The Tommy Knockers

For centuries, miners in Cornwall spoke of leprechaun-like creatures, less than a metre high, which became known as the ‘Tommy Knockers’. To some miners, these creatures, said to be green in colour, were malevolent spirits who would steal tools, move objects and sometimes be the cause of serious mining accidents. They were called ‘knockers’ after the knocking sound that was caused by the creaking of the roof timbers of the mine as they were about to break. Many believed that it was the Tommy Knockers who hammered on the mine walls and supports to cause them to collapse.

Tommy Knockers have been blamed for mining accidents, gas explosions, cave-ins, flooding and poisonous gas, and a number of old collieries were shut down when miners became too scared to go down the pits again. In 1860 at Morfa Colliery in South Wales there was a knocking sound, followed by a massive explosion in which 40 miners died. Just after the explosion a huge ghostly hound was seen howling at the moon — asight and sound that was repeated in further explosions at the pit in 1879 and 1899. At the inquests that followed, some survivors spoke not only of hearing knocking sounds but seeing small creatures in the shadows and hearing ghostly cries just before the explosions.