The Tommyknockers

 Happy Mondo Missy Monday, Missians!

I hope everyone had an awesome weekend.  Mine was good, and I have to admit part of it was because I was getting back to doing what I love here on Missy's Blog: researching my topics and putting my posts together.  And because I'm back to doing what I love, you now have your first Monsters of March post for 2021!  

Yay!  

So, who or what is today's monster, you ask?  

Why it's none other than the Tommyknockers!  Now if you're like I was before doing this research, you probably have no idea what a Tommyknocker is.  For those of you old enough, you may have only heard the term from the Stephen King book called "The Tommyknockers" and later from the 1993, two-part television mini-series of the same name, based on King's book.  After my research, I discovered that King's Tommyknockers have nothing to do with today's Monster of March.

The Tommyknockers we'll be discussing today, originate from mining legends.  They are described as imp-like creatures that are allegedly responsible for the death or near death of miners across the globe.  According to legends they hung out in old mining shafts.  The deeper into the mines that the miners dug, the greater their chances of rousing one of these creatures.

Here's more about the Tommyknockers from theghosthuntuk.com:

Tommyknocker, All Miners Greatest Fear / Tommyknocker Legend (theghosthuntuk.com) 

They earned their names from the miners. Too often to be coincidence, the miners would hear a knocking coming from deep within the mines. Always in a pattern. Then the entire thing would cave in...

The Cornish believed these wee little men were the souls of the Crusaders who crucified Jesus Christ. They also believed they were sent by the Roman’s to work in the tin mines

The Tommyknocker was never heard on a Saturday or during any time of Jewish festivities. Ranging in size from 2ft tall to just inches from the ground, and most often seen as tiny little men wearing miners clothing. Kind of like grizzly little Gnomes.

Mines are creepy anyway, and the thought of creatures like these lurking within them makes them even creepier, for me.  If these things do exist, one would likely assume they're evil, right?  Well, the article goes on to say that perhaps they're actually the spirits of fallen miners who've passed on, who were warning the current miners that the mine was about to collapse.  In other words, the knocking is a warning to get out before the mine collapses, instead of the knocking causing the collapse, per se.

It also mentions that sometimes the tommyknockers could also simply be mischievous:

Experiences of miners in old shafts report that they eat your lunch, hide your tools, knock your hard hat off, pinch you, and they can appear as the spirit of a dead miner. 

They are said to, first, manifest as little glowing lights and then a strange mist will take the form of a fallen miner and then, but very rarely, show their true form. 

And even though for me this would be common sense, you might not want to taunt or mock these things, whatever they are.  Seems like a really bad idea. Here's what allegedly happened to some foolish miners who decided to take that route:

Miners for generations have been leaving out food for the Tommyknockers in order to gain their favor. However, there are those who have mocked them as well. A written story from miners in the hills of Smokeshire almost 200 years ago, tells us of a group of seven miners who were at work when they heard a faint sequenced tapping from deep back in the mine.

Three of seven laughed and joked, claiming the Tommyknockers did not exist and began provoking them. "Cmon then Tommyknockers show us what you can do.” The remaining 4 miners fled. They say they actually saw the impish like creatures running ahead of them whilst the mine collapsed. The three who mocked the Tommyknockers died. 

Like I said--bad idea.

The article ends by saying,

Another theory is that the little monsters lure people deep into the shafts; you can sometimes hear them calling you by name. Also, a terrifying theory will tell us that the knocking sounds are the Tommyknockers chipping away at the support beams.

Whatever these incredible little creatures may be, they are elusive. If you wish to find them yourself, take a look where they have been seen, grab a torch and head into the mine. But, if you hear a knocking, by now, you should know what to do. RUN.

So what are your thoughts on the tommyknockers?  Real, or just a legend?  

Those of you who've been reading my posts for a while now already know that my stance is--anything is possible.  If it hadn't been for some of the miners actually saying that they'd seen these creatures, I would've been more inclined to say that the knocking was just the sound that was made when a mine shaft was about to give way anyway, by natural causes; and for some unfortunate miners, they just so happened to be unlucky enough to be in a mine that was simply due to collapse; but the "fact" that there have supposedly been sightings of these beings, leads me to believe that something more could be going on.

Either way, I'm glad I've never had to work in a mine.  My claustrophobia and fear of the dark would've never allowed that.  But with the threat of tommyknockers, I'm quite sure I wouldn't have engaged in that occupation anyway!

Well, that's it for now, Missians!  Join me again next Monday for our next Monster of March--the hodag.

Until then, 

This is your host J, 

signing off... 

It's more comforting to think of the tommyknockers as looking this way...