Yep, exactly what Chris Carter intended. Despite him not knowing how to finish the myth arc, he made the right call regarding how the show should look and feel.

Those first 5 seasons are so great to me, too, cause I’m from the PNW and having a show set/filmed in that area just gives it that extra mood. Anytime I drive through Tillmook forest I think of some of the X-Files episodes that take place out in the middle of nowhere. It’s even better at night: no streetlights, dark forest on both sides of a windy road. Always makes me think just for a moment I’m gonna turn a corner and come across some cryptid or alien encounter.