[Mojave]

the statistical evidence WAS thought to be overwhelming at that time. He wasn't the only person to think so

No names or source, naturally.

[TomOnTheRun]

No names or source, naturally. Rhiner, Zener, Jung, Bormanis, Metzger. Are those enough names or do you want more? Sources - each wrote a book about it. Except Carl Jung who had a series of lectures collected into a book after his death. I suppose you could also count the mentions of his youthful interest in it from Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Also - the fact that national governments for every major world power of the time funded experiments and testing demonstrates that people didn't believe it to be unreasonable to at least test it and find out.