The X-Files Episode That Led To A Crew Member Being Accused Of Kidnapping

In the "The X-Files" episode "Sein und Zeit" (February 6, 2000), Mulder (David Duchovny) investigates a bizarre kidnapping case in Sacramento, California. It seems that a young girl named Amber (Megan Corletto) was recently abducted, and a threatening note was left behind by the kidnapper. The note includes a bizarre reference to Santa Claus. The strange part: The note seems to have been written by Amber's mother, Billie (Shareen Mitchell), even thought Billie claims to have no memory of writing it. Mulder seems to recall a case from 1987 with a similar M.O. In the older case, a mother was convicted of kidnapping her own child, and a similar note in the mother's hand, also containing a reference to Santa Claus, was found at the scene.

Mulder begins to suspect that the mothers in both cases were possessed by a rogue spirit of some kind. This affects Mulder personally, as his own mother wrote a similar note around the time of his sister's disappearance when they were children. Mulder also has to contend with the fact that his mother has recently, and unexpectedly, taken her own life. He's clearly using the kidnapping case as a way to cope with his mother's death and his sister's 27-year-old disappearance. By the end of the episode, Mulder will remove himself from the case, knowing he wasn't able to investigate with good judgment. (Recall that Mulder left after the show's seventh season.)

It's a heady and depressing episode that came late in the show's run. "Sein und Zeit" is also marked by a bizarre incident during filming. It seems that a crew member — unnamed — left one of the prop ransom notes in a phone booth my mistake. When they returned to retrieve it, they were arrested for kidnapping. The local cops found the note, it seems, and thought it was real. The incident was described in the book "All Things: The Official Guide to 'The X-Files,' Vol. 6" by Mac Shapiro.

The incident seemed innocent enough. The crew member in question, as recalled by episode director Kim Manners, was carrying a big file folder around the set, and it contained all the prop kidnapping letters that were to be used in the episode. They then went to a pay phone to make a call (this was in the year 2000, before mobile phones were ubiquitous), and absent-mindedly left the file behind. The episode was filmed in Altadena, California, a city in Los Angeles County just north of Pasadena, and it seems that one of the Altadena locals had a close eye on the "X-Files" crew member in question. It's a little suspicious that a stranger should leave a big file folder in a phone booth. 

The local called the cops, and they found the fake ransom note. When the crew member returned to get the file folder he left behind, he was arrested. One can imagine the kerfuffles that ensued, and how someone in the production office had to explain to the Altadena police that the ransom note was indeed a prop. The crew member was released, it seems, and no more came of the matter. 

"Sein und Zeit," named after the existentialist work by Martin Heidegger, ended in a moving and grim fashion. It will eventually be revealed the kidnapping culprit was not a vengeful spirit, but a professional Santa Claus actor who had been kidnapping and murdering children for decades. Mulder's mother took her own life because she was dying of a deadly bone carcinoma, not because of anything supernatural. The kidnapped children were not being held safely in some spirit realm, but were killed. Mulder, and the audience, had to learn to grieve. Duchovny left the show, but even now, he's always opening to returning.

Luckily, the powerful episode was not impacted too much by the poor crew member's arrest. It's memorable, but it's too depressing to be considered a fan favorite.