The X-Files

Demons - S4-E23

Factual error: The date stamp says that it is April 12 and Scully says that it is Sunday, but April 12, 1997 was a Saturday. (00:03:10)

Unusual Suspects - S5-E3

Factual error: When Byers asks Langly to try under active cases to find Holly Modeski in the FBI database, Langly only presses two or three keys on a keyboard, which is obviously not enough to enter "Holly Modesky" to the search engine. (00:19:40)

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Unusual Suspects - S5-E3

Factual error: When two unidentified men who approached Susanne Modeski in the warehouse take out their handguns, they have regular pistols. However, when they start to shoot, continuous fire is heard that could only be produced by an automatic weapon. (00:28:40)

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Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Fully automatic pistols exist, such as the Glock 18.

Unusual Suspects - S5-E3

Factual error: When Suzanne Modeski retreats to the restroom with a pair of pliers to pull out her tooth, she is only gone for approximately 15 seconds before the gunmen follow her. For a petite woman to rip out a strong, healthy molar from her own mouth (which also had metal prongs Underneath in her gum) would not take so little time, no matter how determined she was. It's also highly unlikely that the lack of anaesthetic would have allowed her to do so without making pained noises.

Purple_Girl

Triangle - S6-E3

Factual error: When Mulder is walking out of the cabin in Spender's uniform, the soldiers try to stop him. This is impossible since he is an officer (a lieutenant judging from the shoulder-straps) and they are privates, so they cannot give him orders. The only thing they can do in this situation is to salute him. (00:08:40)

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Rain King - S6-E8

Factual error: When Mulder and Scully first arrive in Kroner, Kansas, you can see mountains in the background. There are no mountains in Kansas, only valleys and hills. (00:04:40)

Tithonus - S6-E10

Factual error: Lewis Brady had a "Felon wanted by the FBI" file in 1929, but the FBI wasn't called the FBI until 1935; until then it was just the "Bureau of Investigation." (00:34:30)

The Unnatural - S6-E19

Factual error: The Beginning of the episode shows a baseball game taking place in Roswell, New Mexico. A ball smashes into a sahuaro cactus. The only place in the United States of America where sahuaros grow is in the Arizona desert. There are none in New Mexico.

Biogenesis (1) - S6-E22

Factual error: In this episode, Mulder says, "In 1996, a rock from Mars was found in Antarctica." The rock ALH84001 was found in 1984, and the announcement that it may contain life came in 1996. (00:17:55)

Biogenesis (1) - S6-E22

Factual error: This episode begins with Scully doing a voice-over about the incredible nature of our universe. The scene is very impressive visually, and would have been from the aspect of her oral presentation had it not been for a major error in the script. She says (more than once) that the universe is made up of matter and gas. This should have been "matter and energy". Gas is a form of matter.

The Sixth Extinction (2) - S7-E1

Factual error: When Mulder is visited by his mother, he definitely shows brain activity, because he is "talking" with her, however there are only flat lines on the monitor. In a similar situation in "The Sixth Extinction" episode, when Kritschgau and Skinner ask him questions and he anticipates them, the monitor shows intensive bursts. (00:01:15)

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The X-Files mistake picture

The Sixth Extinction (2) - S7-E1

Factual error: When Skinner is at Kritschgau's apartment building, the time stamp onscreen says it's 5:05 AM, but when Kritschgau answers his door, he says it's 6:00 in the morning. Plus it is shown to be broad daylight outside. The sun is never up that early in Washington, D.C. (00:15:55)

Phaneron

Millennium - S7-E4

Factual error: When Mulder wants to shoot the third resurrected agent, it turns out that there is no ammunition left in the revolver. In fact, there should be one bullet left. When Frank Black takes the handgun from the necromancer, one can see that the cylinder is full with six bullet. Then, he fires three bullets into the first resurrected agent and two bullets are fired by Mulder into the second resurrected agent. (00:39:05)

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The Amazing Maleeni - S7-E8

Factual error: Mulder calls the dust in Maleeni's van "lycopodium powder" that the Los Angeles Police Department used to collect fingerprints, but the real LAPD uses latent print powder not lycopodium. (00:06:35)

Signs and Wonders - S7-E9

Factual error: When Reverend O'Connor is reading from the Book of Revelation, his Bible is flipped open towards the front. Revelation is the last chapter in the New Testament, so his Bible should have been open towards the back. (00:14:30)

Salvage - S8-E9

Factual error: Dogget says that "It would require something 4,300 times the density of steel to cause this damage." Steel is about 8 times denser than human flesh, so bearing in mind that density is proportional to mass at constant volume, it means that Ray would be 4,300 x 8 = 34,400 times heavier than if he were a regular human being. Assuming that he normally weighed about 80 kg, after the transformation he would weigh 80 kg x 34,400 = 2,752 tons. It means that hardly any ground would support his incredibly huge mass, let alone items such as a bed, chair, stairs, building structures, etc.

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Nothing Important Happened Today II (2) - S9-E2

Factual error: After a short examination of Shannon McMahon with a stethoscope and blood pressure meter Scully definitely claims that physically Shannon is absolutely normal. However, this type of examination cannot reveal any of Shannon's supernatural abilities. In order to prove or disprove that Shannon is a supersoldier, Scully could only examine if she could breathe underwater. (00:19:55)

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Nothing Important Happened Today II (2) - S9-E2

Factual error: Deputy Director Alvin Kersh tells Agent Doggett a story about King George III, who, on July 4th, 1776, the same day the American colonies declared their independence, allegedly made an entry in his diary: "Nothing important happened today." However, according to Arnold Hunt, curator at the British Library, King George III never kept a diary. (00:37:15)

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More mistakes in The X-Files

Triangle - S6-E3

Skinner: Use your head Scully. It'll save your ass.
Scully: Save your own ass, sir. You'll save your head along with it.

More quotes from The X-Files
More trivia for The X-Files

Show generally

Question: In a vast majority of the episodes, whenever Mulder and Scully investigate some mysterious or paranormal phenomenon, Mulder believes that some unknown force is responsible but Scully always has a rational explanation for what is happening. In other episodes, when Scully herself is caught up in something mysterious, she is the believer but Mulder is the skeptic. In those episodes, why would Mulder be skeptical about an unexplained phenomenon considering that he a was witness to his own sisters abduction and he saw many strange things that defied explanation while working for the F.B.I.?

Answer: As he stated many times throughout the series, Mulder needed Scully to be sober and skeptical. Whenever Scully's skepticism wavered and she started questioning her own rationality, Mulder would try to restore her sense of skepticism, because he needed her to be clear-thinking.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: A variety of reasons. Just because Scully saw something unusual does not mean that it was. Mulder always needs concrete proof before he'll believe there's some otherworldly explanation for unexplained phenomena. He's too experienced to take a novice's explanation as fact. It is also a plot by device by the writers to switch the tables on the characters to make it more interesting and to let viewers see another side of their relationship.

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