It's probably what has been going on in the US since time immemorial;

...some blackop in the government is testing some new mind control virus or something that causes the abnormality, out on the public.

If that sounds outrageous perhaps one of us should post a thread showing hundreds of documented examples of the US government doing totally secret, unethical and harmful tests on it's own people, going non-stop more or less, back for most of the last century.