The Strange Disappearance Of Granger Taylor

On the night of November 29, 1980, gale force winds tore through the central portion of Vancouver Island, knocking out the electricity and sending locals scurrying for shelter. In the midst of this violent storm a shy and uncannily bright young man posted a short note on his father’s bedroom door and walked out of his parents’ home leaving all of his worldly possessions behind, including $10,000. He climbed into his 1972, pale blue Datsun pick-up, drove past the flying saucer replica he had built in his backyard and was never heard from again.

This series of events, though disconcerting, are not in and of themselves particularly remarkable. What makes this case worthy of note over 30-years after the fact is the content of the letter that the man in question, Granger Taylor, left for his parent’s to read:

“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.”

On the opposite side of the hand scrawled letter was a contour map of Waterloo Mountain, which was located some 20-miles west of the Taylor’s property. What relation the map or the mountain may or may not have had with Taylor’s disappearance is just one of the many enigmas associated with this bizarre case.

But if we are to make an attempt to understand what circumstances led to Taylor (perhaps literally) falling off the face of the Earth, then we first need to go back to when this reclusive man was hailed as…

A BOY PRODIGY:

Frankly, there’s not a lot of information in the public forum regarding the eccentric, and evidently gifted, Granger Taylor.

Born on October 7, 1948, Taylor hailed from Duncan, Vancouver Island — a logging and fishing town, which is nestled in the Canadian province of British Columbia — and had what his friends and neighbors hailed as an astonishing aptitude for constructing and repairing all manner of mechanical devices. One of Taylor’s oldest friends, Bob Nielson, even went so far as to say: “I guess you could call him an eccentric genius.”

Taylor — who lived on his mother and stepfather’s wooded Somenos Lake property until the day he vanished — was an 8^th Grade dropout, but despite this lack of education, he was considered by all who knew him to be a self-taught mechanical wizard.

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