The Walk

At the VA hospital in Fort Evanston, Maryland, Lieutenant Colonel Victor Stans makes his third suicide attempt. He tries to drown in a tub of boiling water, but is rescued by hospital staff. Stans claims that some mysterious figure keeps him from dying.

When Fox Mulder and Dana Scully interview Stans, they learn that His wife and children died in a house fire that he says was started by a mysterious soldier. This same soldier, according to him, does not allow him to die himself. Captain Janet Draper stops the interrogation, as Mulder and Scully have not received permission to meet with Stans from the hospital's chief, General Thomas Callahan.

After meeting with the agents, Callahan notices the Ghost soldier described by Stans. He also finds that his answering machine is playing an illegible message. Later, while using the base's pool, captain Draper drowns under the influence of an invisible force.

Callahan tells the agents about the soldier and a strange voice message that was received twice before at his home. When they visit the General's house together, his young son Trevor notices a stranger entering the house. Scully notices someone in the backyard. The General's property is found to contain fingerprints belonging to hospital postman Quinton "Roach" Frehley.

When Mulder and Scully take roach into custody, Trevor is attacked by an invisible force and is buried in his own sandbox. Under questioning, roach admits his role in the murders and claims to be "Rappo's postman."

"Rappo" turns out to be Leonard Trimble, a Gulf war veteran and quadriplegic. Scully doesn't believe roach, although he insists that Rappo will kill Him next. Later, Scully finds roach dead in a cell with a sheet stuffed down his throat. Scully assumes that he committed suicide, but Mulder shows her the x-rays that he brought to Stans ' rehab room, pool, office, and Callahan's house – each of them showing flashes as if from radiation. Mulder thinks that Rappo is leaving his body, in the form of an astral projection, moving to places that are connected with the help of roach's letters. He also plays Callahan's voice mail in reverse, and discovers that the tape contains a threat from the Ghost soldier.

During the interrogation, an angry Rappo States that he believes that the Gulf war took his life. Meanwhile, Callahan finds the body of his wife. He goes to the hospital to talk to Stans, who reveals that Rappo is responsible for the death of the General's wife and son. Callahan goes to Rappo, and he confesses to the crimes. Rappo tries to get Callahan to kill him, but Callahan decides to back off and shoots Rappo over his head. Callahan tells Rappo that he will suffer like the others, and leaves Rappo furious.

The agents arrive and find Rappo in a trance. Scully thinks he's having a seizure, but Mulder realizes what's going on and tries to find Callahan. Rappo's Ghost attacks Callahan with steam from pipes in the basement of the hospital. Stans enters Rappo's room, locks the door, and smothers Rappo with a pillow. After Rappo's death, his Ghost disappears. Callahan remains unharmed.

Since there is no physical evidence that Rappo killed Callahan's wife and son, the case remains unsolved. Stans is released and becomes Callahan's postman. Mulder's report says that Rappo's family wanted to bury him at Arlington national cemetery, but the army declined their request. Instead, he was cremated and buried in a civil cemetery in Pennsylvania.