Ronald "Ronnie" Lavelle Strickland was a vampire working as a pizza delivery boy in Chaney, Texas. After committing a series of cattle exsanguinations-turned-serial killings, Ronnie was chased down by Special Agent Mulder and staked in the heart, which almost caused a $446 million lawsuit against the FBI, with Mulder and Scully as co-defendants.
History[]
Ronnie was part of a group of nomadic vampires, who, by late 1997, had settled down in rural Texas in a trailer park in Chaney. Unlike the other residents, who had abandoned their old ways and simply wished to have peaceful and normal lives, Ronnie's morbid fascination with the archtypal image of vampires led him to live out the fantasy by attacking livestock and draining them of their blood. On account of actual vampires varying vastly in attributes, Ronnie only bore the characteristic red hair, which Serbian superstition believes to be a risk factor for being turned into a vampire, and the innate ability to make his eyes glow in the dark, lacking the signature pointed canines. Ronnie instead took to wearing fake fangs to leave the trademark two puncture holes in their necks and to fully complete the mythical vampire image. By February 9th, 1998, Ronnie had killed six cows through this method over a six week period before escalating into homicide by murdering a tourist named Dwight Funt.
When Mulder and Scully were brought in to investigate the apparent vampire activity, the latter assumed that the perpetrator was nothing more than a crazed vampire role player, while Mulder argued the opposite, suspecting genuine vampire involvement, possibly in an orchestrated feeding by more than one. In an unusual twist on the usual vampire legends, both theories were proven partially correct, as it was eventually discovered that Ronnie was a bonafide vampire who had watched "one too many Bela Lugosi movies" and was acting out the folkloric vampire killings. The same night, Ronnie continued to target tourists staying at the local motel he would regularly service, drugging the victims by lacing their pizzas with chloral hydrate, killing 60-year old Paul Lombardo in his room and another traveller in his RV, removing and untying the footwear of both victims as he had previously done with Funt out of obsessive compulsive habit, another key trait of vampires.
Unknowing of this, Mulder, who subsisted off of pizza deliveries during his time in Chaney, was drugged by Ronnie, who had been waiting outside his motel room to strike as the sedative took effect. As Ronnie approached a drowsy Mulder with a snarl, revealing his fangs, he was distracted by his would-be-victim when the agent exploited his vampiric nature and threw his sunflower seeds at him before he lost consciousness. Though greatly displeased with this trickery, Ronnie was nonetheless compelled to pick them all up. While this was happening, Scully was carrying out the autopsy of the latest victim and realized, from the stomach contents, that all three of the dead men had the same drug in their system and consumed the same meal before death: pizza. She arrived in time to take several shots at Ronnie, but they had no effect. She checked on Mulder and believed him to be incapacitated and ran after Ronnie, who was trying to escape in his car. Scully had managed to shoot out one of the tires, forcing Ronnie to a foot chase, however, by then, Mulder had recovered and taken a sharp piece of wood with him, beating Scully to the punch, and stabbed a panicking Ronnie in the heart, too late to find that his vampire teeth weren't real, which vouched for his humanity. His body was sent off to a morgue at a pathology lab in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, where, upon removing the stake from his chest, the coroner was attacked by the reanimated Ronnie.
His family was preparing to sue the FBI in a wrongful death suit, which Mulder actively objected to, insisting that Ronnie Strickland had been, and still was, a real vampire, as he had witnessed the latter tank two gunshots to the chest by Scully's pistol, which she assumed missed the target. As the two agents were explaining their versions of the events to Assistant Director Skinner, they were sent back to Chaney when a report about the assault on the coroner, whose throat had been bitten, but the skin left unbroken, along with the disappearance of Ronnie Strickland's body came in. The agents returned to Chaney and were met again by Sheriff Lucius Hartwell. Mulder left Scully to stake out the cemetery with Sheriff Hartwell, while he went to arrest Ronnie inside his motor home after trapping him in the coffin he was napping in. However, it turned out that all the locals at the RV park were vampires, including Sheriff Hartwell. Although acknowledging that Ronnie was a moron and had messed up big time, unwilling to let one of their own be captured, thus running them at risk of having their true nature revealed, they drug Mulder and Scully, untie their shoes, and leave the RV park by the next morning. (TXF: "Bad Blood")
Comic continuity[]
Ronnie Strickland in The X-Files/TMNT: Conspiracy.
Ronnie Strickland, as well as the rest of the Chaney vampires, have a guest appearance in the IDW Publishing crossover title The X-Files/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Conspiracy #3 (2014), where they have taken residence in a small Northampton town for the last four months, which just so happens to be close to the farm where the titular Turtles are staying with their human friends April O'Neil and Casey Jones. Once more working for a pizzeria, Ronnie couldn't resist the temptation and killed nine customers since his group's arrival, again after spiking their orders with chloral hydrate. His urges boil over when he decides to feed right at his workplace and drugs the large extra cheese pizza of April and Casey with intent on feasting on their blood when they come to pick up a delivery for their friends. Only the timely appearance of the Turtles and The Lone Gunmen – who had been looking for the Turtles after Leonardo was photographed by a local, ironically investigating "vampire cult sightings" and wrongly concluded that they were dealing with "blood-sucking alien manphibians" – prevents Ronnie from killing the two victims while in the middle of removing their shoes, although the other vampires quickly show up as well to protect him. After consulting Mulder, who instantly recognizes Ronnie's pathology from his killings during the events of Bad Blood, for help via phone, Byers distracts them by scattering chilli flakes over the brawl, whereupon the vampires cut their losses and evacuate the town, taking Ronnie with them, although not before chastising him for once again ruining their chances at living bloodlessly among humans.
Behind the Scenes[]
Ronnie Strickland was played by Patrick Renna, who recalled during filming: "Before we started, I asked if Ronnie was pretending to be a moron. The crew told me, 'No. He's really just a moron.'"