Next time you find yourself in a crowded place, look around at the people coexisting, occupying one shared planet. Just because some of them appear to be humans, does not mean they aren’t of the Reptilian humanoid variety, living discreetly among us.

You’ve probably seen discourse related to the rumors in casual internet browsing, whether in jest or in an effort to bring this conspiracy to light with videos, like “Do Lizard Aliens Rule the Earth?” published by Alltime Conspiracies, which has reached almost one million views. Similarly parody videos like Super Deluxe’s parodic “Alex Jones Is Definitely a Human and Not a Reptilian,” which paints the titular Jones as a reptilian, had high outreach and views. Speaking of the InfoWars host, the show hosted David Icke, the self-proclaimed “Son of the Godhead,” former British Green Party leader and generally most prominent source of information regarding the Reptoid conspiracy.

The theory itself has many variants, but Icke’s version of the conspiracy seems to be the most common: an ancient race of interplanetary Reptoids called Annunaki, based on ancient Babylonian myth, occupies Earth. They’ve come to consume a mineral which only can be found on Earth, referred to as monoatomic gold, a substance which grants them interdimensional travel, vast amounts of knowledge and the ability to shapeshift. They’ve interbred with powerful human families like the Rockefellers, Kennedys and Kardashians in pursuit of maximum political gain. They’ve allegedly invented everything from the Internet to homosexuality in an effort to keep the human race unaware and subservient.

But is this a problem we need to worry about at NYU or in New York City? One would think, with the amount of influence from powerful families, like the Sterns or Tischs, the answer would appear to be a resounding probably not. However one New York City local, who wishes to remain anonymous, dismissed the entire conspiracy as anti-Semitic propaganda, citing allegations that have been made against David Icke and parallels among his rhetoric regarding Reptoids, Holocaust denials and remarks against powerful jewish figures.

That’s not to say that there isn’t anything necessarily troubling going on — Syracuse resident and self-proclaimed woman of science Moran Dwyer believes that while Reptoids aren’t controlling our entertainment, something troubling may still be going on behind the scenes. She cited the rise in satisfying video compilations as potentially being “appealing not only [due to] visual perfection and order, but also because the movement is slow and rhythmic often in tandem with the beating of the human heart,” which has the potential of making people more susceptible to hypnosis.

There are alternate theories about the existence of lizard people.In WSN’s interview with

Tisch senior Jeremy Gross, he said that reptilian people are ayahuasca hallucinations. While citing an essay written by artist Bruce Rimell, Gross made aspects of the conspiracy sound far less sinister. Gross said that the origins of some of these theories came from “ancient cultures that used ayahuasca in healing and prayer” and that these reptilian deities manifest themselves as that which is interpreted to be godlike, thus potentially explaining the inter-planetary omniscient alien aspect of the conspiracy. Rimell’s experiences varied from profound to aggressive, with some parallels to the conspiracies, like one reptilian stealing Rimell’s face to enter our world in disguise

That being said, I wouldn’t write off the conspiracy entirely — in my endeavors to survey Stern School of Business students, I received no comments after more than an hour of surveying. I’d speculate that if there were a race of powerful reptilian humanoids looking to take over our world’s structure, they would be attending Stern. Clearly evidence supporting this theory is flimsy at best. After all, it is ridiculous to imagine these otherworldly being controlling media and influencing the opinions of gullible humans. Purely ridiculous.

Read more from Washington Square News’  Conspiracy Feature. Email Tom Miritello at [email protected]