The Jersey Devil (The X-Files)

"The Jersey Devil" is the fifth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files, premiering on the Fox network on October 8, 1993. It was written by series creator Chris Carter, directed by Joe Napolitano, and featured guest appearances by Gregory Sierra, Wayne Tippit and Claire Stansfield. Although the episode is the series' second "Monster-of-the-Week" story—after the earlier "Squeeze"—it was the first to have been written by Carter.

The show centers on FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate seemingly cannibalistic murders in New Jersey. The two later come across what seems to be an evolutionary relict which may have inspired tales of the Jersey Devil.

Carter was inspired to write "The Jersey Devil" after reading an essay by E. O. Wilson regarding ants; Carter, in turn, wrote a story that posed whether mankind was hellbent on its own extinction. The concept of mankind being carnivores and eating its own tail evolved into the idea of using an evolutionary mutation that was a throwback to the Neanderthal. The purpose of the scenes with Scully going on a date were to show the life she was passing up to work on the X-Files and to open up Scully to the audience.