“Miracle Man” is episode eighteen of season one of The X-Files.
The episode opens in Kenwood, Tennessee in 1983, at what appears to be the scene of an accident with fire trucks and ambulances on the scene. A man holding a bible is with a young boy; they unzip a body bag revealing the rather badly burnt corpse inside. The boy tells the man inside to rise up and heal. One of the firemen asks what they are doing and is told the boy is laying on hands. He tells them that the man is dead, and the one with the bible says it can’t possibly do any harm. The hand of the dead man in the body bag moves and grasps that of the boy.
A film is being shown of a prayer tent with the man with the bible leading things. Then it stops. Scully tells Mulder that the woman on the table has a malignant tumour on her spine and the boy is going to attempt to lay on hands. The tape was sent by the field office in Tennessee. Mulder knows who the man is, the Reverend Calvin Hartley, and the boy is his adopted son Samuel. Hartley claims he found Samuel as an infant, lying in the tall weeds on the muddy banks of the Mississippi. It’s also claimed Samuel brought a man back from the dead. Which Mulder says is more than a claim; the man Samuel saved appears as a regular attraction. Samuel has been performing miracles every week for the past ten years; twice on Sundays. Local authorities think it’s a scam but the sheriff has been unable to shut it down. They turned to the FBI; not to prove it’s a scam, but with the charge of murder. The woman who Samuel attempted to cure was three minutes later rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. Scilly doesn’t know the cause of death, but it wasn’t cancer. They have asked for someone with a medical background to check. It may not be an X-File, but Mulder is certainly willing to accompany her.
Mulder and Scully are in the audience of the Miracle Mission when the sheriff enters. Hartley apologises to those present, as Samuel cannot be there today. Afterwards, Mulder and Scully approach Hartley, asking to speak to Samuel. Hartley doesn’t actually know where he is. Aman accompanying him, dressed in black with sunglasses, a hat and gloves, tells him they need to go.
Sheriff Daniels introduces himself. He has copies of the coroner’s reports. He remembers when Hartley was preaching for dollar bills; now he has a lot more money. Mulder thinks it’s a long way from being a fake to being accused of murder. There are witnesses saying Samuel was touching the woman when she died. The request for an autopsy was blocked by Hartley on religious grounds, and the county coroner is a member of the Miracle Mission. Scully suggests an exhumation, which is naturally done at night, but Hartley’s people managed to find out about it and the man in black, Vance, says they will do whatever it takes to stop them. Vance is badly scarred and it can be inferred he was the man Samuel saved at the beginning.
The sheriff is told that Samuel has been spotted and they head to a bar, where Samuel started a fight. The sheriff arrests him for murder. Mulder is less sure. According to Daniels, the only question is how Samuel did it. Mulder wants to talk first and Samuel seems to believe he is guilty. His pride led to an opening for the devil who corrupted his gift. He also says he can see Mulder’s pain, an old pain related to a brother or a sister. Mulder would like to hear more.
At the Kenwood County Courthouse, Samuel’s representative wants him released on his own recognisance without bail. Samuel himself objects to that. The county agrees to let him free, with bail, and the judge assents. Then lots of insects appear in the courthouse and Samuel claims the Lord has testified against him.
The insects are grasshoppers and Scully is examining one as Mulder is reading from the bible about the plague of locusts. She doesn’t think a few thousand grasshoppers makes a plague, especially in farm country. Mulder would expect to see grasshoppers in a cornfield, not a courthouse. He also thinks Samuel is for real. Then Vance appears; the reverend will see them now.
Hartley has definitely seen a lot of material benefit from Samuel’s healing ability. Which always looks suspicious. He wants Mulder and Scully to help, even though Samuel himself seems to think he’s guilty. Sheriff Daniels is certainly convinced of Samuel’s guilt, and deals with him accordingly. Throughout, Mulder starts seeing a young girl – a young girl who, by all appearances, seems to be his lost sister. Some things definitely have a mundane explanation; for others, it’s rather less clear cut.