Eugene Victor Tooms

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The X-Files character
Eugene Victor Tooms
Affiliated with None
First appearance Squeeze
Last appearance Tooms
Portrayed by Doug Hutchison

Eugene Victor Tooms is a fictional character on the TV series X-Files played by Doug Hutchison. He appeared in the episodes Squeeze and Tooms

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Tooms is a genetic mutant cannibal. After eating five human livers every thirty years, the only sustenance he needs, he is able to go back into hibernation, in his cocoon-like nest made of rags and newspapers, and held together with bile. Tooms is also able to 'squeeze' and elongate himself in ways that are impossible for a normal human, and therefore able to reach his victims from tight spaces, such as a chimney. After he kills and extracts (with his bare hands) his victim's liver, he usually steals a belonging as a trophy of sorts. Whenever the lust for food overtook him, his eyes would turn yellow in color, as a result of overproduction of bile. Tooms seemed to be more like an animal in behavior, attacking people only to sustain himself Mulder believed something unnatural was afoot when he noticed X-files murder cases with similar MOs, that were committed in 30-year spans, in 1933, 1963, and finally 1993 (later, a 1903 incident was linked, implying that Tooms is over 100 years old). The fingerprints found were unnaturally long, so when Tooms was caught during a stakeout, by Scully, in an airduct, he was let off (Tooms' alibi was that he was sent by Animal Control, a job he returned to every time he resurfaced). It was only discovered later, after he was freed, that despite the size difference, the fingerprints matched. Tooms, who only needed one more liver, set out to kill his fifth and final victim, Scully, but was stopped in time by Mulder.

Months later, Tooms was freed from a sanitarium, due to lack of evidence linking him to any murders, much to Mulder's protest. Mulder kept a close eye on Tooms, who then tried to frame Mulder for police brutality. Tooms later killed his counselor, his last victim, and went back to his nest. Mulder and Scully followed him down to his dwelling (now underneath a shopping mall), from which the cannibal emerged and attacked Mulder. The FBI agent managed to lead Tooms, who was covered in bile, to an escalator, where he was supposedly crushed to death.