Página PrincipalInternal dating: Probably early April 1995. The previous episode, Soft Light, started on March 31st, and Anasazi starts (for Mulder and Scully) on April 11th.
Dudley, Arkansas. A man, George Kearns, is out at night with a young woman, Paula. He grimaces in pain, but some pills seem to take care of that. She gets out of the car and calls seductively and leads him deep into the woods. Suddenly he is surrounded by lots of people, and a man with an exotic mask attacks him.
Ten weeks later, George Kearns' body still hasn't been recovered and he is listed as a missing person. Scully thinks "they" are sending them on a wild goose chase and there's nothing to it. Mulder, however, thinks it's more of a wild chicken chase, as Kearns was a federal inspector at the local chicken factory. Scully isn't impressed, and still thinks it's an attempt to undermine Mulder's work, but Mulder is still interested in the case. On the night that Kearns disappeared, he says, a woman saw a strange fire in a nearby field, and a large burn mark was found there. He relates it to an Ozark folk tale, by which people are taken away by fire spirits.
He shows her a video which he saw at College about an insane asylum. "Itgave me nightmares," he tells her. She says she didn't think anything gavehim nightmares. "I was young," he mutters. The video shows a manraving about being taken away by the fire demons, after being missing for threedays in the vicinity of Dudley, Arkansas.
Mulder and Scully examine the burn mark in the field. Mulder finds a fork,and there is also a piece of wood that Mulder calls a witching peg, designed todrive out evil. Sheriff Arens comes up and offers to help, but dismissesMulder's idea that it's something to do with the legend of fox fire. He tellsthem that George Kearns never tried to fit in, and was a womaniser. He thinksKearns has probably run off with some woman.
Mulder and Scully visit Kearns's wife. She is also critical of her husbandand assumes he's left with a woman. Mulder, however, finds it suspicious that,when he disappeared, Kearns had been on the point of filing a critical report onthe chicken factory, recommending that it be closed down.
They go to Chaco Chicken Plant ("Good people, good food.") Thewoman from the teaser, Paula, works there and is acting oddly and taking pills.Mulder and Scully talk to the floor manager, asking him about the report Kearnswas about to file. He says that Kearns had been trying to shut them down allalong, but gives the evidence that other inspectors say there's no problem.Kearns was just a trouble maker, he says, picking a fight with everyone. He eventried to pretend that his own job was damaging his health, complaining aboutheadaches and things. He also shows them how the chickens are recycled, withwaste bits being ground up and fed to the live chickens.
Just then, Paula seems to see a severed head coming down the conveyor beltwith the chickens. She throws it to the floor and runs off, then holds a knifeto the manager's throat. Scully is about to talk her out of it when the sheriffshoots and she falls into the vat of ground up chicken.
The doctor says Paula had been complaining of head injuries andirritability, but there was no sign of any illness he could recognise. He'dassumed it was stress. Scully wants to do an autopsy, but is told she must getpermission from Mr Chaco himself, as he was Paula's grandfather.
Chaco asks why they want to perform an autopsy, and Mulder says they'rewondering if she had the same illness Kearns had. Chaco says he founded the townfrom scratch, and men like George Kearns are just trouble-makers, challengingsuch enterprise. However, he gives his permission.
Scully finds out that Paula suffered from Creutzfeld-Jacob diseases, a braindisease. It's very rare, causing progressive dementia. Mulder finds out thatPaula was 47, even though she looks little more than 25. "This could turnout to be even more interesting than fox fire," he says.
In the car, Scully tells Mulder how unusual it would be if two people in thesame town had such a rare disease. Suddenly a truck swerves in front of them andthey narrowly avoid a crash. The truck falls into the river. It is carrying lotsof chickens. When the driver is examined it is found that he also hasCreutzveld-Jacob disease. Scully tells Mulder she has a "sick theory.""Ooh, I'm listening," Mulder says. She speculates that Kearns' bodywas ground up into chicken food, so the disease got into the chickens and thuswas able to infect anyone who ate them. Mulder points out that Chaco chickensare shipped all over the country yet the illness has only been seen locally.
Noticing that the river is red, due to run-off from the plant, Mulder wantsit dragged. The sheriff is reluctant to do it, but Mulder amicably suggests hecall an FBI team down. As the river is drained, Mulder explains to Scully thathe's just playing a hunch. However, he turns out to be right. There are a lot of human bones in the river.
Scully pieces them together into at least 9 people, one of whom is Kearns.Some of the bones are at least 20 years old, there are no skulls, and all thebones are smooth.
Kearns' wife Doris cries when the sheriff tells her about her husband'sdeath, and runs off. He calls after her, saying "we'll take care of you."
The doctor and the plant manager discuss the bones in the river and thecases of CJD. Mr Chaco knows what's happening, the doctor says, but isn't doinganything about it. The manager says he'll talk to him - "he'll listen tome." "And if he doesn't?" the doctor asks, getting no answer.
Mulder looks at past records and finds out that 87 people have disappearedwith a hundred mile radius of Dudley in the last 59 years. He thinks "thegood people of Dudley have been eating more than just chicken." The bonesare smooth, he says, because they've been boiled in a pot. Some cannibalisticbeliefs have it that cannibalism can prolong life, by which he explains Paula'syouthful appearance. Scully can't accept this, though she is prepared to acceptthat the various sufferers from CJD could have all contracted it by eatingGeorge Kearns.
The plant manager tells Mr Chaco that people are getting scared about theillness. Doris Kearns turns up in tears and tells Mr Chaco she can't do lie anylonger. She helped kill her husband, she says, and feels guilty now. Mr Chacosays George deserved to die for having no values and not fitting in. "You'repart of us now and we're going to take good care of you," he says. Aftershe's gone the manager wants to "do something" about her, but Mr Chacosays she's one of "our town" now. "If we start turning onourselves we're no better than the animals," he says, and the FBI are thereal problem.
Mulder and Scully go to the birth registration place to find conclusiveproof of Paula's age, as well as the ages of the other people, but they have allbeen removed. Doris Kearns calls them saying she's afraid, and Mulder asksScully to go over to look after her. He plans to visit Mr Chaco.
Doris Kearns is attacked by a man in a mask. When Scully gets there thehouse seems empty.
Mulder arrives at Mr Chaco's house. While he is waiting for the servant toget Mr Chaco, Mulder sees pictures of Mr Chaco with a tribe in New Guinea andfinds a display case full of severed heads.
Mulder calls Scully, telling him Mr Chaco is gone. Scully says Doris is gonetoo, but then she is hit on the head and knocked out by a man lurking in theshadows.
All the town's folk are gathered around a bonfire, presumably eating DorisKearns. Mr Chaco leads up a bound Scully, shouting at the others for havingkilled Doris Kearns. He says it's only outsiders they should worry about, notone of them, as Doris was. "Look at what you've become," he shouts. "Thisisn't faith any more.... You've turned us into an abomination. Once you turn onyourselves it's over." Mr Chaco is dragged off and beheaded by the maskedman.
Mulder rushes to find Scully and sees the bonfire in the fields. He arrivesjust as Scully is about to have her head chopped off and shoots the maskedexecutioner just in the nick of time. He releases Scully and asks her if she'sokay. The masked man is revealed to be the sheriff.
The Chaco Processing Plant is shut down just in case. 27 people are nowsuffering from CJD. They've found out that Chaco was shot down over New Guineain the 40s, and lived with a tribe there for several months. He was in fact 93years old, and his remains haven't yet been found. As Scully continues invoice-over, a workman finds a stand of human hair in the chicken feed.
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