Meade Layne

Meade Layne (September 8, 1882 – May 12, 1961) was an early researcher of ufology and parapsychology, best known for proposing an early version of the interdimensional hypothesis to explain flying saucer sightings. Layne was the founder and first director of Borderland Sciences Research Associates. Prior to his public work studying ufos, Layne was professor at the University of Southern California, and English department head at Illinois Wesleyan University and Florida Southern College.

Layne speculated that, rather than representing advanced military or extraterrestrial technology, flying saucers were piloted by beings from a parallel dimension, which he called Etheria, and their "ether ships" were usually invisible but could be seen when their atomic motion became slow enough. He further claimed that Etherians could become stranded on the terrestrial plane when their ether ships malfunctioned, and that various governments were aware of these incidents and had investigated them.

Furthermore, Layne argued that Etherians and their ether ships inspired much of earth's mythology and religion, but that they were truly mortal beings despite having a high level of technological and spiritual advancement. He claimed that their motive in coming to the terrestrial plane of existence was to reveal their accumulated wisdom to humanity. These revelations would be relayed through individuals with sufficiently developed psychic abilities, allowing them to contact the Etherians and communicate with them directly; in particular, he relied extensively on the mediumship of Mark Probert as confirmation of his theories.