best one I have heard of down here involved a guy from Poole, Camborne, who had all these gnomes in the front of his terrace house.
One day, one favourite went missing - bloody vandals he thought.
Then, about two weeks later, he got a postcard from France. "having a great time, all well - the Gnome". This went on for nearly two years with postcards, always the same writing, arriving from around the world, including NZ and Fiji.
He came down one morning to find the Gnome back on his plinth..............