One of Canada's foremost landscape artists died in the waters of Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park in the year 1917. Although linked to Canada's Group of Seven, Thomson passed away three years before it's inception.
Thomson's death and burial are shrouded in mystery. Thomson served as a park ranger in Algonquin from 1913 to 1917 and was an accomplished "canoer" and swimmer and yet he was found (reportedly) tangled in fishing line and drowned. The official report is Death by Accidental Drowning but it would almost seem as he was murdered.
His burial is also in question... He was originally interred beside Canoe Lake but his family soon asked that he be exhumed and moved to the family plot.
In 1956, the plot near Canoe Lake was opened and a skeleton was found. The problem was that it was not Thompson but that of a native man. The family plot has never been "re-opened" to check that it's contents are "legit" but of interesting note is that Tom's girlfriend tended the original grave site on Canoe Lake until she passed away.
Since the time of his death, people have reported seeing the familiar shape of Tom Thomson paddling his canoe silently through and around Canoe Lake.
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