Top 10 X-Files Moments Inspired by Real Life
The truth really was out there! Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 “X-Files” moments inspired by true events.
For this list, we’re looking at “X-Files” scenes and episodes that drew inspiration from actual events, places, people and ideas.
#10: The Bermuda Triangle
“Triangle”
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The Bermuda Triangle is an area of the Atlantic between Bermuda, Florida, and Puerto Rico, where several boats and planes have gone missing under mysterious circumstances. “The X-Files” episode “Triangle” finds Mulder lost in the notorious area of water, only to be pulled aboard the Queen Anne, a ship that disappeared in 1939. As history begins to play out, Mulder realizes that the ship hasn’t traveled to the future, HE’S traveled to the past. When he’s eventually rescued, he’s assured that it was all a dream. Maybe… but this IS the Bermuda triangle we’re talking about.
#9: Area 51
“Dreamland” & “Dreamland II”
Given that it’s arguably the most famous locale associated with alien activity, it seems only natural that “The X-Files” featured this enigmatic military base at some point. Although officially a testing site for experimental aircraft, Area 51 has been the subject of UFO rumors for decades. In the two part episode “Dreamland,” Mulder and one of the “men in black,” Morris Fletcher, switch bodies due to a quirk of the UFOs flying above them. Each of them attempting to fit into the other’s life yields some rather comedic results. We don’t know if the rumors about Area 51 are true or not, but if they are… we doubt they’re quite as amusing.
#8: Operation Paperclip
“Paper Clip”
In this third season episode that explored one of “The X-Files” most celebrated storylines, Mulder and Scully investigate a former Nazi scientist who was used by the U.S. government - or at least the shadowy group within it - to create alien/human hybrids after World War II. While the scientist in the show, Victor Klemper, is fictional, the United States DID recruit Nazi scientists following the war. These scientists played key roles in the Cold War Space Race, as many of them, such as Werner Von Braun, were noted for their brilliance in the field of rocket technology.
#7: The Face on Mars
“Space”
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An early episode of “The X-Files” features an astronaut, Marcus Belt, who is haunted by a strange face he encountered while on a mission to space. The strange faced creature possesses Belt and causes him to commit various acts of sabotage. Series creator Chris Carter was inspired by a “real” face in space, namely the large mound in Mars’ Cydonia region said to resemble a forward-facing human head, in much the same way that some people see human features in the moon. In writing this episode, Carter simply took the idea to its supernatural extreme.
#6: Poisonous Insides
“The Erlenmeyer Flask”
One of the strangest deaths of the 1990s provided “The X-Files” with inspiration for a truly memorable episode. In the finale of the show’s first season, Dr. William Secare, a man who received alien gene therapy, goes on the run. When he passes out and is put in an ambulance, his now toxic alien blood emits a gas that overcomes the paramedics. In real life, Gloria Ramirez, a woman with late stage cervical cancer was admitted to a hospital and those who worked to save her experienced fainting spells, nausea, and partial paralysis. While it’s believed the symptoms were caused by an industrial solvent used as a home remedy for pain, the case is still ambiguous enough to warrant its own X-File.
#5: Hallucinations of a Shapeshifting Serial Killer
“Irresistible”
Not all terror comes from the supernatural. One of “The X-Files”’ few episodes not to feature anything overtly paranormal, “Irresistible” follows Donald Pfaster, a serial killer with a fetish for death. Pfaster sets his sights on Scully and takes her captive, during which she hallucinates him turning into a demonic creature. This is based on accounts of infamous real world killer Jeffrey Dahmer, whose victims have claimed that he shapeshifted during their time spent as his captives. Their experiences are a perfect example of how a real threat can become something even more sinister.
#4: A Changed Man
“Duane Barry” & “Ascension”
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Another true life medical story that influenced “The X-Files,” Phineas Gage was a 19th century American man whose personality underwent a drastic change after he had an iron bar driven through his skull. This inspired the character of former FBI agent Duane Barry, whose personality changed after apparently being shot in the head. Barry claims to have been abducted by aliens, and it falls to Mulder to try to get to the bottom of things and diffuse a hostage situation that Barry has initiated. However, the truth, at least for Barry, isn’t quite as clear cut as Gage’s case; he’s revealed to have implants in his body, apparently put there by extraterrestrials.
#3: The Tunguska Event
“Tunguska” & “Terma”
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In 1908, near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Siberia, Russia, a large explosion caused a shockwave that flattened trees for over 750 square miles and registered even on seismic instruments in Europe. Although generally believed to have been a meteoroid impact, no crater has been located. In the “X-Files,” Mulder investigates a Russian gulag that mines alien oil from an asteroid said to have caused the event and infects hosts with it. The sentient oil from the asteroid took inspiration from the Allan Hills 84001 meteorite, which was believed to contain evidence of life on Mars.
#2: A Kidnapping
“Oubliette”
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When 15 year old girl Amy Jacobs is kidnapped from her bedroom in the middle of the night, Mulder takes things personally due to the similar circumstances surrounding the disappearance of his sister. However, in Amy’s case, she’s kidnapped by a criminal and not aliens. Although writer Charles Grant Craig has not made any direct quote as to its inspiration, the episode was written around the time of the real life kidnapping of Polly Klaas. Thanks to her psychic connection with a former victim of the same man, Amy is ultimately saved by the episode’s end. Sadly, the story of Polly Klaas ended in tragedy, though her killer was apprehended.
#1: The Ward Family
“Home”
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One of the most famous (or infamous) episodes of “The X-Files” sees Mulder and Scully investigate the Peacock family, a murderous and incestuous clan in a Pennsylvania town. While the episode had a number of fictional inspirations, like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” it also drew from true events, as the Peacock family was partially based on the Ward family. The Ward family was a quartet of uneducated brothers who drew attention after one was accused and later acquitted of murdering one of his siblings. Although they WERE uneducated, and there WERE rumors of incest, the Ward brothers were nowhere near as monstrous as the Peacock family.
