Tommy Knockers the Little Fairys who played tricks on and Warned Miners in W,Pa. Coal Mines

They called them the Tommy Knockers no not the Steven King Movie by the same name
These where the mythical little people like leprechauns  who lived underground who both fooled and warned the many Miners of Welsh decent  of a tragdy about to happen underground with there knocking on the walls










The Tommy knockers where also responsible for mischief as well in the mines  hiding a miners tools when he would take a break then go back to work and they would be gone or moved.  many Tommy Knockers where believed to be the departed soul of miners killed in cave ins aas well who would warn there fellow miners a cave in was about to begin.


More likely a joke than real deal but many miners believed it.  as did Native American Tribes who describe a race of small people who caused mischief in the deep woods

How ever many years ago when I was a young man and I heard the Tommy knockers in an old silver mine  I was exploring for minerals when I collected them in Lancaster Pa area and got the hell out good thing there was a collapse couple weeks after my visit. Which is another stoy in itself and luckily no one got hurt .

I know when I was a kid many mine entrances where still left open in my area and the old miners would talk about not going in the mines due to the Tommy Knockers mischief  and fact when a shaft was filled in and blocked it trapped the little people underground and could not move onto the next mine workings. In carrick where I lived it was all undermined and at one time you could ride a train underground from carrick all the way to library . How ever when kids started getting to curious all the shafts in the area where finally sealed off after a couple nearly lost their lives.




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