The X-Files was one of the most popular American TV series of the ’90s, drawing in viewers with a love for mystery, horror, and above all else, aliens, naturally. The series first premiered in 1993 and ran for nine seasons before meeting its end in 2002. That first conclusion wasn’t enough, however, and The X-Files made two comebacks first in 2016 and then in 2018.
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This science fiction show has protagonists Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as two FBI special agents who investigate paranormal cases, also known as the X-Files. Not everything is about scary stuff, though. One of The X-Files’ most compelling overarching plots is the budding romance between the pair of investigators, which the audience gets to watch develop with time. At the end of the day, no matter the circumstances, these two already find a way to save each other from the most perilous situations and win over whatever creepy entity decided to show itself that episode.
If you’re looking for something to watch during this Halloween season, The X-Files has plenty of episodes to choose from. Despite what many non-viewers might think, this show is about more than aliens, as it encompasses many different types of terrifying creatures, and of course, types of horror. For your viewing pleasure, here are the best X-Files episodes grouped into different horror categories.
Paranormal horror episodes
- Season 1, episode 6: “Shadows”
- Season 1, episode 9: “Space”
- Season 1, episode 16: “Young at Heart”
- Season 1, episode 22: “Born Again”
- Season 2, episode 11: “Excelsis Dei”
- Season 3, episode 5: “The List”
- Season 4, episode 22: “Elegy”
- Season 6, episode 6: “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas”
- Season 7, episode 10: “Sein Und Zeit”
- Season 7, episode 11: “Closure”
- Season 7, episode 19: “Hollywood A.D.”
- Season 9, episode 19: “The Truth”
- Season 9, episode 20: “The Truth II”
Psychological horror episodes
- Season 1, episode 8: “Ice”
- Season 2, episode 13: “Irresistible”
- Season 3, episode 14: “Grotesque”
- Season 3, episode 17: “Pusher”
- Season 3, episode 23: “Wetwired”
- Season 5, episode 18: “The Pine Bluff Variant”
- Season 5, episode 19: “Folie à Deux”
- Season 6, episode 2: “Drive”
- Season 6, episode 21: “Field Trip”
- Season 7, episode 12: “X-Cops”
- Season 8, episode 6: “Redrum”
- Season 9, episode 4: “4D”
- Season 10, episode 8: “Familiar”
Occult horror episodes
- Season 2, episode 14: “Die Hand Die Verletzt”
- Season 2, episode 15: “Fresh Bones”
- Season 2, episode 21: “The Calusari”
- Season 3, episode 13: “Syzygy”
- Season 3, episode 11: “Revelations”
- Season 3, episode 19: “Hell Money”
- Season 4, episode 6: “Sanguinarium”
- Season 5, episode 10: “Chinga”
- Season 6, episode 7: “Terms of Endearment”
- Season 7, episode 7: “Orison”
- Season 7, episode 14: “Theef”
- Season 11: episode 8: “Familiar”
Religious horror episodes
- Season 1, episode 17: “Miracle Man”
- Season 3, episode 11: “Revelations”
- Season 5, episode 17: “All Souls”
- Season 7, episode 1: “The Sixth Extinction”
- Season 7, episode 2: “The Sixth Extinction II”
- Season 7, episode 7: “Orison”
- Season 7, episode 9: “Signs and Wonders “
- Season 9, episode 8: “Hellbound”
- Season 10, episode 5: “Babylon”
Technological horror episodes
- Season 1, episode 7: “Ghost in the Machine”
- Season 2, episode 3: “Blood”
- Season 3, episode 23: “Wetwired”
- Season 5, episode 3: “Unusual Suspects”
- Season 5, episode 11: “Kill Switch”
- Season 7, episode 13: “First Person Shooter”
- Season 11, episode 2: “This”
- Season 11, episode 7: “Rm9sbG93ZXJz”
Historical horror episodes
- Season 5, episode 3: “Unusual Suspects”
- Season 5, episode 15: “Travelers”
- Season 6, episode 3: “Triangle”
- Season 6, episode 19: “The Unnatural”
- Season 11, episode 6: “Kitten”
Episodes with aliens
- Season 1, episode 1: “Pilot”
- Season 1, episode 4: “Conduit”
- Season 1, episode 10: “Fallen Angel”
- Season 1, episode 17: “E.B.E.”
- Season 1, episode 24: “The Erlenmeyer Flask”
- Season 2, episode 1: “Little Green Men”
- Season 2, episode 5: “Duane Barry”
- Season 2, episode 6: “Ascension”
- Season 2, episode 25: “Anasazi”
- Season 3, episode 1: “The Blessing Way”
- Season 3, episode 2: “Paper Clip”
- Season 3, episode 9: “Nisei”
- Season 3, episode 10: “731”
- Season 3, episode 20: “Jose Chung’s From Outerspace”
- Season 4, episode 17: “Tempus Fugit”
- Season 4, episode 18: “Max”
- Season 4, episode 24: “Gesthemane”
- Season 5, episode 13: “Patient X”
- Season 5, episode 14: “Red and the Black”
- Season 6, episode 1: “The Beginning”
- Season 6, episode 11: “Two Fathers”
- Season 6, episode 12: “One Son”
- Season 6, episode 19: “The Unnatural”
- Season 7, episode 22: “Requiem”
- Season 8, episode 14: “This is Not Happening”
Episodes about cults
- Season 1, episode 14: “Genderbender”
- Season 2, episode 10: “Red Museum”
- Season 2, episode 14: “Die Hand Die Verletzt”
- Season 2, episode 24: “Our Town”
- Season 4, episode 5: “The Field Where I Died”
- Season 7, episode 9: “Signs and Wonders”
- Season 8, episode 4: “Roadrunners”
- Season 8, episode 7: “Via Negativa”
- Season 11, episode 9: “Nothing Lasts Forever”
Episodes with body horror
- Season 1, episode 3: “Squeeze”
- Season 2, episode 22: “F. Emasculata”
- Season 4, episode 2: “Home”
- Season 4, episode 6: “Sanguinarium”
- Season 6, episode 9: “SR 8.1.9”
- Season 8, episode 4: “Roadrunners”
- Season 8, episode 10: “Badlaa”
- Season 9, episode 8: “Hellbound”
- Season 11, episode 9: “Nothing Lasts Forever”
Episodes with serial killers
- Season 1, episode 15: “Lazarus”
- Season 2, episode 12: “Aubrey”
- Season 2, episode 13: “Irresistible”
- Season 3, episode 6: “2Shy”
- Season 3, episode 14: “Grotesque”
- Season 3, episode 17: “Pusher”
- Season 4, episode 2: “Home”
- Season 4, episode 4: “Unruhe”
- Season 4, episode 10: “Paper Hearts”
- Season 4, episode 22: “Elegy”
- Season 6, episode 10: “Tithonus”
- Season 9, episode 4: “4D”
- Season 10, episode 3: “Mulder and Scully Meet the Weremonster”
Episodes that feature monsters
- Season 1, episode 3: “Squeeze”
- Season 1, episode 5: “Jersey Devil”
- Season 1, episode 19: “Shapes”
- Season 1, episode 21: “Tooms”
- Season 2, episode 2: “The Host”
- Season 2, episode 7: “3”
- Season 2, episode 12: “Humbug”
- Season 2, episode 14: “Die Hand Die Verletzt”
- Season 4, episode 2: “Home”
- Season 4, episode 12: “Leonard Betts”
- Season 5, episode 5: “Post-Modern Prometheus”
- Season 5, episode 10: “Chinga”
- Season 5, episode 12: “Bad Blood”
- Season 7, episode 5: “Millennium”
- Season 7, episode 12: “X-Cops”
- Season 10, episode 3: “Mulder and Scully Meet the Weremonster”
- Season 11, episode 8: “Familiar”
Episodes that feature psychics
- Season 1, episode 13: “Beyond the Sea”
- Season 3, episode 4: “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose”
- Season 3, episode 8: “Oubliette”
- Season 3, episode 13: “Syzygy”
- Season 4, episode 10: “Paper Hearts”
- Season 5, episode 10: “Chinga”
- Season 7, episode 10: “Sein Und Zeit”
- Season 7, episode 11: “Closure”
- Season 8, episode 5: “Invocation”
- Season 11, episode 1: “My Struggle III”
Episodes featuring dangerous animals
- Season 2, episode 18: “Fearful Symmetry”
- Season 3 episode 18: “Teso Dos Bichos”
- Season 3, episode 22: “Quagmire”
- Season 6, episode 13: “Agua Mala”
- Season 6, episode 16: “Alpha”
- Season 7, episode 16: “Chimera”
- Season 8, episode 3: “Patience”
- Season 10, episode 3: “Mulder and Scully Meet the Weremonster”
Episodes that feature scary children
- Season 1, episode 11: “Eve”
- Season 1, episode 16: “Young at Heart”
- Season 2, episode 21: “The Calusari”
- Season 5, episode 10: “Chinga”
- Season 8, episode 5: “Invocation”
- Season 9, episode 14: “Scary Monsters”
Episodes that feature parasites/insects
- Season 1, episode 8: “Ice”
- Season 1, episode 20: “Darkness Falls”
- Season 2, episode 20: “Humbug”
- Season 3, episode 12: “War of the Coprophages”
- Season 5, episode 19: “Folie à Deux”
- Season 6, episode 1: “The Sixth Extinction”
- Season 7, episode 18: “Brand X”
- Season 8, episode 4: “Roadrunners”
- Season 9, episode 5: “Lord of the Flies”
Episodes that feature government conspiracies
- Season 3, episode 9: “Nisei”
- Season 3, episode 10: “731”
- Season 3, episode 20: “Jose Chung’s From Outerspace”
- Season 4, episode 7: “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man”
- Season 4, episode 24: “Gesthemane”
- Season 5, episode 1: “Redux”
- Season 5, episode 2: “Redux II”
- Season 5, episode 3: “Unusual Suspects”
- Season 5, episode 18: “The Pine Bluff Variant”
- Season 6, episode 2: “Drive”
- Season 11, episode 6: ”Kitten”
Episodes that feature endangered children
- Season 1, epiosde 4: “Conduit”
- Season 3, episode 8: “Oubliette”
- Season 4, episode 10: “Paper Hearts”
- Season 5, episode 6: “Christmas Carol”
- Season 5, episode 7: “Emily”
- Season 5, episode 17: “All Souls”
- Season 7, episode 6: “The Goldberg Variation”
- Season 7, episode 10: “Sein Und Zeit”
- Season 7, episode 11: “Closure”
- Season 8, episode 5: “Invocation”
- Season 9, episode 17: “Release”
- Season 11, episode 8: “Familiar”
Episodes with comedic horror
- Season 2, episode 20: “Humbug”
- Season 3, episode 4: “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Response”
- Season 3, episode 12: “War of the Coprophages”
- Season 3, episode 13: “Syzygy”
- Season 3, episode 20: “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space”
- Season 4, episode 20: “Small Potatoes”
- Season 5, episode 5: “The Post-Modern Prometheus”
- Season 5, epiosde 10: “Chinga”
- Season 5, episode 12: “Bad Blood”
- Season 6, episode 3: “Triangle”
- Season 6, episode 4: “Dreamland”
- Season 6, episode 5: “Dreamland II”
- Season 6, episode 6: “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas”
- Season 6, episode 8: “Rain King”
- Season 6, episode 13: “Agua Mala”
- Season 6, epiosde 15: “Arcadia”
- Season 7, episode 6: “The Goldberg Variation”
- Season 7, episode 8: “Amazing Maleeni”
- Season 7, episode 12: “X-Cops”
- Season 7, episode 19: “Hollywood A.D.”
- Season 7, episode 21: “Je Souhaite”
- Season 9, episode 5: “Lord of the Flies”
- Season 9, epiosde 13: “Improbable”
- Season 9, episode 18: “Sunshine Days”
- Season 11, episode 4: “The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat”
Now that you know which episodes to watch this Halloween based on your horror preferences, you can get to it. In case you’re wondering, all 11 seasons of The X-Files are available for streaming right now on Hulu and Disney Plus.