Monsters are real. Anyone who’s ever been a fan of "The X-Files" can tell you as much. While a good portion of screen time over the last 15 years has been dedicated to extraterrestrials and the will they/won’t they relationship status of Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, the series has also given us some of the weirdest, grossest, and most horrifying terrestrial monsters ever seen on television. Now, some of these nightmare worthy X-Files monsters are so out there that it’s easy to take comfort in knowing there’s no way they could ever exist. But others... well, we’ll let you be the judge.
Luther Lee Boggs (“Beyond the Sea”)
This first season monster isn’t a typical one; Boggs is a death-row inmate and seemingly run-of-the-mill killer. But he also happens to channel spirits (thanks to a temporary trip to the gas chamber), and there’s something about a man who can appear as your dead father that doesn’t exactly sit well.
Eddie Van Blundht (“Small Potatoes”)
Eddie is a shapeshifter who can make himself look like anyone he wants. What makes him super disturbing, though, isn’t his paranormal ability; it’s the fact that he uses it to take sexual advantage of unsuspecting women, spiking his town’s birthrate and tail average. Gross.
Donnie Pfaster (“Irresistible” / “Orison”)
A monster so good, he deserves two separate episodes, Donnie Pfaster is a death fetishist on the verge of necrophilia (a concept deemed too risque for early ‘90s audiences) who collects the hair and nails of dead girls.
Donnie Pfaster (“Irresistible” / “Orison”)
While his obsessive behavior over Scully and creepy mommy issues would have been enough to put him on this list, it’s the fact that Donnie Pfaster turned out to be a real-life demon that cements his place here.
Anthony Tipet (“Via Negativa”)
Anthony Tipet takes the whole idea of opening your third eye to another, sinister level when he uses his literal third eye to murder people in their sleep. He’s like the religious version of Freddy Kruger, which is a combination we want absolutely nothing to do with, thankyouverymuch.
The Great Mutato (“The Post-Modern Prometheus”)
More tragic than frightening, The Great Mutato is The X-Files’ version of Frankenstein’s monster or the Elephant Man. Mutato just brings along a better soundtrack, thanks to vocal legend Cher.
Flukeman (“The Host”)
As if parasitic worms weren’t gross enough, Flukeman is what happens when one grows to be the size of a regular man and has legitimate cognitive function. He also eats his victims after he pulls them into sewage drains and lays larvae in their bodies as a means of reproduction.
Flukeman (“The Host”)
Oh, and apparently Flukeman is the result of the radioactive sewage “soup” that was left after the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, granting him the honor of being the only international monster on this list.
Leonard (“Humbug”)
“Nature abhors normality,” is one way to explain Leonard, the in fetu twin of an alcoholic sideshow freak set on attaching himself to a newer, healthier “brother.” While his intentions are pure-ish, it’s the idea of a miniature, deformed, parasitic monster chasing us down that really freaks us out.
Beggar Man (“Badlaa”)
Those. Damn. Squeaky. Wheels. Nothing is nearly quite as terrifying as the prospect of having a tiny Indian mystic hide inside of our stomachs, only to tear his way out when he’s good and ready to move on. Speaking of, now is probably a pretty good time for us to move on…
Chinga (“Chinga”)
You know what the most frightening thing on the planet is? Dolls. It’s dolls. Chinga is a doll possessed, and she has the power to make anyone do anything she wants, including stabbing themselves in the eye with a butcher knife.
Chinga (“Chinga”)
Fun fact: Chinga is also the Spanish word for “f---,” and if there were any better word for a literal demon doll, we couldn’t tell you what it is.
Samuel Aboah (“Teliko”)
Samuel Aboah is just your average, everyday, West African sort-of vampire who murders his victims by subduing them with a poisoned dart before draining their pituitary glands, leaving corpses behind that are devoid of skin pigment.
Samuel Aboah (“Teliko”)
Aboah can squeeze into tight places, too (tighter than any normal human being should be able to), which puts him almost on par with Eugene Victor Tooms. But more on him later.
Eve 9 & Eve 10 (“Eve”)
Kids are fun, right? Not if they’re cloned to be pure evil, which Eve 9 and Eve 10 most definitely are. These two are murder masterminds that look like perfect angels, making them way creepier than those twins from "The Shining" ever were.
Phyllis Paddock (“Die Hand Die Verletzt”)
We’re pretty sure any high schooler will tell you about that one teacher who’s the devil incarnate. Phyllis actually is. She’s the literal embodiment of the demon Azazel.
Phyllis Paddock (“Die Hand Die Verletzt”)
Having decided to take human form to punish a school full of lazy dark magic worshippers, Phyllis takes ritual sacrifice to a whole new level. She’s also one of the few monsters to ever escape Mulder and Scully, so, yeah, she’s still out there.
Leonard Betts (“Leonard Betts”)
Being able to regenerate limbs at will is not something a person should be able to do. Being able to regenerate limbs while also living off the cancerous tissue of others is just sort of disgusting, but a Leonard Betts has to do what a Leonard Betts has to do, we guess.
Eugene Victor Tooms (“Squeeze” / “Tooms”)
Eugene Victor Tooms is disturbing on several levels: He can elongate his body in order to fit into tight spaces (we’re talking regular house pipes here), he needs to eat human livers in order to survive, and he hibernates in nests made from torn newspaper and his own bile.
Eugene Victor Tooms (“Squeeze” / “Tooms”)
Tooms had been alive since 1873, which is especially creepy considering he never actually ages and can get to his victims wherever they may be hiding. He may be dead now, but he’s still nightmare-worthy, for sure.
The Peacock Family (“Home”)
“Home” has the distinction of being the first X-Files episode to carry a viewer discretion warning, and for good reason. Mutant inbred killers aren’t exactly new to the horror genre, but there’s something about the Peacock family that still gives us chills.
The Peacock Family (“Home”)
Maybe it’s the corpse of a deformed newborn buried in a baseball field? Or perhaps the sight of the family matriarch hiding under the bed, sans arms, legs and teeth? Actually, no. No, it’s definitely the incest.