September 10, 2018 marks the 25th anniversary of the premiere of The X-Files. One of the most enduring sci-fi/horror TV shows of all time, The X-Files paired Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), a believer in aliens and the supernatural, and Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), a medical doctor and a skeptic who only believes in science, to investigate the cases that the FBI deems "unexplainable." The show is best known for two things: the love between Agents Mulder and Scully... and the monsters.

After over 200 episodes of The X-Files, Mulder and Scully faced some truly disturbing — and disgusting — situations. And a lot of those situations included some truly disturbing — and disgusting — monsters. Monsters that keep you awake at night. Monsters that haunt your very soul. Or, just monsters that you can watch again and again and again. As a lifelong Phile, I have always enjoyed the weird, bizarre, and crazy monsters that The X-Files introduced me to. The Mulder and Scully hand-holds and eye-sex are wonderful, but the monsters are my jam.

I have gone through and ranked the twelve best monsters through all eleven seasons of The X-Files. I did not include "human monsters" like Donnie Pfaster or Robert Modell or John Roche. You can get human monsters on any television procedural. I stuck with mutants, creatures, and supernatural beings.