Original subtitles

I'm not a killer.

And I never meant to hurt no one.

But I'm tired of my cattle being butchered

100 miles from the slaughterhouse.

That's the fourth one this month alone.

And who or what

do you think was responsible?

Look, mister, that cow looked like a piece of paper

that'd gone through a shredder.

I don't know of no animal that could have done that.

Then are you saying that a person or persons

was responsible for this?

I want to remind you

that Mr. Parker is free on bond pending trial.

He's willfully speaking with you

solely in regards to this incident

and not about any other pending litigation.

So we can't talk about Mr. Parker's federal court case

against the Trego Indian Reservation?

That's exactly what I mean.

Now, wait just a damn second.

Jim, don't say a word.

No, this ain't the time for that lawyer crap.

I want to get this out in the open.

You people think I went and killed me an Indian

just because we're having an argument

about where my land ends and their land begins?

We want to settle that peacefully in court.

Well, Joseph Goodensnake is dead

with a wound from your shotgun to indicate otherwise.

All I'm saying...

it was no kind of animal that I know of.

But it damn well didn't seem human, neither, that night.

Take a look at my boy's scars.

It was dark.

We heard a growl.

We went out there to protect the cattle.

I could have swore I saw... red eyes and fangs.

I thought my boy Lyle was...

Look, nobody... nobody...

was more shocked and upset than I was

to find out it was that young Indian boy,

but if he was the one that was killing our cattle,

I'm very, very sorry that we had to find out about it that way,

but as far as I'm concerned, that's the end of it.

Can we see the corral?

I'll take you out there.

Agent Mulder?

Yeah?

Agent Scully...

I suppose if I were hearing our side of the story,

it might not hold up too well...

parts I don't understand myself...

things my father could never try to explain to a stranger.

What kinds of things?

Well, for the last few months,

whenever we'd go outside at night

and check on the cattle,

never saw anything out of the ordinary...

not a mountain lion, not a coyote,

not even any Tregos, Agent Scully...

But I can feel it...

something not human...

out there...

watching me.

The air was more still,

the night animals more quiet.

It was like nature herself was terrified.

Gave me the creeps.

The creeps?

Yeah. The creeps.

Don't you ever get the creeps?

The victim was shot there

about three meters from where Parker fired.

There's no way he could have mistaken

a person for an animal.

It's open-and-shut, Mulder.

You know, I'm surprised you volunteered

for this assignment.

Any Bureau agent

could have investigated this reservation homicide.

Why are you interested?

Well, there seems to be nothing unexplainable

about this case.

Nope.

Not a thing.

Mulder, this is so odd.

It's almost like a snakeskin that's been shed.

I suspect that the Parkers

knowingly killed Joe Goodensnake,

but they hardly seem the type to skin their victim.

Besides which, police and coroner's report

make no mention of such an act.

Well, we're going to have to take a look

at the body ourselves.

The body's been transferred

to the reservation authorities.

We're supposed to get in touch with a, um...

Sheriff Charlie Tskany.

Excuse me. Uh, we're not from around here.

We're looking for Sheriff Tskany.

Anyone, uh, know Charlie Tskany?

Go home, FBI.

How did you know?

I could smell you a mile away.

Well, they told me that even though

my deodorant's made for a woman,

it's strong enough for a man.

I was at Wounded Knee in 1973.

What I learned fighting the FBI is

you don't believe in us, and we don't believe in you.

I want to believe.

Why you here?

What are you looking for?

I think you already know what we're looking for.

You tell me what I know.

We're looking for any individuals

who might be able to provide information

on the homicide of Joe Goodensnake...

We're looking for anything

that can create human tracks in one step

and animal tracks in the next.

Parker.

He found what you're looking for.

He killed what you're looking for, FBI.

What Parker and his kid killed

was my brother, and you're all too afraid

of some stupid Indian legend to do anything. I hate it.

- Gwen! - And I hate suits

who are always here when they want something from us,

but when we need help,

they're nowhere to be found.

Sheriff Tskany?

I'm Agent Scully, and this is Agent Mulder.

Goodensnake's body is in my office.

Bill, Tom.

Let them through.

Come on, boys.

Let them through.

Who are they?

Guardians of the dead.

They escort the deceased spirits to the new world.

I only let them as far as the front door.

Anybody that knows me knows I keep

the ancient beliefs out there and the police work in here.

The woman in the pool hall

said that people were afraid of some Indian legend.

What do they believe happened in the Parker case?

Look, I'm not a park ranger

here to answer all your questions about Indians.

Whenever I need federal help, I never get it.

Since this case falls

under the jurisdiction of the FBI,

you're entitled to examine the body.

So let's get it over with.

Was the woman in the pool hall his sister?

Gwen. She and Joe are primarily responsible

for fueling the boundary dispute with Parker.

They felt that he had been grazing his cattle

farther and farther onto the reservation.

Parker probably told you

it was his idea to settle in court.

Joe and Gwen filed the suit.

Take a look at that scar tissue.

Yeah.

Looks like he had been

attacked by an animal as well.

Could Joe have been attacked also?

Maybe the Parkers did see an animal.

No.

Those wounds have been healing for quite some time.

The shotgun wound indicates point-blank range.

The pellets entered the body in a single mass.

The assailant couldn't have been

more than three feet away.

We're going to need to take a look

at Joe Goodensnake's dental records.

See, these are the canine cuspids.

They're normal.

Well, could his records

have been switched or misplaced?

No, you see, the second incisor here is chipped

just like the ones in his mouth.

These match Joe Goodensnake's.

Well, there are cases of calcium phosphate salts

developing abnormally with age, but...

That could account

for what Jim Parker claims to have seen.

He was out that night

expecting to see a mountain lion killing his cattle.

He gets rattled,

and the flashlight beam catches Joe here.

So Parker saw what he wanted to see... an animal.

Lyle Parker was attacked... he has scars just like Joe.

Do you have a facility where we can perform

- an autopsy? - Why?

Well, if Joe's teeth are abnormal,

an autopsy might reveal abnormalities

in the interior of his anatomy as well.

I can't allow that.

I'm fully qualified.

No. I can't let you do an autopsy.

The funeral is tonight.

It's a cremation.

After that, we'll have nothing.

Tregos believe that the recent dead

are unsettled by their new condition as spirits.

Any desecration of the body angers the spirit

and keeps it haunting this world.

But you're a law enforcement officer.

You can't destroy evidence.

Don't tell me what I can't do.

Native Americans believe that there are laws

greater and more just than that of the U.S. government.

If they want Joe at rest

rather than used as a piece of evidence,

that's the way it's going to be.

If you want to make an issue out of it

to your higher authority, go right ahead.

Charlie, do you believe

that the spirit of Joe Goodensnake

is in that room?

All I know is

tomorrow, the day after, you're going to leave,

but I have to stay here.

I've got to answer to these people.

You can continue your investigation,

but you're going to have to do it

without Joe Goodensnake's body.

Mulder, since we've been here,

you've acted as if you've expected to find

every piece of evidence that we've come across.

What aren't you telling me?

Why are we here?

A true piece of history, Scully.

The very first X File

initiated by J. Edgar Hoover himself in 1946.

During World War Two, a series of murders

occurred in and around the Northwest.

Seven here in Browning alone.

Each victim was basically ripped to shreds

and eaten, as if by a wild animal.

However, many of the victims were found at home

as if they allowed their killer to enter.

In 1946, police cornered what they believed to be

such an animal in a cabin in Glacier National Park.

They shot it,

but when they went in to retrieve the carcass,

they found only the body of Richard Watkins.

Sounds like the Parker scenario.

The murders stopped that year.

Because the cases were unsolved and considered so bizarre,

Hoover locked them away, hoping that, in time,

people around here would forget about them.

This file indicates that they started again in 1954.

And '59, '64, '78, and now again in '94,

but...

Here it comes.

These animal-man related murders

predate the oldest X File by 150 years.

Members of the Lewis and Clark expedition

wrote of Indian men who could change their shape

into that of a wolf.

Mulder, what this... what this folder describes

is called lycanthropy.

It's a type of insanity in which an individual

believes that he can turn into a wolf.

I mean, no one can physically change into an animal.

How can you just dismiss the evidence...

the tracks in the mud, the shredded skin,

a man with the teeth of an animal?

Mulder, even if you're right

and Joe Goodensnake did somehow have the ability

to transform physically into an animal,

he's dead.

Jim Parker shot him,

and in a couple of moments, his body will be burned.

End of mystery.

Let's hope so.

You don't belong here.

Gwen...

You're only around to wrap up your investigation.

I just wanted to say

that I'm sorry about your brother.

I feel sad for anyone

who loses a part of their family.

A part?

He was my whole family.

I'm it now.

As a demonstration of sorrow,

I'm supposed to give away

all my brother's possessions.

Gwen, I don't know what to say. I'm...

It's no big deal.

He had more possessions than he had friends.

I read the report of your investigation

into the Goodensnake homicide.

It was very good.

It was thorough, professional,

but what I want to know is off the record.

What do you think really happened?

Your explanation, Agent Mulder,

is lying on that burial platform.

Why don't you just accept that and go home?

Charlie, do you believe in shape-shifting?

This is a funeral.

Get out of here!

Please, I just want

to show my respects.

I don't want your respects.

I want your heart to grow cold.

I want you to feel what I'm feeling.

I think you better leave, Mr. Parker.

I wish your brother could be here.

I wish that more than anything else.

Coroner's on site.

Perkins' ETA is three minutes.

Uh, stand by for further, please.

Uh, give me a hand back here, guys.

By the way the body's been mutilated,

I'd say he's been attacked by a large predator

or somebody who wanted it to look that way.

Do you think this is retaliation

for the death of Joe Goodensnake?

I don't know.

Have you talked to Gwen Goodensnake?

She seemed pretty upset last night.

She's gone.

Nobody's seen her since the funeral.

I put an APB out on her.

And what about Lyle Parker?

We can't find him, either.

He could be dead as well.

I'll take a look around.

That's not from any animal I've ever seen.

Sheriff, I think it's time we had a talk.

An exchange of ideas?

Mulder!

Mulder, I'm taking Lyle to the hospital.

He's suffering from exposure.

And when he's been checked out, I'm going to question him.

What are you hiding?

I thought it was over.

Over?

Is that why you wouldn't allow

an autopsy on Joe Goodensnake's body?

You thought it would all end when he was cremated?

What were you afraid we'd find?

I can't tell you,

but I'll take you to somebody who can.

I'm ashamed to say it

after what happened at the funeral.

I picked up some bourbon, and...

and I don't remember a thing after that.

Sometimes, when I'm down, I-I go out

to where me and my dad keep stray animals

that wander in on the ranch.

Yeah, I just watch them, you know.

Keeps things in perspective.

Anyway...

my mom... when she was alive...

was the one that started keeping those animals.

I guess I go out there and think about her, too.

God, I must have been really wasted

to run around there naked.

You must have thought I was one of those animals.

When you did go home, did you talk to your father?

No. He'd have been mad I even went to the funeral.

I... I have an... uh, an image of him

sitting on the front porch,

but... I don't remember talking to him. Why?

Your father's dead.

I'm sorry.

It appears as if he's been...

attacked by an animal, but...

I suspect it may be homicide.

Lyle, I lost my father recently,

and I know how overwhelming...

Was it my fault?

By going to the funeral,

did it anger them into killing my father?

I don't know.

I can deal with death.

You know, living on the ranch, being close to nature and all,

you see how it all works.

Things are born. Things die.

Everything else falls in between.

But if I caused it...

if I brought it on,

I couldn't, uh...

I... I...

I saw it once with my own eyes.

It was a long time ago.

It seemed like a dream.

I was a boy.

Was that 1946?

The Watkins case?

I sense you're different, FBI.

You're more open to Native American belief

than some Native Americans.

You even have an Indian name... Fox.

You should be "Running Fox"

or "Sneaky Fox."

Just as long as it's not "Spooky Fox."

Tell me, Ish... what did you see?

Watkins had been attacked by an animal

when he was alone in the woods.

His scars healed.

It was forgotten.

Then the murders began.

The Tregos...

we realized that Watkins had been attacked

by what the Algonquians call the manitou,

an evil spirit capable of changing a man into a beast.

To be attacked by a manitou causes the victim to become one.

The healed scars on Joe Goodensnake's body.

The manitou overtakes a man by night, not by full moon,

but when its bloodlust builds to uncontrollable level,

the man changes to a sickening creature.

It kills, releasing a savage energy.

The man returns to his true self

unaware of what has happened.

The cycle begins anew the next day.

This continues until death.

One night,

when I was 16 years old,

I was coming back from fishing at the Cut Bank Creek.

I knew a shortcut behind Watkins' house.

There was a... a groan.

Not animal, but not human.

I looked into his window.

He was covered in sweat and blood.

He was in a great, great pain.

His arm... the skin ripped.

It tore up and fell to the floor.

Claws sprang from his fingernails.

He turned, screaming,

and he saw me.

His eyes... his eyes were still human.

They begged me to kill him,

and if I had been hunting and had my gun,

I'd have done it without a second thought.

But being a boy, and scared to death,

I ran away.

Shortly after, the police killed him.

But the manitou rose again.

Eight years later.

But with Watkins dead,

how could there have been an attack by a manitou?

Watkins had a son.

It could be passed along bloodlines.

Gwen.

If Joe Goodensnake was this creature,

then perhaps it didn't originate in him by the first attack

but was handed down through the bloodlines.

This means Gwen could have it also.

Gwen could have killed Parker.

Gwen!

Hey!

No, no, no!

You're under arrest, Gwen,

for stealing Ish's car.

What happened, Gwen?

What are you running away from?

I saw it.

I-I saw it kill Parker.

Let her up.

I went there after the funeral.

I was going to mess up the kid.

So I waited,

but Parker was on the porch,

and then this thing... this animal...

Oh, my God!

I've never been so scared.

I ran, and I hid in the woods all day.

I wanted to get out...

I wanted to get out of here.

I wanted to get out of here.

Bring her inside.

Thank you.

Hello. This is Doctor Joseph.

Yeah, this is Agent Mulder from the FBI.

I was told I could reach Agent Scully at this number.

Oh, yes. We released Lyle Parker from the hospital,

and she's taking him back to the ranch.

So I can reach her there?

Uh-uh. They just left.

Agent Mulder, there's something I feel you should know.

I received the blood tests performed on Lyle Parker,

and there's something rather unsettling.

What's that?

Traces of his father's blood type.

It can only be there through ingestion.

Power's out.

Yep. Happens to us all the time

being out here in the sticks.

I'll fire up the generator.

You okay?

I feel sick.

Please, help me into the bathroom.

Damn. Keeps disconnecting.

The mountains must be blocking the signal.

How much farther?

About seven miles.

Lyle, let me come in.

Lyle, I want to take you back to the hospital, okay?

No!

I'll be all right.

Lyle?

Lyle, answer me.

Lyle, are you all right?

Scully!

Aah!

It's okay, it's me, it's me, okay?

I don't know what happened.

Something jumped me downstairs

and I lost my gun.

I heard it come up here.

Come on.

Okay.

You all right?

Oh, my God.

He was in the bathroom sick,

and then, the next thing I knew,

we were attacked by the mountain lion.

It wasn't a mountain lion, Scully.

It's still in a cage out back.

Where's Gwen?

She said she'd come see us before we left.

She left last night.

Gave away all her possessions to her friends.

Just pulled up and left?

Why would she do that?

Her brother's gone, no family.

Trouble with Parker is all over.

Maybe she saw something that she wasn't ready to understand.

Maybe.

Well, thank you.

FBI.

See you in about...

eight years.

I hope not.