Knocker

Knocker is a Fae — a small mine spirit recorded by Cornish and later Anglo‑American miners. In the low, lamplit world of workings it announces itself as deliberate percussion: taps that ring off timber and vein like a tiny hammer. Smell: a cold, mineral tang — wet earth, faint tin or copper, and the oily Ghost of lamp smoke. Sound: crisp, measured knocks that can answer a pick, scatter a pile of stones, or skitter away as if something small ran along timbers. Temperature: the air around the sound often feels noticeably cooler, a breath of underground draft that raises the hackles. Field notes: knocks arrive in patterns and with temperament — helpful when stocks of ore are nearby, petulant when rules are broken, and playfully tricky in abandoned galleries.