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When a woman or man is murdered, their soul often remains the prisoner of circumstance. They remain in the vicinity of the crime. For nearly a century, the death of Tom Thomson on Canoe Lake, in 1917, has remained a mystery. Was it accidental drowning or was it murder? The existence of his spirit on Canoe Lake could support the theory of murder. You be the judge.

Tom Thomson was born in Claremont, Ontario, on August 4, 1877. At the age of two months, his parents, along with his six brothers and sisters, moved to the town of Leigh near Owen Sound on Georgian Bay.

As a young boy, he thoroughly enjoyed the outdoors, fishing in the bay, swimming, and boating. Tom had an ear for music and played the violin, mandolin, and coronet. He was also fascinated by birds, the colour of leaves in the autumn, and flowers in the spring. According to his brother, George, he paid keen attention to the seasonal movements of animals. As a teenager he was strongly built and stood almost two metres (six feet). Judge Little, author of The Tom Thomson Mystery, said, “Conversely he couldn’t find satisfaction in study; he neither finished high school nor completed a machinists’ apprenticeship started in his late teens at Owen Sound. He also attempted, but never completed, a business course at Chatham.”

It was in 1901, at the age of 24, that Tom took his first step toward a career in art. He followed his brothers, George and Henry, to Seattle, and there joined a commercial art studio where George had begun a year earlier. There Tom explored the territory of his imagination; there he began experimenting with crayon and then watercolour sketches. Some mention has been given to an unsuccessful romance with a woman while he was in Seattle, which fostered his return to Toronto, in 1905. There he found employment with a commercial art firm.

In 1911, he acquired a new job with the firm of Grip Limited. It was here that he made contact with other kindred spirits — J.E.H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, Fred Varley, Tom MacLean, A.Y. Jackson, and Frank Carmichael. At 34 Tom had begun to do sketches and oil paintings around Toronto, near the Don Valley, Rosedale Ravine, Scarlet Road, Old Mill, and Lambton.

In early 1912 Tom made his first trek to picturesque Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park. Between 1913 and 1917, he painted in Algonquin from spring break, up until late fall. The majority of his works were inspired here, including Northern River, West Wind, Spring Ice, Jack Pine, and Northern Lights. He painted 24 major canvasses and made more than 300 sketches.

Judge William T. Little quoted park ranger Mark Robinson — who first met Thomson in the spring of 1912 — in his book, The Tom Thomson Mystery: “One evening as I went to Canoe Lake, a couple of other rangers had joined me. It was quite routine in those days for park rangers to inspect all newcomers coming into the park because poaching was a major offence and a common occurrence in the park. As the train came in and drew to a stop, a tall, fine-looking man with a packsack on his back stepped off the train. The stranger inquired where he could find a place to stay, and where he could get a good bed and good eats. I explained to him that the Algonquin Hotel was a short distance away and Mowat Lodge was nearby. A man by the name of Fraser served good meals there and had excellent beds. Tom said ‘that was the place for him.’”

Mowat Lodge became his home away from home. In the ensuing years, Tom lived with the Frasers as one of the family. He even designed a cover for the Frasers’ booklet to announce Mowat Lodge. Tom was, nevertheless, a loner, and often canoed out into the lake and disappeared for days on end, painting and fishing to his heart’s content. He was an amiable man with rugged, lean, muscular good looks. Tom was well-liked by most who met him and enjoyed the company of others at the many parties in the area.

Fishing was a passion of Tom Thomson. No one could explain why a length of fishing line was wrapped 16–17 times around his left ankle at the time of his death.

Courtesy of Jane Loftus

Mark Robinson pointed out that Tom earned his way in the park by purchasing a guide license and subsequently led parties of fishermen through the park. He often tented on the east side of Canoe Lake, opposite Mowat Landing, just north of Hayhurst’s Point.

In April 1917 Tom arrived at Canoe Lake for the last time. On July 7 of that year, Tom and a number of local cottage residents met at George Rowe’s cabin for some merriment. Drinking at these social events usually led to storytelling. The topic of the war arose, and Tom spoke of his determination to join up as a fire ranger. His earlier attempts to join had been thwarted because of his flat feet. That night Martin Bletcher, who was considered to have a bad temperament, always exacerbated by heavy drinking, arrived at the party.

Judge Little wrote, “One young American cottager in particular, Martin Bletcher, who was of German background, was most outspoken regarding the progress of the war and his forecast of ultimate German supremacy. During the early summer Tom and Martin seemed to share a mutual dislike. These two men, during this Saturday evening, were actually prevented from coming to blows only by the good-natured efforts of the guides. On leaving the cabin before midnight, Bletcher hurled a final threat, ‘Don’t get in my way if you know what’s good for you.’”

A love triangle can be a source of great pain and jealousy. Secret love is even more entangling and complex. Winnie Trainor was, by all accounts, a beautiful, mysterious woman. Hidden to most, Winnie and Tom shared a secret love. Judge Little said, “Not until Miss Trainor’s death in 1962 has it been known, authoritatively, that Thomson intended to marry her. Did Martin Bletcher resent Tom’s visits to Winnie Trainor, just next door to him, during those long summer evenings? Did Tom resent Martin’s presence so close to Miss Trainor’s cottage?”

Terence Trainor McCormick, the nephew and beneficiary of Miss Trainor’s estate, once stated, about the letters written between Winnie and Tom, “... the correspondence gave undisputable evidence that Tom and my Aunt were engaged to be married.” Their covenant remained a secret known only to them.

On July 8, 1917, it was a rather dull and wet morning. Shannon Fraser and Tom threw a line in the water at the dam between Joe and Canoe Lakes. Mark Robinson caught sight of the men. Tom waved to Mark and called, “Howdy, Mark.” Mark acknowledged the greeting. It would be the last time he saw Tom alive.

Tom returned to his quarters, where he gathered up his tackle box and a loaf of bread and some bacon from Mowat Lodge. He bid farewell to Shannon as his canoe cut a path across the waters of Canoe Lake. Shannon watched Tom disappear past Little Wapomeo Island, only 1.5 kilometres (one mile) away.

The following day Martin Bletcher casually remarked to some guests at Mowat Lodge that he had spotted an upturned canoe between Little and Big Wapomeo Islands. Apparently, he and his sister had not stopped, but continued on for an afternoon fishing excursion. On their return trip, the canoe had disappeared.

No one seemed too concerned about such a report. It was a strange reaction by such a small community of residents, who all knew the boats on the lake. Judge Little added, “Furthermore, Canoe Lake residents considered it strange that Martin Bletcher could not have recognized Thomson’s grey-green canoe with a metal strip on the keel side; it was known to everyone on Canoe Lake at the time.”

Charlie Scrim found the craft the following morning, behind Big Wapomeo Island. Mark Robinson said, “Contrary to some people who may tell you the canoe was floating right side up, there was none of his equipment in the canoe, except his portaging paddle, which was lashed in position for carrying, and the ground sheet with bread and bacon in the bow section. There were no fishing poles, no gear; even his small axe was gone.”

Robinson immediately reported to Park Superintendent Bartlett who authorized a search. Tom’s brother, George, was contacted. He arrived at Canoe Lake on July 12. Dynamite was exploded in the lake without the desired results — no body surfaced.

The sharp eyes and minds of guides George Rowe and Charlie Scrim noted that Tom’s own working paddle was missing. Especially strange was how the portaging paddle was lashed in a position to portage. It had been knotted in a most unorthodox way. Only an inexperienced canoeist would fashion such a knot. Thomson was an expert canoeist and outdoorsman.

On July 14 George Thomson gathered up a number of Tom’s sketches and caught the train back to New York. He felt there was little he could do.

On the morning of July 15, 1917, Dr. G.W. Howland spotted something lying low in the water by Hayhurst Point on the east shore of Canoe Lake. At first he thought it was a loon. At the same time, George Rowe and Lowrie Dickson were paddling down the middle of the lake when they saw the doctor hailing them. The canoeists aimed for the object. It was Tom. He was dead.

They towed the body to a campsite on Big Wapomeo, approximately 300 metres (100 yards) ahead. There at Big Wap, a campout halfway down the west side of the lake, they tied the body to tree roots in a shallow. The guides then notified Dr. Howland and Mark Robinson, who contacted Superintendent Bartlett.

Dr. A.E. Ranney, a coroner living in North Bay, was notified. He did not arrive on the train the next day. Robinson was frantic and informed his superintendent that something needed to be done with the body. It was not right to leave it in the blazing sun. The superintendent told Mark to have Dr. Howland examine the body. Dr. Howland was a Toronto medical doctor and a professor of neurology at the University of Toronto who was vacationing on Wapomeo Island. Mark then ordered a casket and rough box for the burial.

On the morning of July 17, Dr. Howland examined the deceased. Mark helped to remove a length of fishing line that was wrapped 16 or 17 times around Tom’s left ankle. That was odd. There was no water in the lungs. Across the left temple was a mark that looked as though he had been struck with the edge of a paddle. The doctor’s report read, “A bruise on left temple the size of 4 inches long, no other sign of external marks visible on body, air issuing from mouth, some bleeding from right ear. Cause of death, drowning.”

Tom was placed in a casket and moved to the mainland for a hurried funeral. A small congregation of Canoe Lake residents and guides, including Miss Trainor, caught the evening train for Huntsville. She would never again greet her lover by the water’s edge. Or would she?

A short time later, a telegram arrived to the attention of Shannon Fraser. It was a request by Mr. H.W. Churchill, a Huntsville undertaker, to exhume the body. Apparently, the family had requested that Tom be interred near the family home at Leith, Ontario. At 8:00 p.m. Fraser met the eastbound train at Canoe Lake Station. Churchill got off the train wearing a dark suit and bowler hat. He informed Fraser that he had a metal casket with him and asked that Fraser give him a hand to put it on his wagon.

With a call to the horses they were off. Fraser was stunned to learn that Churchill was going to remove the body that very night. It all seemed very strange. Fraser remarked that he couldn’t get any help until the next day.

Judge Little quoted the following conversation: “The undertaker replied, ‘I don’t need any help, just get me a good digging shovel, a lantern and a crow bar and I’II do the rest.’

‘Here we are,’ announced Shannon. ‘Do you still want to do this job tonight without any help?’

‘Just pick me up about midnight and I’ll be ready,’ replied the undertaker.”

Fraser returned at midnight to give Churchill a hand to place the casket on the rear baggage floor of the coach and transport the body to the train station. Judge Little highlighted an oddity that occurred: “Fraser was to comment a number of times later, ‘It just didn’t impress me the weight was distributed the way it should be with a body in it.”’

Judge Little had to see for himself if Tom Thomson was still buried at Canoe Lake. From left to right: Leonard Gibson, Little, W.J. Eastaugh, and Frank Braught starting to dig. To their amazement they found a body in Thomson’s grave.

Courtesy of Jane Loftus

Judge Little also documented Mark Robinson’s comments: “The Superintendent called me up and said, ‘Go down to the cemetery and if they haven’t filled the grave in, fill it in.’ I went down. Now, in one corner of the grave was a hole. I wouldn’t say it would be more than 20 inches wide and about a depth of 18 inches. God forgive me if I’m wrong but I still think Thomson’s body is over there (Mark pointed to the hillside gravesite where Tom was originally interred).”

In the 1950s Judge Little and three other men, Jack Eastaugh, Leonard Gibson, and Frank Braught decided to investigate the Thomson mystery themselves. They firmly believed Tom was still buried in the Canoe Lake Cemetery. The judge was convinced he had been murdered. Armed with shovels and axes, the men began to clear the underbrush. At six feet (two metres) they found nothing. Then Jack called out from beside a spruce tree. There were depressions 3 feet (one metre) wide in the ground. They began to dig. They struck pay dirt. The shovel found the remains of a rough pine box. No name was inscribed on the box. There was no evidence of metal remnants, such as buttons, belt buckle, shoe nails or clothing.

Judge Little described the scene: “We saw parts of the casket lining and what appeared to be possibly a cotton or light canvas shroud. We recalled that, after Tom’s examination by Dr. Howland, the body was immediately placed in a casket wrapped only in a shroud due to the removal of clothes related to the advanced state of decomposition of the body. We also discovered a hole in the skull in the region of the temple which coincided with the region indicated at both the inquest and in Mark Robinson’s observations of a blow to the temple.”

A short time later, Dr. Henry Ebbs and Dr. Noble Sharpe of the Ontario Provincial Criminal Laboratory arrived at Canoe Lake. They gathered the skeletal remains and photographed the skull with its puncture at the temple.

Dr. Sharpe later concluded, “The bones were definitely male. Calculations from humerus, femur and tibia gave an estimated height of 5’8”. These bones suggested also a robust, well-muscled person.”

Professor J.C.B Grant, of the Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, was asked for his opinion. He stated: “The skeleton was of a male, strong, height 5’8” plus or minus 2”, age in late 20s and of Mongolian type, either Indian or nearly full-breed Indian.”

Further studies were made of the skull, including x-rays. According to Judge Little, “X-ray of the skull before emptying out the sand showed no bullet in the skull and none found in the sand after emptying. The hole in the left temple region is nearly three-quarters of an inch [less than two centimetres] in diameter. The inner plate opening is slightly wider showing a slight bevelling. No radiating fractures were seen in X-ray. There was no injury on the inner table of the skull opposite the hole where a bullet would impinge. The orbital plate and nasal bones were so intact that no bullet could have escaped from the skull.” Therefore, the hole in the temple was not the result of a bullet wound.

The skull removed from Thomson’s grave indicates a hole at the temple, coinciding with the injury sustained by the artist.

Courtesy of Jane Loftus

Professor Eric Linnel of the Department of Neuropathology concluded, “The wound, however, though definitely not due to a bullet, could be caused by a sharp instrument such as a pick, a narrow hammer head.” (Maybe a paddle?)

Judge Little responded to the investigation: “The foot of the grave in which the bones were found was 21 feet [seven metres] due north of the corner of the fence surrounding the two marked graves. This is, certainly, approximately where Mr. Thomson was buried originally. There is nothing to prove that the opened grave is not the same as Mr. Thomson’s, and the coffin is just as his was said to be.”

Why so much conflicting information? Did this group of men really dig up the remains of Tom Thomson? There should have been no body at all!

Jane Loftus, the daughter of the late Judge Little, states, “My father always believed the body they found in Canoe Lake Cemetery was that of Tom Thomson.”

In 1935 Miss Blodwen Davies, an official of the Saskatchewan Art Board, published a biography of Tom Thomson. It was while doing the research for the book that she investigated his death. She concluded: “I came away from my investigation with the conviction there had been foul play. I tried to get the Ontario Government to open an investigation, but they said it had all happened so long ago, it was best to leave it alone.”

Miss Davies spent the rest of her life pursuing the mystery. She once wrote, concerning the testimony at the inquest: “No one remarked that only a living body could be bruised or bleed, or that Thomson’s lungs were filled with air, not with water.”

A questionnaire she used with Mark Robinson is reprinted courtesy of the Archives of Canada, Ottawa:

Question: How deep was the water in which Thomson was found?

Answer: About 30 feet [10 metres].

Question: How far was it from shore?

Answer: 125 yards [120 metres].

Question: Was his fishing rod and line found?

Answer: No.

Question: Do you think it was his own line which was wound around his ankle?

Answer: It might have been his own line but not his regular fishing line.

Question: Did you see a mark on his forehead and if so, what was it like?

Answer: A slight bruise over the eyebrow.

Question: Did the Bletchers aid in the search for Thomson?

Answer: They did on the lake. They did not search in the woods, as far as I know.

Question: Did they make any attempt to direct the search?

Answer: No. They were very quiet in every way.

Little added, “Who was it that struck him a blow across the temple — and was it done with edge of a paddle blade? — that sent the blood spurting from his ear?”

So many of Thomson’s friends were puzzled over his death. Many did not believe that he had drowned. Miss Davies added, “Why did Thomson’s body take eight days to rise in a shallow lake in the middle of July? Bodies that have been in warm summer waters usually rise after a couple of days, due to bloating. Could the fishing line bound round the lower left leg have been tied to some weighty object such as a stone?

As Little noted, “If Tom struck his head on rocks after death, how could the body bleed? Bodies do not bruise or bleed after death. This man was not accident prone; he was a canoeist of exceptional skill. The weather and water conditions were calm. It is difficult to believe he just fell out of his canoe and received a severe wound to his head.”

In a letter Miss Margaret Howland wrote to Judge Little on May 2, 1969, she stated, “My father, the late Dr. Howland, in subsequent discussion mentioned the fact that there was a possibility that the drowning of Tom Thomson was not accidental.”

Tom Thomson has never left Canoe Lake. Speculation says that he was murdered and he was in love. Just ask Mrs. Northway and Canadian artist, Lawren Harris, who resided in the park in the summer of 1931. They believe he appeared on the waters that year.

Judge Little recorded their experience: “It had been a happy day and ever so lazy. At dusk we were coming home, tired, rested, and at peace with the world. It was a tremendously still evening, you could hear the silence against your ear. The hills made strange, statuesque figures against the haunting orange of the western sky, while the first star set its light akindle, as an alter lamp of the universe against the canopy of the after glow. Even my guide’s tales ceased, and through my mind drifted, fragments of harmonies as if heard from a far way ‘cello.’ Suddenly the voice of my guide shattered the silence. ‘They’re coming out to meet us from the portage.’

“And turning toward the sunset I saw a man kneeling in a canoe that slowly came towards us. ‘So they are,’ I answered. ‘I guess we are pretty late.’

“My guide turned from his course in order that we might better meet our herald, now a little less than 100 yards[90 metres] away. I raised my voice and called, and waved my hand, while my guide kept paddling toward the camper. But there was no response, for even as we looked, the canoe and its paddler, without warning or sound, vanished into nothingness, and on the undisturbed lake were only our lonely selves and the shrieking of a loon.”

Miss Northway added some observations her mother had left out of the story: “As my mother was coming into the bay by the portage, she saw a canoe and a paddler in a yellow shirt. ‘They’re coming out from the portage to meet us,’ said the guide. The man waved and the guide waved back. Then the paddler, canoe and all, completely vanished.

“My father and Mr. Taylor Statten, being practical people, on hearing the tale, insisted it had been a mirage, but Lawren Harris was sure it was the spirit of Tom Thomson. His rationale was that those who depart before their time continue to haunt the lands they loved.

“My mother was inclined to accept Lawren’s interpretation, much to my father’s disgust. A point that was much discussed, but never settled, what colour of shirt was Tom wearing when he was drowned?”

For years people have reported seeing a phantom canoeist travelling the waters of Algonquin Park. One moment you see a man paddling a canoe across the way and in the next, he vanishes. Many eyewitness accounts refer to the canoeist as Tom Thomson. One witness to such an event was drawn to paint the experience.

Doug Dunford is a professional artist, best known for his ability to capture the symbols of Muskoka life in high-realist style. He lives in the Muskokas.

Early in his career he was given one of A.Y. Jackson’s easels and old chairs. These were his first connections to the Group of Seven painters, but others followed.

In the summer of 1980, Doug found himself painting a new sign for Algonquin Park. For two weeks he immersed himself in the natural beauty of the park.

One evening a social gathering took place at a cottage on Canoe Lake. Doug recalled: “The next morning I decided to go down to the dock. A thick mist was enshrouding Canoe Lake. I just stood on the dock with my camera hanging around my neck, looking. Then I heard this trickling sound like a paddle in the water. Suddenly a person in a canoe emerged from the mist. We made eye contact, and then he turned and vanished. For some unknown reason I took his picture just before he turned and disappeared, as abruptly and mystically as he had appeared.

“In that moment I sensed a strange energy. It took me off guard. I have felt that strange feeling before. I don’t know why I took the picture and began to second-guess the experience. Had it really happened? Would there be anything on the photograph? I didn’t understand why this person had turned so abruptly. Why was someone out on the lake in such fog? Why had he disappeared? I got this strange feeling. Maybe in my own consciousness I made a connection. I do know that I can only connect from my own experience. I knew it was Tom Thomson. I was shocked when the film was developed. There was my phantom canoeist.

“I was drawn to paint the photograph. A good painting depicts what you have experienced. This photograph was a memory of the moment. The painting chooses you. It is always there. It never leaves. One day something triggers it. Within six months after the experience, I painted it. Then I painted over it. I wasn’t ready. It didn’t feel right.

“When I told people the story they agreed that it indeed could be Tom Thomson. Six or seven years later I did a small watercolour of that dramatic experience on Canoe Lake.

“Then one day, during a show in my gallery, a young man walked in. He was going to school out west. This piece of work, entitled The Return of Tom Thomson, was hanging in the show. The man purchased it. About a year later, he wrote to me to say that he bought the painting because he had seen the same man, in the same canoe, in the park. He had felt it had been a ghost himself. He was amazed to see it hanging in my gallery.”

Few pictures exist of Winnie Trainor. Even her home in Huntsville was torn down shortly after her death. Winnie is seen here on the left.

Courtesy of Jane Loftus

On the anniversary of Tom Thomson’s death, a few people gather on the shore of Canoe Lake to see if he will appear. There is no question, for those who have seen him, that it is Tom.

As for Winnie Trainor, she never married, and she lived in Huntsville until her death. Jane Loftus pointed out that Miss Trainor would often travel to Canoe Lake and place flowers on the grave of Tom Thomson. Perhaps she never married because she knew he was still there with her. If she saw him and communicated with him, she kept it to herself.

Playwright Stina Nyquist, in her Tom Thomson play, The Shantyman’s Daughter, had Miss Trainor say this about herself: “I’m a slob. I’ve been one since that summer a long time ago. I let my hair go. I have soup stains on my blouse, my stockings are rumpled, and so on and so forth. It’s not that I’m a slob at heart. I’m not a natural-born slob. I just got that way, bit by bit, since that summer. But once every year, on this day, I dress up. I go to the beauty parlour, I put on this outfit, and this hat — if it’s not too windy. I got this dress for a special occasion that didn’t happen ...”

Gaye Clemson, born and raised in Toronto, now resides in Monterey Bay, California. In the early 1950s her father decided to make Algonquin Park a part of his life and purchased a lease on Canoe Lake. In 1954, her father and mother built a cabin on the leased land.

In the May 2006 issue of The Muskoka Magazine, journalist Meaghan Deemeester wrote an article entitled “Canoe Lake, Highlighting Clemson and the Thomson Mystery.”

“Thomson, who was an avid and accomplished canoeist, died on the lake in July, 1917. His body was found several days after his upturned canoe was spotted floating on the lake, and despite a four-inch cut/bruise on his left temple, and fishing line tied around his ankle, the authorities quickly deemed his death an accidental drowning.

“However, the residents of Canoe Lake feel differently, believing in most cases that foul play was involved. In fact, in the late 1970s, Clemson’s brother found the remains of a paddle stuck in the mud. She says, ‘After washing and careful examination of its weather-worn condition and the fact that there was a “cut” out of the blade that looked like it was an exact match to an adult male’s temple, he ascertained that it was in fact Tom’s long-lost paddle and by inference the long-lost murder weapon. It hangs to this day, from our cabin ceiling.”

Her passion for local history, and the tragic death surrounding Tom Thomson, led Clemson to create the Tom Thomson Murder Mystery Game. According to Deemeester, Clemson, in her game, looked at some of the theories behind Thomson’s death:

1. Winnie Trainor is pregnant, Thomson doesn’t want to marry her; she decides to do him in and make it look like an accident or he commits suicide as a way of getting out of marrying her.

2. Shannon Fraser owed him money and Thomson wanted it back in order to get a new suit to marry Trainor. He and Shannon get into an argument, Thomson falls, hits his head on the fireplace grate and dies. Fraser and Annie try to cover it up and make it look like an accident.

3. Thomson and Martin Bletcher have a disagreement about the course of the First World War at a local party and angry words are exchanged. Martin, by chance, meets Thomson the next day on the Drummer Lake Portage. They have words again, and Martin hits him with a paddle and he dies.

Deemeester also added, “According to current Ontario Parks government policy, all residential leaseholders will be obligated to either tear down or burn their buildings and ensure that the land is returned to its original state by 2017 — ironically, 100 years after the death of Thomson.”

There are many unexplained events on Canoe Lake. One young girl, Sarah, found a painting tucked in a crack in a tree and an old piece of wood inscribed with a biblical quote. Does she have a Tom Thomson original? Who is creating mystical art in Algonquin Park?

There are power boats on the lake now. There are mysteries, and there are many unanswered questions for the curious visitors.