By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
One of the more charming things about The X-Files is how often the show transformed classic urban myths into truly spooky episodes of television. For example, the show has an episode about the Jersey Devil, which gave fans of this particular cryptid a real thrill. But in a twist worthy of the show at its prime, one of its best episodes, “Tooms,” was created thanks to the writer wanting to make his own urban myth about a monster in an escalator.
How “Tooms” Created A Myth
The early days of The X-Files were largely shaped by Glen Morgan and James Wong, a writing team that brought us some of the show’s creepiest thrills. “Tooms” was an episode that brought back the titular villain, a kind of stretchy monster man who had previously been introduced in the episode “Squeeze.” And “Tooms” has an unforgettably weird climax inspired by the time that Morgan was doing some Christmas shopping at a Los Angeles mall and saw an exposed escalator, making him think how scary a bespoke urban myth about a monster inside the escalator could be.
Those who have seen “Tooms” know that the show helped bring its own urban myth to life in the grossest possible way. In this episode’s climax, Mulder and Scully try to track Eugene Tooms to his old address only to discover that a mall has been built there and that the monster man had seemingly disappeared inside an escalator. When Mulder goes inside, he finds a gooey environment fit for the Queen from Aliens; he gets assaulted by a naked, bile-covered Tooms and ultimately dispatches the villain by turning on the escalator, dragging Tooms to death in its inner workings.
If you know much about urban legends, you’ve already guessed that The X-Files basically mixed in an old one while creating a new one. Long before “Tooms” was written, there were urban myths about how dangerous escalators can be and how easy it is for someone, especially children, to get caught in them and hurt or killed (hence the memorable bit in Mallrats where Jason Lee’s character keeps screaming about a kid’s repeated and risky escalator rides). Tooms getting killed by an escalator essentially fulfills the classic myth, but Glen Morgan added something new to the urban mythology with the idea of a monster man living underneath the escalator.
Arguably, “Tooms” perfects the series’ trope of putting new spins on old urban myths. The aforementioned “Jersey Devil” episode, for example, explores the idea that one woman may be the titular monster before revealing her to be something far more mundane. “El Mundo Gira,” meanwhile, focuses on the myth of the chupacabra, the Mexican goat-sucker that, in this tale, may or may not be aliens. Speaking of aliens, the show constantly deals with urban legends about “Little Green Men” and has alternated from portraying these visitors from outer space as little grey guys to vicious monsters out of a horror movie.
At the end of the day, “Tooms” would have been memorable even without the inclusion of urban myths, thanks to the title villain. But the escalator really does make for an exciting ending, and Glen Morgan accomplished his goal of unlocking new fears in audiences. Now, every time we drive by an abandoned mall, we can’t help but wonder how many hungry horrors may be hidden inside, all thanks to an hour of utterly insane 90s TV.
