The mammalian corpse in Ray Soames' grave.
In 1992, a mammalian corpse was found inside a coffin in which Ray Soames had been buried in Bellefleur, Oregon. This body was a hundred and fifty-six centimeters in length, weighed fifty-two pounds in extremis and had large ocular cavities as well as an implant (made from indeterminate material) in its nasal cavity. The corpse was also in the advanced stages of decay and desiccation, and its oblate cranium suggested it was not human.
The corpse was discovered by FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully on March 7, 1992, while they were present at the exhumation of Ray Soames' coffin but had witnessed the coffin crack open after it had tumbled down a hill. Upon seeing the corpse, Mulder and Scully both covered their mouths with one hand, in disgust. Mulder not only instructed the nearby Coroner John Truitt to seal the coffin but also wanted no-one to see or touch the corpse.
The body was thereafter examined by Agent Scully, a medical doctor. Mulder was amazed by the significance of the finding and took many photographs of the body. Although Scully was definite that the body was mammalian and speculated that it could be a chimpanzee or some kind of orangutan, Mulder dared her to notify other Bellefleur residents or Ray Soames' family of her findings. Mulder also requested tissue samples, x-rays, an analysis of the creature's blood type, a toxicology report and a full genetic work-up in the belief that the body was alien. Scully, however, suspected that the body was the result of someone's sick joke. She nevertheless continued her examination and processed x-rays of the body. They confirmed that the body was similar to a mammalian but that its physiology could possibly be mutated. However, Scully could not account for the small implant which she had found in the corpse's nasal cavity before 4:37 a.m., the next morning.
Much of the evidence that Scully and Mulder had gathered was later destroyed, with the exception of the implant that Scully had removed from the body. Even though Scully suspected that Doctor Jay Nemman and Detective Miles were responsible for the destruction, she could not explain what the men could have wanted with the corpse. Soon thereafter, Mulder guesstimated that Ray Soames may have endured some kind of test that Mulder believed would explain the mammalian corpse. Scully later presented the implant to Division Chief Scott Blevins, mentioning that she had removed it from the exhumed body. (TXF: "Pilot")
- The script for the pilot episode of The X-Files describes this corpse as "a shriveled, child-sized humanoid figure [...] It has a strange football-shaped head and mottled leathery skin. It actually may not be human at all." Later, Scully objects more to Mulder's belief that the corpse is extraterrestrial than she does in the final episode. Mulder later advises that he and Scully take a few hours to properly analyze "who or what this thing really is", referring to the strange corpse.