"A Jersey devil that never catches the media's attention," he agrees. It's exactly the right comparison, and the look on his face says as much. "Until the government decides to carve up national park land, any Sasquatch in this forest should be safe."

Which is possible, of course, but it feels far less likely an outcome than any privately held part of the Pine Barrens.

"There's actually a place up in Alaska I'd like to check out sometime - Wrangell-St. Elias, biggest national park in the country. Even you have admit that thirteen million square miles leaves a lot of room for mystery, Scully - but that's still in the planning stages." He'll price it out eventually. For now, it's mostly coming up because he's got something to prove - namely, that he hasn't yet been swallowed up by the darkness she saw in him. "But enough about me. What have you been up to?"