A capture of this whole thread could be sold by a fortune to a writer in search for opportunities. And Guyjack could get much more than 225 USD for the whole real-life exchange.

It amounts to a progresssive direct observation of:

a) a zombie massive abduction (or however you call that thing they do);
b) a textbook case of a rumor-based snowball process;
c) a self-fulfilled bankrupt prophecy;
d) a social experiment carefully planned by Dharma Initiative for which they even invented a dual reader as a pretext for observing people's reactions.
And Snow is... Jakob? Who can actually talk to Jakob here?

Don't say we run out of ideas at the forum. Regrettably enough, the Occam's Razor suggests something sadly simple as a solution.