MULDER: I hate to disappoint you, Agent Bocks, but this doesn't
look like the work of aliens to me.
BOCKS:: No? How can you be so sure?
MULDER: I've seen this kind of thing before. When I was with the
Violent Crime Section. Whoever dug this up probably used a
backhoe. If you took casts of the ground in the area, you'd
probably lift some clean new tracks off the garage around here
somewhere.
BOCKS: You think so?
MULDER: He might work here, but it's not likely. Though he's probably
worked at a cemetery or a mortuary at one time or another. Probably
been busted before, but you're not going to find any record of it.
Not real good for business when these stories get around.
BOCKS:: You're saying some human's been doing this?
MULDER: If you want to call him that.
BOCKS: Well, don't I feel like a dumb butt.
MULDER: You okay, Scully?
SCULLY: Yeah... I've read about cases of desecrating the dead,
but this is the first time I've seen one.
MULDER: Nothing can prepare you for it. It's almost impossible
to imagine.
SCULLY:: Why do they do it?
MULDER: Some people collect salt and pepper shakers.
The fetishist collects dead things. Hair, fingernails... no one
quite knows why. Though I've never quite understood salt and
pepper shakers myself.
SCULLY: Sometimes you surprise
me, Mulder.
MULDER: The Twin Cities have an escalating fetishist on their
hands.
BOCKS: A what?
MULDER: An escalating fetishist. Security should be tightened around
the city cemeteries. Mortuaries, funeral homes and hospitals should be
notified. There should be warning of a possible stalker in the area.
BOCKS: This isn't New York, Agent Mulder. People still
leave their doors unlocked here. This is gonna scare them.
MULDER: You can leave out the more gruesome aspects in your press
release.
BOCKS: Why do you want to alarm folks anyway? I mean, if this guy
only preys on dead people...
MULDER: His compulsion is growing. He may resort to homicide to
procure his corpses. Once he gets a taste of a warm body, he's
probably going to want more.
SCULLY: (voiceover) A complete model or psychological profile
of the death fetishist does not exist. Extrapolating from material on
file at the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, the compulsion is the result
of a complex misplacement of values and a deviation from cultural norms
and societal mores - often accompanied by extreme alienation from
normal social interaction and traditional avenues for interaction with
others. He is more likely to be white, male and of average to above
average intelligence. Cases of fetishists with IQs over 150 have been
documented. The progression of the pathology can be traced from the
fantasy stage to the eventual acting out of fetishistic impulses,
including opportunistic homicide. Agent Mulder believes strongly that
the suspect in this case is escalating toward this action. It is my
opinion from reading these case files that death fetishism may play
a stronger role than suspected in cases of serial murder. That once
he begins to murder, it is the killing that draws attention away from a
deeper motive. A motive which most people, including law enforcement
professionals, dare not imagine. It is somehow easier to believe, as
Agent Bocks does, in aliens and UFOs, than in the kind of cold blooded
inhuman monster who could prey on the living to scavenge from the dead.
MULDER: The next thing to do is call all the psychiatric facilities.
See if they have any record of patients with similar pathologies.
This kind of killer isn't made overnight. He's been fuelling this
fetish for years.
MULDER: If you're having trouble with this case, Scully, I want you
to tell me.
SCULLY: I'm not having trouble, Mulder.
MULDER: I'd understand, Scully. This isn't exactly easy to stomach.
SCULLY: I'm fine with it. Really. I just think we're a long way from
catching this guy. If we could get a print, we'd have something to go
on. Right now we're at a standstill.
MULDER: I think it's a good idea. I just don't want you to think you
have to hide anything from me, Scully. I've seen agents with twenty
years in the field fall apart on cases like this.
SCULLY: I'm fine, Mulder. I can handle it.
MULDER: (voiceover) The conquest of fear lies in the moment of
its acceptance. And understanding what scares us most is that which
is most familiar, most common place. That boy next door, Donnie
Pfaster, the unremarkable younger brother of four older sisters,
extraordinary only in his ordinariness, could grow up to be the devil
in a buttoned-down shirt. It's been said that the fear of the unknown
is an irrational response to the excesses of the imagination. But
our fear of the everyday, of the lurking stranger, and the sound of
foot-falls on the stairs. The fear of violent death and the primitive
impulse to survive, are as frightening as any X-File, as real as the
acceptance that it could happen to you.
