Four African-American men have vanished off the streets of Philadelphia. An FBI/Police
task force has come up with no leads…until the body of the most recent victim is
discovered. Surprisingly, violence isn’t the cause of death. The body’s bizarre lack of
pigmentation hints at some unknown ailment. The Centers for Disease Control calls in Scully
to unravel the medical mystery.
Mulder, however, believes that more than a simple pathogen is involved. His
investigations lead to a cover-up of a similar death on a flight from West Africa, and the
presence of a toxic plant native to that area. Meanwhile, Scully discovers that the victim’s
pituitary gland– which produces melanin among other hormones–has somehow been
destroyed.
While their investigation is under way, the killer strikes again. This time a young black
student is stalked and kidnapped from a bus stop. The evidence leads Scully and Mulder to
a recent West African immigrant, Samuel Aboah. They arrest him when he attempts to
escape. Hospital tests reveal that, among other peculiar abnormalities, Aboah lacks a
pituitary gland.
A tip from his UN informant sends Mulder to Minister Diabira, a diplomat from the West
African country of Burkina Faso. Reluctantly, Diabria admits he had ordered the cover-up of
the first murder — because he knew the identity of the killer. It was one of the mythical
Teliko: evil spirits of the air, who emerge at night to suck the life and color out of their
victims. Who would have believed that a terrifying West African folktale could come to life in
20th century America? No one…except Mulder.
Mulder explains his theory to a skeptical Scully: the Teliko are not ghostly entities, but
members of a lost African clan, who have survived over generations by hunting down other
humans to steal what they lack: hormones from the pituitary gland.
Aboah escapes the hospital. In the ensuing manhunt, Aboah captures Mulder. Scully comes
to Mulder’s aid and shoots Aboah just in time to save Mulder’s life. And the truth about the
Teliko is destined to die along with him.
THE X-FILES “Teliko” #4X03
Original Air Date: 10/18/96
CAST:
DAVID DUCHOVNY as Special Agent Fox Mulder
GILLIAN ANDERSON as Special Agent Dana Scully
GUEST CAST:
MITCH PILEGGI as Assistant Director Walter Skinner
DON STEWART as the businessman
MAXINE GUESS as the flight attendant
WILLIE AMAKYE as Samuel Aboah
GEOFFREY AYI-BONTE as Seat Mate
BOB MORRISEY as Dr. Simon Bruin
CARL LUMBLY as Marcus Duff
BRENDAN BEISER as Agent Pendrell
DEXTER BELL as Alfred Kittel
LAURIE HOLDEN as Marita Covarrubias
ZAKES MOKAE as Diabria
SEAN CAMPBELL as Lt. Madsen
WRITTEN BY:
HOWARD GORDON
DIRECTED BY:
JAMES CHARLESTON
