Amongst all of its many achievements, sci-fi horror show, The X-Files, is predominantly known for three things: the partnership between Mulder & Scully; the extra-terrestrial conspiracy; and all those seemingly endless monsters. But The X-Files is also known for something else, which is particularly important to horror fans: The show is also pretty scary.
Across the course of its eleven-season run, The X-Files has served up plenty of freights, lots of creepy characters, and a heck of a lot of scares. So many scares in fact, it often becomes essential to watch the show with the lights on.
But if you’re the kind of person who likes being terrified and loves to indulge in a bit of horror, then you probably want to watch the scariest episodes of the show. And if this does sound like you, then you’ve come to the right place.
Below is a list of the 31 scariest episodes of The X-Files. These episodes offer pulse-pounding chills and thrills, all likely to get the hairs raising up on the back of your neck.
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Ice (Season One)
Let’s kick things off with an unnerving, stone-cold classic from the show’s first season – the paranoid thriller, Ice. In this episode, FBI agents Mulder and Scully investigate a series of deaths at an Alaskan research centre, where everyone appears to be acting out of character.
Taking inspiration from John Carpenter’s iconic horror movie, The Thing, Ice is a superb claustrophobic chiller designed to get under the skin. The central premise sets up the horror quite neatly, with a monster that is simple yet effective.
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Sanguinarium (Season Four)
Up next is Sanguinarium, a season four episode in which Mulder and Scully investigate a series of bizarre murders in a hospital’s plastic surgery unit. File this one firmly in the creepy category, as some of the medical procedures are not for the squeamish.
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Die Hand Die Verletzt (Season Two)
In Die Hand Die Verletzt, Mulder and Scully investigate the death of a teenager in Milford Haven, New Hampshire. The teen appears to have died during an occult ritual, but could it be connected to one of the teaching staff at the local school?
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Grotesque (Season Three)
In this episode, Mulder and Scully team up with the FBI’s chief profiler to investigate a serial killer who claims to have been possessed by the spirit of a gargoyle. Could this psychologically-infused case prove too much for Mulder?
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Squeeze (Season One)
Up next is easily the most famous episode of The X-Files – the season one classic, Squeeze. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate a series of ritualistic killings by Eugene Tooms – a man with the perplexing ability to move his body through impossibly narrow gaps.
In order to attack his victims, Tooms crawls through air vents, duct pipes, and chimneys, giving him access to anyone and everyone. Please do remember this when the lights are off, you’re at home alone, and you hear a strange noise coming from the fireplace.
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Tooms (Season One)
Picking up a short while after the events of Squeeze, Tooms sees Mulder and Scully back on the case after Eugene Tooms is released from prison. Yet more creepy killings take place, in this unsettling and superb sequel.
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The Host (Season Two)
While Squeeze is the most famous episode of The X-Files, the monster featured in this next offering, The Host, is arguably the most iconic. Even those who don’t recall the details of this episode, will instantly recall the ‘flukeman’!
In The Host, Mulder and Scully investigate when a body is found in sewage in New Jersey. But what they discover is more than a body – there’s a frightening creature in the sewers, which could have links to the Chernobyl disaster.
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Chinga (Season Five)
In Chinga, when Scully takes a vacation to get away from work for a few days, she soon finds herself drawn into another case involving a strange young girl and her doll. But this is no mere plastic plaything – there’s something sinister going on with this toy.
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Our Town (Season Two)
In Our Town, Mulder and Scully head to Dudley, Arkansas, to investigate the disappearance of a missing poultry inspector. But what they find is a stomach-churning case that could link the local chicken processing plant to cannibalism.
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Agua Mala (Season Six)
In Agua Mala, Mulder and Scully find themselves in a Florida trailer park trying to uncover the whereabouts of a family who have mysteriously disappeared. But when they become trapped due to a hurricane, they soon learn there is something sinister residing in the water.
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Young at Heart (Season One)
In this oft-overlooked offering from season one, Mulder and Scully are investigating a series of robberies, when it appears the culprit is an old enemy of Mulders. But how can this be, when the man supposedly died in prison several years ago?
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F. Emasculata (Season Two)
After several men die in prison from a mystery illness, Scully tries to uncover the cause while Mulder attempts to track down two escapees in the unsettling season two episode, F. Emasculata. However, what the agents both discover is a deadly disease that could have devastating ramifications if it is not contained.
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Unruhe (Season Four)
In Unruhe, some unusual photographs play a key role in this X-File, which focuses on a series of kidnappings and murders. The photographs offer disturbing imagery, but also present a window into the mind of the killer.
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Detour (Season Five)
In Detour, while traveling to a conference with two other FBI agents, Mulder and Scully stop at a roadblock and join an investigation involving attacks by an unidentified being. They soon discover there is something in the woods, and it stalks its prey unseen.
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Roadrunners (Season Eight)
In this creepy episode from the show’s eighth season, Scully pursues a cult that worships a slug-like creature believed to be the Second Coming. And as she soon discovers, the cult does not take kindly to strangers.
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Familiar (Season Eleven)
Up next is Familiar, a season eleven story which sees Mulder and Scully investigate a brutal animal attack on a little boy in Connecticut. But there’s more to the attack than there first seems, and it could have something to do with a children’s character known as Mr. Chuckleteeth.
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Miracle Man (Season One)
In Miracle Man, Mulder and Scully receive a video tape of a faith healer whose latest patient died under mysterious circumstances. Could this be an unfortunate incident, or could the healer’s ministry be covering up something sinister?
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Home (Season Four)
Of all the scary episodes on this list, there is one which stands out as being the most scariest of them all, and that episode is Home. In Home, Mulder and Scully uncover something truly shocking when they investigate the death of a baby who was born with severe physical defects, in the small town of Home, Pennsylvania.
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Darkness Falls (Season One)
In this atmospheric X-File, Mulder and Scully investigate when a team of loggers disappear without a trace. What they uncover is something lurking in the woods, in this skin-crawling instalment.
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Aubrey (Season Two)
In Aubrey, Mulder believes a serial killer from the ‘40s has somehow passed his genetic trait of violence to his grandchild. Expect creepiness a-plenty in this gem from season two.
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Eve (Season One)
In the truly chilling season one story, Eve, Mulder and Scully investigate two seemingly identical murders that occurred simultaneously thousands of miles apart. At first the murders seem bizarre but unconnected, until the FBI agents discover that both the victims’ daughters are identical in appearance.
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Fire (Season One)
In Fire, Mulder and Scully investigate a case involving a serial killer who murders his victims using pyrokinesis. This episode is most certainly not suitable for those with a fear of flames.
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Irresistible (Season Two)
Up next is Irresistible, a dark episode from the show’s second season. In this episode, Mulder and Scully are on the case of a death fetishist named Donnie Pfaster, who kidnaps and kills to satisfy his obession.
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Orison (Season Seven)
In this sequel to Irresistible, Donnie Pfaster is released from jail and is headed directly for Scully. But can she survive Pfaster’s wrath?
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The Calusari (Season Two)
In The Calusari, the death of a two-year-old boy brings Mulder and Scully onto a case involving something sinister in a family home.
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Patience (Season Eight)
In Patience, FBI agent John Doggett investigates a series of gruesome murders which appear to be connected to a bat-like creature. Patience is a creepy offering from the show’s eight season.
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2Shy (Season Three)
In 2Shy, Mulder and Scully investigate a series of murders being committed by a mutant killer. The killer acquires his victims though online chat sessions, targeting lonely woman who are looking for love.
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War of the Coprophages (Season Three)
Although quite humorous in places, War of the Coprophages falls into the ‘scary’ category because it centres its story around cockroaches! In this episode, Mulder investigates a small town plagued by deaths in which the bodies are found covered in the creepy critters.
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Oubliette (Season Three)
After a teenager is kidnapped and imprisoned by an unhinged photographer, Mulder discovers a psychic connection between the victim and another girl who was kidnapped by the same man years before.
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Pusher (Season Three)
In Pusher, Mulder and Scully become involved in a case involving a man who can influence people to do terrible things against their will. But how do you stop a psychopath who is the ultimate influencer?
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Leonard Betts (Season Four)
And finally, in Leonard Betts, Mulder and Scully investigate the supposed death of an emergency medical technician who can regenerate severed body parts. The technician in question is the eponymous Leonard Betts, who doesn’t want his secret exposed.
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Recap
The 31 scariest episodes of The X-Files are as follows:
- Ice (Season One)
- Sanguinarium (Season Four)
- Die Hand Die Verletzt (Season Two)
- Grotesque (Season Three)
- Squeeze (Season One)
- Tooms (Season One)
- The Host (Season Two)
- Chinga (Season Five)
- Our Town (Season Two)
- Agua Mala (Season Six)
- Young at Heart (Season One)
- F. Emasculata (Season Two)
- Unruhe (Season Four)
- Detour (Season Five)
- Roadrunners (Season Eight)
- Familiar (Season Eleven)
- Miracle Man (Season One)
- Home (Season Four)
- Darkness Falls (Season One)
- Aubrey (Season Two)
- Eve (Season One)
- Fire (Season One)
- Irresistable (Season Two)
- Orison (Season Seven)
- The Calusari (Season Two)
- Patience (Season Eight)
- 2Shy (Season Three)
- War of the Coprophages (Season Three)
- Oubliette (Season Three)
- Pusher (Season Three)
- Leonard Betts (Season Four)
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