Satan to the rescue!

How does one read this kind of X File?
Some, no doubt, will take it quite literally.

In fact, in 1994, when this episode first aired, it could almost be said to be dealing with current affairs.

It was only two years earlier that the Department of Justice published Kenneth Lanning's "Investigator's Guide to Allegations of "Ritual" Child Abuse", the FBI study referred to by Scully as the recently concluded "seven year study". She is somewhat circumspect in that she claims the study found "little or no evidence", whereas Lanning states categorically: "After all the hype and hysteria are put aside, the realization sets in that most satanic/occult activity involves the commission of NO crimes, and that which does, usually involves the commission of relatively minor crimes such as trespassing, vandalism, cruelty to animals, or petty thievery. " (p.30) (Lanning's emphasis)

So, just how are we to read this X File?

If we accept that there is no conspiracy of Satanists, can we not at least accept that people do worship Satan? That they call upon his infernal aid for power, wealth, success?

Well, not according to Magus Peter H. Gilmore, the official Church of Satan's High Priest. According to him, and he seems quite a learned and rational fellow, "There are really no films dealing ostensibly with Satanism that get it right. They usually offer devil worship in the context of a horror film, and so we tend to judge them on their efficacy as fright films, rather than as exemplars of Satanism — which they are not." Speaking of Roman Polanski's 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968), Gilmore says, "The breeding of Satan's child to us is silly, since God and Satan are both myths." (my emphasis)

Why a Church of Satan, then?

"Satanism is an atheist philosophy using Satan as a symbol of pride, liberty, and individualism, as did many before us who would not accept the status quo…"

But what about the rituals?

Well, apparently, "Satanists employ ritual not as worship, but as a form of self-­psychotherapy to rid ourselves of any emotions hindering our intelligently moderated pursuit of pleasures." (All quotes from Magus Peter H. Gilmore from Cheryl Eddy's 2014 article found at: http://io9.gizmodo.com/these-are-the-movies-recommended-by-the-church-of-satan-1655590027)

The 'Satanic Panic' swept the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s and led to the ruination of hundreds if not thousands of innocent people. Read the article at slate.com about the freeing of Fran and Dan Keller, a couple who spent twenty years in prison for the following crimes:

"drowning and dismembering babies in front of the children; killing dogs and cats in front of the children; transporting the children to Mexico to be sexually abused by soldiers in the Mexican army; dressing as pumpkins and shooting children in the arms and legs; putting the children into a pool with sharks that ate babies; putting blood in the children’s Kool-Aid; cutting the arm or a finger off a gorilla at a local park; and exhuming bodies at a cemetery, forcing children to carry the bones."
Only in America, folks!

'Die Hand Die Verletzt', episode 14 of Season Two, is actually one of the great X File episodes. The writing and direction are almost miraculous in that they tell such a story in the limited time of a regular TV show.   The plot leaves us in no doubt that we should be aware of the most recent of American witch hunts (after Salem and McCarthyism) and its consequences. Scully's mentioning of Lanning's findings early on gives a hint that what follows shouldn't be taken literally, a point made even more forcefully by the excellent scene in which Jim Ashbury (Dan Butler) is eaten by a snake.

The episode doesn't belittle or humiliate. One of the more dramatic scenes has Shannon relating the horrors she believes she has experienced to Scully and Mulder, who are appropriately affected.

But the telling scene, it seems to me, is the ending in which, realising that events are being controlled by Mrs Paddock, or the manifested form of Satan, Mulder and Scully go looking for her in her science lab (and let's not miss the significance of this little gem), only to find her gone and the words, "Goodbye. It's been nice working with you" written on the black board.

This episode is the X Files at its very best. A difficult, sensitive issue is dealt with, a whole plethora of ideas are thrown at the viewer, with enough evidence for a particular point of view, but, also, enough scope for viewers to question and search for their own response.