It’s springtime at the Outer Banks and Yardley is enjoying a few days of vacation. It’s 75 degrees, which is normal for this time of year, but the breeze is brisk, making it feel colder than it really is.

Not to be deprived of his day at the beach, Yardley goes back to his ocean-front rental, gets a shovel, and starts digging in the sand. The tide is outgoing, so there’s little danger of water pouring into the hole.

Yardley pulls his lawn chair down into the eight-foot-deep hole, seats himself, and resumes reading a detective novel.

It’s so peaceful. Every now and then a passerby will poke his head over the hole and give Yardley a cheerful greeting. Caught up in his novel, Yardley answers with a simple wave of the arm.

On a returning walk, one couple passes Yardley’s crater only to notice it’s not there anymore. Neither is there any sign of Yardley or his chair.

The couple reasons that Yardley’s hole in the sand has capsized. The couple begins digging. First with their hands, then using Yardley’s shovel. The going is slow — probably too slow for poor Yardley who can’t last more than four minutes deprived of oxygen.

Soon, other beach walkers join the first couple but the digging is painfully slow. A lifeguard is summoned. He radios headquarters asking for heavy digging equipment.

The rescuers estimate that Yardley is buried under five feet of sand. The heavy equipment arrives and begins scooping out sand as nearly 200 people surround the rescue operation. It takes nearly an hour to get Yardley out of the sand. He is pronounced dead at the hospital ER.

Yardley’s story was one of many nominated for the "2005 Darwin Award." His story did not win the top award. We’ll review some of the other Darwin cases of "bizarre removals from planet earth" during the next few months.