| Eugene Victor Tooms | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Naming | |||
| Others | N/A | ||
| Personal information | |||
| Species | Mutant human | ||
| Gender | Male | ||
| Date of birth | 1873 or earlier | ||
| Place of origin | Baltimore, Maryland, USA (presumed) | ||
| Age | At least 121 at the time of death | ||
| Affiliation | Baltimore Animal Regulations | ||
| Occupation | Dog Catcher | ||
| Current status | Deceased | ||
| Cause of death | Crushed under a moving escalator | ||
| Biology | |||
| Body type | Human | ||
| Diet | Carnivorous | ||
| Abilities | Stretching his body Hibernation Immortality | ||
| Sentience | Sentient | ||
| Sapience | Sapient | ||
| Behind the scenes | |||
| Universe | The X-Files | ||
| Created by | Glen Morgan, James Wong and Chris Carter | ||
| Performed by | Doug Hutchison | ||
Eugene Victor Tooms was an animal control agent from Baltimore, Maryland. Secretly, he was also a mutant biologically-immortal killer, whose mutations affected both his metabolism and his muscle and bones structure, and who needed to eat human livers to survive. His most prominent ability was to stretch and contort his body at will, allowing him to pass through extremely narrow gaps and to hide in such unlikely places as plumbing pipes, air ducts and chimneys.
Although he was an immortal, Tooms' metabolism caused him to spend most of his life in deep hibernation, waking up every 30 years to feed. At least four periods of activity have been documented: in 1903, 1933, 1963 and 1993. In each of these periods, Tooms hunted down and murdered five victims, who were all found with their livers missing. The livers had been brutally torn off from the victims' bodies. After eating the five livers he needed, Tooms would retreat to his nest - hidden within the walls of an abandoned building - for another period of hibernation. He built the nest out of rags and newspapers, glued together by a bile-like substance he produced.
Curiously, Tooms would also keep a small souvenir from each of his victims (such as a hairbrush and a coffee mug), which might indicate that he killed not only out of a genetic necessity, but also for sport. The fact that he always killed his victims when they were inside seemingly inaccessible rooms - which he managed to sneak into due to his stretching abilities - may also suggest that he did it intentionally for the thrill, although it's also possible he did it to confuse the police.
Although he could successfully pass off as a normal person for most of the time, Tooms had some visible difficulty in controlling his instincts. When his hunger took over, his eyes would start glowing in a distinctly abnormal way and he found it difficult to concentrate.
In 1993, Tooms murdered and consumed the livers of four victims, and his crimes were investigated by FBI agents Mulder and Scully. He ended up being caught on one of the crime scenes, but was released due to lack of evidence. However, the agents kept a close eye on him. Tooms later attacked and tried to kill Scully, but was subdued by the agents and arrested. With insufficient evidence to charge him for the four murders, Tooms was sent to Druid Hill Sanitarium for his attack on Scully. He started to make another nest in his cell, but was eventually released as the local psychiatrist became convinced that he was not a threat to anyone. This same psychiatrist was later killed by Tooms.
Having now consumed five livers, Tooms returned to his home at 66 Exeter Street only to find that it had been turned into a shopping mall. He nevertheless built a nest beneath the mall's escalator and prepared to hibernate, but was tracked down by Mulder and attacked him. In the ensuing struggle, Tooms was killed as Mulder activated the moving escalator, and his body was dragged away and crushed under the mechanism.
Notes[]
- In a 1903 census, Tooms claimed to have resided on Baltimore for 30 years, suggesting that he might have been born in 1873, although it's also very possible that he has been alive for far longer than that, and was simply lying.