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In the second episode of the series, reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) tangles with mobsters, a crooked police captain, a Voodoo priestess, and the walking dead. After a series of underworld figures die from having their spines snapped, Kolchak recognizes a correlation between the murders and a deceased Haitian numbers runner who has been buried multiple times. Finding himself ensnared in crooked politics and a gangland turf war, Kolchak may need more than salt and white candles to ward off evil. Blending realistic and supernatural dangers, "The Zombie" rivals the quality of the two television films that led to the series. What might be more threatening than the undead stalking the streets of Chicago, the episode argues, are the forces of authority that deny the existence of the supernatural. A similar theme works its way into many episodes of The X-Files. "The Zombie" originally aired September 20, 1974, on ABC.