Harold Vernon Jackman was 70 when he was last seen at his farm in rural Shillington, Ontario, on September 25, 1964. He lived alone and was described as slender; on the day he vanished he wore a red wool shirt, black wool pants, an old grey hat, and black rubber boots. Neighbors and volunteers mounted searches that concentrated on a roughly 34-mile radius east of Timmins, an area of dense forest and rugged terrain, but found no trace of him or any clue to his whereabouts.

Those who knew him and the authorities leaned toward the idea that he either wandered off his property or suffered a heart attack while out on the land. Living with no known relatives, his disappearance left the local community unsettled. No physical evidence or witnesses have been found to establish what happened to him that September day.