Thursday, July 7, 2016

Tom Thomson: Murdered? History of a flawed idea.

The possibility that Tom Thomson had been murdered was first raised in July 1917, before Thomson’s death was even confirmed. Newspaper coverage speculated that murder was among the possible reasons for Thomson’s disappearance.

In July 1917, Dr. G. Howland, who was holidaying in Algonquin Park and who was called upon to examine Thomson's remains, concluded that Thomson died by drowning. At the time, neither he, Park Ranger Mark Robinson (who supervised the search for Thomson), the coroner, nor the Park Superintendant recorded any suggestions that Thomson's death had been anything other than an accident (no one else recorded them making such suggestions either).

Going public with suspicions

The first investigator to publicly claim that Thomson had suffered fatal violence was Blodwen Davies. In summer 1931, she asked Ontario’s Attorney General to excavate Thomson’s original Algonquin Park burial place, on the grounds that the coroner’s conclusion of ‘accidental drowning’ was wrong. Davies argued that evidence taken in 1917 clearly pointed to Thomson having sustained a fatal blow to his head. She repeated this claim in her self-published book, A Study of Tom Thomson, the second she devoted to Thomson.

In the 1950s, a conversation with a group of people (likely at Canoe Lake) was recorded on audio tape. During this conversation, Mark Robinson offered that Tom Thomson's temple clearly showed signs of violence. This is the first record we have of Robinson offering such an assertion. He does not make similar statements in his testimony from 1917, or during the 1930s.

A conspiracy theory re-emerges

The murder theory really blossomed as an explanation during the late 1960s. A 1969 CBC documentary and a 1970 book suggested that Thomson had been killed. While the documentary - Was Tom Thomson Murdered? - is pretty much forgotten today, the book – William Little’s The Tom Thomson Mystery – provided many of the claims upon which proponents of the murder theory continue to build their case.

Acrobatic adaptations

The contemporary writer who stands at the forefront of proposals that Thomson was murdered is Roy MacGregor. MacGregor is Canada’s most prolific author regarding the case, having produced magazine articles, a fiction book (published twice, under different titles), and most recently, a non-fiction book devoted to Thomson’s death.

During the late 1970s, MacGregor suggested that Thomson might have been killed in a fight on the night of Saturday, July 7. This is an interesting theory, but evidence points to several people, Mark Robinson included, having seen Thomson on the following morning, July 8. 

In his 2010 book, MacGregor adjusted his argument that Thomson was murdered to fit with the evidence that Thomson was seen on the morning of Sunday, July 8. In his revised theory, MacGregor suggested that Thomson might have returned to Canoe Lake, seen by few, on the night of Sunday, July 8. Upon his return, according to MacGregor, Thomson was killed. This proposal leaves unanswered how Thomson's canoe would be seen floating, overturned, on the afternoon of July 8, hours before MacGregor suggests Thomson was killed.


The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson - The 'Mystery' Resolved?

In The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson, I subject Davies', Little's and MacGregor's claims (as well as those of others who have written about the case) to rigourous analysis. As they all argue that Tom Thomson could very well have been murdered, the strength of their arguments is critical to evaluating the case.

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Image: Tom Thomson. c. 1916. The Fisherman. Oil on canvas. Collection: Art Gallery of Alberta.

All of the links for this post direct back to excerpts of transcribed historical documents provided on the website Death On A Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy. Gregory Klages was Research Director for the site, launched by the Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History project in 2008. Klages is the author of the 2016 book, The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson: Separating Fact from Fiction (Dundurn Press).

2 comments:

  1. I could imagine a love triangle leading to murder: I´,m a fisherman and a painter myself. Ironically I even own a piece of laand near Algonquin park.-And I`ve had three very unhappy loves in my life where each woman lived close to my fishing spot.My last affair just got married. She lives- just around the corner from my fishing spot. The arrea is quite nice and paintable Need I say more? Her husband is a very jealous type of person too.Three women: Pennsylvania, California- and Sachsen Anhalt, Germany.always close to a fishing spot of mine- in fact: closee to the best fishing spot..
    I read about Tom Thomson`s story just these days when she announced she`d quit work in order to live with her husband. Yes: I`ve been to Algonquin Park( My property is about 15 miles west of Algonquin park.) Artistss can waver between indifference and passion: They are in a way just like the pretty woman who was getting married just when I met her.
    I haven`t reaad the book, but let`s say: It wouldn`t take too much for an artist to die this way.
    I want to go back to Canada to paint the lakes at fall time...................but will I ever get there.????
    Art and love won`t mix- and if they do , the result can be very intoxicating...................

    Tom Thomson`s mystery maybe aught to be analyzed by a professional astrologer.
    Certain planetary transits go hand inn hand with hot love affairs.

    Tom Thomson by the way had Mars conjunct Saturn. If he was born in the evening that`d place Mars- Saturn in the 12 th. house of Tom Thomson`s natal chart where it`d come to symbolize aa rock just beneath the water surface- or an enemy striking you unconscious with a hard object.
    So: Tom Thomsons`s birth chart reveals that he was a likely candidate for sudden ans/or violent death.
    One aight to begin by correlating the lunar phase ( of 4 weeks per month) under which the drowning took place.If the moon of nthat phase is square or oppositeto his natal moon for example-that would be a sign that it may have been a accident.
    If Tom Thomson`s precise time of birth can still be ascertained, one could also do his precise annual horoscope for the year in which he died and see if there is some kind of an indication for what might have benn going on.
    Example: If the moon of the annual horoscope were within the thwelfth house of the annual horoscope- that would be one out of a several possible remarkable indicators of an affair. Or if the moon of the annual horoscope when projected onto the natal birth chart were to end up in its twelfth house., this would also indicaate a possible affair.
    And if within the annual chart there was a new moon constellation within the twelfth house it would mean that a couple could even conspire against a person who has such a horoscope.

    For really precise results it`d be better to also know the time of the accident which I believe isn`t known, but if Tom Thomsons`s precise time of birth were to be known one might be able to draw some conclusions based on his annual horoscope. There are many indicators for the expert: Example: Sun Venus conjunctions or angles withinn the annual horoscope typically symbolize affairs("New Love": Sun- Venus= "Tipereth" according to the Jewish Qaballah: beauty and love. ) - so there`s more that a professional astrologer may be able to find out than you`d ever believe to be possible........................



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