Tommyknockers

[Dan Goodman]

Date:    Sat, 31 Jul 2004 00:17:13 -0400
From:    "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
Subject: <No subject given>

Compare the nursery rhyme (?) popularized by Stephen King:

Late last night, and the night before,
Tommyknockers, tommyknockers, knocking at the door.

[Incidentally, I suppose that this word "tommyknocker" is cognate with
Swedish "tomte" (= gnome), as in "Jultomten" = "the Yule gnome", who knocks
(?) and delivers "julklappar" = "Christmas presents" (basically "Yule
knocks" or so, I suppose), according to my limited understanding of the
subject. Can anybody confirm or refute my notion?]

Tommyknockers slipped into Colorado gold camps with the immigrating
Cornish miners during the 1859 rush. These mischievous elves guided many
a fortunate miner to the "Motherlode". Renew the legend - share a
TOMMYKNOCKER ROOT BEER with a friend.
http://www.root-beer.info/brews/tommyknocker.php

"Tommyknocker" seems to be an American variation of "knocker":

Most mysterious of the elfin creatures of Cornwall were the knockers or
knackers of the mines. These were, it is said, the spirits of old
miners, perhaps those Jewish miners who worked underground in Cornwall a
long time past. Those who have seen these sprites are few, but their
descriptions of them tally; of ugly, thin limbed creatures no higher
than the smallest human dwarf, with large hooked noses, slit mouths from
ear to ear, and a great liking for making dreadful faces.

They were not above, for instance, crossing their eyes and thumbing
their noses when they met you, or bending over to grimace at you between
their spindly legs.There were also those who affirmed that the knockers
were not the spirits of Jewish miners but of those who had crucified
Christ. In support of this theory, they were said to be heard sweetly
singing carols in the mines, not from choice but under compulsion, on
Christmas Day, Easter Day, All Saint's Day and the Jewish Sabbath.
Others believed the knockers were the souls of those whose deeds in this
world allowed them entry neither into hell nor heaven - an interesting
conjecture considering their living and working in the Cornish mines.
http://www.connexions.co.uk/culture/html/folklore.htm

--
Dan Goodman
Journal http://www.livejournal.com/users/dsgood/ or
http://dsgood.blogspot.com
All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.
John Arbuthnot (1667-1735), Scottish writer, physician.