One month after celebrating the 30th anniversary of The X-Files premiere, Odometer is taking a look at some of the sci-fi series’ most iconic episodes. 

The X-Files first premiered in September 1993 and had an original 9-season run. The series followed FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as they investigate strange and unexplained incidents. The show returned in 2016 for a 10-episode tenth season and in 2018 with an eleventh season. 

The 1998 film The X-Files was also part of the franchise. The X-Files: I Want to Believe film surfaced in 2008, six years after the original series came to an end. 

Here is our list of the top 3 most iconic episodes of The X-Files.

1. The X-Files Season 6, Episode 6: ‘How the Ghosts Stole Christmas’ 

The X-Files kicked off the 1998 Christmas season in the spookiest way. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate a haunted house located in Maryland. Mulder tells Scully that on Christmas Day in 1917, the young couple living in the house at the time made a “lover’s pact” or a murder-suicide pact. They agreed that one of them would kill the other and the other would commit suicide. The man and woman made this pact after they both admitted to not being able to live without the other. Mulder shared that after their deaths, the couple began haunting the house. 

Scully, who is always skeptical when it comes to Mulder, follows her partner into the house. As she was grabbing her car keys, the front door slammed shut. The duo continued their search through the house and they both encountered the spirits separately. Eventually, the spirits start convincing Scully and Mulder to kill each other. As Scully reunites with Mulder, Mulder shoots her. Mulder finds Scully bleeding and Scully shoots him as well. Come to find out the woman, Lyda, was doing the acts. 

As the agents stumble down the stairs, they each accuse the other of shooting them. Mulder eventually figures out that it’s an illusion that both Lyda and her husband, Maurice, made up. Mulder and Scully leave the house while Lyda and Maurice hold hands by the fireplace. 

2. Season Four, Episode 12: ‘Small Potatoes’ 

During the fourth season of The X-Files, Mulder and Scully went to investigate a rather strange situation. Five babies in Martinsburg, West Virginia were born with tails. After looking into each baby’s chromosomes, the agents discover that the babies all have the same father. The parents of the babies go on to blame the local fertility doctor, who helped each other couples get pregnant, with the exception of one woman who thinks Luke Skywalker got her pregnant. 

However, Mulder eventually discovers a janitor who looks like he formerly had a tail. After a chase, Mulder finds out that the janitor, Eddie Van Blundht, is the father of all five children. Unfortunately, Eddie is able to escape from the agents by somehow transforming into the booking police office and knocking him out. 

As Mulder and Scully continue to look into Eddie and how he’s able to change his appearance, the janitor gives them the run-around by transforming into his father as well of the husband of one of the women he impregnated. Finally having enough, Mulder and Scully leave the town and return to Washington. Eddie somehow follows them and tries to seduce Scully by transforming into Mulder. Thankfully, the real Mulder stops him and Eddie ends up in prison. 

3. Fifth Season Episode 12: ‘Bad Blood’ 

Finally, one of the strangest X-Files features… vampires? At the beginning of the episodes, viewers witness Mulder killing a young man he believes is a vampire. However, it turns out the guy had pointed dentures instead of actual fangs. After the situation occurred, Mulder and Scully reflected on the situation and shared their accounts of what led to the shooting. 

Scully talks about how Mulder told her all about this murder in Texas and how he believes it was done by a group of vampires. The duo heads to Chaney, Texas where the killing took place. She investigates two bodies to find out that both victims ingested chloral hydrate in a pizza. She realized then that Mulder was in danger because she ordered a pizza, which was delivered to their motel room. As she walks into the room, she finds Mudler and the pizza delivery boy, Ronnie Strickland fighting. She shoots Ronnie but he somehow escapes into a nearby woods. When she finally finds Ronnie, Mulder already reached him and put a stake through his heart. 

Mulder then recalls that while Scully was investigating the other body, he started eating the pizza. He soon discovered that he was drugged and Ronnie entered the room with glowing green eyes. As Ronnie was preparing to attack him, Mulder fought back. He shot Ronnie, but the bullet didn’t do anything. 

Scully tells Mulder that no one would believe his side of the story because Ronnie is actually human and not a vampire. They return to Washington. However, Ronnie managed to wake up and run after the coroner removed the stake during the autopsy. The agents head back to Texas to continue the investigation. Eventually, Scully is drugged by the local sheriff after her offered a hot beverage.

Mulder ends up being surrounded by a group of people who have glowing green eyes. But both he and Scully wake up the next morning, appearing to be unharmed. They leave once again.