10 Most Disturbing Monster Of The Week Villains From The X-files Season 1

Chris Carter's Emmy award-winning Fox drama The X-Files not only brought with it a fascinating dynamic between professional FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) but an investigative mystery steeped in science fiction and horror. Interspersed with the revolving alien mythology is the frequent "Monster of the Week" episodes.

These typically standalone episodes serve to align the two protagonists on their own adventure to tackle X-Files independent from aliens. These can range from werewolves, ghosts, corrupt A.I.'s, witches, and just about anything else that goes bump in the night. For many, the "Monster of the Week" has even become the highlight of the entire 218 episode series.

The show's first season sees Scully and Mulder travel the world to investigate some of the weirdest cases that the X-Files has to offer, unaware that the absolute worst has yet to come. 

10. Luther Lee Boggs

When Mulder and Scully were in need of help in catching a fugitive serial killer, the dynamic X-Files duo turned to death row inmate Luther Lee Boggs (Brad Dourif). Boggs had been imprisoned for a series of past murders but had taken up the role of a practiced psychic in his spare time awaiting death.

Aside from the overarching alien storyline, Boggs is one of the few season 1 villains who presents a personal component to the X-Files team, specifically Scully. Dana's father had recently passed away, with Boggs allowing the "audience surrogate" the chance to speak with her loved one beyond the land of the living. Though ultimately facing execution, Luther proved a major asset in catching the true murder suspect at large. 

9. Marty the Genderbender

While the episode itself Genderbender may be divisive amongst die-hard fans, the mystery is incredibly frightening. Genderbender's "Monster of the Week" is Marty (Peter Stebbings), who can assume the form of a male or female (Kate Twa) and dispatch others following sexual contact.

Marty himself is not a frightening individual, but the circumstances in which this individual incapacitates victims are not to be downplayed. Mulder and Scully's case culminates with Marty leading the two to a startling confrontation that leaves more questions than answers about Marty's classification and where this character may originate. The fact that the mystery surrounding this character still exists to this day is the real disturbing nature of Genderbender. 

8. The Eves

In an effort to progress the needs of super strength and stamina within human beings, the highly confidential Lichfield Experiment began to spearhead an equally secretive project. Lichfield's most ambitious experiment was the Eve series of clones, which initially consist of young girls.

Though, it's possible that the Eve project was greenlit in conjunction with the United States' attempt to reach equal footing alongside Russia during the Cold War. The only visible side effect that became apparent with the project's completion was the realization that many Eves were blessed with murderous and homicidal tendencies.  A renegade adult clone known as Eve 7, seeking retribution for her lab torture, made an attempt to retrieve the remaining clones in the present day. 

7. Cecil L'lvely

Gifted with a pyrokinetic ability to control fire, Cecil L'lvely was a mysterious spitfire who may or may not has gained his extraordinary abilities from a childhood sacrificial ritual.

Rather than use his powers to improve society, L'lvely naturally exchanged his heroism for causing harm. Becoming bored with the homicidal lifestyle, Cecil would move his attention onto obtaining devoted women.

Operating within the United Kingdom, Cecil worked a variety of odd jobs to build close relationships with the families and eventually... the woman of the household. Beyond his killer instincts, Cecil was a remorseless shell of a human being who had shown absolutely no qualms in wiping out or even killing entire families simply to satisfy his own ego. 

6. Wood Mites

Not every X-Files investigation has a human face at the center of its terror and there is no better representation of that than the Olympic National Forest's Wood Mites.

Theorized to be descendants of an extinct insect species, the Wood Mites are a tactical insect group, that operates in the dark and eliminate visitors, before encasing their corpses in immense cocoons. The Wood Mites' debut episode Darkness Falls is one of the series few bottle episodes with Mulder, Scully, and other potential victims surviving for their lives in the heart of the insect's territory.

As they lie in wait in the shadows, the Wood Mites work to slowly but surely dismantle formidable groups one by one. The Wood Mites have been involved in the disappearance of several parties over the years, including a 1934 Schiff-Immergut Lumber Company.  

5. The Manitou / Lyle Parker

The show's first werewolf, conceited Lyle Parker (Ty Miller) was a ranch farmer who regularly clashed with the fellow residents of the Trego Indian reservation. After being attacked by the former bearer of the Manitou curse, Native American Joseph Goodensnake, Parker is therein cursed to take the form of a Manitou folk legend.

Receiving similar attributes to that of a werewolf, a Manitou is an infamous spirit legend known within the pages of Algonquin myths and horror stories. However, unlike the most famous lycanthrope, Parker's transformations are not solely permitted by a full moon. As the bloodthirsty werewolf creature, Parker's human consciousness proves non-existent, placing loved ones and others at an absolute risk. 

4. Jersey Devil

The self-titled fifth episode of the series saw Mulder and Scully embark on a road trip to New Jersey; home of Seaside Boardwalk, the Hindenburg, and the Pine Barrens urban legend known as the Jersey Devil. Though initially a rumor, the Jersey Devil begins to make a public presence by killing the homeless and leaving little for the local police to expand upon.

Akin to the legend of Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil is yet another mythological creature rumored to be sighted in and around several areas of the Southern New Jersey region. Throughout the episode, only glimpses of the creature are showcased, leading to a full reveal of the Devil toward the end.

Unlike past incarnations, this Jersey Devil (Claire Stansfield) is not an incredibly violent monster with cherry-stained eyes or sharpened teeth but a disheveled human woman caring for her child. 

3. Tooms

The very first "Monster of the Week" villain that Mulder and Scully would face, seemingly hapless janitor Eugene Victor Tooms (played by Doug Hutchinson) became a serious terror to behold for the FBI duo. Born in the late 1800s, Tooms was a professed immortal who gained natural mutant abilities, which allowed him to survive in modern-day society.

These same abilities granted Tooms extreme elasticity, giving the mutant access to areas (such as air vents, chimneys, sewer drains) in which other humans cannot easily access. Using his abilities to enact a killing spree throughout numerous cities, Eugene's violent acts quickly attract the attention of the authorities and later their FBI superiors.

Once consuming at least five human livers, Tooms would escape to a stasis period every 30 years to replenish his strength and prepare for another decade of murder. 

2. John Barnett

A notorious criminal mastermind apprehended with the aid of Fox Mulder, serial killer John Barnett (David Peterson) faced life in prison for his vicious crimes against society. However, fate would have other plans in store when Barnett became the lab rat of ambitious Dr. Joe Ridley while incarcerated.

Ridley had been perfecting an ambitious formula to reverse the human aging process and tasked John to be his very first test subject. Barnett and the prison doctor used the circumstance of a heart attack to stage John's escape from prison. Once released, the newly de-aged Barnett made it his intention to make for the conjectural FBI agent who had him thrown in the can... Fox Mulder. 

1. Ice Worms

Drawn to the region of Alaska's Icy Cape, Mulder and Scully found themselves the newest victims of hostile parasitic ice worms. Joined by several researchers and security, the X-Files duo is tasked with investigating the murder of a research expedition.

Likely hailing from space, the culprits, parasitic ice worms, are nearly microscopic and thrive in subzero temperatures. As their name implies, the worms infect humans by attaching themselves to hard-to-reach areas (ears, nose, eyes), inciting violence and rage into their host bodies.

Like Darkness Falls, the Ice episode occurred in one single location, which helped give the episode a claustrophobic atmosphere reminiscent of 1951's The Thing From Another World and its 1982 remake from director John Carpenter.

While season 1 was a solid introduction course, future seasons of the X-Files would take the "Monster of the Week" concept in completely new directions, while continuing to expand on the main alien saga at work. If there's anything even remotely uncanny in pop culture that is out there for the taking, chances are Fox Mulder and Dana Scully have been through it all.