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Theinterdimensional UFO hypothesis (IUH) is the proposal thatunidentified flying object (UFO) sightings are the result of experiencing other "dimensions" or "portals" that coexist separately alongside our own.[1]
The hypothesis has been advanced byufologists such asMeade Layne,[a][2]John Keel,[3]J. Allen Hynek, andJacques Vallée.[4][1] Proponents of the interdimensional hypothesis argue that UFOs are a modern manifestation of a phenomenon that has occurred throughout recordedhuman history, which in prior ages were ascribed tomythological orsupernatural creatures.[5]
Jeffrey J. Kripal, Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, writes: "this interdimensional reading, long a staple of Spiritualism through the famous 'fourth dimension', would have a very long life within ufology and is still very much with us today".[6]
Concepts similar to ”other dimensions” exist amongst various religious and mystical traditions, such as Islamic mysticism known asSufism. In this tradition, the conceptal-ghayb refers to the hidden, unseen, and invisible, and encompasses a range of important phenomena inIslam and in the everyday lives of Muslims.[7]Within this mystical tradition, there is a concept of a hidden multilayered reality or world known as'ālam al-mithāl, or “the world of similitude” which is considered to be an intermediary realm between the physical world (‘ālam al-shahada) and the purely spiritual world (‘ālam al-malakut). It is believed within this dominion exists everything unseen including intelligent non-human entities, known in Islam asjinn andangels.
In the 19th century, variousspiritualists believed in "other dimensions". In the late 19th century, themetaphysical term "planes" was popularized byH. P. Blavatsky, who propounded a complex cosmology consisting of seven "planes".[6] The term aether ("ether") was adopted from Ancient Greek viaVictorian physics that would later be discredited. The term "ether" was then incorporated into the writings of 19th-century occultists.
The "etheric plane" and the "etheric body" were introduced intoTheosophy byCharles Webster Leadbeater andAnnie Besant to represent a hypothetical 'fourth plane', above the "planes" of solids, liquids, and gases. The term "etheric" was later used by popular occult authors such asAlice Bailey,Rudolf Steiner, and numerous others.[6]
The first use of the word, asinter-dimensional, is in a novel byZ Gale of 1906.[8][b]
| 1947 flying disc craze |
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 The Rhodes photographs |
| Events |
On July 4, 1947, occultistMeade Layne claimed thatflying discs were "etheric".[2] Layne claimed to be in telepathic communication with "people in the saucers", arguing "it is possible for objects to pass from an etheric to a dense level of matter and will then appear to materialize. They then will return to an etheric conditions".[9][2] Layne claimed that "These visitors are not excarnate humans but are human beings living in their own world. They come with good intent. They have some idea of experimenting with earth life."[10] The prior year, it had been reported that Layne consulted a medium who relayed communications from a "space ship named Careeta" that came to Earth from 'an unidentified planet'.[10][11][2]
According to one scholar, Layne coined the term "interdimensional hypostasis" to describe the sightings.[12][additional citation(s) needed] Layne is regarded as the earliest proponent of the interdimensional hypothesis.[2]
Keel created the term "ultraterrestrials" to describe UFO occupants he believed to be non-human entitieswhich exist in a wavelength of energy which we cannot detect.[13]
In his 1970 bookUFOs: Operation Trojan Horse, Keel argued that a non-human or spiritual intelligence source has staged whole events over a long period of time in order to propagate and reinforce certain erroneous belief systems. For example,monsters,ghosts anddemons, thefairy faith in Middle Europe,vampire legends,mystery airships in 1897, mystery aeroplanes of the 1930s, mystery helicopters, anomalous creature sightings,poltergeist phenomena, balls of light, andUFOs; Keel conjectured that ultimately all of these anomalies are a cover for the real phenomenon.[14][additional citation(s) needed]
J. Allen Hynek was an American astronomer who served as scientific advisor to theU.S. Air Force UFO studies:Project Sign,Project Grudge, andProject Blue Book. Hynek pioneered the "Close Encounter" classification system; Hynek had a cameo in Stephen Spielberg's filmClose Encounters of the Third Kind.[15]Jacques Vallée, a student of Hynek's, served as the inspiration for the French researcher portrayed byFrançois Truffaut in the film.[16]
In 1975'sThe Edge of Reality, Vallée and Hynek consider the possibility of what they call "interlocking universes":
VALLÉE: What other wild hypotheses could we make?
HYNEK: There could be other universe with different quantum rules or vibration rates if you want. Our own space-time continuum could be a cross-section through a universe with many more dimensions. ... Think what a hard time you would have convincing an aborigine that right now, through this room, TV pictures are passing! Yet they're here. You have to have a transducer to see them -- namely a TV set. Well, in the same sensethere may be interlocking universes right here! We have this idea of space, we always think of another universe beingsomeplace else. It may not. Maybe it's right here."
In his 'landmark' 1969 bookPassport to Magonia: On UFOS, Folklore and Parallel Worlds, Vallee argues for a "parallel universe co-existing with our own".[4] The idea was reiterated in Vallée's subsequent writings.[17] Vallée's summarized his objection in his 1990 paper "Five Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Origin of Unidentified Flying Objects":[18]
- unexplained close encounters are far more numerous than required for any physical survey of the earth;
- the humanoid body structure of the alleged "aliens" is not likely to have originated on another planet and is not biologically adapted to space travel;
- the reported behavior in thousands of abduction reports contradicts the hypothesis of genetic or scientific experimentation on humans by an advanced race;
- the extension of the phenomenon throughout recorded human history demonstrates that UFOs are not a contemporary phenomenon;
- the apparent ability of UFOs to manipulate space and time suggests radically different and richer alternatives.
The 2008 action-adventure filmIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull utilizes the interdimensional hypothesis and describes ancient aliens not flying into space but into ”the space between the spaces".[19][20]
The 2014 movieInterstellar employs a mix of the interdimensional and thetime-traveler hypotheses. Thebulk-beings[21] who built the tesseract inside thesupermassive black hole Gargantua are later revealed to be future humans who have evolved to exist infive dimensions.
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