Remember: Bob Dylan suffered a mysterious motorcycle accident at the height of his success in the 1960s

On July 29, 1966, Bob Dylan suffered injuries in a motorcycle accident. Or so we believe. It is one of the most mysterious incidents in the history of rock’n’roll, where it is difficult to separate what probably happened from the myths that surround it.

We may never know the true answer, but by going back in time and examining the circumstances, we can make an educated guess as to what essentially ended Bob Dylan’s most productive era.

A relentless schedule

In May 1966, Bob Dylan returned to his home in Woodstock, New York, after a long tour that began in the United States, moved through Europe, and ended with two acclaimed performances at the Royal Albert Hall in London. During these performances, he played the first half entirely by himself with an acoustic guitar, then brought The Hawks (whose members later formed The Band) on stage for the electrifying second half.

This second part of the show was often met with derision from fans who didn’t like Dylan’s rockier new direction. One such fan famously called out “Judas” to Dylan during a particularly combative show in Manchester, England (“I don’t believe you,” Dylan growled in response from the stage. “You’re a liar.”) In the midst of all this chaos, he found the time to record the double album. Blonde on blondea masterpiece of wild, crazy rock and sad, surreal love songs.

This all came at the end of a period in which Dylan had released seven albums in little more than five years. Such a pace was not unusual for artists at the time. But this was Dylan, making seemingly every other song an epic, pushing the boundaries of music with each new release. Add to that the constant touring, and the pressure rose to boiling point.

The crash

If Dylan had hoped to find some peace and quiet after returning from the tour, he was in for a disappointment. He was tasked with editing footage for a planned television documentary entitled Eat the documentt, a task for which he was really not qualified. His long-hyped book tarantula was long overdue with his publisher. And the worst thing was that his manager Albert Grossman was already planning his next tour.

Dylan was in a pretty bad state when he returned from England. He was taking pills to keep his energy up and barely got any rest. In later years he admitted that he was lucky to have survived that phase of his career. Another tour might have been too much.

All of this made what happened next even more complicated. Dylan left his manager’s house in Bearsville, New York, on his motorcycle that July morning to take it to a garage for repairs. His wife Sara followed him in a car. But as soon as they left, Sara rushed back to the Grossman house to get Albert’s wife Sally. She came out and saw Dylan desperately getting out of his wife’s car before collapsing on the porch with obvious injuries.

So what happened?

Although many have claimed to know exactly what happened that day over the years, these accounts are often contradictory. There was no police report, nor was Dylan hospitalized, so there is no real record of the incident. What we do know is that immediately afterward, Dylan moved to his personal doctor’s house in Middletown, New York, for about six weeks before eventually returning to Woodstock.

Dylan claimed he had suffered a fractured vertebra. Friends who visited him claimed he was wearing a neck brace and undergoing physical therapy to recover, including swimming. And that was it. No explanation to clear things up. No daily update on his recovery.

We now know that the accident actually ended any talk of touring in the near future. (He wouldn’t tour again for another eight years.) When he started making music again, it was in an informal way, with members of The Hawks joining him at Woodstock to record some demos for release. (These were The Basement Tapes.) Dylan’s next studio album did not appear until late 1967, and the record he made (John Wesley Harding) was a quiet, contemplative affair. While the rest of the pop music world was going full steam ahead, Dylan somehow withdrew from it all after the accident.

Many fans have long speculated that Dylan did not have an accident that day, but was just looking for an excuse to slow down. An interesting theory, but probably false. Dylan likely rolled over on a sharp turn on his bike that morning, suffering non-life-threatening injuries that took time to heal. If this rest also healed his psyche and allowed him to emerge with a calmer mind and other priorities (raising his family, for example), then perhaps this mysterious accident could not have come at a better time.