The X-Files Creator Was Threatened By The FBI Because He Knew Too Much

Before the premiere of Season 10 in 2016, as part of The X-Files revival, Chris Carter finally opened up about the incident, revealing how, while the show was on the air during its first run, an unidentified man representing a secret branch of the government, said they were close to the truth. Even Carter admits he’s not completely convinced, but that wasn’t the only incident.

Early into the development of The X-Files, Carter explains, “When I wrote the [1993] pilot, I called the FBI to do some research, and they were nice enough, but didn’t really give me the time of day. Then, all of a sudden, as we got close to airing, the FBI called and said, “Who are you and what are you doing?” And for a second, I thought it was going to be the long arm of the law coming in to shut me down.”

We know now that the FBI never shut down production of The X-Files and that there’s no massive government conspiracy covering up the existence of aliens. Instead, we live in a world where the United States government admitted that aliens exist, the unexplainable happens on a regular occurrence, and to be honest, it’s boring when the feds come out and say what’s going on.

Unless that’s just what the government wants us to think.

Whether you believe Chris Carter’s experience with a secret branch of the government or not, The X-Files went on to become a massive success, and even FBI agents became fans. Years after the alleged incident, Carter joined the FBI Citizen’s Academy and became friends with active agents, even getting to use the shooting range at the headquarters in Washington, D.C. Given the friendliness of the agents with the show’s creator, it does seem unlikely that anyone ever approached him or left a threatening message.

Ironically, a conspiracy around Carter’s conspiracy theory has grown up, which is fitting for The X-Files. Fans, mostly newer ones, will often ask for hard proof that this occurred, while others insist on taking Carter at his word, as there’s no way for him to definitively prove this happened. That means we’re all Scully right now, questioning everything, believing no one, and will require a massive UFO to go overhead before we finally believe this story.

And yet, there could be something to it, but not a secret branch of the government. Instead, there are some FBI agents that have come forward and said that certain cases on The X-Files, particularly those dealing with UFO sightings, are eerily similar to real cases that they worked on. Similar to the original series finale, agents have been called in front of Congress to testify on strange phenomena, and so, as weird as it sounds, there’s a kernel of truth to all of this.

The over-arching conspiracy that’s slowly revealed in The X-Files is so vast, broad, and all-encompassing that there’s no way for the real government to pull it off. After all, the Buffalo Bills didn’t need the Cigarette Smoking Man to interfere to stop them from winning a Super Bowl; they pulled off that incredible feat alone.

Chances are, no one in the FBI thought twice about Chris Carter asking for advice on The X-Files pilot script, and no one told him that he was close to the truth, unless…wait a minute…”Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man” aired during Season 4, Carter says the unidentified agent approached him after the show had been on the air for a little awhile.

Is the real truth that the Miracle on Ice was the result of government interference? Did an FBI agent organize Jim Kelly choking in the Super Bowl? Four times in a row? As The X-Files taught us, the truth is out there.