What X-Files episode (or episodes) creeps you out the most?

[bartergas]

Not all X-Files episodes are meant to be scary, but some of them are downright "spooky."

Tell us which episodes give you the heeby jeebies? That sinking terror feeling, that crawling uneasiness that there's someone in your house, or that "oh my god what is that thing" moment of fear?

...and don't forget to tell us WHY.

 

[bartergas]

There are two X-Files episodes that I still find hard to watch and that make me feel scared even when I'm not watching but just thinking about them, even though I'm a very skeptical person and 15 years older than when I first saw said episodes. One of those is in the first blasted season!

The episode "Squeeze" (1x03), about a monster (who looks human) able to fit through any tiny crack in order to feed on (by which I mean, tear the liver from) 7 victims before hibernating for 30 years, still scares me even as I type this, even though I haven't even watched it for a while. I skipped it this time around watching the show because it's just too gruesome for me to handle, especially since I spend a lot of time home alone. The first time I saw the episode, back in the 90s, I was 15, and my parents were at a friends' house a few blocks away. I was so scared of the episode, and I kept hearing noises in the house (my parents' house is huge and old and has all sorts of creaks and such), and I was so positive that monster was coming to get me that I called my parents and begged one of them to come pick me up so I wouldn't have to be at home alone. To this day I still associate the game Balderdash, which my parents and their friends were playing, with watching that episode for the first time. Fun.

The other episode that scares me beyond reason is from season 8, which I don't particularly like or watch very often. The episode is "Badlaa" (8x10), and is the story of a little man with no legs from India who gets his revenge on Americans who destroyed his village in such a horrific way I won't even explain in case you haven't seen it and you want to be surprised. What I will tell you is that I am forever traumatized by the sight of Deep Roy (the actor) as a paraplegic on a wooden cart with wheels. Seriously, watch that episode and tell me you're not scarred for life, I DARE YOU!!

And if you have seen it and it doesn't scare you, you're a braver woman than I.

 

[Kevin]

"Squeeze" definitely stands out because of the creature hibernating in a cocoon between feedings. More than the story though the actor in the role just exudes creepiness to the point where by the end of episode just his image evokes a reaction.

From the first season I would also put forth "Home" (1x02) as a creepy episode for its pure shock value. With a story of inbreeding and babies being buried alive o_O it always surprised me a bit that The X-Files ever aired let alone surviving as long as it did. In today's TV world it would be right at home on a cable station but back then airing on Fox it stirred up a bit of controversy.

The first few seasons of The X-Files didn't deal with the alien invasion arc and had more in line with it's inspiration, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, from the 1970s, in the way it presented an anthology of horror stories connected by those who investigated them. With Fringe also off the air there is nothing like that left for viewers.

 

[bartergas]

From the first season I would also put forth "Home" (1x02) as a creepy episode for its pure shock value.

Not to be a know-it-all, but "Home" is actually from the 4th season.

 

[Kevin]

Not to be a know-it-all, but "Home" is actually from the 4th season.

Hey, I'm lucky that I can even remember that far back!

 

[Imzadi]

I met Roy Thinnes in person, the star of the 2-part X-FILES episode "Talitha Cumi". Roy Thinnes played a GOOD alien named Jeremiah, who could heal people.
I had the good luck to meet Roy in person several years ago, and tell him about a weird experience I had with 2 MIBs related to his own show "The Invaders". We have been friends ever since, and correspond or phone each other at times.

 

[bartergas]

I met Roy Thinnes in person, the star of the 2-part X-FILES episode "Talitha Cumi". Roy Thinnes played a GOOD alien named Jeremiah, who could heal people.
I had the good luck to meet Roy in person several years ago, and tell him about a weird experience I had with 2 MIBs related to his own show "The Invaders". We have been friends ever since, and correspond or phone each other at times.

Now that is neat!!!

 

[Imzadi]

He's very nice! He often goes to France for their sci-fi conventions about "The Invaders".