Meade Layne (September 8, 1882 – May 12, 1961)[1] was an American academic and early researcher of ufology and parapsychology, best known for proposing an early version of the interdimensional hypothesis to explain flying saucer sightings.[2]
Meade Layne | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 8, 1882 Viroqua, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | May 12, 1961 (aged 78) San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Newton Meade Layne |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | English Ufology Parapsychology |
| Sub-discipline | Interdimensional hypothesis "Etheria" |
| Institutions | University of Southern California Illinois Wesleyan University Florida Southern College |
Early life
editLayne was born in Viroqua, Wisconsin and raised in San Diego.[3] Layne sold office supplies, worked as a real estate agent, managed an oil and gas company, and wrote poetry. He claimed to have earned a PhD in English literature.[4] In 1934, one of Layne's poems inspired a piece of music.[5]
Career
editLayne was the founder and first director of Borderland Sciences Research Associates.[6][7][8] 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.[1]
In February 1945, Meade began publishing a mimeographed newsletter titled "Round Robin".[9] On October 14, 1946, nearly a year before Kenneth Arnold's first sighting of "flying saucers", Layne achieved national notoriety when the wire service carried a story of Layne's claims of a medium who was in telepathic communication with people in a space ship.[10]
The following year, during the 1947 flying disc craze, media again quoted Layne on his ethership theories. 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.[2][11] He further claimed that Etherians could become stranded on the terrestrial plane when their ether ships malfunctioned,[12] and that various governments were aware of these incidents and had investigated them.[12]
In 1948, Layne was featured in media for his proposal to use "underwater radar" to search for the mythical lost continent of Atlantis.[13] In 1950, press covered Layne's publication of "Flying Discs: The Ethership Mystery and its Solution". Layne also publicized earlier stories of a crashed saucer with 30 inch-tall bodies found inside.[14] In 1951, Layne promoted Paxson Hayes's claims ancient giants in Mexico.[15][16]
Furthermore, Layne argued that Etherians and their ether ships inspired much of earth's mythology and religion,[2] but that they were truly mortal beings despite having a high level of technological and spiritual advancement.[2] He claimed that their motive in coming to the terrestrial plane of existence was to reveal their accumulated wisdom to humanity.[17] These revelations would be relayed through individuals with sufficiently developed psychic abilities, allowing them to contact the Etherians and communicate with them directly;[12] in particular, he relied extensively on the mediumship of Mark Probert as confirmation of his theories.[18] .
Death
editLayne died in San Diego in 1961.[3]
Works
edit- Layne, Meade, The Ether Ship Mystery And Its Solution, San Diego, Calif., 1950.
- Layne, Meade, The Coming of The Guardians, San Diego, Calif., 1954.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Borderland Sciences Research Associates". borderlands.com. Borderland Sciences Research Foundation. Archived from the original on January 1, 2012.
- ^ a b c d Reece 2007, p. 16.
- ^ a b Congress, The Library of. "LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress)". id.loc.gov. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ^ "Newton Meade Layne as Fortean". From an Oblique Angle. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ^ "Barbara Sterling Delights Ten Thousand Club in Program Thursday". Imperial Valley Press. 16 February 1934. p. 2.
- ^ "History of the Borderland Sciences Research Associates". borderlandsciences.org. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
- ^ "Borderland Sciences Research Foundation". hatch.kookscience.com. Kook Science. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
- ^ Constable, Trevor James (February 1986). "The Case for the 'Critters'". In Steiger, Brad; White, John (eds.). Other Worlds, Other Universes. Health Research Books. pp. 70–2. ISBN 9780787312916.
- ^ "Round Robin v1 n1, Feb. 1945 - First issue". February 1945.
- ^ "Meade Layne - Ship from another planet". The Whittier News. 14 October 1946. p. 1.
- ^ Davis, Erik (2006). "Space Brothers". The Visionary State: A Journey Through California's Spiritual Landscape. Chronicle Books. p. 192. ISBN 9780811848350.
- ^ a b c Reece 2007, p. 17.
- ^ "Meade Layne". Spokane Chronicle. 28 September 1948. p. 13.
- ^ "Meade Layne crashed saucers". The Los Angeles Times. 2 April 1950. p. 31.
- ^ Scully, Frank (July 4, 1950). "Behind the Flying Saucers". Holt – via Google Books.
- ^ "Interplanetary Travel Theories". The Southwest Citizen. January 31, 1951. p. 3 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Reece 2007, pp. 16–7.
- ^ Layne, Meade (1963). "Note Concerning the Mark Probert Mediumship". The Magic Bag. By Probert, Mark. San Diego: Kethra E'Da Foundation. Foreword pp. xv-xviii. ISBN 9781585092581.
Sources
edit- Reece, Gregory L. (2007). UFO Religion: Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Culture. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1845114510.