Werewolves on the X-Files

Believe it or not, there have been werewolves on The X-Files; probably one of the best television shows to ever invade late night TV. At least, it was until it became more like a soap opera, with a lot of sexual tension radiating between Scully and Moulder. I really like the more self-contained episodes a lot more; you can find those in the first and second season, and then they become a lot more rare, as things heat up between Scully and Moulder, and aliens pretty much take over. But this is one of the most interesting episodes, because it deals with what Moulder calls, “The First X-File”, which was about half a century old at the time. The first X-File was initiated by J. Edgar Hoover in 1946, and it pertained to savage murders committed by wild animals, –that were later shot and reverted to human form.

Scully identifies it as Lycanthropy, the psychological disorder, but Moulder, good ol’ crazy guy that he is, refuses to doubt the evidence of werewolves in the native American reservation near the murder site they’re investigating. A rancher shoots what he thinks is a wild animal attacking his cattle; but when they look at the animal, it’s a human being, and it’s a Native American from the nearby reservation. the rancher and his son are suspected of murder, until Moulder finds animal/human hybrid footprints near the murder scene, and a piece of human skin, that looks as though its been shed, instead of well… skinned, the way skins usually are. And it’s human. When they look at the body of the dead Indian later, they discover huge fangs in his mouth. They look at the dental records, and discover that the enormous teeth are a new development.

Now, this is where it gets sort of tricky. The rancher is murdered, though his son only previously suffered mild injuries; scratching from the ‘animal’. When Moulder makes inquiries on the reservation about their knowledge of the shapeshifter, he discovers that they believe it is an “evil spirit” that the Algonquin people call the “Manitou”. At this point, we have to throw up the bullshit flag. Sorry. As a Native American, myself, it’s almost easy to take offense to this gross misconception, but I’ll let it slide. The “Manitou” is a figure in Algonquin belief, but he isn’t an evil spirit, he’s a god; a primary figure in their religious beliefs. So while shapeshifting or lycanthropy might be plaguing the nearby reservation, it’s not the Algonquin’s Manitou.

4 comments

  1. Fun fun. There’s another X-Files episode called “Alpha” featuring a werewolf type creature called a “Wanshang Dhole” The Wanshang Dhole is a form of cryptid created for the T.V. series in which it is portrayed as a form of Chinese Werewolf.

    According to the series episode, a Wanshang Dhole was a previously believed to be extinct breed of dog, native to China. In Chinese mythology it is known as a “trickster dog.” There is indeed an Asiatic wild dog known as a Dhole of which some modern Zoologists and Geneticists are wondering if our modern dog is related to them and not wolves.

    The Wanshang Dhole also has a reference to it made in an episode of the T.V. series Angel and again in the Werewolf Anthology “Running with the Pack.”

    1. I saw that episode and I cannot remember that this dog was portrayed as a werewolf-like creature. It was “simply” a misterious beast.

      The one mentioned in the article, now that was more close to it, although it portrayed a wolf-man and not a wolf.

  2. As for X-Files becoming silly:
    Wasn’t it stated late in the show that Mulder was an alien-human hybrid?

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