Season 1: Shadows (1X05)

Written by: Glen Morgan and James Wong

Directed by: Michael Katleman

Agents Mulder and Scully are contacted by another government agency for their expertise of strange events. They are shown two dead men whose bodies are still warm and show signs of electromagnetic activity. Told only that their throats were crushed from the inside but nothing else about the case, Mulder and Scully can offer no help. After they leave Mulder admits he has seen this before, in the X-files in cases involving psychokinesis. Mulder managed to secretly lift prints off the two bodies during their examination. Using these they discover that the two men were members of an Iranian terrorist group found murder in Philadelphia. At the scene where the bodies were discovered Mulder notices an ATM machine round the corner, on checking the security footage, they see the two men attack a young woman Lauren Kyte.

They question Lauren Kyte, a secretary for HTG Technologies whose boss Howard Graves recently committed suicide. Lauren claims that the two men attacked her for her pay check but she broke free and ran off, the agents doubt her story but as they leave their car looses control and crashes. Scully is convinced that Lauren's accomplice sabotaged the car while they were interviewing Lauren. Especially when a photograph reveals Lauren's supposedly dead boss Howard Graves in the background. Mulder however believes Howard Graves is protecting Lauren Kyte from beyond the grave.

Notes:
The writers were inspired by the 1981 movie ''The Entity'' in which a woman is tormented by an unseen entity.

Quotes:
Scully: I think Howard Graves faked his own death.
Mulder: Do you know how difficult it is to fake your own death? Only one man has pulled it off: Elvis.
(Mulder's joke about Elvis is the first of many throughout the entire series. Apparently Mulder is something of an Elvis fan).

Episode Number: 6
Season Number: 1
First Aired: Friday October 22, 1993
Production Code: 1X05