Mysterious Disappearances: Vol. 1

It’s time for 3 intriguing and mysterious disappearance stories!

Our first story involves Frederick Valentich. Fred was a young Australian pilot who vanished during a routine flight in 1978. Despite his struggles with exams, Fred pursued his dream of flying, only to disappear under bizarre circumstances.

Moments before his disappearance, Fred reported a strange aircraft hovering above him, followed by unexplained metallic sounds.

Was it a UFO encounter, a tragic accident, or an elaborate disappearance? With no wreckage found and conflicting theories, Fred’s story continues to baffle investigators and captivate the public.

Our second story revolves around Karl Hunrath. In 1952, Karl claimed a glowing orb transformed into an alien named Bosco in his bedroom, injecting him with “occult techniques” to build weapons against the US military. Despite initially refusing, Karl’s suspicious garage activities and sudden relocation to California raised eyebrows.

The story culminates in Karl and his associate Wilkinson’s enigmatic disappearance during a flight to allegedly meet extraterrestrials.

Our final story is about Granger Taylor. Despite being a high school dropout, Taylor’s genius for mechanics and engineering was undeniable, from rebuilding complex machinery to constructing his own flying saucer replica. His fascination with extraterrestrial technology culminated in claims of telepathic alien contact and an invitation for an interstellar journey.

On a stormy night in 1980, Taylor vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a cryptic note about a 42-month space voyage.

Mysterious Disappearances: Vol 1

What happened to the two men who vanished after claiming they were meeting aliens in the California desert?

How did a routine flight to pick up crayfish turn into one of Australia’s most baffling aviation mysteries?

Did Granger Taylor really embark on a “42-month interstellar voyage,” or did something more sinister occur on that stormy night in 1980?

What is up, Bizarros?! This week, we dive into the Mysterious Disappearances of Frederick Valentich,  Karl Hunrath, and Granger Taylor.

The Disappearance of Frederick Valentich

The disappearance of Frederick Valentich, aka…Fred is one of the most well-known disappearances.

Fred grew up in Avondale Heights, which is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.

Just a little quick background on our friend Fred: he was born in 1958, was very close to his parents, and always dreamed of being a commercial pilot.

His parents were very supportive of him despite Fred not doing well in school.

He did it, and he became a pilot despite failing all commercial license examinations twice.

He did study very hard, though, and never missed any classes.

Apparently, he attempted to enlist in the Royal Australian Air Force in the past but was rejected because he didn’t have the right qualifications.

Beyond a great relationship with his parents, when Fred was 20 years old in 1978, he also had a girlfriend, Rhonda.

In late October, they had plans to celebrate their six-month anniversary on Saturday, October 21st.

However, before this exciting and romantic day, he had one quick flight to make on Friday, October 20th.

He claimed he had to fly to King Island to pick up some crayfish.

The flight was intended to be very quick—just a short little crayfish heist. Ya’ll know how that goes.

The plan was for the trip to be quick and for him to come back and enjoy his Saturday with Rhonda.

On the morning of October 21st, Fred did his usual routine and then left for work. In the afternoon, he attended classes at Moorabbin Airport until 5:00 PM.

As soon as the lectures were over, Fred submitted his flight plan.

Strangely, Fred stated that he would pick up passengers on King Island, which is different from what he said to his girlfriend.

The flight was supposed to last one hour, and Fred took a Cessna 182L.

It’s a four-seat, small, single-engine light aircraft.

As poor of a pilot as Fred was in the examination rooms, the route to King Island was familiar to him, and he was very confident, as he had successfully flown it in the past.

However, there was one unique aspect about this trip.

This time, Fred would be making the trip in what was considered low-light conditions.

Fred and his family acknowledged that he had previously admitted to being slightly uncomfortable flying at night or over water, especially during poor light conditions.

Fred’s Cessna 182L was fueled, and he contacted the flight service officer on duty that evening, Steve Robey.

Fred was cleared for the takeoff and got up in the air at 6:19 PM.

The two spoke over the radio at 7:00 PM when he had passed Cape Otway at 7:00 PM.

According to Robey, everything seemed fine with Fred and his plane, and he was on schedule.

Also, to Fred’s surprise, the night was fairly clear. There was no fog or clouds or anything like that. It was just simply getting dark.

A Strange Aircraft

Everything was going smoothly, and Robey expected him to report back once he landed.

Unexpectedly, Fred contacted Robey at 7:06 PM, 45 minutes into the flight and just 7 minutes after they had previously spoken.

The reason for the report was incredibly odd to Robey.

Fred wanted to let Robey know that a large, strange aircraft was flying near him.

Here is a quote from Historic Flix:

“Since it had four lights and was going unusually fast, the young pilot asked the flight service officer if it was Air Force.

Robey was puzzled because, according to his data, no aircraft was near Fred or his flight route.

Robey later confirmed that Fred sounded nervous but not scared as he shared more details with him.

Fred said the mysterious aircraft was around 1000 feet above his own airplane and had a long shape.

Furthermore, the object had a slight greenish glow and was made of a shiny metallic-looking material.”

To make matters worse, Fred’s airplane started rumbling and shaking. He knew he was having engine problems.

He decided to make another report.

Fred’s last contact with the airport was at 7:12 PM.

In the final moments, Fred told them that the flying object was hovering over his plane, and he was certain that it was not a traditional aircraft.

Stunned, Robey had no idea what he could have been witnessing.

Even creepier, Fred’s final radio call was followed by 17 seconds of unknown metallic sounds.

Then silence.

Robey was terrified and constantly huddled by the radio, hoping to receive a call or some type of confirmation from Fred.

Desperately praying that he made it to the King Island Airport.

7:30 came and went, which was about the time that Fred was supposed to land.

Around 7:45, Robey contacted the airport himself and let them know what had transpired in the past 30 minutes.

Here is another quote from Historic Flix:

“At 8:00 PM, two airplanes from King Island Airport searched the area around the island. The weather remained clear, so if there was anything in the water, the pilots would have seen it.

They were flying at 1000 feet, which was enough to spot a wreckage.

The visibility was exceptional, as the pilots could see Cape Otway in the distance. But there was nothing.

Meanwhile, in Melbourne, Fred’s parents were getting worried. It was late, and their son wasn’t back home.

His father heard the news that a plane went missing over Bass Strait, and he knew it was Fred.”

I’m assuming that is a Father’s intuition and not a jab at Fred’s flying skills.

“Several hours later, police officers appeared at the door, informing Fred’s parents that his plane had gone down.

The extensive search lasted four days and involved eight ships, a surveillance plane, and eight civilian aircraft. It was called off on October 25th.

The only thing found was an oil slick, but it was determined it wasn’t from a plane.”

Investigators examined Fred’s past and questioned his inability to pass exams as a possible explanation for any errors that may have occurred while flying. However, his teacher insisted that Fred was diligent and a hardworking student eager to learn.

Additionally, without any wreckage, they theorized that he was trying to escape and leave his current life behind.

To support this claim, the Department of Transport Aircraft Investigation quoted fake reasons for flying out to King Island on the night of the disappearance. No passengers were waiting for him at the airport or crayfish that needed to be transported to the mainland.

Fred’s family wasn’t convinced by these discoveries as they couldn’t find a good reason why he would want to vanish.

However, the investigators highlighted the failed flying tests.

Fred’s parents and siblings continued to disbelieve this theory, as they thought if any pilot wanted to disappear, he wouldn’t do it with a plane because it was extremely complicated to hide an aircraft.

Once his final messages were revealed and it was known that Fred may have been referencing a UFO, the media dove into the story even more.

Investigators looked into Fred’s life and questioned his family and Rhonda.

She said they had recently watched a few SciFi movies, like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Stars.

He had started collecting news clippings about space exploration, but Rhonda dismissed the possibility that he was obsessed with aliens and UFOs.

In agreement with Rhonda, many of Fred’s friends said he never mentioned extraterrestrial life or flying saucers.

Regardless, the disappearance of Frederick Valentich is certainly a mystery, and it is unclear whether aliens were the cause or not.

The Disappearance of Karl Hunrath

Karl Hunrath lived in Racine, Wisconsin.

In the early morning of July 22nd, 1952, Karl had been comfortably sleeping when a bright, blinding light woke him from his sleep.

He had a window in his room, so his initial thought was a car driving by or maybe using his driveway to turn around.

But once the disorienting sleepiness wore off, Karl noticed that this blinding white light was not coming from outside his home but from inside his room.

He rubbed his eyes, sat upright, and was shocked to see a bright floating ball of light in the corner of his room.

Karl estimates that the ball had a diameter of about 4 feet.

He was shocked and absolutely frozen in awe.

Then, something even crazier happened.

The ball of light started shifting and twisting. Right before his eyes, this strange ball of light transformed into a man standing in his room.

The man was well-dressed in a black suit.

It was at this moment that Karl’s frozen nature became top of mind because while he was in awe of the ball of light, he felt a pang of fear upon seeing this man.

Naturally, his flight response started going off. However, he discovered he wasn’t just scared stiff – his entire body was paralyzed.

Slowly, the man in black approached Karl.

He pulled out some device or syringe and started pumping Karl’s right arm full of some unknown types of chemicals.

A few moments later, Karl entered what he claimed was an altered state of mind.

The man in black told Karl that he had been chosen to play a significant role on Earth and that he had been on a mission.

Karl, at this point, was lying down, feeling like he was sinking into his bed – frozen and clearly being affected by whatever had been injected into him.

The man leaned over Karl’s body, his face growing closer to Karl’s, and stated, “I am Bosco. You have been chosen to enter our brotherhood of galaxies.”

The alien, identified as Bosco, continued, saying that the brothers were deeply worried about the warlike behavior humans were displaying on Earth.

Action needed to be taken. People needed to be punished who were doing dastardly deeds against the human race.

However, there were no major plans of destruction or death or anything like that.

Rather, the Brotherhood was recruiting kind and sympathetic humans to aid in their righteous cause.

Even in Karl’s altered state, he took this as being more of a fall guy for a larger entity, doing the dirty work while the brotherhood lurked in the shadows, so to speak.

The talk of peace and sympathy didn’t pass Karl’s smell test.

Before Karl’s mind could race to other conclusions, Bosco let him know what he had injected into him.

He told Karl that there were “occult techniques” that had been downloaded into his mind.

The techniques would teach Karl how to build weapons that could destroy aircraft, specifically US Military aircraft.

Bosco told Karl that the Brotherhood viewed the US Military as dangerous to world peace.

The alien’s voice boomed as he said, “I am Bosco, and that will be its name, too,” in reference to the weapon that he wanted Karl to create.

With that, Bosco did an about-face. He headed for Karl’s window, pulled back the curtains, climbed through the window, and disappeared into the night.

Almost immediately, Karl raced down to the police station.

He told the police everything that happened and then bluntly told them that there was no way he would consider building this Bosco weapon and letting it loose on the world.

However, Karl may not have been telling the full truth.

Over the next couple of weeks, neighbors reported complaints about strange noises coming from Karl’s house – specifically his garage.

While he may have gotten away with that in the past, he did just have a wild story that he told police officers.

So, whether or not they assumed he was crazy, he was on their radar.

Complaints about sounds continued, and neighbors also noted that a visitor was accompanying Karl into his garage three to four days a week.

However, the police weren’t sure they were conspiracies.

On a morning in early August, FBI agents made an unannounced visit to Karl’s residence, demanding to be shown what he and the visitor, a local named Wilkinson, were working on in the garage.

Calmly, Karl and Wilkinson obliged.

Weapon or not, to the FBI, it appeared to be nothing more than “a collection of radios, and speakers and cables strung together.”

The agents kind of laughed it off and said their goodbyes to Karl and Wilkinson.

It is assumed that the FBI lurking around put a new mission on Karl’s agenda—to get away and find a new horizon for his plans.

On a whim, Karl and Wilkinson decided to depart from Wisconsin and head to California.

They made their move and connected with a few UFOlogists in the area, as well as a few UFO researchers and investigation groups.

All was going well until November 10th, 1953.

In the early morning, Karl and Wilkinson rented a compact aircraft from a local airstrip.

Two days prior, on November 8th, they had told a few UFOlogy colleagues that they were traveling for a face-to-face meeting with a group of extraterrestrials who were connected to Bosco.

They were last seen taking off from the airstrip and headed in a direction that seemed to be in the direction of Palm Springs and Joshua Tree.

But no one can be for sure. They never told anyone else, even their colleagues, where they were traveling.

That was the last time anyone had seen Karl or Wilkinson.

An emergency services team searched, and no bodies, planes, or wreckages were ever found.

The Disappearance of Granger Taylor

Granger Taylor lived in Duncan, Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada.

Taylor had a keen ability when it came to constructing and repairing all things mechanical.

His friends thought of him as a mechanical genius and were quick to bring projects, items, cars, and anything mechanical his way. He just seemed to have a way around it.

Taylor lived with his mother and stepfather and was technically an 8th-grade dropout, but that never stopped him from continually learning.

He liked to think of himself as a mechanical wizard.

After dropping out of school, he quickly found a job as a mechanic’s assistant. After a year of apprenticeship, Taylor left and started his own business as a self-employed welder and mechanic—both on cars and heavy machinery.

At age 14, he built a single-cylinder automobile, and at 17, he rebuilt a bulldozer that older and more seasoned mechanics had given up on.

So, he was certainly constructing a pretty impressive list of accomplishments for a very young age.

As he grew older into his early 20s, he became quite large—6 foot 3 inches and 240 pounds.

His friends considered him a kind bear of a man and got the nickname “Gentle Ben.”

In the early 1970s, Taylor earned his pilot’s license, bought a vintage Kitty Hawk warplane, and completely restored it.

For two years, it was displayed outside a local store on the island Highway until it was sold to a restorer of vintage aircraft in Manitoba in 1981 for 20K.

As he moved from small mechanical devices in his youth to cars and planes, he eventually grew bored.

He had mastered these objects, but his brain lusted for learning and growth.

Somehow, someway, in his early 30s, he found a new mechanical query that he wanted to solve: How in the world did these alleged UFOs maneuver the way that witnesses claimed?

So, he became obsessed with what allowed UFOs to perform these unusual aerial feats and what powered them for their interstellar journeys.

So, of course, to begin testing, he needed to find the perfect location.

So, he built himself a little sanctuary beneath the fir trees just a short distance away from the house he lived in with his parents.

During the next couple of years, Taylor tirelessly constructed and welded life-sized flyer saucer replicas out of spare parts.

These parts included satellite dishes, televisions, stoves, and more.

Once constructed, Taylor would spend hours sitting in this makeshift UFO, pondering what powered these machines.

He often even slept in his constructed spaceship.

One nagging roadblock was the fact that Taylor had no connection to the supposed real thing.

He had movies, books, and pictures. However, he could approach a train or car and examine it, but he had no access to a real UFO.

Taylor became obsessed with pouring himself over every single detail and comment made by UFO eyewitnesses.

He entrenched himself in the pseudo-scientific hypotheses that authors of the books he was reading would propose.

Examples of books he was reading include Frank Edwards, “Flyer Saucers – Here and Now,” “From Outer Space, “ Black Holes,” and “What We Really Know About Flying Saucers.”

The few times a month that Taylor left and socialized with his friends, the topic of UFOs and flying Sauers was never far behind.

He was full-fledged obsessed.

Then, Taylor had somewhat of a breakthrough.

One night, while lying in his makeshift UFO, Taylor claimed to have telepathic contact with an extraterrestrial entity living far beyond the Milky Way.

Of course, this was difficult for Taylor to prove, but he truly believed it.

Here is a quote from one of his friends, Nielsen:

“He said it happened when he was in bed. He lay there and had mental communications with somebody from another galaxy… He couldn’t see them. I said they can’t just be mental, but he said it was like they were talking just to him and to his mind. He was asking questions about the means for powering their crafts. The only thing they would tell him was it was magnetic.”

A few days later, Taylor told Nielsen that the telepathic voice had visited him again. This time, the alien had invited Taylor to travel through the solar system.

Taylor was giddy and excited while telling his friend this news.

Nielsen was confused and concerned but remained supportive of his friend and asked when this trip was going to occur.

Taylor said that he would not be informed of more details about where he would be picked up until the end of the month.

All he knew was that it was going to be a 42-month interstellar voyage, and he couldn’t wait.

Another quote from Nielsen:

“Everyone thought the trip was just a dream, but nobody entirely discounted Granger’s stories… He was such an unusual sort of guy.”

About a week after his first telepathic message, Taylor took Nielsen and a few other friends out for a night on the town.

It was loosely understood that this was an apparent going away party.

On Friday, November 28th, Taylor approached Jim, his stepfather, in his bedroom and had a lengthy talk with him.

It was a heartfelt discussion about how much he appreciated everything his stepfather did for his mother, that he and his mother did for Taylor, and just sincere gratitude for their support.

Jim was very appreciative of this talk but, naturally, didn’t think much of it or any bigger meaning this may have.

He had no idea this would be the last time he’d ever speak to his stepson.

Taylor would have done the same with his mother, but she was on vacation in Hawaii—the first vacation she had taken in years.

Without the knowledge of his parents or friends, Taylor prepared two wills with detailed instructions as to how his parents should distribute his possessions.

Interestingly, the word “deceased” was scratched out of the wills only to be replaced by “departed.”

He also left a note, which 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 Taylor’s property.

One of the last times Taylor was seen was about 6 pm. Taylor stopped at a local restaurant, Bob’s Grill, for dinner.

The last person to come forward and admit to seeing Taylor was Linda Baron, a woman working in Bob’s Grill kitchen.

Baron would later tell authorities that she had seen him enter and dine by himself but could not recall if anyone had tried to engage Taylor in conversation.

Baron did remember what the solitary genius was wearing, especially considering that as bright as everyone knew he was, he was clearly not prepared for the oncoming storm that all the local residents knew about.

She remembered he wore a brown knitted sweater zipped up the front, a black T-shirt, jeans, and logger boots.

He didn’t have his winter coat. Strangely, Jim discovered the coat a couple of days later inside the sturdy doghouse that Granger built for his huge Newfoundland dog, Lady.

Baron then testified that Taylor paid his bill and left the restaurant at about 6:30 p.m., just as the storm was starting to tear through the area and the neighboring cities.

That same night, hurricane-force winds were reported, and power lines were downed throughout Duncan and the surrounding area, swathing the entire region in impenetrable darkness.

By dawn the next day, the citizens of Duncan were picking up the debris left behind by the storm and whispering about the rumor that was swiftly spreading through the town—that the 32-year-old Granger Taylor had vanished off the face of the Earth.

Understandably concerned about his stepson’s situation — and, more than likely, his mental state — Jim contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in order to help find his son.

The RCMP responded immediately, but after what Corporal Mike Demchuk described as “exhaustive checks” of hospital, passport, employment, and vehicle records, no single clue as to Taylor’s whereabouts could be discovered.

According to Cpl. Demchuk: “Granger’s name has been put on the national police computer system. And the motor vehicle branch in Victoria has been alerted in case Granger’s driver’s license, which expires this October, is renewed.”

After Taylor had been gone for more than 4-years, Corporal Demchuk admitted that what had perplexed him most regarding this unusual case was the fact that the 1972 Datsun pick-up truck that Taylor had likely used to travel to his “space rendezvous” was still missing.

A quote from Corporal Demchuk:

“One would expect the car at least to be found. You just don’t get rid of something that large without someone knowing about it.”

A final Note about the Taylor incident:

Apparently, this area has had some other UFO history. On New Year’s Eve in 1969, just a few miles from Taylor’s home, a nurse at a local hospital claimed to see a Saturn-shaped UFO with two aliens inside.

Mysterious Disappearances Volume One

What do you think, Bizarros?!

Did all of Fred get abducted by aliens, or did he leave and start a secret life?

Did Karl and Wilkinson really meet aliens in the desert?

Did Granger go on a voyage with aliens, or was he lost in an intense storm?

Which one do you believe is the most likely to have been abducted?

Let us know in the comments about the mysterious disappearances you’d want to see next.

Sources used for this article:

Ranker

Mysterious universe

historic flix

CBC

Times Colonist

Unsolved Mysteries

YouTube