Despite the vastness of the Gulf of Mexico, if you type in “Pensacola sea monster” in an internet search you’re most likely going to find most results centered on one story from March 1962.
I was surprised. I thought that there would be more tales of mysterious sea goblins and strange serpent sightings plaguing seafarers on the Gulf Coast for centuries. There are but a few though.
But it is the supposed “sea monster” from 1962 that stands out. It’s been featured on the series “Monsters Across America” and is the subject of numerous YouTube videos, magazine stories and fishing forum threads.
What happened? (And there is not a happy ending.)
On March 24, 1962, 16-year-old Edward McCleary of Fort Walton Beach and four of his chums paddled out on a raft from Fort Pickens to spearfish and explore the USS Massachusetts, located about 1.5 nautical miles southwest from their starting point.
McCleary was the only one who would return alive. His buddies were lost to the sea.
In initial reports, including from the Pensacola News Journal, there was no mention of a sea monster, sea serpent or any other creature. McCleary had told authorities at the time that the group had set out around 1:30 p.m., but soon their raft began taking on water, so the group decided to head back to shore. But the tide fought against them, carrying them further away from shore. The weather turned, a fog rolled in and the tide kept carrying them away from land. Eventually, the group began to swim to a buoy. One of the young men began developing leg cramps, McCleary said, so he and another buddy stayed with the struggling swimmer. He lost sight of his other two friends. As night came, he would lose contact with all his buddies. McCleary kept swimming toward shore.