“The Căluşari” is episode twenty-one of season two of The X-Files.
The episode opens at Lincoln Park in Murray, Virginia. A boy, Charlie, is watching a miniature train when his mother calls him for ice cream. The mother is with a younger boy, Teddy, who loses his balloon, then falls and drops his ice cream. The father takes Charlie’s balloon and gives it to Teddy. As the mother goes to clean Teddy up, Charlie complains that was his balloon. He doesn’t want ice cream, or another balloon; he wants his balloon. He has an angry face on.
The mother cleans up Teddy, then fastens his harness to the sink whilst she goes into a toilet cubicle. Teddy lets go of his balloon, which goes out of the window. When the mother comes out, Teddy is gone, his harness undone. Teddy is following the balloon, which is drifting oddly. Charlie is watching with his angry face. The balloon drifts onto the miniature train line and stops. Teddy gets it, and is on the trainline. This is noticed, the train is coming and it can’t stop. Charlie does not seem at all upset, and the balloon drifts back to him.
Mulder and Scully are at Dr. Charles Burks’ lab at the University of Maryland. Mulder has a photo taken just before Teddy was killed. His father works at the State Department, so a coroner’s inquiry was held. Nothing unusual was found, but the county medical examiner contacted Mulder afterwards, disturbed by the case and the photo.
The photo shows a helium balloon moving horizontally, not up, and against the prevailing wind. That’s why Mulder came to Chuck. Who runs some software and finds evidence of electromagnetic activity holding the balloon. Mulder thinks it’s a ghost. Yes, the camera has been checked. Scully is not impressed. The CME also tested Teddy’s childproof halter on his own 2-year-old and found it was impossible for a child of that age to reach around and free themselves.
As Mulder and Scully arrive at Teddy’s parents, the Holveys, there is a focus on an item with a swastika and an old woman looking out at them. Teddy’s parents believe it was just an awful accident. Charlie is watching, then leaves the room. Scully sees the old woman drawing something on his hand. Another swastika, with dots between the arms, just like the one seen earlier. The old woman, Golda, Maggie Holvey’s mother, came to live with them when Teddy was born. The smoke detector goes off, then power goes out; apparently a common problem. Golda launches into a tirade in another language and Mulder sees the swastika and red string around Charlie’s hand. Apparently, the tirade was accusing her daughter of marrying a devil and having a devil child.
Later, Mulder asks Scully if she recognises the symbol. He explains that it is an ancient symbol of protection and good luck, and believes the old woman drew it on Charlie. Scully saw her doing it. She thinks he needs protection. She explains Munchausen by proxy, where a parent or guardian induces medical symptoms in a child to get attention for themselves. Teddy had been into hospitals 10 times in the past 2 years, and Charlie also had medical problems, starting when his brother was born.
Mr Holvey says thinks have been strange since Golda moved in. He met Maggie in Romania in 1985; Golda forbade their marriage. When they moved to the U.S., things got better until Golda moved in. Superstitions rule her life. She calls Charlie a devil to his face, yet also seems to dote on him. Scully wants a professional counsellor to check on Charlie.
At the Holveys, this causes an argument. Holvey is taking Charlie anyway, and the two get into his car in the garage. The opener doesn’t work, so he climbs up to examine the mechanism, throwing his tie over his shoulder. You can guess what happens next. Unlike Teddy’s death, this seems to greatly upset Charlie.
Afterwards, cops show Scully into Golda’s room. Where there are dead roosters and other stuff. Mulder examined the mechanism, and says the motor isn’t shorted. He found some ash which he is going to get analysed. Scully wants to take Charlie out of the house.
According to the FBI chemistry labs analysis, the ash contains nothing organic or inorganic. Mulder also takes it to Chuck, who calls it apport; ash that materialises out of thin air in the presence of spirit beings or during bilocation. Scully is still not convinced. She thinks Golda may be responsible.
Golda and several old men are currently conducting a ritual that is massively suspicious-looking when seen. Charlie himself definitely seems to be an evil child. However, there is even more weirdness going on than it seems.