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.




The now long forgotten Rodgers Field in Ohara Twp where Amelia Earhart once crashed her plane

Yes its hard to believe but where  homes sit along Rodgers Drive near the High school   in Ohara Twp. sits was once an airfield  Known as Rodgers Field
which passed into history in the 1930's

 http://www.airfields-freeman.com/PA/Airfields_PA_SW.htm#rodgers





 Yes if you drive thru there now hard to believe an airfield even existed there but a family I knew 
The Novasols  Nick,Hilda and there daughter Barbra all knew it existed there it was just a short peaceful walk from there property where there descendants where original homesteaders and farmers  
They talked about sitting and watching the planes while having a Sunday picnic all those years ago .The property is now developed with homes just like Rodgers was.

The Novasol property itself was once used by the Pittsburgh to Philadelphia canal company to keep and maintain its heard of donkeys .

Rodgers was one of the first aviation fields in Western Pa.  but because it did not properly maintain its grass runways and because planes kept getting bigger and needed more run way it fell into irrelevance as aviation evolved .
 However there is one noteworthy event in history that happened here and thats the day Emilia Earhart   crashed her plane after successfully landing and then hitting one of those ruts in the field on one of her many plane trips before vanishing forever.



 While we know what happened in Pittsburgh  we still do not know what happened to Emelia after she took off on a round the world flight and never returned. Thou researchers apear to be getting closer to the answer. 


Why have so many Spree and Serial Killers come out of or have passed thru Western Pa. ?



 The Names and their pictures Incite Fear and Nightmares in Western Pa.

Eugene Spruill

 Stanton Story

Steve Travagleo & John  Lesko

Stanley B Hoss Jr
.
 Ronald Taylor

 Kevin Cooper

 Edward Surrat

 Richard Baumhammers

 Richard Henkel

Richard Poplowski

Victor Belmonte Jr.

All names when you look them up  on Google you can find them  in Muderpedia or Serial killers and True Crime type web sites you find all over the web.





Jeffery Daumer


All Killers who went on a killing spree committing multiple murders many involving  killing cops.
many murders unsolved .

All from or committed murders around Western Pa. in a single place or multiple places around Western Pa. or nation wide

Then there is
H.H. Holmes , Jefferey Daumer and  Edward Wayne Edwards

Serial Killers who passed thru or lived in Western Pa.at one time.

But why? what breeds them ?or brings them thru here? is it something in the water?
One does have to wonder.
The regions air soil and water has been severely polluted over the years with all types of chemical contamination. including  radiation and heavy metals  like lead which study's have proven can lead to violent criminal behavior.
Study's showed when lead was removed from gasoline there was a notable decrease in crime  nation wide.

Consider also bad parenting and abuse which triggers these killers many who had to raise them selves as parenting was poor to no existent and often abusive often  there where divorces involved .  But not in all cases .

Consider mental incapacity which many of them had which went untreated or was treated and medication they took contributed to their behavior as well

Consider also many had drug or alcohol addiction and or where born to drug or alcohol  addicted parents 

But also consider some had perfectly normal and loving upbringing but something in there lives caused them to snap.

What ever it was fate would bring them to her or thru here.

Pittsburgh was at one time known as the gateway to the west and yes back in H.H. Holmes day trains canals and trolleys all passed thru here when traveling in days of old if you where heading to or from east to west coast.

But that does not explain the home grown serial killers. and why so many.more in this area  than other areas.
I am sure glad I never ran across any of them and if  I ever would I sure as well hope I have the ability to outwit and stop them dead in there tracks.

 Yes Western Pa.  and the whole Tri-State in general can be a very dangerous place to travel  with  so many angry people you meet daily out there ticking like bombs waiting to go off you see it on the roads  with the way people drive and the road rage you see it in the stores  people under great tension. But why study's have shown that people in this area are under way more stress than others  I can believe it just in this area at one time we had
Mayview , Woodville , Western Center ,Torrance, and Dixmont  State Mental Facility plus many private facility which have shut down  which held thousands of people with mental illness now all living in the community  and under treatment  or some times getting treatment  or living on the streets and not getting treatment.
 You can understand just how and why so many killers because our mental health system has broken down and people are not getting treatment they need.
But why such a high rate of mental illness ? pick your choice from the above items to consider.
Now add in the exposure to pollution and illegal substances and there are many people walking around here who are severely genetically  damaged by it. and they have passed it on to there kids we are seeing an ever rising amount of ever more violent youth in this area who are not being given the help they need.  So it is no surprise you see the amount of violent killers and just violence in general  in this area,and I only see it getting worse not better. All you can do is constantly be vigilant of your surroundings and be ready to act if required.