Mr. Chuckleteeth, happy as can be.
Mr. Chuckleteeth, won't you play with me?
When I'm feeling lonely, lonely as can be.
Oh, Mr. Chuckleteeth Won't you play with me?
Mr. Chuckleteeth, we all love you so.
Stay with us forever and never let us go.
When I'm feeling lonely, lonely as can be.
Oh, Mr. Chuckleteeth...
- You can't call me. - But, Diane...
Mr. Chuckleteeth...
I can't do this. I'm at the park with Andrew.
We need to talk.
Mommy! Mommy! Mr. Chuckleteeth!
- Mommy's on the phone, Andrew. - But, Mommy, look! Look!
- I can't do this. - Mommy! Mommy!
Stop calling me.
- Stop calling. - Don't hang up, Diane. Di...
Andrew?
Andrew.
Andrew! Andrew!
Mr. Chuckleteeth!
Mr. Chuckleteeth?
Where are you?
Mr. Chuckleteeth!
Mr. Chuckleteeth, happy as can be.
Mr. Chuckleteeth!
There you are.
Mr. Chuckleteeth, wait!
Where did you go?
Mr. Chuckleteeth!
Come back!
Andrew!
Andrew! It's Daddy!
Andrew!
- Andrew! - Andrew!
- Andrew, can you hear us? - Andrew!
Andrew!
- Andrew! - Andrew!
Andrew Eggers!
Andrew!
Oh, God.
- Heads up! - Somebody got him? Got something?
- Oh, God, help us. - Is that him?
- Rick. - Is that my son?
- Don't. Don't. No. No. - Andrew!
- Hey. - Andrew. Oh, God.
Let me go. Let me go!
Let me go! Andrew!
Andrew!
Oh, please.
Please! Andrew!
Andrew!
I think you can see by the photographs in our case file there...
the boy was viciously attacked.
And the body was found right here.
The coroner has asphyxiation as cause of death from a crushed windpipe...
and fracture dislocation of the cervical vertebrae.
Yeah, the town was really shaken up about it.
- But you think this was an animal attack? - Those photos speak for themselves, yes.
- What kind of animal, Chief Strong? - We get coyotes. Both here and in town.
It's rare that a coyote will attack a human being.
They say there's a new predator they're calling a coywolf.
It's a mix of Canis latrans and Canis lupus. It's a hybrid coyote-wolf.
- Is this the first such attack? - And hopefully the last.
But let me ask you.
- What's the FBI doing here? - The FBI has jurisdiction...
over the killing of the immediate family of a law enforcement officer.
Wait, you think that this was a murder?
- I don't rule it out. - What makes you say that?
I know this is a small town and probably very close-knit...
and I'm sure that you don't wanna hear this, but if a man did this...
and it would typically be a man, he would be emboldened by escaping detection...
- and would likely kill again. - Evidence doesn't support that.
Well, the broken neck supports that. And the bite marks that you see...
might be postmortem animal predation.
You can't just walk in here making assumptions...
- we've dismissed. - These aren't just careless assumptions.
Agent Scully's also a medical doctor, and damn good at her job.
You'd be looking at a male, aged 19 to 42, with a criminal record...
and probably lives near and frequents the park...
would know the boy's play schedule.
And most disturbingly, these types of killers get aroused at the suffering of their victims.
We were hoping we could see the body.
- Thanks for backing me up out there. - Yeah. You're my homey.
But coywolves?
- Really, Mulder? - Sometimes mixed with wild dogs.
Bet a wolf hasn't been seen in Connecticut for 100 years.
Just last year, to be accurate.
All that I took from the report is that a child was snatched right from that playground.
- Does that sound like a wolf to you? - I wasn't thinking wolf.
I was thinking more like a hell hound.
What's a hell hound now?
It's a large black dog that guards the gates of the underworld. That's neither here nor there.
The point is stranger things have happened around here.
In 1658, a Puritan midwife named Goody Bishop...
was accused of witchcraft and lying with the devil.
Legend has it she spontaneously combusted in front of the assembled townsfolk.
- Right over there. - As we've discussed before...
people don't just spontaneously combust. That woman was undoubtedly an innocent...
a tragic victim of religious persecution and hysteria.
And anybody would know that if they read beyond the tourist literature.
Because there were bogus witch hunts doesn't mean that there were no witches.
While I do sadly concede there are probably no coywolves in Eastwood, Connecticut...
I suspect there are still practitioners of the black arts.
Practice all they want, it doesn't mean witchcraft has any basis in reality.
Yeah, well, and yet a young boy is dead.
The only devil here probably parks right here in front of the playground...
stirring something other than his caldron.
Hm.
I just wanna find the killer.
No matter how many times we do this, Mulder, a child is always the hardest.
- Never gets easier. - It's an innocent life cut short.
It's hard not to take it personally.
Irregular lacerations and abrasions on the neck, throat and torso.
A significant amount of the lower abdomen...
is completely torn out and missing.
That would appear to agree with their findings.
Well, evisceration fits animal predation...
but the condition of the body makes it almost impossible to determine when it happened.
Cervical fracturing fits with the picture that he was most probably shaken to death.
By a man?
Well, that's something I didn't wanna broach out there, Mulder.
You think it's one of the parents.
You were in Violent Crime, Mulder, before you came to the X-Files.
- You know the profile. - Eyewitnesses exculpate the mother.
But the father...
He's a police officer.
Being protected by fellow officers?
What's that?
- What does that look like to you? - Is that fine white sand?
Looks like salt to me.
Mm.
Is that in the report?
- What would be the significance of that? - I'm not sure.
Tell you what else isn't in the report. An eyewitness who wasn't interviewed.
And her father is the chief of police.
- She's 5 years old. - Doesn't that seem odd?
- And her mother was right there with her. - Seems very odd to me.
But you're wasting your time, Mulder.
Andrew blessed the lives of all of us here in Eastwood.
Today, we all grieve with Diane and Rick...
for the unimaginable loss of one of Eastwood's dearest sons.
This isn't right. We don't even have his body.
My baby.
It is in the most difficult times...
that the love and compassion of our community is so vitally important.
"For where two or three are gathered in my name...
there am I among them."
Amen.
Andrew is with the Lord now.
Free from the evils of this world.
Free from our iniquities...
- and free from our sins. - Amen.
- Amen.
So both of you, just please understand that.
If you ever, ever need to talk...
let me know, I...
Yes. Thank you. Excuse me.
Diane.
Please, I can't talk now.
Okay. I'm just...
I'm so sorry for your loss.
Hey, man. I'm so sorry.
Hey, let me ask you something.
Why won't the FBI release Andrew's body?
Look, he's my son.
What are they saying?
What are you keeping from me, man?
They're pushing another story. They're saying it wasn't an animal attack.
What are they saying it was?
The female agent?
She laid out a profile.
Male, 19 to 42, past convictions.
She even said he probably gets off on it.
Oh, God.
And he probably lives here in Eastwood.
I'm sorry, man.
Okay, we'll see you.
Why...? Why does the FBI need to speak to Emily?
- She's just a little girl. - We need to cooperate with them.
We've got nothing to hide. They just wanna ask questions.
- Anna, just play nice. - I was there. We didn't see anything.
I'm getting it from all sides.
They're trying to turn a tragedy into a murder investigation.
- But what does that have to do with Emily? - Just let them talk to her. Okay?
The man asked you a question, Em.
Emily, did you see who took Andrew?
But if you saw, you'd tell Mommy, right?
- Did you see anyone at all? - I saw Andrew going into the forest.
Right.
Go watch your show.
Well, I...
I guess I'm not as interesting as...
- Bibbletiggles. - Bibbletiggles.
She's obsessed.
- Well, who wouldn't be? - I just... I can't...
I can't stop thinking about how easily it could've been us.
I mean, you look away for just one moment...
Do you have kids, Agent Mulder?
Well, I have a son who's... He's grown, though.
When I was little, you could hardly keep me in the house.
Now you can't drag your kid away from a screen.
Yeah.
- Are you from around here? - Yeah, right down the street.
Yeah, Nutmegger through and through. Husband too.
I met him when I was 5 years old.
He must be under a lot of pressure. With the case.
There's the guilt. That it happened on his watch.
He's very protective of this little town. Obsessively.
Runs in the family, I guess.
Mommy.
I want juice, please.
- Excuse me. - Sure.
- My husband's a local history nut. - Ah.
Ahem. The witch trials and all that.
- Anything else, Agent Mulder? - No.
- Thank you for your time. - Mr. Chuckleteeth.
- Mommy! - Happy as can be.
- Mr. Chuckleteeth, won't you play with me? - He was in the forest.
When I'm feeling lonely, lonely as can be.
Oh, Mr. Chuckleteeth Won't you play with me?
Son of a bitch.
Seeing the body change your mind?
I maintain that the boy was murdered.
But there's something that you should know, as hard as it is to contemplate.
- Don't go there. - When the child is under the age of 5...
the majority of assailants are in fact...
- Rick Eggers did not kill his son. - Most of the time, friends and family...
can't contemplate that the suspect is capable of these crimes.
Because they carry out their fantasies in private.
- I've heard about enough. - I want to rule him out as a suspect.
Officer Eggers loved Andrew. He's a decent, honorable man.
- A good cop. - But I need your help.
When suspects are confronted, they have a tendency...
- to become violent towards themselves. - I'd confront him myself, but I don't have to.
He was working his shift when Andrew was attacked.
- With you or out on his own? - Why don't you ask him yourself?
Hey. Where's Eggers?
He just ran out of here, chief. Almost knocked me over.
Hey!
Let's go!
Rick, I need you to pull over. That's an order.
Pull over right now.
Where the hell is he going?
Hold on.
- You think he's going home? - He's going the wrong way.
Melvin Peter!
Where are you, you son of a bitch?
Put that away.
Eggers!
Eggers.
- He's not here. He's not here. - Eggers, what are you doing?
- He's not here! - Whoa, whoa!
Hey. Hey! Put the gun down.
Rick.
Put the gun down.
It's okay. Come on.
I got it.
What the hell is going on?
I found the piece of garbage that she was talking about.
- He's my boy. - Okay. Okay.
- Mulder. Where are you? - Back where they found the body.
- There's been a development. - What kind of development?
I'm not quite sure yet. But the dead boy's father has had a breakdown.
Mulder?
Mulder, are you there?
Just tell me where you are.
114 Bentley Avenue.
Who let the dogs out?
Waiting on a search warrant.
- Whose house are we searching? - Convicted sex offender, Melvin Peter.
Failed to register with the local police when he moved in last year.
Two blocks away from Ash Hill Park.
- Who figured that out? - Father of the deceased. Right over there.
Based on the profile I provided.
I'm not convinced.
- You sure about that, Mulder? - I'm not sure about anything.
I got the warrant. Let's go.
Oh! Come on.
What is it, Mulder?
They put out an APB on Melvin Peter and called his parole officer.
I still don't like him for it.
What's not to like? I mean, you couldn't dream up a more perfect suspect.
He's potentially John Wayne Gacy with a monkey.
That's it, it's too perfect. I don't like perfect like that. Makes me uncomfortable.
Well, sometimes the simplest of competing theories is actually the right one.
Most of these people would agree. That's what scares me.
They've been living next to a pedophile and didn't know it.
Yeah. This guy has no chance.
- Why are you defending him? - I'm not defending him.
But you said it yourself, it's this rush to judgment.
Mass hysteria, Salem, McCarthyism.
What happened to the presumption of innocence?
Which is rooted in a very democratic ideal...
that it's better to let 10 guilty men go free...
- than to imprison one innocent man. - I am all for benefit of the doubt...
but he's a convicted felon. We have to start somewhere.
And you and this mob are reconvicting him right here and now for the sins of his past.
With a fervor that we see too often in this American experience of ours.
If you're not gonna do something, we will!
Em, it's time for lunch.
Emily. TV off now.
Em.
Emily.
Emily?
Emily.
Emily!
Similar signs of predation, but not beyond forensic analysis.
You okay, Mulder?
I talked to her just this morning.
Just this morning she was alive.
Is this the killing field?
Is it true? Emily!
- No, no, no. No, Anna. No. Don't go there. - Em.
- Don't. - No, no, no. Emily!
- Let me go! Emily! - No. Stop, stop. Stop.
No.
You can't be here. Okay, you can't be here, honey.
You did this!
You did this to her.
This is all your fault!
- She can't be here. Get her out of here. - I'll take her out, chief.
It's okay.
What is it, Mulder?
It's salt.
Well, there's some here too.
- You seeing this, Scully? - Mulder, it's a crime scene.
No, you know what this is?
- This is a magic circle. - Mulder...
In witchcraft, magic circles are used to summon spirits and demons.
- Mulder, stop... - When casting spells or curses.
The salt protects the caster from the demons unleashed.
Mulder, this is protecting no one, and you can't do this.
In the 16th and 17th century...
witches were said to conjure spirits called familiars...
which usually took the form of animals.
- But sometimes could take human shape... - What are you doing?
In the guise of their victims' ardent desires or a woman luring a man to his death or...
Hey, I asked you a question.
A TV character.
- What do you mean, a TV character? - Mind telling me what you're doing?
Scully...
this is a Puritan graveyard.
This is ground where spirits and demons have been unleashed.
I think there's someone who's not telling us everything they know.
- What the hell? - That's him. That's him right there.
- What did I do wrong? - You killed my boy!
You closed the case because you didn't want it looked into further.
You knew there was salt on that boy's body, but you hid that fact.
A fact you know would reveal someone was practicing witchcraft.
- Mulder. - No, it's...
- It's okay. He's right. - You ought to take a beat, chief...
before you say anything else.
Did you kill those children?
I have let the devil into my soul and I have sinned against God.
Broken a sacred commandment. But I did not kill anyone.
- Especially not Emily. - Then what's your part in all of this?
I am a...
lustful man.
An adulterer. She wanted to end the relationship...
but I wouldn't let her. I kept pushing and pushing.
I was on the phone with her when Andrew went missing.
And now...
my own daughter.
God.
What have I done?
See, I'm being punished.
I've opened the gates of hell.
- Oh, God. - Let's all give him some room.
- How did you know, Mulder? - I did not see that coming.
But you knew something.
Yeah. In his library, there are all these books on the town's history.
Folklore, witchcraft.
Well, that's circumstantial at best. I'm sure lots of libraries in this town have those books.
Yes, but he would have known about magic salt circles, familiars and hell hounds.
So you think Chief Strong unleashed something?
I think someone has put a curse on this town, Scully...
and maybe unwittingly opened the gates of hell.
Hey, we got a situation here.
- Officer involved. - Copy.
It's Officer Eggers.
Get him! Get him!
- Hit him again! - Hit him!
- Hit him again! - Kill him! Go on! Get in there!
Hold it. Eggers, stop! Stop! Hey! Back off! Don't do this!
He killed my son.
I never killed anyone.
- You're a convicted predator. - You can't do this!
- Let me go! - Hey! Relax, all right?
I'm serious, Eggers! Back off! Hey!
- Who are you protecting? Just let me go! - You. I'm protecting you.
We were kids. It was statutory. I never hurt anybody!
- Oh, no! Don't you talk to me about kids! - All right. Relax. Everyone, back up!
All of you!
Hey, all of you! Back up!
Hey! Back up! Hey! Get off! Stand back! Get off him!
- Get off him. Hey! - Please!
Get off him!
Guys, get off him.
Get off him.
Stop!
FBI!
Any further violence will be viewed as attempted murder!
I never hurt anybody.
Call an ambulance.
No!
All rise for Judge Theo Brown.
You may be seated.
I fear emotions are running high today.
So I'd like to ask everyone to respect the seriousness of our jobs at this arraignment.
I'll ask respective counsels to approach.
There will be two injustices here.
The death of an innocent man and the release of a guilty officer.
What makes you so sure, Mulder?
It's small town justice. They have their scapegoat, their predator.
We've witnessed mass hysteria and mob violence at its worst...
but I'm not so sure about an innocent man.
This is a witch hunt. The person or persons responsible for the deaths of those children...
is in this courtroom today.
- What happened to hounds of hell? - Oh, I saw one.
Mm-hm.
I did.
Whatever you think you may have seen, Mulder, you still haven't explained...
how a wolf can take a young child from under its mother's nose.
He was just guarding the entrance to the underworld in this case.
Return to your tables.
- You still haven't answered my question. - Mr. Eggers.
Due to your exemplary record as an officer of the Eastwood Police Department...
the testimony of your peers, and in determining you are not a flight risk...
bail will be set at $5000.
Next court date is 30 days from today. Court is adjourned.
Looks like somebody wants to talk to us.
- Agent Scully, Agent Mulder. - Officer Wentworth.
You missed the proceedings.
I'm sickened how things turned out.
I didn't become a cop to watch a man get gunned down without due process.
So I went out and did some digging.
The day Andrew disappeared...
Melvin was performing at a birthday party 40 miles from here.
I checked with his client. They have him on video.
The encoded time stamp places him there at 2:15 p.m.
Right when Andrew disappeared.
There's no way he could have been in that park.
Have you told anybody else about this?
I told Chief Strong, but he didn't wanna hear it.
He told me to let sleeping dogs lie.
I don't think the chief's head's been right since he lost little Emily.
- No, you did the right thing. - The town won't see it that way.
Time has a way of shedding light on injustices.
Especially in this part of the country.
And we're not done here yet.
I sure would like to find that killer.
See him get what's coming to him.
We'll talk to Chief Strong.
You think I didn't know?
It's over, Rick. I called it off.
Heh. Well, it's a little late for that now.
I was stupid.
People make mistakes.
I'm asking you to forgive me.
For sleeping with my boss or for the death of our son?
No, I will not forgive you.
What, you're gonna kill me too?
I'm leaving you, you witch.
You can't leave me, Rick.
I'm leaving you.
Stay away from me!
Andrew!
Come on out here, you son of a bitch!
Anna, you stay down. It's between me and your cheating husband!
Strong!
Mr. Chuckleteeth, happy as can be.
Mr. Chuckleteeth, won't you play with me?
When I'm feeling lonely.
Lonely as can be.
Oh, Mr. Chuckleteeth, won't you play with me?
Mr. Chuckleteeth, we love you so.
Stay with us forever.
And never let us go.
What the hell is this?
Mr. Chuckleteeth, we all love you so.
Stay with us forever.
And never let us go.
Mr. Chuckleteeth, it's time to say farewell.
If you try to run away.
We'll send you straight to hell.
Eggers?
Man down in the doorway.
- It's Officer Eggers. Shot dead. - I'll call it in.
Mulder, there's salt.
Chief Strong!
FBI!
Mr. Chuckleteeth, happy as can be.
Mr. Chuckleteeth, won't you play with me?
When I'm feeling lonely.
Mrs. Strong!
Lonely as can be.
You in here?
Mr. Chuckleteeth, won't you play with me?
Mr. Chuckleteeth, we all love you so.
Stay with us forever and never let us go.
Mr. Chuckleteeth, happy as can be.
Follow me and prance with me And come be friends with me.
- There's a patrol car on the corner. - There's no one inside.
There's something missing. A grimoire.
It has instructions for summoning spirits and demons.
Mulder, a man's been shot, and it wasn't a spirit.
Chief Strong was having an affair with Eggers' wife...
- and it was probably a crime of passion. - Yeah, and the gates of hell.
- Where are we going? - Back to the scene of the crime.
Come on, Diane. Pick up the phone.
Oh, my Lord.
No.
No, no, no.
Diane.
Diane!
Anna?
Anna, what are you doing?
Don't! I have to end what I started.
What you started?
I only meant to curse Diane for what you were doing behind my back.
You!
You did this?
- Our baby girl? - I was only trying to curse you.
You've unleashed something you can't control!
No. I can end this.
Oh, my God, Mulder.
Anna!
Put the book down.
Anna, drop the book.
- No. No, I can end this. Please. - No, no. You may have tapped into something...
you can't control.
Anna!
Somehow this didn't burn.
What'd you tell him?
To consider that book as evidence.
Evidence of what exactly?
Of a town in the grip of madness.
Of the most human faults and frailty.
Or in the grip of a curse, unleashed by a modern-day witch.
Well, leave that to the tourist literature, Mulder.
I just hope that it's over.
I only hope that it is, too.
That woman went up in flames.
Maybe it was the candles.
Maybe it was the gates of Hell.
Let's get out of this town, Mulder.
There is no getting out of this town, Scully. Not these days.