Was pre closed captioned days, so I watched very little T.V. And especially not everyone else's favorite....X Files.
But so help me, switching channels for a nature show...THAT episode caught my attention. And it required little explanation as to what was going on. I missed the baby scene, thankfully. But that mother scene burned into my brain and never went away. Guess would take at least electroshock, huh? Bad timing on my part.
2
One of the best, and it gave me nightmares.
4
TOO GOOD....still scares me in my thoughts, thankfully not my dreams.
3
People people kept telling my husband and I to check out the show, so we finally checked it out. The episode was Home. When my brother asked what we thought, I told him it was way too creepy and dark for my taste. He hadn't seen it and when it didn't rerun, he thought I was making the plot up. It wasn't until it was shown again several years later that he believed me at all.
The fact that the sheriff as named Andy Taylor made it even more creepy, as did the use of the Johnny Mathis song. I still get a wiggins when I hear "Wonderful Wonderful"!
The fact that the sheriff as named Andy Taylor made it even more creepy, as did the use of the Johnny Mathis song. I still get a wiggins when I hear "Wonderful Wonderful"!
4
I indeed remember this extremely disturbing episode so well. On the opposite spectrum, the most wonderful and fun X-files episode was "Goldberg Variation".
2
I didn't watch the X-Files that much, but I knew that "Home" had to be the one that I saw with the woman under the bed. I thought it was one of the best, at the time. It delivered the goods. Other episodes of the X-Files were often disappointing. "Home" was more Twilight Zone than typical X-Files.
2
Hard to believe, but it is the only episode of X Files I have ever seen. Happened to be home that night, watched it, decided to never watch another episode as long as I loved. Seems so odd and funny now. The show actually sounds kind of interesting, and love the two leads, so may go back and binge it now!
2
The show was quite enjoyable before it became a terminally tedious aliens-and-government conspiracy soap opera.
2
All that analysis on the episode and *nothing* on Edgar Allan Poe's House of Usher ??? That's the original inbred murderous decandence story !
2
I remember this episode very well - too well - one I definitely tried to forget!
2
I am an dedicated X-Files fan and am eagerly anticipating its January return. Yes, Home is disturbing but so are a great many X-Files episodes. It's a series that asks the viewer to think and to feel. As disturbing as Home may be, however, it is nothing compared to many of the frankly grotesque and vulgar reality TV shows a that have aired since then, and whose "stars" routinely pimp their own children for a buck as long as they can before the inevitable public shaming that follows the revelation of moral and ethical trangression. In this context the banning of Home as always struck me as histrionic and hypocritical on the part of the network.
5
Never missed an X File episode when they first aired, and trust me, this is the one I NEVER forgot. Still think about it once in a while. Every thing is this article is right, but I also think something else was going on. Every one in the town knew that something weird and sick was going on in that house, but they tried to ignore it. And one day it started killing them.
11
I loved this show and watched every single episode when it was on and all the movies, but Home by far stands out as the most disturbing and scary and the one that I remember best...it left an indelible, stomach-turning, bone-chilling impression.
5
Home was more creepy than scary if you ask me. The scariest show to me is Dr. Who's Blink. That's scary. I can't see statue angels without thinking about it.
5
I saw this when it first aired (when I was living in San Francisco and attending SF State where Johnny Mathis was an alumnus)! Didn't know it got banned, which means I ever only saw it that one time, and yet it's one of the more vivid episodes in my memory. Yes, truly creepy, but like one other commenter, I also found it hilarious, bordering on campy - a lot of X-Files definitely had that undercurrent of wicked humor!
4
As soon as I saw this headline on nytimes.com, I said aloud, "Oh. Definitely 'Home.'"
I remember watching this the one time it was played on Fox in 1999. Actually, scratch that: what I remember is my roommate and I just kind of screaming incoherently through the last 11 minutes or so. Such a disturbing episode. Such a great episode.
I remember watching this the one time it was played on Fox in 1999. Actually, scratch that: what I remember is my roommate and I just kind of screaming incoherently through the last 11 minutes or so. Such a disturbing episode. Such a great episode.
5
I always thought the black and white Kennedy assassination episode was the darkest.
2
I remember calling a friend and fellow fan after this episode aired and asking "What?!?" It was creepy, intensely disturbing, and so twisted. And the bright colors in the episode contrasted sharply with the darkness in the story. I watch tons of old X-Files episodes over and over (loved the show and have the series dvd). But not Home. Not gonna do it.
3
Creepiest and most disturbing episode to ever be broadcast. I hope broadcast standards never get so low that that episode would be acceptable. I'm also surprised at how many people in this stream think it was excellent. I am glad X-Files is coming back for six episodes, but if they have any shows like Home I won't be watching.
1
We LOVE this episode in my family. OK, we're a little strange, but we found it funny. "Can't keep a Peacock down!" Also, isn't this episode the one where Scully tries to get the sheep to move by saying "Baaa Ram Ewe"?
5
Yes, though it was actually a bunch of recalcitrant pigs they were trying to move. "Babe" had come out the previous year.
7
I recall this episode and it was sort of grotesque, but not overly disturbing. Now the original The Bad Seed film (Patty McCormack), *that* was horrific.
2
Wow, I feel like I've got it all wrong! I'm a huge X Files fan - watched it religiously back in its prime - and always thought this episode was...well, silly.
I am clearly in the vast minority.
I am clearly in the vast minority.
2
The baseball bat murders disturb me to this day. The rest of the episode was tame by comparison.
6
Yep. That scene murdering the sheriff with his wife trying to hide under the bed, and then being discovered. That was just way too much for me. I had only seen a handful of X-Files episodes when I saw that one. I abruptly stopped watching the show after being traumatized by the grotesqueness of the episode. It was way too much for broadcast. I don't watch horror films like Saw. I don't get the appeal.
I'll never forget that scene - disgusting horror. How do people find that entertaining?
I'll never forget that scene - disgusting horror. How do people find that entertaining?
1
Has no one else mentioned the racial aspect of those baseball bat murders? The black sheriff and his wife bludgeoned, while an imitation Johnny Mathis sings. Mulder and Scully seemed almost offhand about those deaths.
2
It's the only episode I remember from the series, and the only one I found particularly engaging. We used to keep my mom on a cart under my bed, so I found it relateable.
I miss my mom...
I miss my mom...
6
Home was a fantastic episode. Unnerving, but so imaginative. I remember the episode so clearly all these years later. The music really was so well chosen for it's contrast.
I loved the X Files.
I loved the X Files.
4
I thought this was one of the most disturbing shows I'd ever seen and I loved it! The episode reminded me a lot of the old horror comics they used to make which were both a little terrifying and a little hokey at the same time. The touch of the Johnny Mathis song, which I agree is really spooky, brought a whole new level to it. I must admit I always preferred the "Monster of the Week" episodes and the ones that used iconic songs- "Home", "Kill Switch" and "The Post-modern Prometheus"-were my favorites.
6
If I recall correctly, the sheriff's name was Andy Taylor. (On a later episode, Scully and Mulder portray a couple named 'Rob and Laura Peetry.)'
3
Yes that's true. And the deputy's name was Barney.
4
By no means did I find this the "creepiest and most disturbing episode," as most here do. There were a few other episodes, have no idea what the titles were, that probably involved really stomach-turning stuff - people infected with hideous parasites or some such, that I found far more disturbing and just turned the episode off & went on to the next one. However, "Home" is not one I'd care to watch again.
The house that was used for the exteriors on that episode is in a semi-rural suburban area near where we live, easily visible a few hundred yards away from a freeway, across a large field. My wife and I would often glance over at it when we drove out to visit her parents, who lived a few miles away. We occasionally thought of driving over for a closer look, but never did. Just seeing it from a distance-- the view was unnervingly similar to a shot early in that episode-- was creepy enough.
4
"Home" is hands down my favorite X-Files episode (marginally exceeding my affinity for the Tooms episodes which are also quite good) although to this day, I cannot listen to that Johnny Mathis song without twitching.
3
When X Files showed up on Netflix, this was the first episode I revisited. Of all the episodes this one freaked me out the worst, and I loved it.
4
I had nightmares two nights in a row after seeing the Home episode!
2
This was the last episode of X-Files I ever watched, as a devoted 14-year-old fan. It was too much for me (I still feel disturbed remembering the "Wonderful Wonderful" segment) and ruined the fun-scary feel of the series, which was a shame. But banning it seems well over-the-top.
1
I read the front page of the Times every morning, which right there and then fulfills my horror quotient for the day.
3
Most if not all of these comments were written by one or more publicists for the new X-Files run.
1
Home was a groundbreaking episode for an already groundbreaking show. It was the water cooler episode for days. Another favorite is The Host (giant sewer worm created by toxic waste) because it also elicits that horrifying, disgusting, "could it happen?" reaction.
1
I was fairly new to watching X Files, so this was about the sixth episode I watched, and it has stuck with me every since. I remember maybe two others. I had no idea it was banned, so it isn't that that keeps it in my mind, it's that it was an authentically great and truly creepy piece of writing.
6
I remember this episode well. It's the reason I had to stop watching the show. Just too much for me.
7
It's the reason I started watching the show. My friend told me about it and I was hooked. Was Scully's child an alien by the way?
For the past two months, my wife and I have been rewatching all the Xfiles episodes thru Netflix. Requires a dedicated effort, given 202 shows plus three movies.
Yup, yup, this episode was a good one. Dark, creepy, with several shocking twists and surprises. Classic car, classic song, classic show.
Yup, yup, this episode was a good one. Dark, creepy, with several shocking twists and surprises. Classic car, classic song, classic show.
7
No show today can hold to a candle to this one; It was inventive and made sciFI/horror believable. Each episode was more like a movie than a tv program. Gillian Anderson and the show won slews of enemies long before shows like the Sopranos and 6 Feet Under were around. It was also anti-government corruption unlike spectacles like HOMELAND which are pro-govt abuse and rendition under the guise of safety. This show was cancelled suddenly just after 9/11 despite high ratings. That should be the subject of it's relaunch - 9/11!
6
The Peacocks live out here in Utah now.
17
Thank God they're not in my neighborhood. Thanks for being a good sport. :-)
1
I remember thinking that this one was hilarious. But I have few illusions about the "flexibility" of human nature, having been subject to it once or twice.
4
At the end of the episode, I remember saying to my wife: "From a different perspective, it's a love story..."
2
You gotta be kidding me...at the time, the writers thought that "Home" was a straightforward, down the middle sort of episode? And they were surprised by others' reactions to their work? Jeez...these writers must really be weird people to actually believe that! I am glad that these guys are not my neighbors!
6
You have never lived in a small town in an out of the way declining part of the country have you. Or for that matter a condo complex with nutty owners.
5
I remember this episode because it always reminded me of the Ward brothers documentary- Brother's Keeper and now after all these years-----I was right! I actually watched the trial of the Ward boys and saw where they lived- pretty much like the Peacock abode.And now that I know Glen Morgan grew up in Rochester, it explains all the upstate references in many of the episodes. I also like the one filmed in black and white which ends with the "monster" slow dancing to Cher singing Walking in Memphis .( Post modern Prometheus) Can't wait for the return of the XFILES!
10
Thank you for this great article. I remember watching this episode back then, but my husband, who was with me, does not. He must have blocked it. Great Halloween story.
5
I was recently talking to a co-worker about this episode. God it freaked me out. It wasn't until years after it first aired that I watched it all the way through. Sick but definitely memorable!
3
Is it me or are the same lesser episodes of X Files re-run over and over? It's as if only a limited number are available.
This one indeed get to my "lizard brain" with the miscreant mother/monster under the bed. The contrast with the "smooth sound" of the dead-on impersonation of Johnny Mathis really sets the mood. Sick, but brilliant.
This one indeed get to my "lizard brain" with the miscreant mother/monster under the bed. The contrast with the "smooth sound" of the dead-on impersonation of Johnny Mathis really sets the mood. Sick, but brilliant.
7
They are all on Netflix- worth the price of admission. Truly remarkable television.
1
The ending of that episode creeped me out completely. Remember...mom in the trunk of the car?
Truly gruesome and brilliant!
Truly gruesome and brilliant!
7
My favorite X-Files episode. Bought season 4 on DVD just for this episode.
5
Oh my God, did you really have to bring THAT episode back to mind? That was a seriously disturbing one. I think my subconscious buried it deep, deep down until you resurrected that. I think I'm going to have to go watch "Bad Blood" five times to get "Home" out of my head...
18
It haunts me to this day.
16
The killing of the sheriff and his wife is the part that haunts me. It was just too grotesque and horrific for television I think. The rest of the show was intriguing.
2
I couldn't believe that Mulder and Scully didn't realize that a black sheriff and his black wife were in danger once the warrants were issued. Glad to learn that wasn't Johnny Mathis' voice during the beatings. I turned if off then. Too evil.
Like Susan, I saw this episode when it initially aired. Also like her, it is the only episode that I can vividly remember and to this day it gives me goose bumps when I think about it. CREEPY! I think that I'll watch it again this weekend on Netflix. :)
12
I still remember this episode vividly, even though I only watched it once when I was ten years old. At that time, I remember being stunned and had, not nightmares, but a sense of wrongness that was constant in my head for a few months afterwards. Even to this day, 15 years later I still think about this a few times a year.If that isn't a mark of lasting impressions, I don't know what is.
11
The X Files is one of my all-time favorite shows. Can't get enough of Mulder and Scully. Having said that, I somehow missed the original airing of "Home", and it took me YEARS (long after the show had ended) to work up the nerve to watch it online. Which I did, peeking through my fingers. Still get the shivers, thinking about it.
5
I am still disturbed when I think of this episode. Truly horrifying. Never missed an episode of the show, but this was a turning point - and I was an adult when I saw it. Still can't hear that song without goosebumps and an upset stomach.
13
Great! Mission accomplished!
Can't Wait for the return.
Can't Wait for the return.
2
I enjoyed the original airing so much that my folks bought me the Peacock family action figures for Xmas. And this was the collector's boxed edition, with the white Cadillac, Ma's bed, and the kitchen table with the scissors.
If they begin showing this one again regularly I hope they CGI in Scully's much chicer hairdo from the 5th season. I mean, why not? Whoever owns the original Star Trek CGI'd in a much snappier lookin' Enterprise, right?
If they begin showing this one again regularly I hope they CGI in Scully's much chicer hairdo from the 5th season. I mean, why not? Whoever owns the original Star Trek CGI'd in a much snappier lookin' Enterprise, right?
4
I'm sure you meant to say Scully's hairdo from the 6th season, much chicer. You shoulda held out for the Definitive Collector's Boxed Edition with all the stuff you got AND the pig's head, the Peacock family snapshots, and a pack of Morleys. Nowadays those Definitive Collector's Boxed Edition sets are worth more than a Jeff Koons sculpture.
3
If you still have that Definitive Collector's Boxed Edition set I'll give you any three Jeff Koons sculptures of your choice for it. You can come down and pick them out, I have dozens in a hermetically sealed garage over on the west side. Please tell me that the cellophane on the pack of Morleys is intact. I'll even throw in a stencil that can be used to make a sneaker print identical to Mulder's sneaker that Eugene Tooms pressed his face up against after squeezing into Mulder's apartment through the furnace duct in order to fabricate the physical evidence necessary to make it look like Mulder kicked him in the jaw while beating him up (while Mulder was actually asleep on the couch).
My little brother lost the umbilical cord scissors from my Collector's Edition Boxed set when he re-enacted the (yet) unseen preamble to the episode's opening scene with a 'modified' Cabbage Patch kid taking the role of the Peacock infant.
My little brother lost the umbilical cord scissors from my Collector's Edition Boxed set when he re-enacted the (yet) unseen preamble to the episode's opening scene with a 'modified' Cabbage Patch kid taking the role of the Peacock infant.
11
Maybe for five Koons sculptures? I already have the Mulder sneaker print stencil, but thanks. Now... do you have any Tracy Emin works? The reason I ask is I also have one of the fourteen 'Lenny' conjoined twin prosthetic props from 'Humbug'. This is one that still has the torso straps, so it can be worn. I'll swap it for any fifty six Tracy Emin works, or any three hundred and twenty two Damien Hirsts. The 'Lenny' prop comes with certification that when Chris Carter was shown the prop at X-Con he replied that he could not definitely confirm that it was the one worn by Vincent Schiavelli in the scene at Scully's trailer door.
1
I remember watching the episode when it aired and agreeing with the commentary/review published in NYT shortly thereafter--that the episode had crossed a line. Well executed episode, but reminded me of Roger Ebert's criticism of the film Hannibal--to paraphrase, that it was a geek show. There are much scarier episodes of X Files out there ...
2
Creepiest "X-Files" ever. I can't wait for the new series.
7
Of all the X Files episodes, this is the one I remember most and was the most grossed out and horrified. When they found that woman under the bed I was deliciously shocked and disgusted.
5
The X Files was a show that grew by word of mouth.
It set FOX on the map.
I do remember this episode and found it slightly off tune from many of the other episodes but do not believe it was as bad as much of the content on television today.
Can not wait for the 6 new episodes.
It set FOX on the map.
I do remember this episode and found it slightly off tune from many of the other episodes but do not believe it was as bad as much of the content on television today.
Can not wait for the 6 new episodes.
1
Ten bucks says within the next five years it rolls to Broadway. The regulars with tickets for "Wonderful! Wonderful!" get quite a surprise.
6
love the way your mind works!
1
Wow, this was the only episode I remember seeing as a kid and it's stayed with me to this day. Anytime someone mentions X-Files my mind jumps to the opening scene of the brothers burying the baby. Powerful stuff! I turned out OK though... I think.
4
Turned out OK? Ummm...no, unless you rooted for the Peacock family.
1
Interesting that it was only shown twice on Fox. I must have seen it the first time it was aired, and only then, and yet it is still burned into my brain almost 20 yrs later. I didn't know that it resonated with other viewers the same way.
9
Every Sunday night when I was a kid, I'd fall asleep to the sound of my parents watching the X Files downstairs - just the theme song alone was pretty terrifying. I'd pull the sheets up to my chin and wonder what Mulder and Scully were up to.
After months of begging, my parents finally relented and agreed that I could join them for the next episode. I was so excited all week long, dreaming of aliens and UFOs. Of course, that next episode ended up being "Home".
Mom knows best! Still haven't experienced shock and horror quite like that. Took me months - years? - to get over it.
After months of begging, my parents finally relented and agreed that I could join them for the next episode. I was so excited all week long, dreaming of aliens and UFOs. Of course, that next episode ended up being "Home".
Mom knows best! Still haven't experienced shock and horror quite like that. Took me months - years? - to get over it.
43
I still remember seeing this episode for the first (and apparently only) time it was aired on Fox. Since then I've seen it aired on two cable networks that show X-Files reruns. This is the only X-Files episode that I vividly remember - from the title, to the plot, to hearing who I thought was Johnny Mathis (till I read this article) sing "Wonderful, Wonderful" from the family's car radio. It was and still is disturbingly creepy good.
29