Reading - BRANDON SWANSON

• English
• Special Education

THE STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF BRANDON SWANSON

Shortly after midnight on May 14, 2008, 19 year old Brandon Swanson drove his car into a ditch on his way home to Marshall, Minnesota. Brandon called several friends, but after receiving no answer from any of them, finally decided to call his parents.

He told them he was near Lynd, which wasn’t far from his home. His parents drove out to pick him up, but they weren’t sure exactly where he was located, so they kept him on the phone with them.

When Brandon’s parents made it to Lynd, they started to flash their headlights to attract Brandon. When he didn’t see them, he got in his car to do the same. Neither parties ever ended up seeing one another.

Frustrated, Brandon told his parents that he was going to start walking toward a light he saw in the distance. He assumed this light to be the town center of Lynd. He instructed his dad to meet him in the parking lot of a bar in the city.

Brandon remained on the phone with his parents while he walked, having a long conversation with his father. 47 minutes into the phone call, Brandon yelled out the words “Oh shit!” And ended the phone call. No one has heard from or seen him ever since.

His parents tried calling him back several times, and never got an answer. They drove around all night looking for their son, and found nothing. At 6 am, they reported his disappearance to the police.

Annette Swanson, Brandon’s mother, explained that police told them not to panic. That it was normal for kids his age to go missing. She specifically recalled one officer telling her that it was Brandon’s “right to be missing.”

Later that same day, it was discovered through Brandon’s cell phone records that he had been calling from Porter, which was 25 miles in the opposite direction from where he thought he was. Upon searching the outer area of Porter, police found Brandon’s car in Taunton.

It’s unknown if Brandon intentionally lied to his parents about his location or not. But honestly, I don’t think he did. Why would he lie about that when they were trying to come and pick him up? He had no other ride after he’d crashed his own car.

Brandon’s search was called “the most well documented and detailed search ever conducted.” Yet nothing other than his car has ever been found. The Sheriff leading the case, Sheriff Vizecky, walked 2 miles around the area where Brandon disappeared every day for 30 days, even after the initial search for him failed.

Due to the lack of evidence, several theories cropped up over Brandon’s disappearance. I’ll go into a few of them. The most widely accepted theory is that Brandon drowned in the Yellow Medicine River. 

It would make sense, because the river was at its deepest at the time of Brandon’s disappearance. And it also flowed very rapidly.However, this theory doesn’t add up to me personally because of a few things.

1. Brandon’s father noted that his son did not seem like he was intoxicated on the phone. He seemed to have his wits about him. So, if that’s the case, wouldn’t he hear the water? And not like... walk directly into it?

2. His body was never found. If he had drowned, given the amount of people looking for him, someone would’ve found him. When you die, your body releases gasses. That’s how people find bodies floating in water, because they come back up after death due to gasses being released.

3. When Brandon’s parents called him back all those times, the phone rang. If it had fallen into the water, it would’ve been totally ruined. This is 2008 people. That phone is gone. And even if it had fallen on the ground instead, someone would’ve found it.

Another theory is that Brandon was murdered. The potential assailants range from crazed lunatics living out in the woods to dealers to whom Brandon owed money, but the basic story is the same. Someone jumps out and attacks Brandon, snatching his phone away and ending the call.

Sheriff Vizecky was quoted saying “Someone could’ve been in the shadows and they got him that way.” This makes the most sense to me because an attacker would be careful not to leave anything behind. That would explain the lack of a body and of his cell phone.

The one thing that doesn’t add up to me is that his parents didn’t hear a struggle. Even in those few seconds between the “oh shit!” and the end of the call. They should’ve heard something. Then again, it was 2008 and phone quality wasn’t that great.

There’s another theory in which he was struck by a car. This would explain his exclamation and the lack of evidence left behind if whoever hypothetically hit him decided to dump the body rather than explain things to authorities and risk consequences.

But again, why was the call ENDED? His parents were able to call back, so this means that the phone wasn’t entirely destroyed. So what’s the deal man???

And OF COURSE, there’s the alien theory. Some people believe the bright light he saw in the distance was an alien spacecraft. And to be honest, when I was like 11 and I’d first heard about this story, that’s what I thought too. 

Vocabulary

B/29-30

Goodbye!