While researching the Ancestral Puebloans for the second-season finale, Spotnitz learned that archaeologists had discovered boiled human bones in Chaco Canyon, New Mexicoan element featured in the final version of the episode. Spotnitz also used "Chaco" as the name of the chicken plant in this episode.Lowry, pp. 223–224 Spotnitz had trouble finding books about cannibalism, but he did glean enough information to name the characters in the episode after real, notable cannibals. Note: To retrieve information, click "Season 2" and navigate to "Our Town" Gary Grubbs, the actor who played the sheriff, was later cast as the fire captain in the 1998 X-Files film. Howard Gordon came up with the idea to start the episode with a love affair between George Kearns and Paula Gray.
