Mulder’s curiosity is piqued when Scully plays him a video tape on which the Reverend
Calvin Hartley and his 18-year-old adopted son Samuel hold a service for their Miracle
Ministry congregation. As the tape progresses, Samuel places his hand on an ailing woman.
Scully explains that the woman was rushed to the hospital, where she died of undetermined
causes.
The agents travel to a remote town in Tennessee where Reverend Hartley and his
followers began their base of operations. There they confer with Sheriff Daniels, who
explains his belief that Samuel literally possesses the “touch of death.” Samuel
mysteriously disappears, but he is tracked to a bar. Daniels charges him with suspicion of
murder and places him under arrest.
At the courthouse, Samuel requests that the judge not release him on bail, fearing he may
again kill another parishioner if he is let free. But the judge concedes to a bail request, which
would allow Samuel to be released. Suddenly, and inexplicably, the courtroom is engulfed
by a swarm of locusts, which Samule cries is a sign from God that he must not be set free.
Once Samuel is released, Reverend Hartley pressures Samuel to perform miracles at
another church meeting. But as Mulder and Scully watch, the event again turns tragic when
a Multiple Sclerosis sufferer lapses into a seizure and dies.
A preliminary autopsy suggests the woman, Margaret Hohman, died of cyanide poisoning.
Mulder suspects that Samuel is innocent, and that someone else is poisoning the
parishioners of Miracle Ministries. Mulder relays his conclusion to Sheriff Daniels, and soon
afterward Samuel is found dead in his jail cell, victim of a savage beating.
The agents return to the courthouse where Samuel was arraigned and find evidence that
someone dumped locusts into the ventilation system. They trace the insects-and a
highly-poisonous cyanide-to Leonard Vance, an accident victim that Samuel brought back to
life. Before Vance is arrested, he has a vision of Samuel returning from the dead to ask him why he poisoned the
parishioners. Vance angrily reveals his burned flesh and scar tissue, admitting that he
conspired to squash the parishioner’s faith in its greatest healer. Vance ingests a lethal
dose of pesticide before the agents arrive at his house. That same night, a morgue nurse witnesses Samuel walk out of the morgue. His body, upon investigation, is nowhere to be found.
Daniels is later approached by Deputy Tyson, who reveals that the District Attorney is
investigating his role in Samuel’s death.
THE X-FILES “MIRACLE MAN”
#1X18
Original Air Date: 03/18/94
CAST:
DAVID DUCHOVNY as Special Agent Fox Mulder
GILLIAN ANDERSON as Special Agent Dana Scully
GUEST CAST:
R.D. CALL as Sheriff Daniels
SCOTT BAIRSTOW as Samuel
GEORGE GERDES as Reverend Cal Hartley
DENNIS LIPSCOMB as Leonard Vance
CAMPBELL LANE as Margaret’s Father
CHILTON CRANE as Margaret Hohman
HOWARD STOREY as Fire Chief
LISA ANN BELEY as Beatrice Salinger
ALEX DODUK as Young Samuel
WALTER MARSH as the Judge
IRIS QUINN BERNARD as Lillian Daniels
ROGER HASKETT as Deputy Tyson
WRITTEN BY:
HOWARD GORDON and CHRIS CARTER
DIRECTED BY:
MICHAEL LANGE
