumped from the second storey! Suspect is headed south into the woods on foot! I know these woods.
She'll be down by the rocks.
Look.
Can you reach her from here? I can try.
It tried to take my arm off.
Why did you have to kill her? Same reason you kill a rabid animaI.
Hi.
This just came through.
It's a posthumous medicaI exam of the woman's body.
They found fragments of human bones still in her digestive tract.
They estimated her age to be 25 to 30 years.
Now, they allowed Dr Diamond to do a medicaI exam of the body but he found nothing that suggested prehistoric bone structure or physiology.
Now, the ACPD has her listed as a Jane Doe.
A search for her identity in state psychiatric records has begun in earnest.
- Good luck.
- They have also released the medicaI exam from the male body that they found.
His age is estimated to be about 40 years.
There would have been offspring.
The medicaI exam of the woman's uterus does indicate that she may have given birth.
She was just protecting her children.
It all makes sense.
The male dies and she comes out in search of food.
Mulder, do me a favour.
Go and have a beer.
Take the day off.
I'll cover for you.
Just take some time for yourself.
I've got an appointment at the Smithsonian with an ethno-biologist.
Mulder.
Yeah, just a second.
It's for you.
- Hello? - Hi, Dana.
It's Rob.
Oh, hi.
Sorry to call you at work, but I have Scott for the night and we have tickets for Cirque de Soleil.
We thought you and Trent could join us.
Requisition for a car, please.
Thank you.
Who was that on the phone? - A guy.
- A guy? Same guy you had dinner with? - Same guy.
- Are you gonna have dinner with him again? - I don't think so.
- No interest? - Not at this time.
- Thanks, Fran.
- What are you doing? - Going with you to the Smithsonian.
- Don't you have a life, Scully? - I'll hurt you like that beast woman.
Eight million years out of Africa.
And look who's holding the door.
- Dad, did you just see something? - Where? - Over there.
- I'm sure it was nothing.
- No, I saw something.
- Ever hear the story of the Jersey DeviI? When I was a kid, my dad used to tell this story about a creature who lived out in the woods.
It was half-man, half-animaI.
I used to believe that story.
I made this!
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