Superstitions in the Coal Mines: Tommyknockers, Knockers, Demons, Gnomes and Fairies
Page by Bob Leathers with contribution from YouTube
Shared from YouTube
Hanna Basin coal miners, especially in the early days, were very superstitious. The miners worked in dangerous and dark places, so demons were always around. The belief in underground creatures in the Hanna Basin mines came primarily from the UK - England, Wales, and Scotland. Miners took precautions against bad luck at home and in the mine.
In the Home
- It was bad luck for a miner to put his work boots on the kitchen table.
- Breaking a mirror was considered 7 years of bad luck.
- A penny in your pocket was considered good luck.
- Finding a penny and you would have good luck all day.
- If a bird flew into the house and the bird died or was white - it foretold death.
- The number 13 was unlucky.
- It was unlucky not to say "bless you" when someone sneezes.
In the Mine
- It was bad luck to whistle in the mine.
- If a women, especially a red headed women, enters the mine a death would occur.
- Miners refused to work on Good Friday, because it would bring disaster to the family.
- Black cats in the mine were bad luck - someone would die.
- Dogs inside a coal mine, means some one who works in the mine will be killed.
- If mice or rats run out of a mine, the mine would experience a cave in.
- It was considered bad luck to kill a spider.
- A white rat in a coal mine was a sign of an accident to happen.
- Upward air coming from underground with no apparent reason meant danger was about.
- A sudden warm breeze in the mine meant the passing of a ghost.
- Changing mining jobs on a Friday was considered bad luck.
- It meant good luck for a miner to skin his back on an oak board.
- It means good luck for a miner to get coal dust in his eyes.
- Never walk under a ladder in the mine, especially if there was someone on it. Bad luck would follow.
- Take heed of what mine rats are doing, they knew when danger was near.
- To see a strange moving light in a mine was a sign that death was near.
- The number 13 was an unlucky number.
- The number 7 was a lucky number.
- Tommyknockers, Knockers, Demons, Gnomes and Fairies in the mine were both bad and good luck.
1800's
When the Miners Believed In Fairies
Published by the UPCCEM, September 1931
The miner, whether metal or coal, was in the old days, saturated with superstition. One of the many curious beliefs which existed in the metal mines of Europe was, that demons, gnomes, or fairies, infested many of the mines. Mr. Herbert Hoover who with the assistance of Mrs. Hoover translated “De re Metallica”, written by Georgius Agricola and first published in the Latin language in 1556, makes the statement that “the presence of demons or gnomes in the mines (of Germany) was so general a belief that Agricola fully accepted it.” Mr. Hoover further quoted from a work, “De Animantibus Subterraneis”, published by Agricola in 1548, the following reference to gnomes:
“Then there are the gentle kind which the Germans as well as the Greeks call Cobalos, because they mimic men. They appear to laugh with glee and pretend to do much, but really do nothing. They are called little miners, because of their dwarfish stature which is about two feet. They are venerable looking and are clothed like miners in a filleted garment with a leather apron about their loins. This kind does not often trouble the miners, but they idle about in the shafts and tunnels and really do nothing, although they pretend to be busy in all kinds of labour, sometimes digging ore, and sometimes putting into buckets that which has been dug. Sometimes they throw pebbles at the workmen but they rarely injure them, unless the workmen first injure or curse them. They are not very dissimilar to Goblins, which occasionally appear to men as they go to and from their day’s work, or when they attend their cattle.”
The belief in gnomes crossed the North Sea and the English Channel; the British gnome was however looked upon by the miners of England, Scotland and Wales, as a very gentle, helpful creature, who while given at times to mischievous tricks was, generally speaking of assistance to the worker filling his empty trams during the still hours of the night and otherwise doing many good turns. Mr. Thomas Pennant, a British traveler and writer, who toured the coal mining district of Scotland in 1772, while within a mine, asked a miner what he knew about the mine fairies. The worker answered saying; “That he really had never met with any; but that his grandfather had found the little implements and tools belonging to the diminutive race of subterranean spirits.”
The belief in demons, gnomes and fairies, goes back many centuries. Such was common in olden times in every country and among every people. Mr. Hoover in his translation mentions the fact that “knockers” as they are called by the miners of Cornwall are yet looked upon as an accepted fact. The work of mining was carried on in the old days in almost total darkness, and with mysterious noises occasioned by the settlement of the heavy over-burden lying above the ore body or the coal, continuously in the workers’ ears, it can easily be understood how the men were ready to accept any theory relative to the noises that were heard underground. (UPCCEM Sep. 1931)
Knockers
Some miners believe a Knocker to be the spirit of a miner killed in that mine.
In the 1820’s, in the United States, immigrant Welsh and Cornish miners brought tales of the tommyknockers and their theft of unwatched items and warning knocks to western Pennsylvania, when they gravitated there to work in the mines.
The American interpretation of knockers seemed to be more ghostly than elvish.
Belief in the knockers in America remained well into the 20th century. When one large mine closed in 1956 and the owners sealed the entrance, fourth, fifth, and sixth generation Cousin Jacks circulated a petition calling on the mine owners to set the knockers free so that they could move on to other mines. The owners complied. Belief among miners persisted amongst its miners as late as the 1930s. (Wikipedia Encyclopedia)
Today, though many scoff at the idea there are Tommyknockers, others who live in the vicinity of mines insist they still see blue lights weaving among the dark passages, and hear the sound of industrious workers digging away. (maeclair.net)
Tommyknockers - Halloween Poem
Shared from YouTube
Cryptic Legends: The Tommyknockers
Shared from YouTube
Jim Pipkin's: Tommyknockers
Shared from YouTube
1932
This Old Superstition - More Fun Than Help
Here is an old superstition said to indicate what the girl will be by the month she is born in:
If a girl is born in January, she will be a prudent housewife, given to melancholy, but good tempered.
If in February, a humane and affectionate wife and tender mother.
If in March, a frivolous chatterbox, somewhat given to quarreling.
If in April, inconstant, not intelligent, but likely to be good-looking.
If in May, handsome and likely to be happy.
If in June, impetuous, will marry early, and be frivolous.
If in July, passably handsome, but with a sulky temper.
If in August, amiable and practical, and likely to marry rich.
If in September, discreet, affable and much liked.
If in October, pretty and coquettish, and likely to be unhappy.
If in November, liberal, kind, of a mild disposition.
If in December, well proportioned, fond of novelty and extravagant. (UPCCEM, Oct. 1932)
If a girl is born in January, she will be a prudent housewife, given to melancholy, but good tempered.
If in February, a humane and affectionate wife and tender mother.
If in March, a frivolous chatterbox, somewhat given to quarreling.
If in April, inconstant, not intelligent, but likely to be good-looking.
If in May, handsome and likely to be happy.
If in June, impetuous, will marry early, and be frivolous.
If in July, passably handsome, but with a sulky temper.
If in August, amiable and practical, and likely to marry rich.
If in September, discreet, affable and much liked.
If in October, pretty and coquettish, and likely to be unhappy.
If in November, liberal, kind, of a mild disposition.
If in December, well proportioned, fond of novelty and extravagant. (UPCCEM, Oct. 1932)
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