In 1X23: The Erlenmeyer Flask Deep Throat tells Scully "In 1987, a group of children from a southern state were given what their parents thought was a routine inoculation. What they were injected with was a clone DNA from the [fetus] as a test." Red Museum is this single line turned into an episode. Using an idea already introduced in the series, Carter revisits Purity Control and the hybridization thematic, also tapping into the public fears of genetically enhanced growth hormones and and concerns over heightened efficiency and productivity in agriculture and cattle breeding. A few weeks after the first 2-parter of the series, the mythology is still not fully established and Red Museum starts as another loner episode, growing into a mythology by its end.

Of alien injections and doped cows

The experiment described here takes place in Winsconsin, in the county of Delta Glen; Wisconsin isn't in the South, which makes this a different experiment from the one Deep Throat talked about. Experiments don't take place only in the town of Delta Glen: there were victims in the larger area (Mulder: "one in eastern Winsconsin, three towns away"). This is "cow country", with local cattle breeders, meat producers ('JASD Beef') and restaurants ('Clay's BBQ'). With such a high cow meat consumption, Delta Glen was the correct place to put this project into place. Dr. Larson was the doctor who followed the children of all this country through birth and childhood. The credit card numbers he held were to track the movements of the test subject families (Mulder: "to track them the way credit card companies track stolen cards"): these children weren't given implants like other hybridization guinea pigs, which makes this experiment a fairly 'light' one, like the one at Bellefleur (1X79: Pilot).

The hybridization project in Delta Glen consisted of 2 parts: 1) the inoculation of alien biological material directly to the children, pretending they were given "vitamin shots", and 2) the inoculation of the same material to the cattle, mixed with normal cattle growth hormones. The Delta Glen population got the alien material by eating the cow meat. Everything was orchestrated by Dr. Gerald Larson: he gave the children their shots and he paid the men who injected the cattle. Larson was the only one in contact with the Syndicate. The followers of the Church of the Red Museum don't eat meat and make for a good reference group as they don't come in contact with the alien material (Scully: "whoever was doing may have been using them as a control group"). The transfer of the Red Museum from California to Delta Glen was probably favored by the Syndicate.

The results of the experiments weren't conclusive. That, coupled with the attention Delta Glen got because of the paedophilic Gerd Thomas and his "He/She Is One" inscriptions ("He's just some poor soul who blew their cover"), ended in the termination of the project by the Crew Cut Man (whose job seems to be to terminate projects). Like the monkeys in The Erlenmeyer Flask, the youth of Delta Glen developed violent behaviour (old farmer: "We had seven rapes here last year by high school boys"). Like the more advanced hybrids, the treated children have never got sick in their lives (Purity material is curative). The moment the experiment stopped, they got sick; the members of the Red Museum didn't. More precisely, the Purity Control material they were injected with was "synthetic corticosteroids with unidentified amino acids", also referred to as "antibodies" by Scully. A very light derivative of the original alien tissue of the fetus, largely synthetic. The amino acids of alien origin decomposed "after 3 weeks" and couldn't be held as evidence; the time it takes for this material to break down is probably the time between 2 injections from Dr. Larson.

Of Walk-ins and the Age of Aquarius

Another aspect of this episode that went unnoticed until 7X11: Closure is the Walk-ins. What is a simple background for putting forward the fact that there is a group of veggies around takes more imortance when the Walk-ins reappear in such a dramatic way in the mythology. As Mulder explains, followers of the Church of the Red Museum are "believers in soul transference, enlightened spirits who have taken possession of other peoples' bodies", "it's kind of a new age religion based on an old idea. That if you lose hope or despair and want to leave this mortal coil, you become open and vulnerable [...] to inhabitation by a new [...] enlightened spirit." The Walk-ins we encounter in Closure aren't the kind that would found a Church, but there is talk of spirits who attend people that are in pain, at least mental pain, and "old souls looking for new homes" (Mulder in Closure). Red Museum's leader Odin tells his followers "we, the enlightened, must bring our teachings of the skills for survival to mankind": the Walk-ins are protective spirits, meaning no harm to humans.

Odin's prayer is "We, the second souls of the first bodies, bearers of the word and keepers of the sacraments of a new enlightenment [...] blessed mission and toil. Our struggle is transcendent, and your guidance, our guides, will carry us toward the dawning of a new age." and earlier "the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Eighteen earth years from the beginning of the new kingdom". This, apart from being a sect-ish New Age apocalyptic belief heir of the hippy age, is relevant when we consider the timeline for the colonization. Red Museum takes place in 1994, eighteen years before 2012. Further indications in 5X14: The Red and the Black point to 2012 as the year the colonization takes place. Many dates have been proposed for the beginning of the Age of Aquarius, an age that will change much in Mankind. The sources that place the dawn of the Age of Aquarius (chorus) in 2012 are of Mayan origin, Mayan calendars that place the End of the World on December 21st, 2012; 9X19/20: The Truth) finally give The date for the final colonization, it's December 22nd, 2012. The date is set and the Walk-ins prepare themselves for a change, be it good or bad.