He was 16 at the time, on an expedition with 4 friends, he said he saw a cartoon character appear out of some fog and this cartoon character gave chase. He said his friends saw it too, so they panicked and began running away. He said this character began to eat his friends one by one and only he got away. The bodies of his friends were never recovered. He told authorities 'exactly what happened' and they believed him. He published his story to Fate Magazine and revolved his life around this story, sticking to it until he died aged 71 in 2016.

The sketch of what he saw along with the description was a dead giveaway and the character looked exactly as he did in the show, and was even the exact same height (10 feet tall)