Granger Taylor was known in Duncan, British Columbia, for his awkwardness (despite his bulky physical appearance). He was also known for his ability to give new life to machines. Granger also had a reputation for his fixation on aliens, spurred by pop culture's obsession with the phenomena and a possible UFO sighting at a nearby hospital. When he disappeared on November 29, 1980, few were surprised to see aliens referenced as the reason for his departure, with the 32-year-old claiming he was going on a "42-month interstellar voyage" with them.
Did authorities really find fragments of him and his truck at a nearby blast site, or was that just a ruse concocted by Granger and the aliens to mask his departure from Earth? Friends and family are divided on what really happened to the genius young man with the alien obsession.
Granger Taylor was born on October 7, 1948, in the town of Duncan, BC, near Vancouver. Tragedy struck the family when Granger was still very young - his father drowned in Horn Lake near the family cabin.
Granger's mother married a widower, Jim Taylor, who had three children already. Granger, his three biological siblings, stepsiblings, and half-brother all lived in Duncan. Granger was the oddest and most introverted of the children, preferring to spend his time figuring out how things worked by taking them apart and putting them back together again. This didn't earn him many friends his own age at school, but that wouldn't matter for long.
Taylor Dropped Out Of School In Eighth Grade But Was A Mechanical Genius
In eighth grade, Granger decided he was done with school and left the public system. Instead, he became an apprentice to his mechanic neighbor and expanded his knowledge about vehicles and their inner workings. At the age of 14, after one year of apprenticing, Granger set up a mechanic shop on his parents' property, where he took on cases deemed unsalvageable while also teaching local kids the ins and outs of mechanical work.
Over time, Granger restored a one-cylinder car, a steam locomotive, a WWII P-40 Kitty Hawk, and an abandoned bulldozer. Several of his projects found themselves on display at the BC Forest Discovery Centre in Duncan or were purchased for large sums of money by collectors. Granger used the bulldozer to assist neighbors and the locomotive to give rides to locals on tracks he placed on his parents' property.
On New Year’s Eve 1969, Four Nurses Witnessed A Possible UFO Outside Of Their Hospital
It was New Year's Eve 1969 when nurse Doreen Kendall arrived for her midnight-to-8-am shift at Cowichan District Hospital on Vancouver Island. Doreen worked in the geriatric ward and was attempting to cool down a restless patient around 5 am by opening a window when she came face-to-face with what she claimed was a UFO. It hovered outside the patient's window and tilted downward enough for Doreen to allegedly see two humanoid figures inside who were clad in tight clothes that covered their faces.
The patient, Frieda Wilson, stood behind the nurse and also witnessed at least the bright light and the circular nature of an item "quite a bit larger than a car" outside the window. The two hustled to grab other witnesses, Mrs. Appleby and Mrs. Clarkson, and the foursome stared at the UFO until it slipped behind some trees. One of the witnesses scurried to a bathroom and claims she saw the UFO shoot off into the sky from the copse of trees.
A week after the incident, the Cowichan Herald ran a story with the accounts of other eyewitnesses to the UFO on New Year's Eve. A trucker and his wife claimed they saw a huge light hovering over their house around 5 am. Later in the morning, a school aide named Edith Beiling was at the elementary school when she saw the UFO, as well. Several other people alleged an encounter with the bright lights on January 1, 1970, as well, placing alien beings in close proximity to Granger's home.
Taylor Began To Study Propulsion And Built His Own UFO Replica
Granger's friend Robert Keller, younger by about 15 years, recalled the duo smoking pot and talking about aliens as his friend tired of conventional mechanical projects. During the mid-to-late-'70s, with multiple UFO sightings and a widespread pop-culture fascination with aliens, Granger informed Keller that he intended to build his own spaceship. Prior to this, Granger earned his pilot's license in his pursuit of propulsion knowledge, putting it to use when creating his own craft.
Granger and the teens who hung around him scavenged two satellite dishes from the local dump to form the basis of his home UFO. He added a porthole, and the interior featured a cast-iron stove, couch, and other amenities for Granger to ponder the ins and out of space-travel propulsion.
Taylor Claimed He Was Contacted By Extraterrestrials
According to Times Colonist writer Mike Devlin, Granger built a radio in a bid to communicate with aliens. Instead, the extraterrestrials allegedly contacted the man via telepathy. This was corroborated by friends of Granger, including Robert Keller and Bob Nielson. Keller surmised that Granger's willingness to hear out the aliens explained why they spoke to him, supposedly answering questions about their secrets of intergalactic propulsion for their spacecraft. According to his cousin:
They said he frequently spoke about going into outer space and of being in some kind of mental contact with an alien. They say he [was] so matter-of-fact about it that they were, too. He told them he would be leaving soon a day or two before he did... They all seem to accept that Granger has done what he said he was going to do - he has a reputation for being honest, and after checking it all out, I think so too.
In October 1980, Granger Confided That The Extraterrestrials Were Going To Take Him On A Trip
Granger began telling his friends about dreams where the aliens came to collect him for a journey into space. In October 1980, Granger gave specifics to his friends Robert Keller and Bob Nielsen about the aliens' plans to travel around the galaxy with him. He claimed they intended to arrive under the cover of a storm to hide their spacecraft from the public.
Some of his friends believed him while others were skeptical. It is also worth noting that it was apparently common knowledge that Granger used acid quite a lot during this time of his life.
