The Tom Thomson mystery

by William T. Little

In 1956, nearly forty years after the death of Canadian artist Tom Thomson, William T. Little and three male companions set themselves to a macabre task. Ever since July 16, 1917, when the artist's badly decomposed body had been found floating in the warm waters of Canoe Lake, controversy and conjecture were to hover, spectre-like, over the matter of how Tom Thomson really met his death. It was as a result of this prolonged controversy that the four men began digging in the little cemetery on the northwest shore of Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park, where Thomson had been buried following discovery of his body. These men were determined to solve, if only for themselves, part of the enigma that surrounded the name of Tom Thomson. What they discovered only confirmed that a true mystery did exist; that the full story of Thomson's untimely death is not in fact as history records it. That is to say, there should not have been any "discovery." Their diggings should not have uncovered a male skeleton, the skull of which bore a suspicious fracture on one temple. For Tom Thomson's body, according to all official reports, had been exhumed from its original grave site in the Park for burial in the family plot at Leith, Ontario. Was it really there? Then whose skeleton had been dug up at Canoe Lake? Official inquiry into the situation only seemed to further complicate an already baffling case. The lack of any sound and conclusive evidence resulting from this investigation set a frustrated William Little into action. Meticulously he pieced together everything that was ever written, documented, speculated an theorized about Tom Thomson during the artist's lengthy periods in Algonquin Park - with special emphasis on those strange events which occurred prior to, and after, his alleged "accidental death by drowning." This book is the result of Little's painstaking research. On the one hand he has been able to give us, through his many conversations with those who knew the artist, a fuller understanding of both Thomson's personality and his fine, bold instincts as a painter of our rugged northlands. On the other he has amassed considerable evidence that suggest Tom Thomson was murdered, and in this context builds up a case against the suspect and his motive. But above all else, he appeals to our respect for Thomson's contribution to the world of Canadian art, to see that the ugly and unsettling mystery of his death at long last be cleared.

Genres: History, Canada, Nonfiction, Biography

Unbound

First published January 1, 1970

Reviews

[Gail Menard · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Gregory Klages · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little's book is pretty much required reading for anyone wishing to approach the topic of Tom Thomson's death, by virtue of it being where most of the contemporary 'conspiracy theorists' regarding Thomson's death find the origins of their thinking.

Aside from Blodwen Davies self-published book of the 1930's, Little's book is the first extended work to explore Thomson's death, and certainly the first to give concerted consideration to the idea that Thomson did not die accidentally. This is not to say that Little's book is authoritative, well-written, or entirely trustworthy. Nonetheless, this book fed the growth of a cottage industry in 'conspiracy theory' writing about Thomson's death, for better or worse.

For more on Little's book, and his 1956 involvement in excavating a site some believe to be Thomson's original burial site, see:
Klages, G. (2016.) The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson: Separating Fact from Fiction. Toronto, ON: Dundurn Press.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best aspects of this book are that it is written by one of the men who discovered Tom's original grave site, and that the appendix includes transcripts from friends and acquaintances of Tom's.