“Die Hand Die Verletzt” is episode fourteen of season two of The X-Files.
The episode opens in Milford Haven, New Hampshire, at a meeting of the Parent Teacher Convention. There’s mention of a musical that a teacher wants to be put on, Jesus Christ Superstar, which the four members of the meeting don’t feel is appropriate. After the meeting, they stay for a prayer, because they’ve been letting it slip – and start praying in the names of the lords of darkness, the kings of the underworld and to an infernal power. That is not the sort of prayer that was expected.
It’s still in Milford Haven, at night, raining in a forest. Two boys are leading two girls into the forest to an altar; they hope to scare the girls into getting intimate. One lights a candle on a tree stump and they pair up facing each other. The one who lit the candle starts reading a prayer – a very similar prayer to that used by the PTC. But mentioning Azazel by name. As for getting the girls to freak out, it seems to work. When the candle goes out and an inhuman voice is heard, it seems to have gone too far. The kids start to run away, but one, Jerry, gets stopped by a gout of flames in front of him.
Mulder and Scully are on the scene in daylight. A hunter found Jerry’s body. The sheriff, Oaks, mentions that there have long been rumours of witches in the area, that they control things. Jerry’s eyes and heart have been cut out. Oaks mentions Jerry and his friends listening to devil music. He shows Mulder that stump that is supposed to be an altar, and asks Mulder what he thinks. It would make a nice coffee table. Scully has found something and asks who Jerry was with. The assumption is that he was alone. Scully doubts Jerry planned to drink two six-packs by himself. What she found is a scrap of paper with part of a library stamp on it. Oaks admits they’re a little rattled; that’s why they called the FBI.
Mulder mentions to Scully that the thing did seem ceremonial in nature. He didn’t want to incite the sheriff’s imagination more than it already was. There is a weird feel to the place. Scully suggests the murderer is simply taking advantage of local folklore. Then it rains toads.
In the library of Rowley High School, Mulder is looking through the files when Scully arrives and says the toads were probably because of a tornado. Mulder has found that a Dave Duran took out Witch Hunt: A History of the Occult in America.
Dave and the two girls are in class when a teacher enters. She tells them her name is Mrs Paddock, and she’s substituting. Mulder and Scully arrive and Dave bolts, failing to get out of the window. Afterwards, he says he isn’t into that stuff; they went to the witch’s altar to get some. He took the book to make it sound real; Dave never thought it would work. He believes they called something up.
Outside, the four members of the PTC are talking. Jerry’s body was displayed according to the rites of Azazel. The chair, Jim, wants to know if one of the others did it. They didn’t. They think there may be a presence amongst them, something angry. Mulder lets the kids go and is confronted afterwards; the PTC blame occult influence from outside. Scully recounts the numbers needed for the sort of conspiracy they imagine, essentially calling them silly, but they believe the numbers are indications of a huge conspiracy. Mrs Paddock speaks to one of the girls, Shannon, as she leaves the class. After everyone has gone, she opens a drawer to file some papers – revealing a tray containing a heart and two eyes.
Mulder speaks to the school psychologist, who has found no evidence of ritual abuse. He’s also one of the members of the PTC. Scully found something on the internet, that sounds similar to the current situation. Only it’s from 1934, with the names simply changed. Mulder says that wiccans revere life and nature and wouldn’t be involved.
Mrs Paddock’s class are going to be dissecting hog embryos; Shannon sees the cut open pig start to move. She bolts and Mulder follows. When found, she doesn’t want her stepdad, Jim, calling. She tells Mulder and Scully that she has started remembering abuse, of Jim killing her sister, of having three children that are all buried in the cellar. Much of this does not seem to measure up to the facts, though. Shannon’s mother did have another daughter, who died of cot death. Shannon has never been pregnant either.
Mrs Paddock, if Jerry’s heart and eyes were not sufficient indication, is not what she seems. The members of the PTC haven’t been practicing their faith to the degree that they perhaps should, and it appears that something took offence.