MULDER: They may "think" they are, but on the night George Kearns disappeared a woman on the I-10 saw a strange fire in an adjacent field.

SCULLY: Yes, I read that report. She claims that she saw some kind of a-a foxfire spirit. I'm surprised she didn't call Oprah as soon as she got off the phone with the police.

MULDER: Folktales dating back to the 19th century from the Ozarks describe people being taken away by fireballs. It's supposed to be the spirits of massacred Indians.

SCULLY: Those are only legends, Mulder.

MULDER: Well, most legends don't leave behind 12-foot burn marks. That photo was taken by state police in the field where the woman claims to have seen foxfire.

SCULLY: This could have been made by anything -- a bonfire.

MULDER: I thought so too. Until I remembered this. It's a documentary I saw when I was in college about an insane asylum. Gave me nightmares.

SCULLY: I didn't think anything gave you nightmares.

MULDER: Unh, I was young.

DORIS: My husband had a character that leaves something out. I always knew that about him but I didn't have the sense to do anything about it. I guess he saved me the trouble.

SCULLY: So you're fairly certain that he left you for somebody else.

DORIS: George left me a long time ago. Right around the time I turned 40. Leaving town was just a formality.

MULDER: What's that?

JESS HAROLD: Oh, that... It's a feed grinder. Chops up bone and tissue. See, any part of the bird we can't package we process, use as feed.

MULDER: Chickens feed on chickens?

JESS HAROLD: I know it doesn't sound too appetizing, but it is nutritious and it cuts down on costs. The meat is cooked and mixed with grain. No reason letting all that protein go to waste.

SCULLY: So, Mulder, are you ready to admit they sent us on a fool's errand?

MULDER: If the fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise, Scully.

CHACO: Feeding these chickens helps me clear my mind. They're perfect creatures, you know. We eat their meat, their eggs. We sleep on pillows stuffed with their feathers. Not many people I know are as useful as these chickens.

CHACO: You know, living a long life is a mixed blessing. You spend your youth trying to build something for yourself and your family and your community only to watch it all taken away from you at your old age. Still... I'm not ready to die just yet.

SCULLY: It's a specimen from Paula Gray's brain. She suffered from a rare degenerative disorder called Creutzfeldt- Jacob disease. It's characterized by the formation of spongelike holes in the brain tissue.

SCULLY: I just got off the phone with Dr. Randolph. He said this driver had the same symptoms as Paula Gray and George Kearns.

MULDER: You're saying this is a third victim of Creutzfeldt-Jacob? You just got through telling me that two cases would be statistically impossible.

SCULLY: Well, they would be. I just came up with a sick theory, Mulder.

MULDER: Ooh, I'm listening.

SCULLY: You saw the feed grinders at the plant. What if somebody put George Kearns's body in there? Creutzfeldt-Jacob is a prion disease which means it could have been passed on to the chickens and in turn anyone who consumed them.

SCULLY: Then it may have been the work of some kind of a cult.

MULDER: Scully, I think the good people of Dudley have been eating more than just chicken.

SCULLY: You think these people were eaten?

MULDER: Look at these bones. They've been polished at both ends suggesting they were boiled in a pot. Anthropologists have used similar evidence to prove cannibalism among the Anasazi tribe of New Mexico.

SCULLY: Well, then Paula Gray may have contracted Creutzfeldt-Jacob by eating George Kearns.

MULDER: That could begin to explain her youthful appearance.

SCULLY: What are you talking about?

MULDER: Some cannibalistic rituals are enacted with a belief that they can prolong life.

SCULLY: Cannibalism is one thing but increasing longevity by eating human flesh...

MULDER: Think about it, Scully. From vampirism to Catholicism, whether literally or symbolically, the reward for eating flesh is eternal life.