THE JERSEY DEVIL

   

 

                           A body was found in New Jersey woods yesterday - it was missing a right arm                                                and shoulder....

 

The episode begins with a family journeying through the darkness by car - it is 1947 and they are three miles from Atlantic City. However there laughter and singing soon turns to shock and fear after a tyre blow out - with dad having to get out of the car to fix the problem with his trusty flashlight. However he drops the flashlight and it rolls away - and upon asking his wife for assistance he is suddenly dragged into the woods by someone....or something. We then see a number of people searching the woods...and making a grizzly discovery. They find his body....although it looks like his legs have been 'eaten off.' The group seem to locate the offender in a cave - and we see multiple gun fire.....

We the return to the present day at FBI headquarters in Washington. Scully informs Mulder that a body (Roger Crockett)  has been found in woodlands in New Jersey - however the body is missing a right arm and shoulder. She adds that the victim was a homeless man, and whilst the local Police are handling the case the murder appears motiveless. Mulder links back to the killing in 1947 and the myths surrounding the Jersey Devil - this entity was supposed to attack cars, and an autopsy carried out on the body they found (as a result of the multiple gunshots) revealed human bones in the stomach.  The agents move onto Atlantic City morgue, where they are told that teeth marks on the corpse are human, and that the body was discovered by a Park Ranger. They are also introduced to the investigating Police Officer, Detective Thompson - however he wastes no time in telling them this is not their case and they have no jurisdiction.

Whilst Scully travels back to DC Mulder remains, and meets the Park Ranger who found the body. They travel to the site in which the body was discovered and the Ranger recalls an incident that happened four years previously, seeing a large man who upon seeing him, sniffed the air and look ed straight at him before taking off.  He added that since that time he has found half eaten rabbits and deer bones, although this is the first time he has found human remains. Mulder remains at the site and decides to walk back into own - he hits a deprived region of the city and heads for the Mercy Mission building - asking poor folk if they knew the victim. One man approaches Mulder and hands him a drawing he found in a coat pocket - it appears to be a sketch of a caveman type being - leaving Mulder to stay the night as a homeless person. His hopes of seeing the being/devil emanate later that night, although Mulder startles the creature and he is picked up by the local Police - who continue to dislike his presence and hold him until Scully arrives to bail him out. Mulder claims that the Detective is fully aware of what is out there - but that he doesn't want to do anything about it.

Scully takes Mulder to meet her old Professor of Anthropology at the University of Maryland, and the three consider the possibilities of cannabilism in modern society, with the Professor suggesting this to be highly unlikely.

Later Mulder receives a call informing him that the body of a long haired male had been found - the Jersey Devil? - yet when they arrive at the Morgue the body has gone. However for Mulder this is not the end - and he suggests that a female Neanderthal may still be at large, and along with the Park Ranger and Professor the two agents return to the homeless part of the town Mulder had previously spent the night in. As they search the derelict buildings, hotly pursued by the Police, Mulder finds the female and after attacking him she runs away. They catch up with her as she fled back to the woods, and the Ranger manages to shoot her with a tranquilliser gun. However this is not enough and the being is shot dead by Police. As Mulder makes the point that the being may have been acting aggressively to protect her offspring, with medical reports confirming the female had given birth, we see a smaller being peeping out of a hole in the woods as the episode ends....

 

 

 

 

 

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Episode no. Season 1
Episode 1X04
Directed by Joe Napolitano
Written by Chris Carter
Guest Stars Claire Stansfield,
Wayne Tippit,
Gregory Sierra,
Michael MacRae,
Jill Teed
Original Airdate October 8, 1993 (Fox)
Theme(s) Jersey Devil - Folklore