Rogues Gallery: The Possessed
Dr. Robert Wieder
X-Files ("Theef")
Robert Wieder is a dedicated doctor, happily married family man, and recent recipient of the "Bay Area Doctor of the Year." He is a man who appears to have it all.
When his father-in-law dies, an apparent suicide, and his wife contracts an extremely rare disease, Dr. Wieder relies on logical reasoning to explain the unexplainable. He flatly denies the possibility of the paranormal. It's only after his wife meets a horrible end at the hands of a hexcraft practitioner, that this man of science finds his beliefs tested to their limits as the awful, inescapable truth is revealed. The competent, confident physician is slowly replaced by a frightened, vulnerable man desperate to protect his daughter, the only family he has left.
James Horn
Millennium ("Dead Letters")
James Horn is a local profiler in Portland, Oregon with a background in behavioral science. He is being considered for membership in the Millennium Group, and has been brought in as a consultant to work with Frank Black on a particularly grisly murder case. Recently separated from his wife and two-year old son, Horn's personal life is in turmoil, making it difficult for him to stay focused on the task.
Horn becomes more stressed, touchy, and argumentative with each new body that is found, and begins to see the face of his young son superimposed on the victims he is investigating. He jumps to hasty conclusions rather than thinking things through logically, personalizing the case and feeling an increasing need to bring the murderer to justice. When the killer's identity is discovered and a trap is set, it is this need that drives Horn to compromise the evidence by springing it prematurely. Remorseful, he knows he has ruined his chances with the Group, but curiously, his main reaction seems to be bewilderment, wondering how he can continue doing this gruesome work.
Troy Manheim/Simeon Nye
The Others ("$4.95 a Minute")
Simeon Nye (real name Troy Manheim) is a phone psychic, charging $4.95 a minute to counsel desperate people about their problems.
Manheim is a sad and lonely man, disappointed by life, thrown out by his wife, living a hand-to-mouth existence in a cheap apartment he can't afford. He's not much better off than the people who come to him for help. His secret desire is to be a clown, and he finds comfort by playing the theme song from "A Summer Place" in memory of his mother, surrounding himself with clown paintings and memorabilia, and performing pantomime routines alone in his living room.
But suddenly he begins to have nightmarish visions about his clients which are coming true. Tracked down by true sensitive Satori, who considers Nye a fraud, Troy convinces her that he's as frightened and confused as anyone by what's been happening. In spite of his scams, he genuinely wants to help others, and is devastated when it seems he's hurting them instead. When it turns out that Troy is being used as a vessel for the real Simeon Nye, a long-dead medium, Satori convenes a seance with Albert and the others to exorcise the angry spirit.