Season Three

3x01: The Blessing Way ~ Air Date - September 22, 1995

With Mulder missing, presumed dead and nothing to go on, Scully returns to Washington, but is stopped and searched by the Cigarette Smoking Man's troops looking for the missing Dat tape. Back at the FBI, Scully is suspended and forced to turn over her badge and gun. Meanwhile in New Mexico, Albert Holsteen discovers Mulder on the brink of death in the desert and performs the ancient Navajo Blessing Way ceremony to heal his spirit. In Washington, Scully is approached by Frohike of The Lone Gunman. He tells her that The Thinker, who gave Mulder the Dat tape, has been killed. Scully goes to tell Assistant Director Skinner this information, being on suspension she has to go through the public entrance to the FBI Headquarters. Scully is surprised when she sets off the security metal detector. This prompts her to visit a doctor, who discovers a metal object just below the skin on the back of her neck. It is removed and turns out to be a computer chip, as to how it got there Scully does not recall. Scully attends Bill Mulder's funeral and is approached by a Well Manicured Man who warns her, she has been targeted for termination. It will either be a professional two man hit squad or someone close to her that she trusts. Scully is contacted by Skinner and they arrange to meet at Mulder's apartment. When Melissa Scully goes to her sister's house she is mistaken for Scully and gunned down. Meanwhile, Scully fearing for her life pulls a gun on Skinner. Part Two of Three

3x02: Paper Clip ~ Air Date - September 29, 1995

With Mulder's return from New Mexico, Assistant Director Skinner reveals he has the missing Dat tape and will use it to bargain for the two agents lives. He also informs Scully that her sister Melissa has been shot. Scully is unable to go to the hospital for fear of being ambushed, so they arrange for Albert Holsteen to join Mrs. Scully at her daughter's bedside. Skinner also goes to the hospital only to be attacked by Krycek who steals the Dat tape. Tipped off by The Lone Gunman, Scully and Mulder go in search of an old Nazi scientist, brought to the US as part of Operation Paper Clip at the end of the Second World War. Victor Klemper claims to have known Mulder's father and directs them to an abandoned mine in West Virginia. At the Strughold Mining Company they discover a filing system with detailed medical records of millions of people, including Dana Scully and Samantha Mulder. Mulder sees a large alien space ship hovering over the mine, as he watches the mine, he is surrounded by a government hit squad. The two agents escape via a back entrance and return to see Klemper, however they are met by the Well-Manicured Man, who tells them that Klemper is dead. He recants that Klemper's arrival coincided with the recovery of an alien space ship in the 1947 Roswell Incident, leading Mulder to believe that Klemper was experimenting with alien/human hybrids. Despite the loss of the Dat tape, Skinner manages to bargain with the Cigarette Smoking Man. Part Three of Three

3X03: D.P.O. ~ Air Date - October 6, 1995

Mulder and Scully investigate when a statistically impossible number of teenagers are killed by lightning strikes in the small Oklahoma town of Connerville. The latest victim was struck in his car outside a video arcade, his heart cooked in his chest. Mulder is skeptical of the coroner's report, and even Scully finds it hard to believe that so many people could have been struck in such a small area. The local sheriff, Jack Teller has no time for their concerns and puts down the number of victims to their close proximity to a government lightning research centre. But with five young men struck by lightning in the area, four of whom died, Mulder and Scully investigate further. They visit the video arcade to speak to the owner. He is not much help to them, but Mulder notices the initial D.P.O. on one of the video games from the time that the latest victim was struck. The initials match Darren Peter Oswald, the sole survivor of the recent lightning strikes. But when they interview Darren, he claims he was so engrossed in the video game he was playing that he saw nothing. As they talk Mulder's mobile phone begins to smoke and then melts, leading Mulder to the conclusion that following his lightning strike Darren, developed the ability to control and channel lightning. The theory was given credence when prints in a fulgarite, created when lightning fuses sandy soil in to glass, match Darren's shoes. But how can you stop someone who can conduct lightning?

3X04: Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose ~ Air Date - October 13, 1995

Mulder and Scully are called in to assist in an investigation of a killer who is targeting fortune tellers. The investigators have very little to go on and need all the help they can get. They even enlist the service of a mystic, the Stupendous Yappi. Although for once Mulder is skeptical, not of psychic ability, but of the Stupendous Yappi. Then the body of the latest victim is discovered in a dumpster by an insurance salesman, Clyde Bruckman. He knows so many details about the crimes that Scully suspects he is the killer. Mulder, however, believes that Clyde Bruckman has psychic abilities and is divining the information that way. They take him to one of the crimes scenes, but Bruckman is reluctant to help them, he does, however, predict that another body will be discovered by a lake. When Bruckman's prediction comes true, Mulder brings him in to test his ability. Bruckman is unable to ID the killer in fact Mulder realizes that his only ability is that he knows how people are going to die. Scully brings evidence to Mulder that all of the victims had key chains from the same investment firm and suggests they interview the owner. Only Bruckman tells them he has been murdered and leads them to the body buried in the forest. He also tells them that the killer is a psychic. When Bruckman receives a letter from the killer, Mulder and Scully put him in protective custody. But when the killer targets Bruckman, Bruckman foresees not only his own death, but that of Mulder too.

3X05: The List ~ Air Date - October 20, 1995

When Napoleon 'Neech' Manley, a Florida Death Row inmate for over eleven years, finally goes to the electric chair, he vows to come back from the dead and seek revenge on five men who have wronged him. When a guard is found dead in his cell a few days later, Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate. They travel to the prison and speak with the Warden who believes that some of the inmates who were friendly with Neech are responsible for the murder. Mulder interviews one of the inmates Speranza, Neech's friend. Speranza is certain that the guard was killed by Neech's spirit, returned from beyond the grave. Meanwhile, Scully is approached by one of the prison guards, Parmelly, who claims that another inmate, Roque, knows the five names on Neech's list. After a second guard is murdered, they interview Roque who confirms he knows who is on Neech's list, but will only give them the names when he has been transferred to another prison. The Warden refuses to make any deals with the prisoners, later, however, he beats Roque up in an attempt to get the information out of him. Roque is later found dead and it is assumed he was on Neech's list, but Mulder is suspicious. Mulder and Scully track down the executioner who pulled the switch on the electric chair for Neech, they find him dead in his house. And when the lawyer who represented Neech at his trial is also found dead, Mulder wonders if Neech has been good to his word and returned from the grave.

3X06: 2Shy ~ Air Date - November 3, 1995

Mulder and Scully are contacted by Cleveland Homicide Detective Alan Cross, after the discovery of a woman, Lauren, killed in a car. She is covered in a mucus like slime which breaks down her body to such an extent that Scully has nothing to autopsy. Test results on the residue reveal that the fat has been drained from her body. Mulder links the case to similar cases when woman were targeted after answering personal ads in a newspaper, who were killed in the same manner. When he interviews the victims roommate, Jennifer, she explains that Lauren had gone on a date with a man she met on the Internet. Mulder examines the e-mail Lauren received and notes the use of rare Italian poems by the killer. He concludes that the killer is a professor or translator and Detective Cross puts together a list of suspects based on this information. When a prostitute is found murdered in the same way, flakes of sink under her nails from when she scratched the killer are examined and reveal a total lack of oils and fatty acid. Leading Mulder to conclude that the killer may not be killing for pleasure, but out of a need to replace essential fats and oils deficient in his system. Mulder, Scully and Cross work through the list of possible suspects. Cross interviews freelance translator Virgil Incanto and notices his bandaged hand, but before Cross can arrest him, Cross is killed. Mulder and Scully warn people on the local Internet provider as they try to track him down before he claims another victim.

3X07: The Walk ~ Air Date - November 10, 1995

Mulder and Scully investigate claims of torment by an invisible presence at a veterans hospital, which attacks loved ones and plagues the patients by thwarting their suicide attempts,which prolongs their agony. The patients, all veterans of the Gulf War, are afraid of something which can find them no matter where they hide. They interview Lieutenant Colonel Stans, badly burned when he tried to commit suicide in a tub of boiling water. He tells them he has been tormented by a phantom soldier who will not let him die. The agents are approached by Captain Janet Draper who asks them to halt their investigation as any criminal investigation of military personnel must be conducted through military channels. Mulder and Scully are taken to see the commanding office General Callahan, who begrudges the FBI involvement. However, later that evening he is visited by the phantom soldier. And when Captain Draper is found dead in the hospital swimming pool, Mulder and Scully are asked to investigate. Mulder tells General Callahan that if the attack follows the same pattern his family will be targeted next. A point proven when the general's son sees a strange man in the house. Finger prints identify the intruder as hospital orderly Quentin Freely, who is arrested. But he claims he is just the mailman for one of the patients quadruple amputee Leonard Trimble. Mulder entertains the notion that Trimble may be using remote telekinesis to harm those he holds responsible for his misfortune.

3X08: Oubliette ~ Air Date - November 17, 1995

A teenage girl, Amy Jacobs, is kidnapped from her bedroom, at the exact same time across town a waitress, Lucy Householder, collapses in a crowded fast food restaurant muttering the same words as the kidnapper. Mulder and Scully are called in to assist the other investigators on the case. Mulder, however, is more interested in Lucy Householder's connection to the case, especially when a background check reveals that she was herself kidnapped at the age of eight and held captive in a basement for five years until she managed to escape. Her kidnapper was never caught. But when test results on blood found on Lucy's uniform turn out to match Amy Jacobs, the other investigators including Scully suspect that Lucy has more to do with the kidnapping than previously thought. Mulder, however, believes that Lucy has some sort of psychic link with Amy, brought on by her own kidnap experience. He asks for Lucy's help to save Amy from a similar fate, but Lucy, fearful of reliving her own nightmare, is reluctant. When Lucy suffers an attack of temporary blindness, the result of Amy being held in a pitch black basement, Mulder again approaches her for help. Mulder tells her that he knows she is experiencing everything that Amy does. When a missing school photograph of Amy leads the investigators to a suspect Carl Wade, Lucy recognizes him as the man who kidnapped her and realizes the only way to escape her past is to save Amy.

3X09: Nisei ~ Air Date - November 24, 1995

Mulder purchases a mail order video tape that claims to be of an actual alien autopsy. In the final few frames, armed men are seen storming the room. Mulder and Scully travel to Allentown, Pennsylvannia to the tape distributor's home to question him only to discover that he has been murdered. Mulder takes a Japanese man in to custody at the scene. It turns out the man is a Diplomat immune from prosecution. Assistant Director Skinner takes over the sensitive case. Mulder, however, still has the diplomat's satchel and finds a list of local Mutual UFO Network members and satellite photographs inside. Mulder takes the photographs to show the Lone Gunman who identify the salvage ship Talapus that had been searching for a Japanese submarine sunk during World War Two. Mulder travels to Virginia to investigate, meanwhile, Scully meets with some of the local MUFON members and is surprised when they claim to know her. They claim they saw her when she was abducted and tested on like them. They are all multiple abductees and have the same implants that Scully had removed from her neck. Meanwhile, in Virginia Mulder finds evidence that the Talapus brought back salvaged UFO debris. Mulder is contacted by Senator Matheson who warns him to return the satellite photographs. Even X is concerned, and contacts Scully to warn Mulder that his life is in danger. But it is to late as Mulder, following up on a lead, boards a train that he believes is carrying a live alien. Part One of Two

3X10: 731 ~ Air Date - December 1, 1995

With Mulder out of contact on a train heading to Canada, Scully investigates the metal implant she had removed from her neck after X claims it holds the key to everything she needs to know. Tests on the chip reveal that it is a microprocessor for collecting information, it replicates a person's mental processes. The chip is Japanese in origin. Further investigation reveals a shipment of the chips was sent to a Japanese Doctor Zama working secretly at a Hansens disease research facility in West Virginia. Scully travels there and discovers that Dr. Zama had been carrying out experiments on the patients, until armed men came and begun killing off all of the patients. Scully recognizes Dr. Zama from a photo, as being present during her abduction. Scully is approached by an unknown man who explains that Dr. Zama is really Dr. Ishimaru, secretly brought over to the US after World War Two to continue his experiments. But he is unwilling to share his knowledge with the US government and is trying to get the information out of the country. Meanwhile, Mulder finds Dr. Zama murdered on the train, but manages to recover his notes about his experiments. As Mulder goes in search of the killer he finds the boxcar unlocked and is attacked as he enters. He fights off his attacker, but during the scuffle the door to the boxcar closes arming a bomb. Mulder is overcome by the killer, but is saved by X. Unfortunately, Dr. Zama's notes fall in to the Cigarette Smoking Man's hands. Part Two of Two

3X11: Revelations ~ Air Date - December 15, 1995

Mulder and Scully travel to Pennsylvania when Reverend Finley, who claimed to bear the wounds of Christ, is murdered. Further investigation reveals that he was not a true stigmatic and Mulder links the case to a series of international murders of false stigmatics. Mulder and Scully travel to the small town of Loveland, Ohio when a local boy, Kevin Kryder, begins bleeding from his palms. They meet with his father, Michael, who is being held in a mental institute. He claims that Kevin is the son of God and that there are 'forces of darkness' who are out to eliminate him, that God will send someone to protect him. When Kevin is abducted from the social services home, witness descriptions match a local gardener, Owen Jarvis. When Mulder and Scully trace him to his home, they find Kevin missing and arrest Jarvis. When they question him he claims that God told him to protect Kevin, then with great strength he breaks the handcuffs and escapes. He rushes to Kevin's home and finds a man, Simon Gates attacking Kevin, and they fight. Jarvis is killed, but Kevin is rescued by Mulder and Scully. Scully performs the autopsy on Jarvis and discovers fingerprints that identify Simon Gates. Records indicate that Gates recently visited Israel, leading Mulder to speculate that he may be suffering from Jerusalem Syndrome, religious delusions some people receive from traveling in the holy land. Mulder does not believe the case involves religious phenomenon. Scully, however, believes that she has been chosen by God to protect Kevin.

3X12: War of the Coprophages ~ Air Date - January 5, 1996

Mulder suffering from his own insect infestation with his apartment being fumigated, travels to Millers Grove, Massachusetts to investigate reports of UFO sightings in the area. Sitting in his car, he is spotted and questioned by the local Sheriff about his activity. Sheriff Frass becomes agitated when Mulder mentions seeing bugs on his windshield. It turns out that the town is suffering from a cockroach invasion, and that these cockroaches have been attacking people. Mulder can not resist joining the Sheriff in his investigation. Mulder confers with Scully by phone. She is skeptical of killer cockroaches. They look in to alleged cockroach attacks on an exterminator, a teenage boy and a medical examiner. But in each case Scully has an explanation: the exterminator was allergic to cockroaches and died of anaphylactic shock, the teenage boy was using drugs and suffered from Ekbom Syndrome, a drug induced delusion of insects invading the body causing the sufferer to try to cut them out, and the medical examiner died of a brain aneurysm while on the toilet. Mulder catches one of the cockroaches and discovers it has a metal body. He then takes the cockroach to Dr. Ivanov at the Massachusetts Institute of Robotics. Dr. Ivanov is amazed at the complexity of the robot and speculates that it could be a probe sent out by an alien race to explore the far reaches of space. Scully arrives in town, but as Mulder toys with a theory on alien robotic probes, she is left to bring calm to the panic stricken populous.

3X13: Syzygy ~ Air Date - January 26, 1996

Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate a number of deaths at the town high school in Comity. The local detective, Angela White, is convinced that evil is stalking the local high school students. Three high school boys have been murdered in as many months. Mulder and Scully arrive in Comity in time for the funeral of the latest victim and witness the coffin bursting into flames during the service. Adding more fuel to the rumours of the involvement of a Satanic cult. And when two high school girls, Terri Roberts and Margi Klienjan, who witnessed the death of the last boy both recant the same story of satanic abuse and voice their fear that the local cult wants to sacrifice blonde virgins. Mulder is convinced that the local townsfolk are right about a satanic cult being involved, despite Scully's reminder that an exhaustive FBI investigation in to satanic cults found no conclusive proof of any satanic rituals or sacrifices. In fact Mulder and Scully's relationship is very strained, especially after Scully catches Mulder and detective White in each others arms in Mulder's hotel room. After the death of two more high school boys and a girl in their presence, Terri and Margi fall out and blame each other for the murders. As tension builds between Mulder and Scully, the town's population's anger spills out and they take to the streets. Only a local astrologer seems to have the answer: once in every 84 years planetary alignment turns the town in to a cosmic hot spot.

3X14: Grotesque ~ Air Date - February 2, 1996

A serial killer who mutilates his victims is finally caught by Special Agent Bill Patterson, head of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, and Mulder's former mentor, But the murders continue. Mulder and Scully are assigned to help out in the case by Assistant Director Skinner. John Mostow confesses to the murders, but claims that he was possessed by an evil spirit that made him kill. Agent Patterson resents Mulder's involvement in the case, as he is derogatory of Mulder's work on the X-files and of what he has become in the bureau. Mulder explains to Scully that Patterson has had a grudge against him ever since his days as a student at the academy, because Mulder, did not "worship" Patterson as the other students did. Mulder and Scully visit Mostow's apartment and find sketches of gargoyles hanging on all the walls, which Mulder believes was Mostow's attempt to protect himself. In a hidden room, Mulder finds clay gargoyle statues, which contain more bodies. With Patterson and Scully trying to figure out if it is an accomplice of Mostows' who now continues his grisly quest, or the work of a copycat killer. Mulder instead concentrates on the possibility that it might be demonic possession. But as Mulder immerses himself in the case Scully begins to worry about his state of mind. She is also concerned about Patterson's motives towards Mulder as she discovers that despite his attitude to the contrary Patterson requested Mulder's involvement in the investigation.

3X15: Piper Maru ~ Air Date - February 9, 1996

Scully is called to see Assistant Director Skinner. He tells her that the Washington Police have officially closed the investigation in to her sister Melissa's murder due to lack of new leads. But he tells Scully that he will continue to pursue the case. In the X-files basement office, Mulder informs Scully that a salvage ship, called the Piper Maru, has returned with all but one of it's crew members suffering from radiation poisoning. He shows her evidence that the Piper Maru was anchored in the same position from where the Talapus brought back salvaged UFO debris. Mulder and Scully examine the Piper Maru and find a thin black oil covering the ship's diving unit and video footage of the dive shows a World War Two plane at the bottom of the sea. Scully also notices the name of a submarine, Zeus Faber, written on the ships chart and goes to interview it's commander, Commander Johansen. Back in Washington, Skinner is warned not to continue the investigation into Scully's sisters death by members of the intelligence community. Mulder goes in search of the remaining Piper Maru crew member and finds him suffering from radiation poisoning, he is covered in the same black oil as the diving unit and has no memory since the dive. His wife is also missing, Mulder traces her to a salvage firm and follows the trail to Hong Kong, where he finds Krycek selling secrets from the Dat tape he took off Skinner. As Mulder prepares to bring Krycek back to the US, Skinner is gunned down. Part One of Two

3X16: Apocrypha ~ Air Date - February 16, 1996

In a flash back to 1953, the crew of the submarine Zeus Faber are tricked by the Navy in to recovering an atomic bomb from a downed World War Two plane, but they were really sent to guard an alien entity, which causes radiation poisoning among the crew. In present day Washington Scully, starts an investigation into who shot Assistant Director Skinner. He tells her in the hospital that he recognized the man who shot him leading Scully to identify the man as Luis Cardinal. Test results prove that the same man also shot her sister Melissa. Meanwhile, Mulder returns to Washington with Krycek, unwittingly bringing back the alien life form, which has inhabited Krycek via the black oil. However, the pair are ambushed by the Cigarette Smoking Man's men on their return. Mulder dazed, does not see Krycek kill their attackers by irradiating them. Mulder enlists the help of the Lone Gunmen to recover the missing Dat tape from a lockup in an ice ring, only to find that someone has already taken it. Mulder meets the Well Manicured Man who warns him Skinner's life is still in danger. Scully foils another attempt on Skinner's life and takes Luis Cardinal in to custody. They learn that the cargo salvaged from the sea bed by the crew of the Piper Maru is being stored in a missile silo in North Dakota and Krycek under the influence of the alien entity is heading there. As Mulder and Scully close in, they are once again outwitted by the Cigarette Smoking Man and denied access to the truth. Part Two of Two

3X17: Pusher ~ Air Date - February 23, 1996

When Robert Modell, who calls himself 'Pusher', confesses to the murders of fourteen people, who's deaths had been classified as suicide, his details of the crime scenes convince the FBI that he is telling the truth. Agent Frank Burst leads the team who arrest Modell in a grocery market in Virginia, however, Modell talks to the deputy driving the patrol car and mesmerizes him in to pulling out in to the path of an oncoming truck. Modell escapes from the car wreck leaving the deputy dead and Agent Burst injured. Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate by Agent Burst who brings them up to speed on the case. A clue left by Modell on the patrol car leads Mulder to the American Ronin magazine, he finds cryptic adverts that show Modell has been working as a contract killer. They trace the telephone number from the advert to a golf driving range and attempt to arrest Modell for a second time. Modell induces one of the SWAT team members to set fire to himself, but Modell collapses and is unable to escape. Mulder becomes convinced that Modell is using psychic powers to control people's minds. A theory given credence when Modell mesmerizes the Judge in to letting him walk free. Having found a worthy opponent, Modell uses his unique ability once more to gain access to the FBI building in Washington to get details about Mulder. As they embark on a game of cat and mouse with Modell, Mulder realizes they are playing for his and Scully's lives.

3X18: Teso Dos Bichos ~ Air Date - March 8, 1996

An archaeological expedition from the Boston Museum of Natural History excavating a site in Ecuador uncovers an Amaru Urn. It contains the remains of a female shaman, which the Secona Indians believe is sacred to their tribe. The head of the expedition, Dr. Roosevelt, orders the urn be shipped back to the US, despite warnings from the Indian liaison for the expedition. They warn Dr. Bilac that the urn should be left undisturbed. They also state that removing the shaman's remains would be against the wishes of the local tribes people. Dr. Roosevelt dismisses his warning and is later attacked and killed by a wild cat. No sooner has the urn arrived in Boston, when one of the archaeologist is found dead in the museum. Mulder and Scully are called to investigate. The museum's curator Dr. Lewton believes that the murder is politically motivated as the Ecuadorian's have lodged a complaint with the State Department. Mulder tells Scully that the Ecuadorians believe anyone who disturbs a Amaru urn will be cursed. Mulder and Scully's investigation centres on Dr. Bilac, who since his return from the expedition has become a recluse. He claims that the killings are down to a jaguar spirit sent by the Secona Indians. But Scully suspects his involvement given that he is heading up the campaign to return the shaman's remains to Ecuador. As more members of the museum befall the same fate as their colleagues, Mulder and Scully try to determine if it is all the work of an ancient curse or political terrorism.

3X19: Hell Money ~ Air Date - March 29, 1996

After a young Chinese immigrant is burned alive in a crematorium, Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate a series of murders in San Francisco's Chinatown. Aided by a Chinese-American police detective, Chao, they delve in to a culture alien to their own, with its own myths and rituals and where outsiders are treated with suspicion. Mulder notices a Chinese character scrawled inside the crematorium oven which Chao translates as the word 'ghost', he also identifies a fragment of a note found in the oven as 'hell money', ceremonial currency burnt during the Chinese festival of the Hungry Ghosts as an offering to the dead. The victim is identified as Johnny Lo and the threesome visit his apartment looking for clues. Chinese characters mark his apartment as a 'haunted house' and they find a freshly laid carpet and traces of blood underneath. The investigation deepens when Scully finds a frog living in the body of another dead Chinese man who has had all of his organs harvested. Mulder and Scully visit an organ procurement organization and discover that a number of Chinese men have visited requesting typing and antigen work-ups for organ donation only to not be heard from again. Mulder and Scully sense that Chao is being protective of the what is going on within the Chinese community. Given a lead from a father's desperate sacrifice for his dying daughter, Mulder and Scully find a secret room, a surgeon, and a lottery game where the price of a ticket is the player's life.

3X20: Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space' ~ Air Date - April 12, 1996

Renowned writer, Jose Chung, researching for his book on alien abductions, interviews Dana Scully, who relates to him the case of a teenage couple, Chrissy Giorgio and Harold Lamb, who claim to have been abducted while on a date in Klass County. The only problem is, the victims and witnesses all have different versions of the events that took place: from Chrissy's first belief that she had been a victim of date rape, to the re-appearance of Harold with his tale of alien abduction. Chrissy is hypnotized and is able to confirm Harold's story. Which is also verified by an independent witness to the abduction, electrical company employee Roky Crikenson and his tales of harassment by the Men in Black, mysterious government agents who visit witnesses to alien abductions to discredit and confuse them. When an alien body is discovered by a UFO fanatic, Blaine Faulkner, Scully performs the autopsy only to discover that it is really an Airforce pilot in an alien costume. When Chrissy is hypnotized again she recants the same story, but with the aliens replaced by Airforce personnel. Were Chrissy and Harold abducted or are they making it up, and if they were abducted, by whom, aliens or humans? Is it an attempt by the Airforce to cover up their intelligence operations, or a conspiracy to discredit witnesses to real abductions? Mulder and Scully find themselves lost in a web of deceit. Maybe Jose Chung's book will reveal the truth, unless he too is part of the conspiracy to cover that truth.

3X21: Avatar ~ Air Date - April 26, 1996

Assistant Director Skinner puts off signing his divorce papers for one more day, reluctant to end his 17 year marriage. He meets a woman in the Chesapeake Lounge of the Ambassador Hotel and they end up spending the night together in a hotel room. Skinner has a vision of an old woman and awakes to find the woman from the lounge dead in bed next to him. Mulder and Scully are called in by the local police investigating the case. The dead woman, Carina Sayles, turns out to work for an escort agency. When Mulder and Scully check with the agency, they have Skinner's credit card details. Skinner is released on bail, but refuses Mulder and Scully's help. They investigate the case regardless, despite their own admission that they know nothing about his private life. They feel honor bound to help clear his name. Mulder notes that Skinner was surprised to hear that Carina Sayles was a prostitute. Scully discovers that Skinner suffers from a serious sleeping disorder linked to his recent separation from his wife and has visions of an old woman visiting him in the night. Mulder links this to a succubus, a spirit that visits men in the night in such a form. After Skinner's wife is run off the road and nearly killed by his car, Mulder tests the airbag from the car which reveals the face of an unknown man proving Skinner was not driving the car at the time of the accident. This leads Mulder to believe that someone is out to frame and discredit Assistant Director Skinner.

3X22: Quagmire ~ Air Date - May 3, 1996

Two missing person reports at Heuvelman's Lake in Georgia attracts the attention of Agent Mulder, who links the disappearance to local folklore of a serpent-like lake monster called Big Blue. Scully unaware of Mulder's 'Big Blue' theory questions Mulder about their involvement in the case in the car, until she spots an advertisement billboard for the lake showing Big Blue. When they arrive at Heuvelman's Lake, it becomes apparent that the area relies on the Big Blue phenomena for it's tourist business. They meet a local shop keeper, Ted Betram, who believes in the existence of Big Blue and another local man, Ansel Bray, who has spent his life attempting to photograph Big Blue. Shortly afterwards, a fisherman reports the discover of a dead body in the lake, which turns out to be one of the missing people. They speak with local biologist, Dr. Farraday, who dismisses the existence of a creature like Big Blue in the lake. That evening, Ted Betram is attacked and killed while making Big Blue footprints in the mud near the lake shore. Tracks are discovered at the scene by local Sheriff Hindt, but dismissed as being done by Betram. After Ansel Bray is killed and undeveloped film in his camera appears to show a creature emerging from the lake, Mulder pleads with Sheriff Hindt to close the lake to tourists. Dr. Farraday reports that the local frog and fish populations have declined drastically in the lake, leading Mulder to theorize that Big Blue is being forced ashore in search of food.

3X23: WetWired ~ Air Date - May 10, 1996

Agent Mulder is approached by an unknown man who tips him off about a series of homicidal outbursts in other wise stable people in Braddock Heights, Maryland. Mulder and Scully interview Joseph Patnick, who went crazy while watching TV and killed five people. His physician, Dr. Stroman tells them he is suffering from a delusional syndrome. Mulder and Scully visit Patnick's residence looking for evidence, they discover that Patnick was taping all of the news reports on TV, Scully begins watching the tapes looking for clues. Later, that evening she sees Mulder talking to the Cigarette Smoking Man in a car. Following reports that a housewife, Mrs. Riddock killed her next door neighbor in his garden with his dog believing it was her husband with another woman. Mulder and Scully visit the scene, Mulder witnesses a cable repairman acting mysteriously and recovers a video trap device which he takes to the Lone Gunmen. They discover that the device is used to feed another signal in with the incoming TV signal and could be causing the violent behavior in people. When Mulder returns to the hotel he finds Scully acting very paranoid and psychotic. She takes a shot at Mulder, accusing him of working with the Cigarette Smoking Man all along. As Assistant Director Skinner orders an FBI man hunt for Scully, Mulder is forced to choose between his loyalty to Scully and the case he is working on. And much to his contact X's annoyance Mulder concentrates on finding Scully.

3X24: Talitha Cumi ~ Air Date - May 17, 1996

After a deranged man walks into a restaurant in Arlington, Virginia and guns down several people, he is shot by the SWAT team. A man, Jeremiah Smith on the scene, talks soothingly to the injured gunman and heals him and his victims before disappearing in front of the police during questioning. Mulder starts a full scale search for the elusive Jeremiah Smith. Meanwhile, Mulder's mother is approached by the Cigarette Smoking Man, whom she appears to know. Shortly afterwards, Mulder is contacted: his mother has been taken to hospital after suffering a stroke. Mulder rushes to see her. She is unable to talk, but writes the word 'palm' on a piece of paper. On their return to Washington, Jeremiah Smith walks in to the FBI building and turns himself him. He is questioned by Scully and Assistant Director Skinner, but later released. Mulder is contacted by X, who shows him photographs of the Cigarette Smoking Man and his mother arguing and tells him the Cigarette Smoking Man was looking for something. Mulder goes to his family holiday home in Rhode Island and works out that his mother meant 'lamp' when she wrote 'palm', he finds an alien stiletto weapon, which he recognized as used by the alien bounty hunter. The real Jeremiah Smith arrives at Scully's apartment and asks to speak to Mulder he has information that indicates an approaching dead line and a chance to discover the key to exposing the truth about the existence of alien life. Part One of Two

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