Stephen King may have made tommyknockers a household word, but for miners, they are no laughing matter. These ghostly beings are thought to warn miners of impending danger. According to the latest episode of “Ghost Mine” which aired on Jan. 23, tommyknockers are exactly what frightened Duck Secord away from the Sumpter Mine.
According to Daryl Burkhard, biologist and children’s author, the legend of tommyknockers began in Cornwall. The Cornish miners called these dwarf-like beings “knockers” who lived and worked deep in the mines, sending echoing knocks from unoccupied tunnels. Exactly who or what these knockers were, depended on who you asked.
Some believed they were the spirits of Jews who were forced by the Romans to work in the mines, others believed they were the spirits of miners killed in the mines, while still others thought they were the spirits of lost souls who had not been good enough to make it to heaven, yet not bad enough to be doomed to life in hell.
The Cornish thought of tommyknockers as helpful spirits who warned of danger and sometimes alerted them to a vein of gold. However, tommyknockers were known to turn mean and vindictive if they were treated with disrespect or ignored.
In the 1800’s Cornish miners came to America, bringing their belief in tommyknockers with them.
Legends of America shares a description of tommyknockers as about two feet tall and greenish in color dressed in mining gear, while the Astral World says they have long beards, over-sized heads covered with wrinkled skin, and arms that reach to the ground.
Exactly what a tommyknocker looks like if difficult to tell, as tommyknockers are often heard, but seldom seen, or so the legend goes.
For some miners, like Duck Secord from “Ghost Mines”, the warning of tommyknockers is not something to be taken lightly. Combining their presence with a woman in the mines– and a redheaded one to boot – was more than Duck was willing accept, causing him to walk away from the mine.
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