When you hear the word “Tommyknocker,” you might immediately think about Stephen King’s drug-addled-mind’s story about an alien spacecraft that is buried in the woods in Haven, Maine, that grants the town’s citizens strange abilities as well as turns them into a Borg-like malevolent collective. King has actually called the book “awful” and attributed its weird storyline to his cocaine addiction while he was writing it.
And some people thought my Diet Coke addiction was bad.
So, what’s a real Tommyknocker?
A Tommyknocker is a gnome-like or goblin-like creature believed to inhabit underground mines. They are viewed as both mischievous spirits who hide tools or extinguish lights and helpful guardians who warn of impending disasters, such as cave-ins, by knocking on tunnel walls.
According to Blueridgetales.com, the legend of the Tommyknockers didn’t begin in Appalachia. Instead, it crossed the Atlantic with miners from Cornwall and Wales. These workers carried their tales of the Knockers to America. In British mines, these small, elf-like beings were believed to be spirits of departed miners or ancient creatures tied to the earth. They were said to knock on the walls of mines to guide miners to rich veins of ore or to warn of impending danger.
When these immigrant miners settled in the coal towns of Appalachia, they brought their beliefs with them. The legends adapted to their new environment, taking root in the Appalachian hills. Tommyknockers became as much a part of the mining culture as pickaxes and helmets. Their knocks were both feared and respected. Over time, their presence became woven into the fabric of daily life underground.”
But actually, Tommyknockers have a history that goes back centuries. According to Ronald M. James in his book, The Folklore of Cornwall: The Oral Tradition of a Celtic Nation (2018). “Georgius Agricola (1494–1555) describes supernatural beings in German mines. His De
Animantibus Subterraneis Liber identifies a spirit he called Cobalos. He claims the Greeks shared these sorts of entities, which were gentle, full of laughter, and eager to appear to be working.
Agricola goes on to say, “They are called little miners, because of their dwarfish stature, which is about two feet. They are venerable-looking and are clothed like miners in a filleted garment with a leather apron about their loins. This kind does not often trouble the miners, but they idle about in the shafts and tunnels and really do nothing, although they pretend to be busy in all kinds of labor, sometimes digging ore, and sometimes putting into buckets that which has been dug. Sometimes they throw pebbles at the workmen, but they rarely injure them unless the workmen first ridicule or curse them…”
You might be wondering what I was doing, looking for information about Tommyknockers. Well, I wasn’t. I was looking for information about leprechauns (you know, Saint Patrick’s Day is only a month away), and I found this interesting story on Reddit:
“This story takes place in western Pennsylvania. My ex-boyfriend’s dad was the chief of police in a small town just outside a city. He had several police officers who worked for him, and one was a young rookie cop whom I’ll call “Mike.”
The police officers in that jurisdiction often assisted the city police with calls. Mike was going to make such a call on a cold day in the beginning of March. He was driving down a road on either side of which was a field of tall, dead, brown grass. All of a sudden, Mike saw what he thought was an animal coming out of the grass on the left side.
He said he saw the next sequence of events in slow motion. He tried to slow his cruiser down. He saw that it was not an animal but a small, bald, dirty man, approximately two feet tall, dressed in ragged clothes, running out of the grass. He slammed on the brakes. The cruiser did not stop fast enough, and he hit the small man with the front of the car. The man flew up in the air.
Mike jumped out and ran to the front. He said he looked right down at the small man, who he then noticed had reddish-brown hair. The little man let out a scream and an evil laugh, then hopped up and ran into the grass on the right side of the road. Mike ran after him, but all he heard was the sound of his evil, mocking laugh.
When Mike got back to the station, he was visibly shaken. My ex’s father said he was pale white and could barely choke out the story. When he finished telling them what happened, everyone except my ex’s dad began howling with laughter. The other cops teased him relentlessly about the leprechaun story. Since it was about three weeks before St. Patrick’s Day, one of the cops went to the dollar store and bought a leprechaun hat. He left it on Mike’s doorstep with a note stuck in the brim saying, “I’M COMING FOR YA MIKEY.”
The next morning, Mike came in crying and told my ex’s father he was quitting the police. My ex’s father believed Mike and said he could tell he was extremely sincere in his belief that he’d hit a leprechaun. He told the other cops to leave him alone about it, and Mike worked with him for years to come.
I first heard this story from my ex’s father. I could tell he really believed Mike had seen what he’d seen. Later that year, Mike was over at my ex’s house. I asked Mike about the story. He grew pale and quiet, and he told me exactly the same story my ex’s father had told me earlier. He insists and has always insisted that he hit a leprechaun with his car that day.”
The writer continues with this, “Now that I’m older and do paranormal investigation myself, I believe that what Mike saw are what are called Tommy Knockers. Tommy Knockers are leprechaun-like creatures believed by immigrant coal miners to live in the mines and to move tools and other objects. This being western Pennsylvania, each location where the leprechaun was seen was above or near a coal mine. They are often described as dirty, scraggly, sharp-featured-looking little men with reddish hair.”
One more story from Reddit. “My family and I live in West Virginia. My mother always told me that, as a child (1970’s), she and her family went to Lost World Caverns (a tourist attraction, a cave you can walk through), and she saw what she has always described to me as a troll. She said her parents laughed at her when she said she had seen it, and that nobody believed her to this day. She told me, since I was a child, with such sincerity that I have always believed what she saw. She described it as something ancient, like a part of the earth itself. As an adult, I have very recently heard more and more about Tommy Knockers. West Virginia is heavily involved in the mining industry, etc. So, I wonder if she saw something similar?”
So, what do you think?
Leprechaun? Tommyknocker? Or buried alien space creatures?
You decide!
Happy Friday!!!