Among the superstitioins which still survive with old folks in Cornwall is that of the "knockers." The tap, tap of the tiny hammers these pixies use is heard, or supposed to be heard, in the tin mines where the lodes are richest. They are supposed to indicate to the miners where it will be best to drive a level. Once the miners reach the spot it is said the tapping ceases.
A few generations back such noises were said to be caused by the ghosts of the Jews who crucified the Saviour, and who were sent to work in the tin mines as slaves by the Roman Emperor. Latter-day science, with its explanations of the physical causes of such sounds in the depths of the earth, has killed all the romantic and legendary lore which obtained so abundantly in the duchy in the early decades of last century.
Weekly Mail, 30th August 1902.
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