The X-Files

Die Hand die Verletzt - S2-E14

Factual error: Mulder sees water going down the drain counterclockwise and says something is up since all water in the northern hemisphere drains clockwise. This is not true. Water can drain in both directions in both hemispheres. Things like convection currents, basin design, and residual swirl from filling the sink have a much greater influence. You would have to drain a small ocean to see the Coriolis effect, or use specially-designed test apparatus. See http://www.snopes.com/science/coriolis.htm and http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~dvandom/Edu/newcor.html (scroll down to *5.2. Water Going The Wrong Way Down The Sink* near the bottom of the page).

Little Green Men - S2-E1

Factual error: The Arecibo Radio Telescope is abandoned when Mulder goes there. However, after SETI was cancelled, the telescope was still used for other things. (00:16:50)

Dod Kalm - S2-E19

Factual error: Mulder mentions the USS Eldridge as disappearing from Philadelphia (and later reappearing in Norfolk) "nine months after Roswell", i.e., May 1948. In fact, the supposed incident took place much earlier - in February 1943, according to almost all reliable sources. (00:06:50)

Our Town - S2-E24

Factual error: The townspeople contracted Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) from the bodies they consumed and it showed up in the brain tissue within a matter of weeks. However, this extremely rare disease takes several years to even be detectable. (00:18:55)

Our Town - S2-E24

Factual error: Mulder says that the events occur near I-10, however, I-10 is nearly 200 miles south of Arkansas's border in southern Louisiana.

The Host - S2-E2

Factual error: Scully reads to Mulder from a book all about flukes (Trematodes). However, the information she is quoting is wrong. She states that flukes or flatworms have a "scolex" with hooks and suckers. These are actually the distinguishing characteristic of cestodes (tapeworms). Trematodes have no scolex and definitely no hooks. (00:17:30)

Ascension (2) - S2-E6

Factual error: It's quite strange that only after Mulder looks into the ashtray he realizes that the Smoking Man has been in the car. Mulder should smell the scent of cigarettes immediately after entering the car, especially if he is a non-smoker. (00:36:05)

Chop Luftmysza

End Game (2) - S2-E17

Factual error: In the opening sequence, we see a nuclear attack submarine beneath the ice in the Arctic Ocean. When the captain orders the ship to surface, one of the crewmen mutters, "Surface to what? We're under 32 feet of glacial ice!" Except that they're not under "glacial ice," they're under Arctic sea ice, which ranges from about 6 feet thick in the summer to about 15 feet thick in the winter.

Charles Austin Miller

Bad Blood - S5-E12

Visible crew/equipment: I don't know if this is visible in all formats, but on the newest UK release on DVD, watching in widescreen, it's amazingly obvious. When Mulder recovers from the vampire attack, he gets up from the floor and breaks up a chair to make a stake. There is a shot of his feet as he smashes the legs off and bends to pick up a piece. In the bottom left hand corner of the screen, you can see a crew member's hand carefully and quickly placing a piece of wood on top of the pile for Mulder to pick up.

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

Trivia: The Cancer Man smokes Morley cigarettes, a fake brand that has appeared in a number of TV shows and movies since the '60s.

More trivia for The X-Files

Chosen answer: Yes.

Tailkinker

More questions & answers from The X-Files

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