The X Files 106 Shadows Trivia, Facts, Goofs & Description

 Mulder and Scully investigate the deaths of two men believed to have been killed by a powerful psychokinetic force.

Trivia

• When Mulder and Scully are in the library, if you look at the newspaper report, above the story of Howard Graves' suicide there is an article about a killer who extracts his victim's livers and escapes from impossible locations. This is a reference to Eugene Tooms from Squeeze (1993).
• Four industrial fans generating winds of up to 100mph were used to create the climactic office hurricane. The scene was filmed late at night and the noise generated by the fans was so loud, that an infuriated neighbor started complaining about it.
• This episode features a recurring motif in the series where Mulder dashes into a situation to witness a paranormal happening while Scully is somehow delayed and misses it. (In this instance, she's having trouble with her seat-belt.) This is a writer's trick to help preserve the trademark Scully scepticism.
• This episode was partly inspired by the horror film The Entity (1982). The film starred Barbara Hershey, who later played Erika Price in Season Eleven.
• When Mulder and Scully are in the car park, and Howard Graves' car parking space is being renamed, the name being painted on is Tom Braidwood - who is the actor who plays Frohike and is also an Assistant Director on the series.
• The house where Lauren Kyte lives is the same filming location as the house of the investigating officer of the Powhatten Mill Murders in Squeeze (1993). The yellow and flower Prairie style windows are the indicator.
• The birthdate on the grave marker for Sarah Lynn Graves (Howard Graves' daughter) is September 8, 1966. This was the television premiere date for Star Trek: The Original Series, with the airing of the episode, "The Man Trap."
• After interviewing Lauren Kyte, Scully tells Mulder that she doesn't believe that it's Howard Graves who has been protecting Lauren. This is despite the fact that Scully herself identified Howard Graves, standing in Lauren's house on the surveillance photo, initially causing her to believe that he had faked his own death.
• Howard Patrick Graves was born on March 4, 1940 and died on October 5, 1993.
• Sarah Lynn Graves was born on September 8, 1966 and died on August 3, 1969.

spoilers

• This episode largely came about because executive producers Glen Morgan and James Wong were under pressure from the Fox executives to have Mulder and Scully investigate what they considered to be a more traditional paranormal case involving ghosts, as opposed to liver-eating mutants or extra-terrestrials. Morgan and Wong essentially wrote the episode to get the executives off their backs.

Goofs

• Howard Graves' tombstone states that he died on the 5th of October, but the opening scenes date stamp says the 22nd of September when it was supposed to be two weeks after Graves had died.
• The newspaper article found by Scully states that Howard Graves' middle name is Thomas, yet on his grave his middle name is Patrick.
• When Mulder and Scully are questioning Lauren in the investigation room, the piece of paper on Mulder's jacket changes place in between shots.
• When the cup falls over when Lauren wants to see Mr. Dorlund, the box of tissues disappears in the last shot.
• When Mulder breathes on the glasses to reveal the fingerprints, they show up as black. Unless Mulder's mouth is full of fingerprint powder, the fingerprints should have been white.
• The pathologist states of the initial two victims that the esophagus, larynx and hyoid bones have been crushed like chalk, then immediately says that there's no evidence of tissue damage, despite having just described significant tissue damage.
• When the doctor pulls the sheet down from the first body in the morgue, one of the victims' underwear can clearly be seen. While in the morgue, victim's bodies are stored unclothed so a full and complete autopsy can be completed. Leaving a victim's underwear on during an autopsy can hide potential evidence or injury.
• The corpses in the morgue scene could be seen breathing. The chest of the one closest to the screen was seen moving.
• Very obvious stunt doubles of Fox and Dana during the crash scene.
• When Mulder and Scully are talking about Howard Graves faking his own death, when they get to the bottom of the stairs, you can see the pole which the camera used to travel down the stairs.
• When Lauren pulls into the parking lot at the office, a Canadian-spec "Do not enter" traffic sign (red circle with white rectangle inside) is visible in the background.
• When they visit the Graves' tombs at the cemetery, Scully makes a comment that Sarah Lynn Graves, Howard's daughter, was "only three years old". Actually the dates on the stone say September 8th 1966 - August 3rd 1969. While the years indicate a three year period, Sarah died one month before her birthday, and thus would have officially 2 years. However, this may have been a deliberate simplification on Scully's part.