The X-Files:
Witch-lights and Fox-fires
For Shan'ika, from your Freshie
Ni kar'tayli gar darasuum
FBI Headquarters
Washington, D.C.
11:57 A.M.
"Throughout history, reports of unidentified lights have been prevalent among communities all around the world." Mulder continued to narrate his slide show, clicking through blurry pictures of lights and distant flames with a variety of settings. "These lights are often accompanied by unexplained sounds, and often appear over set intervals of time or on specific dates."
Scully had sat by and listened long enough. "Mulder, these pictures could be a large number of things, and the reports can be put down to fires and mass hallucinations caused by swamp gas-"
"What is it with scientists and swamp gas? Besides, our case has something deeper to it." Mulder skipped over a few slides, coming to an image of a corpse with several bullet wounds in the chest. "This man went into the marsh surrounding a small town in Louisiana over the weekend. When he came back out, it was apparent that something in there had driven him mad, and it wasn't your average Saturday night fever. Witnesses claimed he was jabbering about the lights that were going to 'take him' before he was shot down for attacking several police officers who he seemed to think were monsters in disguise."
Scully chose this point to voice her opinion. "Well that's all very fascinating, but unless someone filled out a complaint at the local FBI office-" She was cut short as Mulder held aloft what appeared to be a complaint of the same kind Scully had just mentioned.
After a brief pause, she spoke up again. "Louisiana it is."
Tensas Parish Sheriff's Office
Tensas, Louisiana
6:34 P.M.
Due to the fact that Mulder had already been prepared for the trip, it had taken a relatively short amount of time.
When they came into the local sheriff's office, a large, burly man wearing a uniform of less than impressive quality greeted them.
"Are you the agents who were sent to check about the disappearances?" The two agents shared a glance, and then affirmed his theory.
"When you say disappearances, you mean this has happened before? We only have one case on record."
This statement did not seem to surprise the sheriff in the slightest. "People have been disappearing in those swamps for ages. However, until recently it was never reported or investigated for several reasons. The community in the swamp developed only a few years ago. It is very remote, and only a few people live there."
Mulder finally spoke up. "Does this town have a name?"
"Technically, it is its own town, but really its more of a half-finished development project on the outskirts of another, larger town; a satellite, if you will. In short, no."
"Is there a road to this town?"
"Depends on your definition of road."
Louisiana swamplands
Tensas, Louisiana
7:09 P.M.
The Sheriff had not made an overstatement. By the end of the drive, the agents had needed to get out and push their car three times, change two of the tires, and accumulated several large bumps on their heads from hitting the top of the car while driving what seemed like more of an animal track than a man-made path. They would have missed the town entirely if they had not hit the wall.
Scully tried to shout a warning, but of course it was too late. With a screech of metal, the car crumpled as it rammed into the wall of what may have been someone's house. Thankfully, the condition of the road had forced them to drive slowly, so neither of them was hurt.
"We sure know how to make an entrance." Mulder remarked. As he got out and inspected the front of the car, he added, "I hope we also know how to make an exit, because this thing isn't going to get us back to town, especially not on a road like that."
"Do you think there will be some kind of motel in town?" Scully inquired.
"I wouldn't get your hopes up, but I've seen stranger things." And with that, they began trying to find a safe, minimally bogged-down path into the town.
"Gator Heights"
Tensas, Louisiana
7:11 P.M.
As they made their way around the building, several things became apparent. It seemed as though they had arrived on the highest point in the town, which had been built on what appeared to be a small hill. A sign on the ground near them announced the land to be Gator Heights housing development. There appeared to be around 20 buildings in use, and about half those buildings were residential. Farther out, they could see many unused buildings being reclaimed by the swamp. They also saw a group of people coming to see what all the racket was about.
When the two groups met, one of the villagers spoke up. "Are you the ones they sent to find out what happened to Wilber?"
"Yes, did any of you know him personally?"
A different townsman answered his inquiry. "In a town this small, you end up knowing everyone personally, whether you like it or not."
"Well, we can interview those of you who were closest to him in the morning. For now, is there a place where we could spend the night?"
"Gator Heights"
Tensas, Louisiana
10:34 A.M.
As it happened, there was a motel in Gator Heights, but for obvious reasons it was unused and abandoned. The agents had spent the night in rooms that were ironically brand-new and run-down at the same time. Scully had slept as soon as possible, but Mulder had stayed awake and observed the swamp. As it grew darker, he searched for lights or sounds. Around midnight, he saw what appeared to be small flames that wandered and converged near the edge of town.
He told Scully of this occurrence, but she was understandably skeptical.
"Mulder, staying up until midnight looking for ghosts would make anyone see flashing lights. You were obviously tired, and the fact that you got insufficient sleep will not weigh well on my field report."
"But Scully, if the victim saw lights and I saw lights in that area, doesn't that warrant at least minimal investigation?"
"Whatever you say Mulder. Just don't pull anything like that again."
As they made their way around town, the interviews developed a very obvious message. The village did have a very long history of unexplained lights sighted in the surrounding swamp. In fact, they could be viewed every night, and all the villagers had acquired the habit of being inside their houses by sunset and never entering the swamp at any time. If they had to leave town for any reason, they refused to set a single toe on the soil around the road for any reason. The victims- Wilber and several others over the years- had all been known to disbelieve the legends or pay little heed to superstition. Most of them had also been alcoholics.
These facts led Mulder and Scully to two very different conclusions.
"It makes sense, Scully. The victim has one too many at the bar, accidentally wanders into the swamp, and then someone- or something- drives him insane."
"But if they are alcoholics, that could just mean the victims were too drunk to think straight and was affected by the atmosphere."
"Oh come on, Scully. We both know beer isn't enough to bring full-on hallucinations."
"But alcoholics are more likely to also use more serious stuff. He could have been exposed to an actual hallucinogen in an attempt to get a better effect."
"Yeah, but in case you haven't noticed, there aren't exactly rivers of LSD around here. Where would he have gotten it?"
There was a brief silence before Scully responded. "You're going to use this as an excuse to drag me into the swamp, aren't you?"
"Gator Heights"
Tensas, Louisiana
5:37 P.M.
The outer parts of the town were surreal, to say the least. The farther the two agents walked from the inhabited region of Gator Heights, the more foliage could be found choking the dilapidated buildings. After a while, half-finished husks and formerly cleared-out foundations replaced the houses. It was apparent that once funding had run out, so had either the money or the desire needed to clean up the unfinished portions.
"See anything interesting, Scully?" Mulder inquired.
"Aside from the obvious? The sheer amount of plants and fungi is overwhelming, but there are several species that could possibly act as hallucinogens."
"Okay. Dusk is coming, so start taking notes on them. Then we can search a bit more and get out of here. Unexplained presences aside, this doesn't seem like the best place to be caught in the dark."
Suddenly a new voice spoke out from the growing shadows. "No, it really isn't." Mulder and Scully turned to find a lithe woman with long red hair. "Maybe you could come hide out in my place."
Scully spoke up first. "And who exactly are you? What are you doing out here?"
Mulder was just as shocked, but for different reasons. "Scully, why are you being so rude? It's a valid offer! She could help us with the case!"
The stranger nodded in agreement. "I knew Wilber. I'll tell you what I know, if it helps you get to the bottom of this. My name is Harper, by the way. Come on, night is upon us."
With that, she went back the way she had come. Mulder started to follow, but Scully held him back. "Mulder, stop! That was bizarre, but we need to focus on the case and then get back to the motel. We don't have time to be chasing women through the swamp!"
"How else are we going to find the answer? She say she knows what happened, and if she was out here at the time she may be the only one who can really answer our questions!"
Scully was really flustered by this point. "Why are you acting so weird? Something about this doesn't feel right… I don't know what, but we should just head back to the motel and try again in the morning."
"Normally I'm supposed to be the one with the hunches Scully. And my hunch is telling me to follow her. Go back if you want, but I'm going to try and actually solve this case." With that, Mulder walked off into the shadows. Not wanting to lose her partner, Scully followed. But not without promising herself that she would chew him out for this later.
Harper's house
Tensas, Louisiana
5:59 P.M.
The two agents followed Harper out into the swamp, through the dilapidated buildings and mossy trees, until they came to a small clearing with a strangely well-kept house in the center. Harper invited them inside and led them to the second floor.
"You can sleep here. We can talk about Wilber in the morning."
Scully almost shouted, "What do you mean in the morning? We followed you here for answers, so give them! It's only 6:00 anyway! Do you seriously expect us to sleep?"
Once again, Mulder intervened on the stranger's behalf. "Scully, don't be so rude! If we want answers we won't get them by yelling at our host. Let's just do as she says."
Scully was furious. It took all the self-restraint she had to avoid screaming or hitting him or just running away. "Fine. We'll stay the night. But no more delays afterwards. We need to solve this case."
Harper led them down the hall to the rooms they would be staying in. Mulder's was halfway down the hall, and Scully's was at the very end. The rooms were sparsely but comfortably furnished; each had a large, single-person bed and a nightstand, but not much else. Even though it was early, Scully decided to lie down for a bit just to think and figure out what was wrong with Mulder. In fact, it seemed that something was seriously wrong about the whole situation. But as she lay there and thought, she somehow found herself falling asleep. Before she could even register this or do anything about it, she was completely unconscious.
Harper's house
Tensas, Louisiana
11:21 P.M.
Scully had no idea what had woken her up. When asked later, she said it must have been the glow. But she didn't believe that statement any more than she knew the real answer.
Scully awoke with an inexplicable feeling of wrongness. It was similar to what she had felt the previous night, but so much stronger. It was then that she noticed the flickering light playing along the walls. She got up in bed and saw something she had no idea how to explain.
There was a fox in her room. Its fur was a bright, rich shade of red, and its entire body was limed in flames. As she sat there, stunned, it jumped at her, trailing the fire behind it.
Her training kicked in instantly. Her gun was across the room with her suit, so she reached out and grabbed the nearest heavy object she could find: the nightstand. Because of the physical fitness standards the Bureau had in place, she was more than capable of lifting it. By the time she did, however, she could feel heat from the fire around the fox. It made contact, giving her minor burns all over her body before she could swing the table and knock it to the ground.
She didn't wait to see if it got up. Before she knew what was happening she was out in the hall yelling for Mulder to wake up. As she bolted into his room, he was getting out of bed and reaching for his gun. "Mulder there's something in there. We can't fight it, we need to leave!"
Normally Mulder would have argued, but he saw the look of terror on Scully's face and knew this was not the right time to mess around. Together they dashed out of the room, barely registering the reddish glow of flames at the end of the hall as they rushed down the stairs.
They knew something was on their tail, whatever it was, so they did not stop, did not question what it was, just kept running. They made their way out of the house, feeling heat on their backs and smelling smoke. They put everything they had into running away from the house. Mulder pointed to a group of lights up ahead. "Head for the town!"
Scully nodded breathlessly. They raced through the trees, not sure if the thing was even following anymore, but not wanting to take the risk of slowing down. They just kept heading towards the lights, jumping over roots and running through ditches.
All of a sudden, the lights went out. One second the agents were rushing towards those glittering dots they saw through the trees, the next second they were running towards an empty space in a dark, silent swamp. It took them a few seconds to realize this, but when they did they immediately slowed down with identical looks of terror on their faces.
"Where did the town go?" Seconds after Scully asked this, the swamp around them was alive with light and fire. They were completely surrounded by dozens of fiery orbs that were floating in the night air. Mulder froze up, his long-standing fear of fire immobilizing him. Scully had already begun to run, but she noticed that her partner was no longer with her. She looked back to see the orbs converging on him.
"Mulder!" She cried out, sprinting back to him. She noticed that a few of the orbs were also tailing her, and the rest were swirling around them, keeping them from escaping. She reached Mulder and grabbed his arm. "Come on! We need to get out of here!"
He couldn't even gather enough wits to respond. His eyes were dilated far wider than they normally would be, and she could feel his pulse just by pulling him along by the wrist. She ran as fast as she could with him in tow, but as they neared the wall of flying fireballs, Mulder realized what was about to happen. He stopped, digging his feet into the earth and trying to tear his arm from Scully's grasp. She turned towards him and pulled with all her strength, but Mulder was just as determined as she was, his feet sinking deep into the soft ground of the swamp. Realizing she could not keep this up for much longer, Scully tried a different course of action. She let go, and Mulder overbalanced, falling and hitting his head on a rock. He lost consciousness, and Scully tried her best to carry him.
Unfortunately, Mulder was much heavier than she thought he would be. The orbs were moving closer, and Scully knew she only had a few moments to find a way to get him back to the town alive. She wracked her brain for an answer, frantically trying to find a solution, any solution, but none came. The lights were moving closer and closer, and she knew she had to run. Cursing herself, the orbs, anything and everything she could think of to hate, she ran away from Mulder's limp body. She reached the wall of fire and jumped through. The fire wrapped around her, catching her clothing and singing her hair. Then she was through, rolling on the wet ground to extinguish the flames.
She got up and kept running, tears welling up in her eyes from the pain, physical and emotional, that was tearing her apart. It almost drove her to her knees, but instead she used it for energy, telling herself that the pain would end if she could just keep running. But then she had an epiphany that really did drive her to her knees. She had no idea where she was running. She frantically glanced around, trying to find the lights of the town, when she noticed that the orbs were all following her now. Mulder was still lying where he had fallen, but the lights had formed a single group that was floating towards her.
She also noticed a dim glow over the nearest ridge, off to the left of the lights. She knew that she had to take a risk, so she gathered the last of her strength and ran towards the light over the hill. She reached the top just as the orbs were converging on her position, and she was rewarded with the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. She saw the buildings that were Gator Heights housing development. She practically tumbled down the hill, dashing up to the nearest house. She knocked frantically on the door, bolting inside as soon as it opened. Ignoring the shouts of surprise around her, she collapsed on the spot and lost consciousness.
"Gator Heights"
Tensas, Louisiana
7:42 A.M.
Scully woke up the next morning surrounded by concerned faces. They were all unfamiliar, but it only took her a few seconds to remember where she was and who they were.
"What happened out there?" The man who spoke up first was directly next to her, holding a tube of burn ointment. She assumed he was the closest thing they had to a doctor in the town.
"My partner and I were caught in… some kind of fire… I don't know how to explain, but he may still be out there. I need you to come with me and find him." The man nodded, and they made their way out the door and into the swamp.
Mulder was a very lucky man in at least two ways. First of all, his partner had an excellent memory and was able to find him without having to search for long. The second reason was that she also had very good powers of observation; when Scully had ran, she was right in thinking that the strange orbs would not follow something that did not appear to be alive. When she found him again, he was unburned, but he did have a nasty concussion.
As they made their way back to the town, they tried to piece together what little knowledge they had gained.
"I'm sorry about how I acted last night, Scully. I don't know what came over me when I saw Harper… and the fireballs…"
"It's alright Mulder. I just want to know what happened… that woman was so strange, and the fox thing that showed up in her house…"
"Well if I didn't know better, I would say that Harper and the fox were one and the same. In Japanese folklore, foxes are magical, and when they reach a certain age they gain the power to appear as young women. They can also control fire and hypnotize men. As for the lights, they could have been will-o'-wisps… spirits from European legends that appear in the moors and torment travellers. But of course you probably have some logical explanation for what happened out there, right?"
"No, Mulder. I don't."
Field Journal
Agent Dana Scully, Federal Bureau of Investigation
August 23rd, 1998
In the time I have spent thus far in the X-files unit, this is one of the strangest assignments I have been given. No evidence has been collected as to exactly what happened to the victim, and all trails have gone cold. The people living in Gator Heights have no explanation as to his state upon reappearing in town due to the fact that they never leave for fear of the same happening to them. When Agent Mulder and I went to investigate the house of the woman who appeared to us in the swamp, we could find nothing but the burnt-out ruins of a half-built home. Due to the terrifying nature of our time in the swamp, Agent Mulder and I have requested to be assigned to a different investigation for the time being. Our request has been accepted, and the case remains open and unsolved.