The Truly Bizarre Case Of Granger Taylor

The case of Granger Taylor truly is bizarre in every sense of the world. And while it is an account that is seemingly easy to brush off as the ravings of someone slightly beyond eccentric, there is also something about the incident that niggles away at the minds of even the most skeptical and conservative person.

According to the accounts of his friends, Taylor had received messages from alien entities. And what’s more, they had invited to take him on just short of a four-year journey around the universe. What makes these claims even more unnerving, is that Granger Taylor seemingly literally disappeared into thin air.

Just what happened to this undoubtedly hugely intelligent and almost unnaturally gifted young man? Why was he so sure of his impending cosmic journey? And where is he, or his remains, today?

He would leave a note for his parents, which we will examine shortly, and in two purposely drafted wills to make everything legal, left all of his possessions to them with instructions on how to share them out. Interestingly, the word “deceased” was removed from the wills and replaced with the word “departed”. In his bank account was $10,000, also now in the care of his parents.

Of course, like many of these seemingly strange cases we examine, sometimes lost in all the outlandishness is that very real people stand at the center of such accounts. Whether it be the families and friends of such people, or the witness themselves.

This is undoubtedly the case with Granger Taylor. So much so, that almost 40 years later, investigations – official and unofficial – continue into his fate or whereabouts. And it is most likely that the Granger Taylor case will remain unsolved for the foreseeable future.

A Contemporary Legend In Real Time?

On the evening of 29^th November, 32-year-old Granger Taylor would leave his parents home and set out in his blue Datsun pick-up truck, driving away into a particularly heavy storm. In fact, so intense was the storm that it caused widespread power outages for large portions of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

When we take into consideration that Taylor was not seen or heard from again, as well as the contents of the note he would leave behind for his parents (which you can see below), we should perhaps wonder, if only speculatively, if the storm and subsequent power cuts might have more behind them than Mother Nature.

The note reads in full:

Dear Mother and Father, I have 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 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! ^[1]

The contents of the note raised an eyebrow or two among the wider population and investigators who would examine the case. As did the map leading to mountains around 20 miles away. Were these the location of Taylor’s apparent meeting with his alleged extraterrestrial contact?

We have examined on several occasions UFO and alien encounters that have taken place on or around some of the world’s most famous mountains. Perhaps of further interest, certainly for those who subscribe to the Ancient Astronaut Theory, is that many historical legends and Biblical accounts that might be perceived as UFO encounters also take place near such mountains.

Might the mysterious events of 29^th November 1980 be such a contemporary “legend” in the making?

An “Eccentric Genius!”

Growing up, particularly in a small-town environment of Duncan, Granger Taylor was always known to be gifted. Some, in fact, would label the young man “an eccentric genius”. From an early age, he was able to take apart and repair electrical and mechanical devices, ^[2] usually teaching himself how to do so.

Perhaps interestingly, Taylor didn’t bring these skills or enthusiasm to his schoolwork, and would essentially drop out of school without finishing. Regardless, his talents to all that knew him, were genuine and obvious. So much so, that he earned a decent living from them.

He would remain living at the family home with his mother and his stepfather until the day he disappeared. In the property and around the yard, his inventions and mechanical constructions were often strewn about.

He would often manage to restore broken and ruined machines and vehicles to the former glories, however. Perhaps one of his most impressive such restorations was with an old steam locomotive which would eventually be purchased by the Province of British Columbia for touring and display purposes. This project is even more impressive when we realize he personally located and “dragged” the rusting train through thick woodland before any repairs could even begin.

He would also restore a Kitty Hawk warplane. This was ultimately sold to a collector for $20,000 in 1981 by Granger’s parents. They would subsequently deposit the money in his account. He would also obtain his pilot’s license around the same time. It also around this time that Taylor’s interest in UFOs, and specifically how they operated would go into overdrive.

A Telepathic Message From Space

He would even build a “flying saucer sanctuary” under trees near his parents’ home out of scrap metal. His stepfather would later tell how Taylor had built the replica spaceship over the course of around six months. He would often spend hours on end inside, even sleeping there on occasion. Inside was a television, a stove and a couch.

It was during this time, in the final years of the 1970s, when Taylor spent most of his time attempting to understand how these technical crafts from other worlds operated. He would spend hours reading as many books on the subject as he could.

It was also during this time when he would take the first steps towards his ultimate decision to take to the road in the middle of a severe storm that late-November night in 1980. He would inform one of his friends, Nielsen, only a month before he disappeared that he had received a telepathic “message from space”.

In light of his sudden disappearance, Nielsen would state to reporters that Taylor had claimed to have received the “mental communications” and began asking questions of the UFO propulsion systems. Nielsen would claim their reply was merely that it as “magnetic”.

Several days after this first revelation, Taylor would approach Nielsen again. This time, he would tell him of the invitation he had received to go on a “trip through the solar system”.

Whether Nielsen believed his friend’s claims or not, Taylor most certainly did. Many people who knew him in his final days in Duncan would claim he would speak of his upcoming journey. And in a very matter of fact way.

The only thing he didn’t know, was when he would be leaving. And where he was to go to be collected.

A Purposely Planned “Last Meal” At Bob’s Grill?

This last point is potentially important in assessing the authenticity of the claims of Granger Taylor. Had he been making such claims merely for attention then he surely would have persevered with this last crucial point? However, it is not a detail he ever mentioned to any of his friends or family. It would appear, if we accept his claims for a moment, that these instructions were purposely last minute, or he was instructed to keep the details to himself.

There was one hint that he did know the details of his upcoming departure. A week before his disappearance, he would insist on taking several of his friends out for drinks. In retrospect, this appears to be a “sort of going away party”.

Of course, it very well could be the case that Taylor was telling the outright truth. If only in his own mind. Several of his friends would state that Taylor was using acid regularly. And on a daily basis in the weeks leading up to his disappearance. Whether this was of consequence or not is open to debate.

What we do know is that around 6 pm on the evening of 29^th November 1980, the predicted and expected storm clearly brewing around the small town of Duncan. Taylor would make his way to Bob’s Grill – a diner where he ate regularly, just as he did this evening.

He remained there for about half an hour, leaving at 6:30 pm. The waitress on duty that evening, Linda Baron. She was most likely the last person to see Taylor. She remembers how he was clearly not dressed appropriately for the upcoming storm, which was just beginning to unleash the damage it would bring as he was leaving the diner.

Gone!

Searches for the reclusive but popular Granger Taylor would begin almost immediately the following day. However, there was absolutely no sign of him. There also was no sign whatsoever of his blue truck.

This last detail particularly frustrated Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigators. They would think, assuming all Taylor had said was true, he would have left his truck somewhere in plain sight. Despite the Taylor family placing regular advertisements offering cash rewards for information about the vehicle, no calls were forthcoming.

In 1986, at least according to some sources, fragments of the same make of truck were found on Mount Sicker near to Duncan. From the analysis of them, it appeared they had been in a “massive explosion”. Furthermore, it would appear the fragments were discovered “in a crater” on the mountain. According to one book (Alien Encounters by Time-Life), Taylor was “carrying explosives in the truck at the time of his disappearance”.

As intriguing as this apparent development might seem, the RCMP investigation appeared to dismiss them. Furthermore, there was no sign of a body or the remains of one at the site in question. Essentially, both Granger Taylor, either alive or dead and his truck, remain missing.

Might his claims of extraterrestrial contact be true? Might that be why he appears to have literally vanished from the face of the planet?

Or, given there is little-to-no reason to suspect foul play, might there be a more terrestrial although no less intriguing explanation?

A True Mystery Of Our Modern Times

There are several other possibilities besides the alien contact scenario as to what might have happened to Granger Taylor. Although none of them on their own provide a complete and satisfactory explanation.

For example, it would perhaps make sense that Taylor made the decision to commit suicide and used the last weeks of his life to “set up” the scenario of alien contact to explain his disappearance. However, that wouldn’t explain why his body remains missing. Furthermore, why would someone so desperate that they felt the need to take their own life spend time creating such an elaborate hoax? One they would not see the fall-out from, no less.

Or might Taylor have simply wished to start again somewhere where no one knew him? If that was the case, though, we would imagine that even the best hiders would show up somewhere at some stage over the decades. Particularly as we moved into the twenty-first century and the digital era.

Or might, particularly if we accept the words of some of the friends who claims he was “taking acid daily” in the weeks leading up to the incident, Taylor have genuinely imagined the telepathic messages and impending traveling across the cosmos were real? If that was the case, and the whole scenario was out of Taylor’s mind, where is Granger Taylor, and his truck?

As unlikely as it seems, then, might it be possible that everything the quiet but eccentric Taylor claimed was true? Might he have gone on board an alien spacecraft that evening? If that is the case, however, why has he not returned? It truly is a bizarre and unsettling mystery.

Check out the video below. It looks at the strange case of Granger Taylor in a little more detail.