Granger Taylor's Peculiar Disappearance (Alien Abduction?)
There is nothing in the world more terrifying than the idea of being abducted by aliens. Human history is littered with such horrifying scenes of experimentation. But what if some of these beings were kind-hearted instead, inviting us to learn from them? In the year 1980, one man named Granger Taylor may have been given that chance.
On the morning of the searches of 30th November 1980, the citizens of Duncan, British Columbia were cautiously emerging from their battered and broken homes. Fallen trees blocked roads, farm animals had escaped through smashed fences and debris lay strewn across the landscape. The previous evening, they had enjoyed one of the most severe storms the area had ever seen. Gale force winds had knocked out the power grid for the whole town and countless properties had sustained broken windows, stripped rooftops and torn up gardens. Still, the community of Duncan was a resilient and self-sufficient one.
The populace soon began a concerted effort to get their small locking town back up and running: sweeping glass, clearing toppled trees and mending downed power lines. Whilst the town folk were no strangers to hard work, there was a feeling that their efforts could have been eased with the help of one enigmatic figure: an engineering prodigy and local Legend who would have gladly helped repair the damage for fun. His name was Granger Taylor, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Word quickly got around that he had not been seen since the previous evening and blithe rumors began to spread, alleging all manner of typically strange possibilities as to the genius eccentric's whereabouts. But what truly happened to him may have been far stranger and certainly more heartbreaking than the townsfolk could possibly know.
On that same morning, Granger's stepfather discovered a handwritten note from his son, left the night of his disappearance. Whilst many consider it to be a suicide note, Granger took explicit care in assuring his family and friends that this was not the case. The letter explained that he was to be taken away that evening, embarking on a three-and-a-half-year journey and to return home after having learned all he could.
Unfortunately, despite Granger's family leaving the back gate unlocked for many years after he vanished, their son never did return. The question of what happened to him remains a perplexing one nearly four decades later, yet whether or not it has an ending, the story of Granger's life is an amazing and inspiring one in its own right, which deserves to be told.
Granger Taylor's Story
Granger Ormond Taylor was born on the 7th of October 1948 in Duncan, a small fishing town in British Columbia, Canada. Despite always having a close-knit and caring family, Granger's life began with tragedy when his father drowned in an accident at waterside retreat on Horn Lake. Granger was only young at the time and despite knowing his dad for only a short period of his life, the death had a profound impact on his mental state, the echoes of which remained throughout his adulthood. He became quiet and extremely introverted as a child, spending most of his time alone in his bedroom. His mother remarried a few years later to a kind caring man named Jim Taylor, who had children of his own. Granger grew to love his step-father and siblings just as much as his own flesh and blood and by all accounts, he had a stable and supportive home life.
Despite this, he dropped out of school in the 8th grade, although this to say nothing of his intelligence. Even early on, Granger displayed an extraordinary comprehension of machinery, when after working for a year as a mechanic's apprentice, he built and restored a number of vehicles that even weathered experts had condemned as being beyond salvage. Firstly, as a fourteen-year-old, he constructed a fully functional one-cylinder car- now on display at the Duncan Forest Museum. He also built a working bulldozer at 17, which he would use to help neighbors with construction work. But the most impressive of all of Granger's rebuilds was an old locomotive.
Granger Taylor, the young prodigy
In 1969, when he was still in his early 20s, he happened upon an abandoned and decaying steam train which had at one time being used for transporting timber across British Columbia. The engine had rusted, it was full of holes, trees were growing through the chassis, the wheels had walked and seized up. Nevertheless, the young prodigy, described by his friend, Bob Nielson, as an eccentric genius who worked on the machine tirelessly for nearly two years, forming panels from scratch, and restoring the locomotive to its former glory.
The province of British Columbia ended up purchasing it from him and it was around this time that the people of Duncan really began to take notice. Locals affectionately dubbed the Taylor farm "Sleepy Hollow Museum", having become somewhat of an attraction for the locals. Many of the children in the area enjoyed spending time with Granger, playing in the collection of vehicles and heavy machinery that were amassing on the property. For years, he amused himself working on project after project. However, like anybody who masters a discipline to the point that they are no longer challenged, he eventually became fatigued with working on trains and cars, instead turning his attention to the skies.
He became interested in flight as an adult, earning his pilot's license and restoring a decrepit World War II Kitty Hawk Fighter to full working order, which later sold for $20,000. He had, in fact, amassed a respectable sum of money from his projects; buying scrap for cheap and selling the finished vehicles to wealthy collectors and state services, but Granger had little use for his earnings besides feeding his hobby. He never expressed a desire to move away, to start a family of his own, to do anything besides stay at his parent's farm and tinker away all day in the garage.
It was likely that this ceaseless drive for knowledge fueled Granger's eventual interest in UFOs. He had conquered every discipline that conventional machines had presented and so it was only natural for him to seek a worthy challenge from beyond the realm of human knowledge. His interest quickly developed into an obsession, he spent days alone studying, attempting in vain to comprehend how alien craft were able to perform the fantastical aerial feels that had to be reported not only worldwide, but in his own community.
On New Year's Eve of 1969, mere miles from the Taylor home at the Cowichan District Hospital, three nurses and a handful of patients claimed to have seen a large Saturn shaped UFO, hovering 60 feet from their window, beginning the spate of sightings in the area. It is extremely likely that these high-profile cases occurring in Granger's neighborhood during his formative years would have had a profound impact on his interests as an adult, but regardless of what spurred his new obsession on, it was clear that this challenge would be unlike any others. He had lived his whole life with an uncanny ability to learn about and understand anything he put his mind to, but the enigma of supposed extraterrestrial propulsion systems was proving to be too much of a task.
Granger had used his impressive abilities to construct a "life-sized" replica of an alien craft at the bottom of his garden, made from spare satellite dishes and scrap metal. He fitted the "ship" with a wood burning stove, a couch and a television, spending long hours in his effectual home away from home, often sleeping there as he studied. Granger had amassed a large collection of literature detailing the eyewitness accounts of UFOs and the writings of those who hypothesized and claimed to know the secrets of their abilities. This did not aid Granger's investigation, however, as the books fundamentally boiled down to uncorroborated testimony and pseudo-science.
His fascination with the UFOs
As with most gifted individuals, hitting such a brick wall would have likely deterred their interests, causing them to go cold on a subject and eventually give up completely. But for Granger, something ethereal- be it fate or something altogether more tangible reached out to him. He would allegedly go on to receive a message from beyond the stars.
Whenever Granger would go out socially, the topic of UFOs was never far from his mind: He frequently brought up his research in conversation with friends. However, one evening whilst meeting up with lifelong companion Bob Nielson, Taylor confided to him that during one of his periods of self-imposed isolation, he had been contacted telepathically by an extraterrestrial intelligence. He could not see who the beings were, he only heard their voices in his mind. Of course, Nielsen was skeptical. But humored his friend all the same. Granger stated that he would go on to have many more conversations in which he would ask questions about how their crafts maneuvered, being told only that the secret was related to magnets
In October 1980, an elated Granger announced to Nielsen that he has been invited on a "trip through the galaxy". Again, his friend played along, assuming it was merely a bad dream or some other manifestation of his well-established eccentricity. As a result, he and his friends embarked on a raucous night out, as a sort of going-away party, despite none of them having any doubt that they would still find Granger tinkering away in his garage long after his arranged date of departure had been and gone.
The disappearance
Unfortunately, this would not be case. Just one month later, on November 29th, the town of Duncan was under a severe storm warning. Despite this, at 6 p.m. Granger entered Bob's grill, a diner at which he was a regular patron. A worker there, Linda Baron noted that while he had been wearing his regular attire: Logging boots, jeans, a T-shirt and a knitted sweater, he had not been wearing a jacket or large overcoat. He was clearly not prepared for the incoming torrent.
Granger paid his bill and left the diner at 6:30 p.m., just as the storm began to tear through the town and surrounding area. Linda would be the last person to ever see him. Granger would take his beloved Datsun truck and drive off into the night, never to be returned. The very next day would be the first of a long, drawn-out search, which will ultimately end in resignation, an acceptance that he had simply dropped off the face of the Earth. That same day, his father would find the note he had left, which read: "Dear mother and father, I've gone away to walk aboard an alien ship, as recurring dreams assured a 42 month interstellar voyage to explore the vast Universe, then return. I am leaving behind all of my possessions to you as I will no longer require the use of any, please use the instructions in my will as a guide to help, Love Granger".
This was not a suicide note: Taylor clearly told his parents he would return after his voyage. He also referenced a will he had prepared which allotted all of his possessions to his parents. This was also curious, as he had made a concerted effort to scratch out any mention of the words "deceased" and replace it with "departed". Before he had left, he had thanked his stepfather, Jim, for everything he had done for him. He had never mentioned his alleged communications with extraterrestrials to his family or his intention to leave, and this caused some confusion. His mother was away on vacation at the time of his disappearance and unfortunately, she never got the chance to say goodbye to her son, even if she wouldn't have known she was doing so at the time.
The reason for Granger Taylor's disappearance
In the absence of a body, authorities struggled to explain just what happened to Granger Taylor and his disappearance would go on to become one of the most enduring enigmas in Canadian history. Most of the information from the time he vanished consists of newspaper clippings and the overly enthusiastic work of Ufologists, which- although intriguing- offers little more credibility than campfire stories.
Therefore, it is pertinent to look at the more reasonable explanations. The first of these is that Granger made the decision to take his own life, constructing the narrative of an extraterrestrial voyage, with the intention of comforting his friends and family in the idea that he was off exploring the stars. Some have concluded that Taylor's inability to understand space travel had eaten away at him, causing him to become frustrated and depressed during his prolonged periods of isolation. The fact that Taylor gave away all his possessions adds credibility to this theory, as whilst somebody who plans to go away for a few years may well get rid of a few odds and ends, it is unlikely that they would rid themselves of everything they owned, much less write up a will.
But if Taylor did commit suicide, where is the body? In 1986, six years after his disappearance, the remains of clothing, bone fragments and shards of a truck believed to have been Taylor's were discovered in a crater on an unnamed mountain. It is postulated that Taylor had been carrying dynamite in his truck, which he normally used for clearing tree stumps. Rumors circulated that the young prodigy drove up that mountain and simply blew himself to smithereens. Though none of the remains were ever proven to have those of Taylor or his truck.
For instance, the metal shards that were found were pink in color, rather than the light blue of Taylor's vehicle. Furthermore, this was before the age of DNA analysis, so nobody can say for certain whether the bones really were Taylor's at all. That's being said, given length of time between his disappearance and the discovery of the remains, it is possible that weathering and erosion of the metal had cause discoloration and the rest of Taylor's body may have succumbed to animal predation. However, without solid evidence, the door to speculation remains open.
There are others who claim that Taylor may have wanted to start a new life elsewhere after all and faked his own death in order to make a fresh start. But again, if this was the case, why fake his own death, knowing it would cause his family and friends untold pain? Surely, it would be far easier to simply move. He had money in the bank, and a man of his talents would no doubt be able to find steady work wherever he settled. Perhaps, it was an action befitting the eccentricity of his character, but this would stray far from the aloof delving deep into outright cruelty.
With it being unlikely that Taylor ran away and having displayed no signs of depression that any of his close friends or family were able to pick up on, what is the most likely of explanations? Whilst neither law enforcement nor the family at large ever made mention of it, his friend, Robert, Keller and sister, Grace Anne Young both claimed that Granger had a history of drug use, common to many younger people, especially of that era. Granger had allegedly smoked marijuana for years and according to his sister had been taking significant doses of LSD in the months before he went missing.
With hallucinations and other psychological abnormalities being associated with these substances-LSD in particular-it may be reasonable to assume that Granger was earnestly expecting to be carried away aboard an alien craft, having hallucinated these conversations for weeks. He likely followed his apparent orders to drive to the mountain for collection, under the cover of the storm and either whilst under the influence or by some accident, the dynamite in Granger's truck detonated, killing him instantly.
Conclusion
Other plausible theories are that he was kidnapped and killed, his vehicle stolen. Or that he drove into quicksand or a sinkhole during the storm and that his body remains trapped underground. On the other hand, whilst an accident maybe the most likely explanation, we can't rule out that Taylor did in fact have a supernatural experience beyond our understanding. One that he bravely did not shy away from, instead greeting it with open arms as another challenge to be faced, as he had done his whole life.
But if this was the case, why has he not returned as he said he would. Could it be that the intelligence that allegedly communicated with him was in fact malicious, manipulating him into a false sense of security? Or could it be a matter of time dilation? As he would theoretically be traveling at phenomenal speeds, what passes by as three years to him would pass by much slower for us back on Earth. And he may still return.
There is so much unknown about this case, as there is about the universe at large. All we do know is that on a stormy November night, an enigmatic man, loved not only by his friends and family, but by his community, disappeared on a voyage into the unknown. Perhaps, Jim Taylor puts it best, "I can hardly believe Granger is off in a spaceship, but if there is a flying object out there, he's the one to find it." Let's hope that he did just that and that somewhere out in the farthest reaches of the Milky Way, there is a human by the name of Granger Taylor, having the experience of a lifetime traveling amongst the stars, even if he is a too late getting home.