We don't have to be out here, you know. It's not like you're still in high school.
We can go to the motel.
- I wouldn't want anyone to see us. - No one will see us.
It's a small town.
George... Come on, George.
- Why'd you change your mind anyway? - You're pretty persistent, I guess.
- Squeaky wheel gets the oil? - I guess so.
What's wrong with right here? I could set the blanket down and...
- Not yet. - Why not?
Because... you have to catch me first.
Oh, come on now! You don't want me to chase after you, do ya?
Paula!
Paula?
Paula...
Where are you?
Son of a bitch!
I don't know, Scully. The man hasn't been seen or heard from in ten weeks.
Come on, Mulder. They're wasting our time.
They're sending us on some kind of a wild-goose chase.
Chicken chase.
George Kearns was a poultry inspector assigned to Dudley, Arkansas,...
..home of Chaco Chicken.
Doesn't it bother you that they're undermining you?
They may think they are, but on the night he disappeared...
..a woman on the MO saw a strange fire in an adjacent field.
I read that report. She claims that she saw some kind of a foxfire spirit.
I'm surprised she didn't call Oprah after the police.
19th-century tales from the Ozarks describe people being taken away by fireballs.
- The spirits of massacred Indians. - Those are only legends.
Well, most legends don't leave behind 12-foot burn marks.
That was taken by state police in the field where the woman saw foxfire.
- This could have been made by a bonfire. - I thought so, too. Until I remembered this.
A documentary I saw when I was in college about an insane asylum.
- It gave me nightmares. - I thought nothing gave you nightmares.
I was young.
They, uh... See, they took...
They, uh... They took me away.
They took me away... This... The ﬁre demons.
The ﬁre demons... wanted their pound of flesh.
But, uh...
..I'm too fast for ’em.
You cannot kill them. You can’t let them kill you. Oh, no...
No, don 't let them kill you. That's no way to get to heaven.
No, sir...
No, sir. That is no way to get to heaven.
His name was Creighton Jones.
He pulled off the road on May 17th 1961 to take a nap.
They found him three days later so deranged
by what he'd seen that he was committed.
The state police found his car on the MO, right in the middle of Dudley, Arkansas,...
..home of Chaco Chicken.
That's a witches' peg. Staking it into the ground is supposed to ward off evil spirits.
Can I help you folks?
I'm Sheriff Arens. I saw you back at the turn-off.
FBI. I'm Special Agent Mulder. This is Agent Scully.
We're investigating George Kearns's disappearance.
I'm happy to help you, but I'm not sure how much there is to investigate.
- Sheriff, a man is missing. - We found no evidence of criminal activity.
Since no body turned up, we just filed a missing person's report.
Why didn't you mention this witches' peg in your report?
Because these hills are filled with witches' pegs.
These old hill people cling tight to their superstitions.
- What about the scorched area? - Illegal trash burn.
I keep handing out the citations. They keep doing it anyway.
Cheaper to pay a fine than haul it to the dump.
- So you don't believe it's foxfire? - Sir,...
..foxfire's nothing more than a ghost story about swamp gas.
Listen, Kearns was passin' through town ever since he got here six months ago.
- How do you mean? - Never did fit in.
Not at the plant, not even in his own home.
He cheated on his wife every chance he got.
Did he have many chances?
George is the type of man you'd expect to go
chasin' some sweet young thing out of town.
- Is that what his wife thinks happened? - Push comes to shove, I'm sure she does.
But you're welcome to ask her yourself.
My husband had a character that leaves something out.
I always knew that about him,...
..but I didn't have the sense to do anything about it. I guess he saved me the trouble.
So you're fairly certain that he left you for somebody else?
George left me a long time ago, right around the time I turned 40.
Leavin' town was just a formality.
- Do you know who he might be with now? - No. And I don't wanna know, either.
He was about to file this inspection report with the Department of Agriculture...
- ..the day before he disappeared. - I know nothing about that.
- He never discussed his work with you? - He never told me and I never asked.
He cited several health violations. He was gonna recommend the plant be shut down.
I don't know a thing about what went on in that plant.
Did he ever receive threatening phone calls or anything unusual in the mail?
There were hang-ups, but I always thought it was one of his girlfriends.
I'm gonna give you my phone number.
If your husband tries to contact you, I want you to get in touch with me.
Or if you can think of anything else.
Come on, Paula. Let's go!
This is Jess Harold, the floor manager. Jess, these people are with the FBI.
You're here about George Kearns?
His disappearance may have something to do with a report...
..he was about to file with the Department of Agriculture.
Ever since he got here, George was trying to shut us down.
He cited multiple violations.
I know. I had to answer to each one of them.
Was there any merit to his claims?
Let me show you something.
Paula, are you OK?
This is where George worked. Every chicken passes through the inspectors' station.
We've been here 50 years
and had no trouble with the USDA until George came along.
- So he really did threaten to shut it down. - Oh, he tried.
But we got three other inspectors here consistently give us top marks. Here.
See for yourself.
The only problem this plant had was George.
Problem enough to do something about?
If you mean any kind of unsavouriness, I guess anything's possible.
George had a bone to pick with everyone, even the federal government.
- What do you mean? - He filed a compensation suit.
Claimed he was getting terrible headaches. "Line hypnosis" his lawyers called it.
Yeah, it's caused by high-speed repetitive activity.
I don't deny a lot of chickens go through here
but we operate within federal guidelines.
What happened to his lawsuit?
It was dismissed, just a few weeks before he disappeared.
What's that?
Oh, that.
Feed grinder. Chops up bone, tissue.
See, any part of the bird we can't package, we process and use as feed.
- Chickens feed on chickens? - It doesn't sound appetising.
But it is nutritious and cuts down on cost.
The meat is cooked, then mixed with grain. No reason to let all that protein go to waste.
- Excuse me. I got a shift change. - Howdy, Sheriff.
Logan.
Mulder, ready to admit they sent us on a fool's errand?
If the fool would persist in his folly, he'd become wise.
Whether Kearns left or was killed,
this could have been handled by any Kansas City agent.
I'm not so sure about that.
Let him go! We're federal agents.
Everyone stay calm!
Don't hurt him! Tell us what you want.
Don't get excited. Just calm down.
Stay calm! You don't want anyone to get hurt.
We can talk this thing out. Why don't you give me the knife?
You OK?
Do you have any idea why she attacked you?
None at all.
No recent complaints or strange behaviour?
Paula has always been one of our best employees. Stable, well-liked.
I can't begin to imagine what brought this on.
Dr Randolph, do you have any ideas?
If you're done with me, I got work to do.
Come by tomorrow and let me make sure it's not infected.
Sure.
Uh...
Paula came by last week, complaining of persistent headaches.
She had suddenly started getting irritable, unable to sleep.
- Did you determine the cause? - I'm just the staff physician.
I usually only treat hand injuries,...
..so I'm a little out of my depth on psychiatric matters.
Was anything physically wrong with her?
I sent her to County for a brain scan and an EEG.
Both came back normal, so I assumed her condition was stress-related.
- Could it have been line hypnosis? - I'm not qualified to make that diagnosis.
But you can tell us whether George Kearns had similar complaints.
They presented similar symptoms, yeah.
- How did you treat them? - Both with pain medication - codeine.
I think an autopsy on Paula Gray would clarify things.
I'm, uh... afraid I can't authorise that.
- That's up to Mr Chaco. - Why? You're her physician.
Yeah, but Mr Chaco was Paula Gray's grandfather... and her legal guardian.
Mr Chaco?
Feedin' these chickens...
..helps me clear my mind.
They're perfect creatures, you know.
We eat their meat, their eggs, sleep on pillows stuffed with their feathers.
Not many people I know are as useful as these chickens.
Sorry to disturb you, sir. We realise this is difficult for you.
You wanna conduct an autopsy on my granddaughter.
Why?
You think Paula had some disease that made her act that way?
That's what we're hoping a postmortem will determine.
I thought your business was Kearns's disappearance.
It is, but it may be linked with what happened to your granddaughter.
How?
It's possible they may have both suffered from the same neurological disorder.
You know, when I came here after the war, Dudley was just a patch of dirt.
I built that plant and put my whole family to work there.
We made this town one of the biggest chicken processors in the nation.
We couldn't have done that with troublemakers and layabouts.
I assume you mean George Kearns.
Men like George Kearns don't build things. They tend to tear 'em down.
Then you're aware of his recommendation to close down your plant?
You know,...
..livin' a long life is a mixed blessing.
You spend your youth trying to build something for yourself and your family...
..and your community, only to watch it all taken away from you at your old age.
Still,...
..I'm not ready to die just yet.
You go do your autopsy on Paula.
I wanna know what happened to my granddaughter.
I think we've got something here, Mulder.
- Take a look. - What am I looking at?
A specimen from Paula's brain.
She had a rare degenerative disorder called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
It's characterised by the formation of holes in the brain tissue.
- Why didn't they show up on her charts? - Short of an autopsy, it's hard to diagnose.
I've only seen infected tissue once, back in medical school.
- Could it be why she attacked Jess Harold? - Absolutely.
Victims of Creutzfeldt-Jakob suffer from progressive dementia, severe seizures.
- Is it fatal? - This girl would have been dead in months.
Except that Paula Gray was no girl. This is her personnel file. Check it out.
It says here that Paula Gray was born in 1948,...
..which means that this woman, Chaco's granddaughter, was 47 years old.
There must be a mistake.
Let's find out. Her birth certificate should be on file at the courthouse.
Who knows, Scully? This could turn out to be even more interesting than foxfire.
The odds that they both had the same disease are practically nonexistent.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob can be hereditary, but it's not communicable.
That two unrelated people in one town contracted the same rare disease is...
A lot more likely than Paula Gray being three years shy of her 50th birthday.
Mulder, look out!
Call an ambulance!
I'll try to get the driver out.
This is Federal Agent Scully. I'd like to report an accident...
I just got off the phone with Dr Randolph. He said this driver had the same symptoms.
You're saying this is a third victim? You told me two cases are statistically impossible.
They would be.
I just came up with a sick theory, Mulder.
Ooh, I'm listening.
You saw the feed grinders at the plant.
What if somebody put Kearns's body in there?
This is a prion disease,
so it may have passed on to the chickens and whoever ate them.
So anyone eating the chickens would be at risk?
It's possible.
In England they incinerate cattle to stop them passing on mad cow disease.
These chickens are shipped all over the country.
If you're right, we'd be seeing an epidemic, not just a few local cases.
Shenﬁ?
What's wrong with this water?
Runoff from the plant. Chicken litter, mostly. Some blood and parts.
Was this river searched after Kearns disappeared?
Are you kiddin'? A needle in a haystack!
I'd like it dragged as soon as possible.
Why would you wanna do that?
To see what's in there.
That's a filthy job, and I would first like to know what you're lookin' for.
Hopefully, nothing.
Look, Sheriff, if you don't wanna do it, I can get some of my men to do it.
I'll do it.
- Mulder... - It's just a hunch.
If Kearns didn't run off, if he was murdered for that report,...
..then his body's gotta be somewhere.
We closed the spillway and the water level dropped.
- They came up with it almost immediately. - Did you find Kearns?
Maybe you'd better see for yourself.
Sheriff Arens is outside. They're still pulling bones from the river.
Well, so far I've been able to isolate nine distinct skeletons.
This one belonged to the late George Kearns.
- How do you know? - The pin... in his femur.
According to his medical file, Kearns broke his right leg four years ago.
- What about the others? - I'll need more sophisticated equipment,...
..but I estimate that some of these bones are as much as 20 or 30 years old.
All of them share one strange detail, though.
- They seem to have lost their heads. - Besides that.
The older bones show signs of decay and abrasion, like you'd expect.
But for some reason all of them,
even Kearns's, are smooth and buffed at the ends.
It's almost like they've been polished.
It could be erosion from the water...
Well, that water had hardly any current.
This level of erosion wouldn't be confined to just the ends of the bones.
- Any theories? - Maybe.
Sheriff...
- Doris. - Is it true? Just tell me.
- Doris, I want you to listen to me. - They found him, didn't they?
We brought up quite a few remains at the river this afternoon.
George's were among them.
I'm sorry.
Listen, I'm really sorry. It's gonna be all right.
Don't worry, Doris. We'll take care of you.
Doris?
- Dee, that the new schedule? - Yeah.
Looks good.
Why do I get the feeling you're not here to check up on my neck?
- They found bones in the river. - I know. I heard.
Did you also hear that Clayton Walsh came down with the symptoms?
That's four.
It's getting worse with every day that goes by.
- Someone has to tell Mr Chaco. - He knows, but he's not doing anything.
- Maybe I should talk to him. - You can try.
I will talk to him. He'll listen to me.
And if he doesn't?
I had Danny run a check on missing persons last seen within a 200-mile radius of Dudley.
In the last 50 years 87 people have disappeared near here.
Judging from the forensic evidence,
I'd say the same person or persons was responsible.
It may have been the work of a cult.
Scully, I think that the good people of Dudley
have been eating more than just chicken.
- You think these people were eaten? - Look at these bones.
They've been polished at both ends, suggesting they were boiled in a pot.
Anthropologists used similar evidence...
..to prove cannibalism among the Anasazi tribe of New Mexico.
Then Paula Gray may have contracted Creutzfeldt-Jakob by eating George Kearns.
That could explain her youthful appearance.
What are you talking about?
Some cannibalistic rituals are believed to prolong life.
Cannibalism is one thing, but increasing longevity by it...
Think about it, Scully. From vampirism to Catholicism, literally or symbolically,...
..the reward for eating flesh is eternal life.
I don't know how it works, but we saw Paula.
We never confirmed her date of birth.
Maybe the courthouse records can tell us if she,
or anybody else, is lying about their age.
You coming?
You gotta do something, Mr Chaco.
People are gettin' scared. They don't know what to make of things.
They're losing faith is what it sounds like.
It's gettin' hard to hold on to, the way things are goin'.
- Three more got sick since yesterday. - I lost my granddaughter in this!
So don't tell me what we're up against!
Now, I said I'd handle it.
I know you...
- Yes? - I need to see Mr Chaco.
Doris.
I can't do this any more, Mr Chaco. I can't keep lyin'.
It's all right. Jess told me what happened.
- You have nothing to worry about. - But they're gonna think I did it.
- No, they won't think any such thing. - But I did!
- No. - I helped!
He was no good, Doris. He had no values. He didn't fit in here.
- But he was my husband. - That was the price that you had to pay.
- You knew that from the beginning. - But those FBI agents...
Uh-uh. This town wasn't built in a day.
It's not about to fall apart in a day.
No, you're a part of us now. And we're gonna take good care of you.
Now, I want you to go home, get some rest.
You've got a funeral to go to.
This whole thing'll blow over soon enough and you'll wonder what all the fuss is about.
- I'm sorry. - That's all right.
We all understand, Doris. Good night.
Yeah, she'll be fine.
- She's not stable. - She's one of us now. Part of our town.
Unless we do something about her, there won't be any town left.
No!
Once we start turning on ourselves, we're no better than the animals.
It's the FBI we should be worryin' about.
They're the real problem.
Someone's been playing with matches.
Smells like a recent fire.
I bet it's no coincidence it only hit the birth records.
You think someone was expecting us?
- Mulder. - It's Doris Kearns.
I'm in my house. I need to speak with you right away.
- Are you all right? - I'm afraid for my life.
I'm afraid he'll kill me.
Who?
- Mr Chaco. - All right, Mrs Kearns.
Stay in the house. Don't answer the door until Agent Scully arrives.
- Where are you going? - To take Chaco into custody.
Oh!
No...
Mrs Kearns?
- Is Mr Chaco in? - I'll see if he's still awake.
I'm sorry, but Mr Chaco is unable to see you now.
- D'you know what's in here? - No.
- Can you open it? - I don't have the key.
What do you think you're doin'?!
- Scully. - Scully, Chaco's not here.
Yeah. Mrs Kearns is missing, too, Mulder. I think someone's been here.
The power's been cut and the back door was wide open. Her car is still out back.
Chaco must've taken her.
Scully? Scully!
Scully! What happened? Scully, are you there?
You all right?
Scully!
Answer me! Scully!
What have you done here?
I warned ya!
I said not to touch her!
Doris Kearns was one of us!
Who's behind this?
Why didn't you listen? It's the outsiders we have to deal with, not one of our own.
We'll deal with them all.
Look at yourselves! Look at what you've become!
This isn't faith any more. It's just fear.
You brought in the outsider who made us sick.
Once you turn on yourselves, it's over.
How long before it's any one of us?
Any one of you?!
That's not your problem any more, Mr Chaco.
No!
Kill me...
..and you kill us all.
Watch it.
Got it.
Bring her over.
Aagh!
- Are you hurt? - Uh-uh.
Are you all right?
People, stand away from your work stations!
Pending further review, the Chaco processing plant was closed by the USDA.
So far, no evidence of contaminated chicken has been discovered.
Though it remains unknown how many citizens participated in the ritual activity,...
..27 have become fatally ill with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
What is known is that a transport plane carrying Walter Chaco...
..was shot down in 1944 over New Guinea.
Chaco was the only survivor of that crash.
According to naval records, he spent six months with the Jale,...
..a tribe whose cannibalistic practices have long been suspected, but never proven.
Naval records also show that Walter Chaco was born in 1902,...
..making him 93 years old at the time of his death.
As of this date, his remains have yet to be found.
I made this!