He went on a spearfishing expedition with four friends. He returned the next morning, alone. When the search and rescue director asked him what happened to the others, he said that Cecil (from the TV show Cecil and Beany, which had only been out for 2 months when this happened) appeared out of some fog. He and his friends were scared by what they saw, so they dove into the water to try and get to safety, as this character was approaching them and hissing at them. The character began chasing him and his friends. He said he heard and saw his friends being eaten alive by Cecil, one by one, and only he escaped from him. The Escambia county search and rescue director, E E McGovern, believed him. He suffered a nervous breakdown which lasted until the show stopped airing.

The bodies of the other four were never recovered, and they were declared dead.

He published his story to paranormal magazines, sent private letters to paranormal investigators, and later on in his life, posted about his encounter on message boards concerning paranormal phenomena. His sketches of the 'monster' looked exactly like the Cecil character, including the eyelashes. He stuck to his story for the rest of his life and spent a substantial amount of his life in a mental hospital because his life was changed by his experience with seeing some cartoon character come to life and kill his friends. He was 16 when this happened, and he died aged 71 in Jacksonville Florida.