They Walk Among Us | The Human-Alien Hybrid Program

A college student desperate for affordable housing gets matched with an unusual roommate who wears sunglasses indoors and speaks like a careful robot. When the student's mother visits and accidentally touches the girl's arm, the skin feels wrong—cold and spongy like raw mushrooms. What happens next reveals a classified military program, a family connection that defies physics, and a tragedy born from teaching someone to be too human.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A89ozmI2zOo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Visible puts the ultimate wireless hack in the palm of your hand. With unlimited 5G wireless data and hotspot, designed to keep you connected. Powered by Verizon's 5G network. And, no contract holding you back. Plans start at $25 a month. Or get the premium Visible Plus Pro Plan and save $10 on your first month when you use promo code HACK. Make the switch at visible.com. Terms apply. See visible.com for details.

• 0:30AJ Gentile?

  Helen Luttrell grabbed the girl's arm to stop her from falling. Her skin felt wrong. It was cold and spongy like raw mushrooms.

• 0:40AJ Gentile?

  Then the sunglasses slid down the girl's face, and for the first time, Helen saw her eyes. They were large, too large, and they were dark green with vertical pupils like a cat. Helen couldn't look away when the girl's thoughts flooded directly into her mind. She was terrified. Her daughter's roommate wasn't human, and the Air Force Colonel who arranged for the two to live together knew exactly what he was doing. He needed a roommate who would never see what Rachel really looked like. He found Helen's daughter, Marissa, a girl who is legally blind. But, the Colonel had a problem. Marissa's vision was coming back.

• 1:26AJ Gentile?

  Helen's daughter, Marissa Luttrell, lost her vision at 13, a complication from childhood diabetes. That would make going to college challenging. In the fall of 1972, Marissa got a small apartment near American River Junior College in Sacramento, where she studied occupational therapy. The place was clean and quiet. The only problem was the rent. Her disability check barely covered groceries. She needed a roommate, and she needed help getting to class. Her college counselor, Lila Ross, handled both problems. Marissa came to her office looking for a tutor. That same morning, a student named Bobby had signed up for a part-time tutoring job. When Lila compared their schedules, she found that they had the same classes.

• 2:07AJ Gentile?

  So Bobby got a job, and Marissa got a guide who can walk her to class and read her the lecture notes. So that's one problem solved. Next, the roommate. Lila was in her office about to begin a search when there was a knock on her door. A tall man in casual clothes stood in the doorway. Next to him, a thin girl wearing wraparound sunglasses and an oversized hat. The girl looked thin and frail, almost sickly. The man introduced himself as Colonel Harry Nadian. His daughter Rachel had just registered for classes. They needed help finding a roommate. Rachel nodded at Lila and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you. I am called Rachel." This concerned Lila, but the Colonel seemed normal enough, and maybe Rachel was just odd.

• 2:53AJ Gentile?

  Either way, both girls were quiet and polite, and Rachel's appearance wouldn't matter to a blind roommate. Harry wrote a check on the spot, half the rent and all utilities in advance. Lila couldn't believe her luck. Bobby appeared the same day Marissa needed a tutor, and Harry arrived just as she was about to start looking for a roommate. But none of this was coincidence. This was all carefully orchestrated. Now the experiment was ready to begin.

• 3:21Speaker 00

  Visible puts the ultimate wireless hack in the palm of your hand. With unlimited 5G wireless data and hotspot, designed to keep you connected. Powered by Verizon's 5G network. And no contract holding you back. Plans start at $25 a month. Or get the premium Visible Plus Pro Plan and save $10 on your first month when you use promo code HACK. Make the switch at visible.com. Terms apply. See visible.com for details.

• 3:58AJ Gentile?

  Living with Rachel took some adjustment. Rachel was nice enough, but her speech was strange. She said she'd grown up in another country, but she didn't say which one.

• 4:08AJ Gentile?

  Rachel knew nothing about normal life. She'd never heard of Simon and Garfunkel. She didn't know what sports were. She referred to people as males and females. She sounded clinical and detached. She said she'd only met four people before Marissa. A reading instructor and two nurses on the base where Harry worked. No friends, no family besides Harry. It was like she had no past before 1969. But Marissa also had a secret of her own. Her vision was coming back. Now, it fluctuated. Some days were better than others, but she was definitely improving. Before, everything was dark, but now she could make out shapes in blurry outlines. She could see light and shadows, but she didn't tell anyone. Not Bobby, not her mother, not her counselor Lila.

• 4:51AJ Gentile?

  If people found out she could see, they would ask questions. The disability payments might stop. Harry might move Rachel somewhere else. And Marissa needed this arrangement. The rent was covered, the apartment was quiet, and she finally had independence. So she kept playing blind and kept asking for help she didn't always need. But she watched Rachel whenever she could. For the first few days, Rachel spent most of her time in her room, but eventually she would sit in the living room and talk. Marissa had already seen enough to know Rachel had long reddish-blond hair, but it was a color that she didn't have a name for. Rachel wore a big hat and sunglasses all the time. But when Rachel thought Marissa couldn't see, she'd sometimes take the hat and glasses off. Rachel had high cheekbones, thin slanted features. She was pretty.

• 5:38AJ Gentile?

  Then there was the food. Rachel's food was strange. She was on a special diet, so her food was delivered in small cardboard boxes every few weeks. But there was never a delivery truck, never a knock on the door. The small boxes just appeared. One morning, Rachel left early for class, leaving Marissa alone in the apartment. So she grabbed her magnifying glass and one of the food boxes in the refrigerator. It was white cardboard. The only marking was a small red triangle with Free horizontal black lines running through it. She'd never seen a logo like that before. But the same triangle logo was on the jugs of water that also appeared with the deliveries. She opened the box. Inside looked kinda like chopped spinach. It was green and mushy, but it didn't smell like spinach. It smelled like decaying wet grass.

• 6:23AJ Gentile?

  One day, Marissa asked Rachel for a taste, but Rachel said no. She said the food would make her sick. Then, there was the bathroom incident, when Rachel tried to take her own life.

• 6:44AJ Gentile?

  One afternoon, Marissa came home and smelled something metallic. Rachel was standing over the bathroom sink, making strange rhythmic wheezing sounds. Then Marissa saw what happened. Rachel had cut her wrists.

• 6:58AJ Gentile?

  But Rachel's blood looked strange. It was pink and watery, not red and thick. Marissa quickly grabbed Rachel's arm to try to stop the bleeding. Then she felt the cuts start to move. Rachel's skin was healing. Within seconds, the cuts were gone.

• 7:14AJ Gentile?

  Marissa wanted to call someone, but Rachel said no. No doctors, no hospitals, nobody could know. But she promised something like this would never happen again. One morning, Marissa left class early and headed home. When she got to her building, she saw a big black car parked out front. And the license plate was strange. It was completely blank, except for that same red triangle logo that's on Rachel's food.

• 7:39AJ Gentile?

  Marissa opened the door and heard voices in the kitchen. They were low and deep, two men, speaking to Rachel in formal, official-sounding sentences. Through the kitchen doorway, she saw shapes at the table. Two figures in dark suits and hats. One had a black case open. After they left, Rachel said they worked with Harry at the base and checked on her every two weeks. A few weeks later, Marissa was in her room when she heard them enter the apartment without knocking. She heard furniture scrape across the floor, then the men were shouting. And for the first time, Rachel screamed. But it was not that robotic sound from the early days. Her scream sounded human, and she was terrified.

• 8:19Speaker 02

  Rachel?

• 8:21AJ Gentile?

  That night, Marissa called her mother Helen, told her everything. The healing wounds, the food deliveries, the men in dark suits. Marissa waited for her mother to say she was crazy. Marissa knew she sounded crazy. But Helen wasn't surprised by any of it.

• 8:47AJ Gentile?

  Helen grew up in Rome, New York, a small town outside Utica. She spent as much time as she could in the woods. That's where she'd go to see the light. She first saw the light when she was eight. A shining ball of blue hovering just above the ground. The most beautiful blue she'd ever seen. She should have been afraid, but she wasn't. Something about the light made her feel calm and safe. For five years, she'd sneak off to the woods to see the blue light. And every time she did, she got closer and closer to it. And when she was 13, she finally reached out and touched it.

• 9:20AJ Gentile?

  And that's when everything changed.

• 9:28AJ Gentile?

  And for the first time, the light spoke, with thoughts directly into her mind.

• 9:33Speaker 03

  They want to know if I'd like to have a baby. And I said, "Of course not, I'm too young." And they said, "That's all right, you don't have to have one now. Later you'll have one. And when you do, it will look like you. But it will be like them."

• 9:52AJ Gentile?

  Ellen asked who "them" was, but she didn't get an answer. She just got a feeling of a vast intelligence beyond anything she could understand. And that was the last time Helen saw the blue light. Seven years later, Helen got married and moved to a new town. The blue light faded into memory, mostly forgotten. But the promise it made when she was a girl was about to come true.

• 10:22AJ Gentile?

  Early spring 1951. A woman Helen had seen around the neighborhood invited her for a walk. Helen's husband was out of town, so she thought some company might be nice. During their walk, the woman said she needed to make a quick stop to see a friend. She led Helen to an old office building. Inside, it looked like a doctor's office. Then the woman disappeared down the hall. A doctor came out and insisted on examining Helen. He said she didn't look well, so she reluctantly agreed. Helen laid down on the examination table, and as soon as her head touched the surface, she was blinded by a blue light.

• 10:56Speaker 03

  They tell me to hold still, be quiet. It'll be over soon. Nobody will ever know. I want to fight. I want to get off the table. But I can't move. The light pushes me down, but I'm not tied down. I just... I just can't move.

• 11:15AJ Gentile?

  The light came closer and closer. Then Helen felt it in her body.

• 11:21Speaker 03

  I feel like they're putting something inside of me. It hurts. It hurts so bad.

• 11:29AJ Gentile?

  Then, nothing.

• 11:33AJ Gentile?

  When she opened her eyes, the light was gone, and the woman who brought her there was standing right next to her, ready to walk her home. Helen was too groggy to argue. Helen was in pain for two days. Six weeks later, she realized she was pregnant. But that was impossible, her husband was out of town.

• 11:52Speaker 03

  They say the child will be like any other. Since it's my first, I won't know the difference.

• 11:58AJ Gentile?

  She told herself the visit to the doctor wasn't real, just a bad dream. But she remembered what the light had promised. "It will look like you, but it will be like them." Nine months later, Marissa was born.

• 12:21AJ Gentile?

  In 1955, Air Force recruit Harry Nadine received orders for specialized training. His assignment: ATIC, Aerospace Technical Information Command. A highly classified unit responsible for investigating unidentified flying objects and alien intelligence. The classroom was small: six airmen, one instructor, no windows. The lieutenant opened a folder marked with a single word: "magic." Inside were photographs: crashed spacecraft in the desert, bodies recovered from the wreckage. Small, gray, definitely not human. Harry was assigned to a facility called Four Corners. Nowhere near the actual Four Corners region, this one was in the Nevada desert, a sister installation to Area 51.

• 13:05AJ Gentile?

  Officially, it didn't exist; trespassers were shot on sight. Four Corners didn't look like much, and that was intentional. The real base was underground.

• 13:17Speaker 04

  The Lemonati has spent decades keeping lemon on top and lime in the shadows. Their lemon agenda has infiltrated everything, even our music. That hit song named after the color of lemons? Not a coincidence. Big Lemon has been pulling strings in the industry for years. Think about it. But now, 7Up is fighting back with their new Lime Lemon Soda. Now lime comes first. 7Up: Flip the sip.

• 14:39AJ Gentile?

  Within a few months, Harry discovered he had a gift. He could communicate telepathically with the grays. Most humans couldn't do this. Our minds are too cluttered. But Harry's mind was open, and the aliens noticed. They began requesting him specifically. First, as an observer, then as an interpreter, then as a liaison between the visitors and human scientists. By 1966, Harry was in command of the entire facility. That's when he met Chiskey, their leading geneticist. Chiskey understood both human and alien genetics. That's because he was a hybrid. Human DNA spliced with an alien from the Zeta system. Chiskey looked similar to Rachel. He was small and thin. He had large blue eyes and pale yellow skin.

• 15:23AJ Gentile?

  According to Chiskey, all humans were engineered.

• 15:27Speaker 05

  You were designed to be harvested. Your DNA, your genetic diversity, we built that into you. Every generation we return. We take samples, we make improvements. We have been doing this since before your species could write.

• 15:43Speaker 06

  You're designed to be harvested, eh? You're basically organic, free-range, farm-table humans for alien chefs.

• 15:50AJ Gentile?

  Well, Harry asked why they needed human DNA. Chiskey explained. His species had been cloning themselves for too long. They'd lost the ability to reproduce naturally. Humans shared the same genetic heritage, going back millions of years. Harry finally understood how important his assignment was. The hybridization program wasn't about creating soldiers or slaves. It was about saving a dying species.

• 16:41AJ Gentile?

  In September 1969, a huge craft spiraled out of control over the desert. Harry led the recovery team to the crash site.

• 16:50AJ Gentile?

  The wreckage was still burning when they got there. Three bodies in the debris, small gray, dead on impact. But Harry saw movement in the rear compartment. He entered the burning craft and pushed through the smoke. He found a sealed door and touched what looked like a control panel. It opened. A tiny frail figure was trapped under a fallen equipment panel, smaller than any gray Harry had ever seen. And different. Humans can't tell the sex of a gray by looking at them, but this little being was definitely female. And her eyes were strange, not the solid black orbs of the typical grays. Her eyes were a soft, dark green, rounded at the inner corners and angling up toward her temples. And her eyes had depth. They were almost human, except for the pupils that were vertical slits like a cat

• 17:34AJ Gentile?

  Please, people! Or reptilian, right?

• 17:39AJ Gentile?

  Harry understood immediately. She was part human. He carried her out of the wreckage and brought her back to four corners. Underground at Level 8, Chiskey examined her. He'd been expecting new arrivals from the hybridization program.

• 17:50Speaker 05

  She is from my star system, possibly even my planet. She is a hybrid, but her blood contains human DNA markers. The three who died were her family. She is now alone. With proper care, she could become quite humanized, more so than any hybrid I have seen.

• 18:08AJ Gentile?

  She had traveled from Zeta Reticuli to learn to live among humans. Now her family was dead and she was alone. Harry made a decision the moment he looked into her green eyes. He would raise her as his daughter. He named her Rachel.

• 18:32AJ Gentile?

  The adoption required approval from ATIC HQ and the National Security Council. Harry made his case. Rachel was the first young hybrid, the first female, and the most human-like hybrid they'd ever seen. If anyone could integrate into society, it was Rachel. The approval came within hours. Too fast, Harry thought, but he didn't complain. Then, the work began. ATIC sent a language expert to work with Rachel. She learned to form sounds into words, then words into sentences. Chiskey developed Rachel's food, a dark-green nutrient paste. She couldn't digest meat or process food. The food was packed in white boxes marked with a red triangle, the symbol of the humanization project.

• 19:14AJ Gentile?

  Rachel looked almost human, but not human enough that people wouldn't notice. So she was given hats and scarves to hide the shape of her head, always long sleeves to cover her thin arms, and sunglasses. She would always have to wear sunglasses. And after three years of training, Rachel was ready.

• 19:30Speaker 06

  Yeah, three years of training to pass as human, eh? I know a few tech company CEOs that might want to take that course.

• 19:36AJ Gentile?

  Harry received transfer orders. Liaison duty at an Air Force base in California, a desk job, perfect for a single father raising an unusual daughter. He enrolled Rachel at American River Junior College, but she couldn't live alone. She needed a roommate, someone patient, someone kind, and someone who wouldn't ask questions, someone who couldn't see what she really looked like. Harry was surprised the housing coordinator had the perfect match: a legally blind girl, quiet, patient, desperate for a roommate who would pay half the rent. Harry thought this was an amazing coincidence or a stroke of good luck. He had no idea that ATIC had been watching Marissa for months.

• 20:25AJ Gentile?

  Helen drove to Sacramento to see Marissa, and she wanted to see this roommate for herself. Marissa introduced them at the door. Rachel was polite, soft-spoken, and strange. She wore an oversized hat and wraparound sunglasses, even inside. Her voice was flat and careful, like she was reading from a script. Helen tried to shake her hand, but Rachel flinched. She didn't want to be touched. Later, near the kitchen, Rachel tripped on a bump in the carpet. Helen grabbed her arm to stop her from falling, and in that moment, everything Helen believed about the world changed. Rachel's skin, her eyes, the flood of fear directly into her mind. Helen let go. Rachel pulled up her sunglasses and ran back to her room. Helen left and sat in the car for 20 minutes, confused and unsettled. She had no idea this was an experiment.

• 21:10AJ Gentile?

  She also didn't know the experiment had failed. That night, Rachel contacted Harry. He arrived at the apartment the next morning and called a meeting, all four of them. He told them everything. The Air Force, the classified training, the underground base, the crashed spacecraft, the humanization project, an experiment to see if hybrids could integrate into human society.

• 21:31Speaker 07

  She's supposed to be like people, but she can't do it. She tries, and it doesn't work out. She doesn't look the same. No matter what she does, she can't pull it off. And she says, "I sound funny. I try to talk like the other people, and I cannot do it."

• 21:49AJ Gentile?

  Marissa spoke first. She said she didn't want Rachel to leave. Rachel had been kind to her, patient. Marissa didn't care what she looked like. Then Rachel said something that shocked Helen.

• 22:00Speaker 02

  I have never had a mother. I do not know what a mother is supposed to be. I wish you were my mother.

• 22:07AJ Gentile?

  Helen said that was sweet and almost dismissed it, but Rachel had more to say.

• 22:11Speaker 02

  Maybe you do not remember. Someday, you will remember.

• 22:16AJ Gentile?

  Suddenly, Helen felt something she couldn't explain. Recognition. Harry saw the feeling flash across Helen's face. Then he asked about the moment she'd caught Rachel's arm and looked into her eyes. Did Rachel say anything to her? Helen said no, not out loud. Harry nodded slowly. He had to say something else. The truth about Helen.

• 22:45AJ Gentile?

  For years, Helen struggled to piece together the memories of what happened between Marissa and Rachel all those years ago. So she underwent hypnotic regression with Dr. June Steiner. The regressions unlocked everything. Helen remembered being in the girl's apartment, standing in the kitchen. Rachel was there. She looked at Helen and said, "I want to show you where I live." Rachel walked to the kitchen window. But when Helen looked, it wasn't the street outside. It was a white corridor. Rachel put her finger against the glass and told Helen to do the same. When their fingers touched the window, the kitchen dissolved. Suddenly, she wasn't in the apartment. She was underground in a round room lined with tanks. Inside the tanks were babies, floating in green liquid, bed pale skin and long, thin limbs.

• 23:30Speaker 03

  This... this is where I came from.

• 23:34AJ Gentile?

  But there was much more to Rachel's story than just a hybrid Harry had adopted.

• 23:37Speaker 03

  Oh, God. That I had a child that wasn't what I thought it was. When I looked in Rachel's eyes, that's why I thought they were so beautiful. She was maybe trying to tell me something then. Maybe she was trying to tell me the truth.

• 23:53AJ Gentile?

  The embryo extracted in 1951 was taken to Zeta Reticuli, grown in a tank filled with green liquid, modified with extraterrestrial DNA, then returned to Earth. Rachel's alien family had brought her back, back to the planet where her human side had come from, back to the woman who was her mother. Helen looked into Rachel's eyes and felt recognition because somehow she knew, because a mother always knows. Helen sat with the truth. Rachel was her daughter, taken from her and grown on another world, returned to Earth in a craft that crashed in the desert. But there was more. Rachel also had DNA from the kernel. Harry was Rachel's genetic father and her adoptive father, which meant Marissa and Rachel shared the same biological mother.

• 24:38AJ Gentile?

  They were half-sisters. Harry had wondered back in 1972 if it was all really a coincidence, how Marissa appeared at exactly the right moment, how everything lined up so perfectly. It wasn't a coincidence. ATIC knew who Helen was. They knew about the embryo. They knew Marissa was Rachel's half-sister before anyone else did. Even her tutor Bobby, with his perfectly matching schedule, had been placed. The Humanization Project had specifically reintroduced Rachel to her own family. They wanted to see what would happen when a hybrid encountered her biological relatives. Whether a connection would form, whether that connection could be controlled. Helen finally understood: the blue lights, the missing time, the surgery. It wasn't luck, it was a breeding program.

• 25:22AJ Gentile?

  Three generations of women bred like lab rats. But lab rats are disposable. So with the failure of the humanization experiment, the military began tying up loose ends, and they would start with Rachel.

• 25:38Speaker 00

  Visible puts the ultimate wireless hack in the palm of your hand. With unlimited 5G wireless data and hotspot, designed to keep you connected. Powered by Verizon's 5G network. And, no contract holding you back. Plans start at $25 a month, or get the premium Visible Plus Pro Plan and save $10 on your first month when you use promo code HACK. Make the switch at visible.com. Terms apply. See visible.com for details.

• 26:08Speaker 04

  The Lemonade has spent decades keeping lemon on top and lime in the shadows. Their lemon agenda has infiltrated everything, even our music. That hit song named after the color of lemons? Not a coincidence. Big Lemon has been pulling strings in the industry for years. Think about it. But now, 7-Up is fighting back with their new Lime Lemon Soda. Now lime comes first. 7-Up: Flip the sip.

• 26:45AJ Gentile?

  Near the end of the spring semester, Rachel disappeared. She left a note taped to her mirror.

• 26:50Speaker 02

  Dear Marissa, I will miss you very much, but I have left you a special gift to remember me by. Love, Rachel.

• 26:59AJ Gentile?

  Marissa sat on Rachel's empty bed and read the note. Then she stopped. She wasn't using her magnifying glass. She looked around the room. The furniture, the window, the sunlight. Everything was sharper than it had been in years. Rachel could heal wounds in seconds. She healed herself after the crash. Now she'd done something else. Rachel healed Marissa's eyes. Marissa's retinas had been destroyed by diabetes when she was 13. For six years, she'd been legally blind. Now she could read street signs. She could see faces. She could finish college. She could complete most of the work for her master's degree. Rachel had given her sight back. But she couldn't heal the diabetes.

• 27:40AJ Gentile?

  When Marissa was 38, she died from complications of the disease she'd fought since childhood. But for 18 years, she could see. That was Rachel's gift. The Colonel chose Marissa because she was blind. He needed a roommate who would never see what Rachel really looked like. Rachel undid that. She healed the very condition that protected her cover. She chose her sister over the mission. And that was the final betrayal.

• 28:17AJ Gentile?

  The humanization project made a mistake. The scientists wanted their hybrids to simulate human emotion. They needed them to blend in, to smile at the right time, to laugh at a joke. But they didn't really want them to feel, just pretend to feel. Real emotion is dangerous. Real emotion creates loyalty. And loyalty to family is a threat to the mission. Rachel crossed that line. She loved Marissa and Helen. She called Helen mother. She called Marissa sister. She stopped reporting back to the base and started protecting her new family. The men in black noticed. The reports grew more alarming with each visit.

• 28:53Speaker 08

  Subject displays emotional attachment to roommate. Subject refers to H. Luttrell as mother. Subject has ceased regular reporting.

• 29:02AJ Gentile?

  But Harry saw it coming. He watched his daughter becoming more independent, more attached to her human life. He tried to protect her. He tried to smooth things over with Atik. But the Colonel knew how the military handled compromised assets. You don't fix them. You liquidate them.

• 29:30AJ Gentile?

  Two years after leaving the apartment, Rachel was dead, pushed down a flight of stairs.

• 29:35Speaker 07

  She cared too much about me and Marissa. She was only allowed to go so far, and she went beyond that point. It wasn't time yet for that to happen. Then... She was gone.

• 29:48AJ Gentile?

  According to Helen's regression, the order came from the military or the government. And the Colonel knew it was coming. He was connected with her death, but not directly responsible. He wasn't even there. But he agreed it needed to be done. But Harry loved her, but he had orders. And somewhere along the way, he convinced himself that Rachel's death was necessary for the greater good of the project. But he was wrong. Years later, Helen learned that the Colonel no longer believed the humanization project was good for mankind. He thought it became dangerous, that the hybrids were being used. But by then, it was too late for Rachel. But Harry could still do one thing. He could make sure someone eventually told the truth. That's why he told Helen everything. He couldn't save his daughter, but he could make sure that she wasn't forgotten.

• 30:47Speaker 09

  No!

• 30:58AJ Gentile?

  A blind student finds a roommate with mushroom skin and green eyes. Her father, an Air Force Colonel, reveals she's a human-alien hybrid, part of a government experiment. That's the story Helen Luttrell tells in her book, Rachel's Eyes. And Helen says this is 100% a true story. But is it? The main problem is, everything comes from Helen's book.

• 31:19Speaker 06

  It's always a book.

• 31:21AJ Gentile?

  Right, and Helen wrote a few of them, but they're all sort of a rehash or a small expansion of the same story.

• 31:26Speaker 06

  Cash grab?

• 31:27AJ Gentile?

  It feels like it, and there's nobody around to confirm any of it. Marissa died before the book was written. Colonel Nadian has never been found, and in later books, his name changes a little bit. Helen's encounter happened in 1972. Her hypnosis didn't happen until 1998. Twenty-six years is a long time, especially for memory. And hypnosis is controversial. It can create false memories just as easily as it recovers real ones.

• 31:53Speaker 06

  Hypnosis can create false memories, eh? Well, so can cable news. At least hypnosis doesn't have commercials for erectile dysfunction. Not that I noticed that.

• 32:03AJ Gentile?

  Helen describes classified projects like magic and pounce. But all this information was circulating in UFO literature long before her agressions. All the names were changed. There's no record of the apartment or that roommate arrangement. But there is one piece of physical evidence that's in one of Helen's books. Investigators contacted American River Junior College. The college sent the letter back on official stationery, confirming that a student named Rachel Nadian attended classes there in 1972. That was the Smoking Gun. But not so fast. When investigators went back to follow up, the letter was gone. The employee who signed it was transferred, and the college files listed no record of anyone named Rachel Nadian. It was like she was erased from history. But there are some things that are true.

• 32:49AJ Gentile?

  Helen Luttrell is real. She wrote the book under her own name and faced decades of ridicule without changing her story. Her therapist, Dr. June Steiner, staked her reputation on this case. And Helen was warned years before the book came out that if she ever spoke of the humanization project, harm would come to her and her family, but she published anyway. And others who knew Marissa remember Rachel.

• 33:12Speaker 10

  I remember her saying that Rachel couldn't go out in the sun. She wore sunglasses all the time, even indoors. Apparently, her skin had an odd texture. Rachel didn't eat regular food. She had to eat special food that came in little white boxes. Then Marissa told me that the girl disappeared. That she didn't know where she went. That this roommate just was gone.

• 33:40AJ Gentile?

  Helen's story stays consistent. Her descriptions of Rachel's skin and eyes never change. False memories usually shift over time, but Helen's didn't. Her emotional response was also very intense. Sobbing, trembling, she was in genuine distress. Trauma therapists say those reactions are hard to fake. The evidence doesn't prove the story's true. A single witness, recovered memories, no physical proof. Any prosecutor would throw this case out. But if the story were fabricated, the details should shift. The witnesses should contradict each other. They don't. Now skeptics say Helen has PTSD from growing up in an unstable household, a violent marriage, and she's experienced something through the only framework that she can make sense of.

• 34:24AJ Gentile?

  Or, maybe she's telling the truth. Whatever Rachel was, hybrid, human, or something else, she mattered. She wanted to belong. She learned to speak our language and walk through our world. Rachel formed bonds. She healed her sister's eyes. She felt compassion, empathy, and love. She became human in all the best ways possible. And that's the tragic irony of this story. She became more human than the people who raised her. And then they killed her for it.

• 34:57Speaker 04

  The Lemonati has spent decades keeping lemon on top and lime in the shadows. Their lemon agenda has infiltrated everything, even our music. That hit song named after the color of lemons? Not a coincidence. Big Lemon has been pulling strings in the industry for years. Think about it. But now, 7-Up is fighting back with their new Lime Lemon Soda. Now lime comes first. 7-Up, flip the sip.

• 35:29AJ Gentile?

  Thank you so much for hanging out today. I'm AJ, there's Hecklefish.

• 35:33Speaker 06

  I am called Hecklefish. It is a pleasure to meet you, human.

• 35:37AJ Gentile?

  This has been the Y-Files. If you learned anything or had fun, do us a favor. Like, subscribe, share, leave a comment down below. It'd be nice. Anyway, all that stuff really helps the chat. And like most topics we cover here, today's was recommended by you. So if there's a story you want to see or learn more about, go to the Yfiles.com/tips, send us an email, or hop over to Discord and open a ticket. Remember, the Y-Files is also a podcast. We basically simulcast these episodes to all the major podcast platforms, so you can take us with you. But also, we put episodes up there that wouldn't be allowed on the video platforms. And those are labeled redacted, unredacted. They're labeled something. Look, this is not a professional operation. But if you are listening on an audio platform, I would appreciate if you hit thumbs up, or like, or follow, or any of those buttons down there,

• 36:22AJ Gentile?

  or leave us a nice review. That stuff really does help. Now, if you need more Y-Files in your life, check out our Discord. There are thousands of people on there 24/7. I think we have about 100,000 members. So there's someone on there all the time. They're into the same weird stuff we are. They're talking about the same topics we do. It's a great community. It's a lot of fun. It's really supportive, and it's free to join. And speaking of 24/7, make sure you check out our 24/7 stream on the Y-Files Backstage, link down below. Over there, we run episodes back to back with some fun, unique content in between. And an amazing community has sprung up over there. So go there and watch the episodes, or let it play in the background, but hop into the chat. It's a lot of fun. Special thanks to our patrons who made this channel possible.

• 37:05AJ Gentile?

  Every episode is dedicated to our Patreon members. I couldn't have done any of this without you. And if you'd like to support the channel, keep us going, become a member of this community, consider becoming a member on Patreon. For as little as $3 a month, you get access to perks like videos early with no commercials, exclusive merch that nobody else can even see, and you get two private live streams every week, all just for members. And the whole Y-Files team is on the stream. Everybody's cameras on. So you get to meet me, Victoria, Hybridge, Jen, Gino, Mary's on there sometimes, AC. Everybody's on there, whoever, I forgot. So, and you could turn your camera on, hop up on stage. Ask a question if you want to learn more about a topic or just chat. It's a way to get to know us as people. I think it's the best perk there is. Another great way to support the channel is grab something from the LaFaw store.

• 37:48Speaker 06

  Grab a hanky t-shirt, uh, what are these, just little coffee mugs? You can stick your alien fist in, or your flipper, or your elbow, well, maybe not your elbow. It depends. Stick whatever you want in there. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna tell anybody what, what you're doing, what you're fist. Oh, grab a hoodie. Oh, what are you, squeezy animal? Oh, oh, you're so adorable. Oh, lick it up. Grab one of these shoes. Tell your animal to.

• 38:10AJ Gentile?

  But before you buy anything, make sure you become a member on YouTube. I know, another membership, but hear me out. YouTube members get 10% off everything in the store.

• 38:18Speaker 06

  Yeah, you want to keep that secret close to your door, so they, eh?

• 38:21AJ Gentile?

  Those are the plugs. I do have one more coming, but I'll save it for next week because this is a long episode. So until then, be safe, be kind, and know that you are appreciated.

• 38:47Speaker 09

  I played for Libya in Area 51. A secret code inside the Bible said I was. I love my UFOs and paranormal fun as well as music. So I'm singing like I should. But then another conspiracy theory becomes the truth, my friends. And it never ends. No, it never ends.

• 39:25Speaker 09

  I fear the crackhead and got stuck inside Mel's home with MKUltra. I'm being only too aware. Did Stanley Kubrick fake the moon landing alone on a film set? Would the shadow be over there? The Rockwell aliens just fought the smiling man, I'm told. And his name was Cold. And I can't believe I'm dancing with the fish. Head to fish on Thursday nights with AJ. And where my love and me are through the night?

• 40:06Speaker 09

  All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth So the wind blows on my feet all through the night

• 40:31Speaker 09

  The mapman sightings and the solar storm still come To have got the secret city underground Mysterious number stations planet circle to Project Stargate and what the dark watchers found In a simulation don't you worry though The black night satellite it told me so I can't believe I'm dancing with a fish Head for fish on Thursday nights when they chase you And the wind blows on my feet all through the night All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth

• 41:15Speaker 09

  So the wind blows on my feet all through the night Head for fish on Thursday nights when they chase you And the wind blows on my feet all through the night All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth So the wind blows on my feet all through the night

• 41:54Speaker 09

  Gertie loves to dance on the dance floor Because she is a camel and camels love to dance When the feeling is right on the way In time

• 42:27Speaker 00

  Say hello to smooth, sugar-like sweetness with Truvia Alulose Plus Stevia Sweetener and Monk Fruit Sweetener. This blend delivers balanced sweetness that minimizes aftertaste with zero calories per serving. Designed to fit everyday moments, Truvia Alulose Blend measures cup for cup like sugar, making it effortless to swap into beverages, baking, and even savory dishes. Find Truvia Alulose Plus Stevia Sweetener and Monk Fruit Sweetener online and nationwide at Kroger, Target, and your favorite local grocery retailer.

• 42:56Speaker 11

  Now at Kroger, your points add up to more ways to save every trip. Use them your way to take dollars off groceries at checkout or save at the pump. You can even save up to $35 on your next fill-up. Same points, more choices. And with low prices on fresh, quality food, plus digital and personalized offers tailored to how you shop, your dollar goes further. Redeem your points online or in the app. Kroger: Fresh for Everyone. Restrictions apply. See site or store for details.

• 43:26Speaker 12

  Ally here with cash when you need it. Like when your stylist just did the most. Fresh cut and zero cash. Don't be in... Ally has 75,000 fee-free ATMs nationwide, so you're never without cash. Ally Bank Member FDIC.