Season 2: The Calusari (2X21)

Writer: Sara Charno
Director: Mike Vejar

When two year old Teddy Holvey chases a balloon in to the path of an oncoming miniature train at the Lincoln amusement park, Virginia. A picture taken moments before the tragic accident shows the balloon moving against the wind, Mulder has the picture graphically enhanced, which reveals the shadowy figure of a child pulling the balloon along. Leading Mulder to believe that poltergeist might be involved.

Mulder and Scully go to Arlington to interview the boy's family. They speak with Steve and Maggie Holvey about their son's accident. Maggie is originally from Romania and her mother has been living with them since Teddy was born. They have another son, eight year old Charlie, his Grandmother is both protective and fearful of him, leading Scully to believe that it is a case of Munchausen's-by-proxy. A rare form of child abuse when a parent or guardian brings harm to the child to get attention. When Steve Holvey is later killed in a bizarre accident, ash from the scene is identified as a substance called Vibuti, holy ash produced during the presence of spiritual beings.

The Grandmother later dies while performing a protective ritual on Charlie and when a social worker questions Charlie about the incident, he claims his still born twin brother Michael killed her. Which comes as a shock to Maggie Holvey, who claims she never told Charlie about his dead twin brother. It appears that the families only hope is a strange group of Romanian elderly chanters called The Calusari.

Notes:
Joel Palmer (who plays Charlie/Michael Holvey) has previously appeared on The X-Files in the season 1 episode "Conduit''. In that particular episode he played the role of Kevin Morris.

When Charlie stands over his grandmother before her death, he speaks in Romanian: "You are too late to stop us".

Quotes:
Mulder: You see this a helium balloon here and the only thing I learned in kindergarten is when you let them go they float up, up and away. But you see, this is moving away from him. Horizontally.
Scully: Did you learn about wind in kindergarten?

Episode Number: 45
Season Number: 2
First Aired: Friday April 14, 1995
Production Code: 2X21