S1E5 · The Jersey Devil

In 1947, a motorist is attacked while fixing a flat tire near the Pine Barrens in New Jersey. His corpse is later found with its leg chewed off, and a hairy humanoid is killed nearby.

In present-day Washington D.C., Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) brings to Fox Mulder 's (David Duchovny) attention news about a body found in New Jersey with its arm and shoulder missing. Upon arriving at the Atlantic City morgue, they discover that the body was seemingly eaten by a human. However, the local detective, Thompson, denies the agents access to the investigation. Scully returns to Washington to attend her godson 's birthday party while Mulder stays in New Jersey. At the party, Scully meets Rob, the divorced father of one of the guests.

Meanwhile, a homeless man shows Mulder a drawing of a humanoid creature which he and other homeless people have seen and which the police are aware of. Mulder gives his hotel room key to the man and sleeps in the alley, where he sees a shadowy, human-like creature. He chases the creature but is arrested before he can catch it.

The next morning, Mulder calls Scully to post his bail. Afterwards, Scully brings Mulder to meet with Dr. Diamond, a professor of anthropology at the University of Maryland, before going on a date with Rob. Peter Boulle, a local park ranger, contacts Mulder after finding the corpse of a wild man in the woods who he believes could be the Jersey Devil. The agents bring Boulle and Diamond to the morgue, where the body has mysteriously vanished. Mulder believes that the Jersey Devil they are hunting is actually the creature's mate, who has come to Atlantic City in search of food after her mate's death. The agents, along with Boulle and Diamond, search for the creature in an abandoned building. As they do so, Detective Thompson arrives with a SWAT team.

Mulder spots the creature and chases after her. He is attacked by the creature, which wounds him before Scully scares her away. The creature then escapes into the woods. Scully, Mulder, Diamond and Boulle manage to find the creature, which again escapes after being shot with a tranquilizer dart. However, the SWAT team soon finds and kills her. Mulder asks Thompson why he killed the creature; he responds that it is the same reason one would kill a rabid animal. The autopsy reveals no prehistoric bone structure, although human bones are located within her digestive tract. The autopsies of the male and female creatures also reveal that they likely had children. Mulder leaves to talk to an ethnobiologist at the Smithsonian; Scully turns down a second date with Rob to join him. Meanwhile, in the woods, the child of the creatures appears, watching a father and son hiking.