The Knockers of the Cornish Mines
Deep in the tin mines of Cornwall, miners heard knocking in the rock, and said it was the Knockers, little people of the mines.
What was reported
For centuries, tin and copper miners in Cornwall worked deep underground by candlelight. They told of the Knockers, small beings who lived in the mines and could be heard tapping on the rock.
Some said the tapping led to rich veins of ore; others that it was a warning of a coming rockfall. Miners left a scrap of their pasty for the Knockers, and avoided whistling underground so as not to offend them. The legend travelled with Cornish miners to America, where they became the 'tommyknockers'.
Explanations offered
The sounds that miners heard probably came from the creaking of timber supports and the shifting of rock under stress, which can indeed come before a collapse, as well as from other miners working nearby. Treating the sounds as warnings may well have saved lives.
- When
- Told for centuries
- Where
- Tin mines near St Just, Cornwall, England
- Witnesses
- Cornish tin miners
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.