Tommyknocker

Tommyknockers are trickster fae that reside in mines and caves. They are associated with loud knocking sounds that perpetuate through these mines, dissapearing metal tools, and light sources being destroyed or put out. It is often believed that an increase in tommyknocker activity is a sign of an impending cave-in. Few people have seen a tommyknocker up close, and nobody has managed to retrieve an image or even a corpse of a tommyknocker. Despite this, reports of tommyknocker activity are incredibly common.

Beware of the Knockers. The only door to open down there is the gateway to hell.
— Samuel J. Lilt, Ald Mine foreman

Basic Information

Anatomy

Tommyknocker Sketch by Dan Pirone

Few have seen a Tommyknocker up close. They seem to be masters of stealth and trickery. This is what I believe they may look like, based on interviews with miners in the Copper Mountains.
— Phillis Silver, from Mysterious Creatures and Fae

Tommyknockers are theorized to have a generally humanoid shape. Some proportions are exaggerated, however. They are much shorter than humans, only seeming to be between two and three feet tall. Their arms supposedly reach to their ankles, their teeth or sharp, and their ears are long and pointed, remniscent of a bat. They have gray flesh and stark, black, reflective eyes. Some believe that when a tommyknocker perishes, it wastes away into a pile of coal and slag.

Genetics and Reproduction

It is unknown whether or not tommyknockers have varied sexes. There have been no reports of juvenile tommyknockers being found. This leads some to theorize that tommyknockers reproduce asexually.

Ecology and Habitats

Tommyknockers are often found in mines and caves, deep in the mountains. They are more common in more densely operated mines, possibly attracted by the presence of miners to play tricks on. It often takes a month or more for the first tommyknocker sightings to occur after a mine is established.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Some believe that Tommyknockers eat the refined metal used in mining tools, unable to digest raw ores or stones. Others think that Tommyknockers feed on the emotional frustration that they create within the miners they prank. There has not been any evidence of Tommyknocker waste discovered.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Tommyknockers are believed to have both echolocation and blink capability. Their famous "knocking," either by fist or by a possible organ in their throat, is how they see in the depths of the caves in which they reside. Their blinking allows quick, instantaneous travel over short distances. This allows tommyknockers to stealthily and quickly harrass miners without ever being seen themselves. It is believed that tommyknockers destroy lights because the brightness irratates their eyes.

Genetic Ancestor(s)