The Drowned Man of Innisfils Lennox Millpond

March 17, 2025

In the late 1800s, the hamlet of Lennox was a thriving mill town near the intersection of Tottenham Road and Fifth Line in Innisfil. Its people were dependent on the power of the millpond, but that changed one autumn evening when a millworker named Elias fell into the dark waters and drowned. His fellow workers, desperate to recover his body, drained the pond, but the tragedy cast a shadow over Lennox. The mills failed, the town crumbled, and by the turn of the century, Lennox was all but abandoned.

The former site of the Haughton mill dam in 1975 | Photo courtesy of the Innisfil Historical Society

For decades, the incident was just a footnote in local history, but in recent years it has been connected with strange occurrences reported near the old millpond area.

An 1875 map of the Simcoe Region with a pin marking the Milltown of Lennox

Visitors who walk the overgrown trails around the former pond site claim the mist moves unnaturally, wrapping around them in thick tendrils. Some say they hear whispers—garbled, almost like words bubbling up from beneath the earth.

Residents living nearby have experienced unexplained flooding in their basements, even during dry spells. One homeowner, after pumping out his cellar, discovered deep, muddy footprints leading to the door. He lived alone.

this photo taken in 1900 of a sawmill owned by Daniel Quantz provides an idea of the once busy hamlet's appearance

Perhaps the most chilling tale comes from a group of teenagers who camped near the site. They decided to go digging around the site of the old millpond. When they returned hours later, as night fell, they returned to find the pit they had made full of dark, murky water—rippling, as if something had just emerged.

Local authorities dismiss the stories as imagination, coincidences, or urban legend. But those who know the history of Lennox whisper otherwise. Some say Elias never left. Some say he doesn’t want to be found.

And some say he’s still waiting in the water.