What Are & From Whence Come the Flying Discs?

As detailed by Meade Layne in the BSRA mimeograph "The Ether Ship Mystery and Its Solution".

What are the FLYING DISCS?

First let us say what they are not. They are not delusions, fantasy, or lies. They are not constructed by any foreign government, or by our own. They do not come from the depths of the sea -- though some of them may enter the sea at times. They do not come from the Polar regions, or from Tibet or Java -- though it is conceivable that some temporary base on our earth may be utilized. They are not constructions of the Atlanteans or other ancient peoples, preserved in caverns against the coming day of need. We mentions these hypotheses because they have all been seriously advanced. Our categorical denial should really be read this way:

"We have no evidence that any of these explanations is correct, and none of them coincide with what we believe to be the correct facts. But we offer the first word and not the last in this matter. New data may appear at any time."

To these denials let us add, the etheric craft, the Discs, do not come from any other planet (visible astronomical body only) of our solar system, or from any other heavenly body known to us. So far as a popular explanation exists, this planetary one is most in favor. The reason is obvious and the reasoning goes this way: The Discs are not made on this earth -- yet they are real and not illusionary -- therefore they must be made on some other planet, presumably Mars or Venus, since these are the nearest. This reasoning, however, suffers from what logicians call an "omitted middle", or a third somewhat, an alternative which is overlooked. "Can you build a better mousetrap?" asks a magazine writer recently, clearly distrusting his own planetary theory yet unable to think of anything else. We reply promptly, we certainly can. The simplest description of this "mousetrap" is our present objective, and if your patience permits we shall try to make the whole concept reasonably clear -- though not necessarily acceptable to your personal thinking, of course.

What are the Discs and where do they come from? We shall have to combine the questions and answers. They come from the region of existence called the Etheric Plance, or Etheric level -- and by us with the name Etheria.

Who operates them? The Etheric People, the Etherians.

Are they friendly, or hostile, or dangerous? Neither friendly nor hostile on the whole, but mainly indifferent towards us. But they are not indifferent if we attack them, or pursue and annoy them, or make them uncomfortable (apparently) by our atom bombs, the release of atomic or nuclear energies.

Further on this point: It is highly likely, not provable, that our Air Force has already lost more than one ship through their attempted interference with these etheric craft. It is believed and is probable that they are surrounded by a powerful magnetic field, or some force corresponding to it, which easily disintegrates our own aircraft. It is likely that the release of atomic energies is felt on the etheric levels with some discomfiture. It is possible, though wholly conjectural, that they might intervene to prevent a world war with atomic weapons, and especially with such a weapon as the proposed hydrogen bomb.

But then, why do they come into our skies at all? Two reasons can be suggested, or two aspects of the same reason. These etheric craft have appeared at intervals throughout history, sometimes without a definite correlation with earth events, but always (it is said) when a civilization or culture had reached its peak and was entering upon a period of decline and fall. Their purpose was simply to observe and study the conditions and state of humanity, for their own information and their historical archives. They have also appeared prior to terrestrial convulsions, such as volcanic eruptions and earth quakes. In the present instance, it is likely that both reasons exist. The social and political state of the world is indeed perilous. Our weapons have become a menace to the Etherians themselves, and it is said that seismic disturbances are impending. Over the Pacific slope, for example, the flight of Ether ships has followed the magnetic meridians, north-and-south. It is said that the Etherians are doing this in order to observe the formation of the etheric vortexes which presage an earth quake; they are charting this area, and also the whole of the earth’s surface, for the same general purpose of scientific study.

Now, whatever you think of the ideas and explanations here advanced, remember that there is nothing vague and uncertain about the presence of these strange craft, or about their remarkable speed and power and complete superiority in the air. This is an intensely practical matter -- and how far-reaching it may be, no one can say. Thi means that our personal attitude is also a matter of practical concern. Let us remember that the Etherians are not ill-disposed toward us, that we should NOT fear them, should never attack them. Further phenomena are almost certain to occur -- and may be of the most remarkable kind. Panic and superstitious fear may seize upon the masses. It may happen that a considerable measure of responsibility will fall upon those us who have some measure of understanding of what is taking place. Heretofore the Etherians have withdrawn quietly when their mission was completed; men thought of them as Gods or Angels, or spirits of the air or demons, embodied them in folklore and mythology, and forgot them little by little. So it may be, this time. They may withdraw from our skies, and in a few months men will have almost forgotten them. But there are reasons which cannot be elaborated here, for believing events may take another and more striking course. Neither your will nor mine can stay these events, but fear, fanaticism and panic may work incalculable woe. Panic is contagious, it engulfs one like an enormous wave, and at the moment we fancy ourselves cool, calm and superior of mind, are dragged under by it. No other considerations would lead us to write these pages, which will for the most part be read with derision or be wholly disregarded.

From Whence Come the ETHER SHIPS?

Etheria is here -- if we know what here means! Along-side, inside, outside of our world. Because our world, that is, the so-called dense matter of the objects in our world, is a rarefication. It is spaced out like a vast net -- a net with enormous meshes. Imagine, if you will, a net of wire with meshes a mile wide. Would not wind and water flow through that net as if it did not exist? A little friction, very, very little!

On the strands of those meshes we live. That is the so-called dense matter of our world. We look out across the mesh and do not see anything in it, or hear or feel anything in it, and so call it empty space. Meaningless words in the abysses of folly! We see, hear, feel the other strands of the mesh, and call our world solid , firm and material! Call it a real and substantial thing! But the "spaces" of the mesh are a thousand and ten thousand times greater than the substance of the strands. What is in these spaces of the mesh of our "matter"? Space? Space is not nothing. Space is stuff, is matter. What kind of matter? The matter which makes the ethers. More dense -- not less, but more dense by far than the rarefactions of our world. The matter of the Etheric world! Inside the molecules, inside the atoms, other atoms -- still other atoms inside of those, or ten thousand Chinese eggs each inside of another. If you think that this is imagination, or that there is no room for these interpenetrating universes -- ask the physicist and the mathematician. They will tell you there is nothing in the omniverse but room; and room, again, is space, is stuff, is basic world-stuff, mindstuff, life-stuff; and there is no emptiness anywhere -- And that is why Etheria is here! But it is also everywhere. All heavenly bodies have an etheric realm.

A few lines more and we shall have done with the more practical and pressing aspects of our subject. The etheric "ships", as everyone knows, are of many types, not all of them Discs by any means. Some are long and cigar shaped; many are shaped like balloons or dirigibles; some have wings or wing-like attachments. Many of them appear to change shape while in the air. Their color varies also and has also been seen to change. Some of them resemble fire-balls; others are accompanied or followed by smoke, vapor, and luminous appearances. Some are translucent, or seem to glow from within. They travel at all speeds, from zero (stationary) to thousands of miles and hour. They also vary widely in size, from a few feet or yards in diameter to nearly incredible dimensions; we have reports considered trustworthy of at least one craft ten miles in length. They have a curious way of disappearing suddenly when in plain sight, and also of rapidly dwindling in size without withdrawing in distance. It is well to bear all these items in mind, since any single explanation must obviously cover all of them; it is not enough to invent some theory for the discshapes alone and then imagine what that the whole matter is accounted for. Now, under the "etheric explanation" which we are presenting here, our understanding is briefly this:

ETHERIC EXPLANATION OF FLYING SAUCERS

All of the types of craft just mentioned come from the same source. All are constructed by Etherians. Their variety arises from the fact that many of them are experimental, and that different types of them serve different technical purposes. These craft are built in matter of the etheric plane and are imperceptible to us, since they exist in what we call "empty space". They enter our plane or our level of perception by a process of materialization. The extremely dense matter which fills in the pattern of etheric stresses is replaced by matter of the kind that is visible to us -- or better, its vibration rate is lowered until it becomes visible. A little like slowing down a very fast fan until one can see its blades. This is closely similar to what happens in the phenomenon or apportation (where objects, of any kind or size, are "miraculously" transported into and out of sealed rooms, sealed containers and the like). Many people, and most scientists, take no stock in this alleged phenomenon, but it is well attested and cannot be surrendered on that account. Neither the pattern nor the molecular filling is destroyed; the object becomes invisible because the atomic motion is speed up, and it can pass through other matter (a wall, e.g.) because of this same fact. This is equivalent to an increase in density when an object on our place is being apported from one place to another. To an Etherian, an object materializing on our plane would dematerialize on his; to us it materializes in our field of perception, and dematerializes when it returns to its etheric state.

If we understand this, we are on the way toward accounting for many odd items of behavior, such as have been mentioned above.

It is probably well known by this time, that several of these ether ships have fallen, and their contents carefully studied -- although with utmost secrecy. We cannot enter here upon this part of, which has been printed in other BSRA publications; we wish to refer only to the "little people", dwarfs about 30 inches in height, whose bodies were found within the Discs. We have reason to believe that the Etherians, who must operate on their bodies just as they do on the etheric substance of the disc in order to accompany them choose to materialize in small forms, simply for the convenience of operation and flight. This, like everything else set forth here, is according to our best knowledge and belief at this writing. We repeat, that we are offering the first words and not the last on this extraordinary problem.

The propulsion of the etherian craft is beyond the present concepts of our science -- yet we have a good clue to its nature, and shall comment on it on a later page. (There is no motor, propeller or other mechanism inside the fallen discs, so far as we have been able to learn.) We must add the extraordinary fact, that under certain conditions, or at certain states of materialization, or at certain altitudes and pressures, the substance of the ether ships is jelly-like and actually does change in shape and apparent size. (The outer skin of the fallen discs, however, is harder than steel, and of unidentified substance.)

It is our information that certain types of the ether ships are and have long been used for interplanetary travel. Those who persist in the belief that they come from visible planets of our system, will eventually seize upon this as a confirmatory fact. But the ether ships do NOT originate on visible planets, as we have said. Interplanetary travel is simply one of their innumerable uses, and this fact should not mislead us. The craft are made in Etheria, and Etheria is in and around all visible objects. It is also the home and motherland of our plane, all the objects we see about us derive from that source, and our own bodies also. We ourselves are Etherians by ancestry and descent; for Etheria is the home of the human race. That we should be so grossly ignorant of it is strange indeed.

The full explanation of the Etheric Theory of the Aeroforms is presented by Meade Layne and other Borderland Sciences Research Associates in two mimeographs: "The Ether Ship Mystery: and Its Solution" and "The Coming of the Guardians: An Interpretation of the Flying Saucers as Given from the Other Side of Life". These were later revised by Riley Crabb, who succeeded Meade Layne and continued to promote the Etheric Theory. The Crabb editions are available in our standard xerographic print format via our online cart, along with further materials in support of the BSRF-advanced 4-D hypothesis.

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