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Journal’s ‘Wax Man’ story takes on life of its own

Phil Egan An award-winning Toronto filmmaker was in Sarnia last week to work on the macabre story of John McMillan, a.k.a. the ‘Wax Man.
TheWaxMan1
Filmmaker Cat Mills interviews Sarnia Journal columnist Phil Egan about the ‘Wax Man’ in Sarnia on Jan. 14 Troy Shantz

Phil Egan

An award-winning Toronto filmmaker was in Sarnia last week to work on the macabre story of John McMillan, a.k.a. the ‘Wax Man.’

Cat Mills was intrigued after reading a Sarnia Journal story from 2018 entitled: ‘Wax Man’s plea to “Dig me up in 50 years” remains unfulfilled.’

It told the tale of Petrolia oil tycoon John McMillan who, upon his death in 1891, asked that his body be buried encased in a block of paraffin wax and disinterred half a century later to determine its state of preservation.

Half his request was honoured. Holes were drilled in the top of the casket and, after some difficulty —McMillan’s nose kept poking up through the wax — his coffin topped up with hot paraffin.

But the body lies undisturbed at Petrolia’s Hillside Cemetery 129 years later.

Mills, whose work has appeared on CBC, TVO and CNN, is making a documentary about McMillan and came to Sarnia-Lambton with colleague Perry Walker to dig further into the mysterious case.

Born in Scotland, John McMillan came to Canada at the age of 37 and eventually made his way to Petrolia. He was a successful oilman, with as many as 80 working oil wells, a refinery and a paraffin wax plant.

McMillan suffered ill health late in life and died at his stately Petrolia home in 1891 of Bright’s disease, a complication of diabetes. During his final years he grew eccentric and obsessed with death and the afterlife.

Why, Mills wonders, was his last request never honoured? After all, two of his four children were alive 50 years after his death.

An afternoon with Lambton County Archivist Nicole Aszolos revealed more. McMillan’s will states he wanted a woman named Jane Grant encased in paraffin wax as well and buried in a grave alongside his.

McMillan’s wife died six years before the will was written.

Jane Grant, we discovered, was McMillan’s 76-year-old live-in housekeeper.

Exactly how she felt about the fate her employer planned for her is not known. But Grant was not buried beside McMillan, whose tombstone is one of the highlights of Petrolia cemetery tours.

During street interviews last week, Cat Mills asked various townspeople: “How would you feel about digging up the Wax Man?”

McMillan fervently believed the wax would preserve his body. But honouring his request poses ethical questions.

Disinterment would require the consent of descendants, whose whereabouts are unknown. Indications suggest family members disbursed to Chicago, Detroit and Western Canada. The Sarnia chapter of the Ontario Genealogical Society may be enlisted to help track down any family members.

If family can’t be located, the Bereavement Authority of Ontario, which regulates provincial cemeteries, could be asked for permission to fulfill the Wax Man’s final request, as stipulated in his last will and testament.

Could “Dig me up after 50 years” become “Dig me up after 130 years?”

One thing’s for sure. If approval is ever granted, The Journal and Cat Mills’ camera crew will be there to tell the rest of the story.


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