Travelling Gnome

The travelling gnome or roaming gnome is a garden gnome lawn ornament brought on a trip and photographed in front of famous landmarks. The practice is called gnoming. Some instances have become national and international news stories, where people have stolen a garden gnome from a garden, and then sent the owner photos of the gnome for a period of time as a practical joke, before returning it.

The Garden Gnomes Liberation Front that was created in France was a community that considered gnoming to be stealing garden gnomes from other people's property, without the intention of returning them, as part of their purported mission to "free" gnomes and "return them to the wild", which has sometimes led to criminal charges, jail time, or fines.

Origins

The concept of the travelling gnome dates back to the 1970s when Henry Sunderland photographed his own garden gnomes, which he named Harry and Charlie, while he was travelling around Antarctica.

The earliest record of a prank involving a travelling gnome is from Australia in 1986 when the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' reported that an " Eastern Suburbs gnome-owner was distressed when she discovered her gnome had been stolen at the weekend. A note was found in its place: 'Dear mum, couldn't stand the solitude any longer. Gone off to see the world. Don't be worried, I'll be back soon. Love Bilbo xxx.. A similar, earlier kidnapping incident occurred in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England

Travelling gnome prank

A running prank has developed, which has made national news at times, where people steal a garden gnome from an unknowing person's lawn and then send the owner photos of the gnome and sometimes cryptic messages that were supposedly written by the gnome for a time as a practical joke before returning it.

In 2005 a group of American college students stole a garden gnome, dubbed "Gnome Severson" in the media, from a property in Redmond, Washington, and took it on a roadtrip to California and Nevada. Gnome Severson became a national news story after the group ran into socialite Paris Hilton at a gas station, who posed for a picture with the gnome that was printed in ''People'' magazine. At the end of the week-long trip, the group anonymously returned the gnome to its owner's front porch with a photo album titled "Gnome’s Spring Break 2005", which included the issue of ''People'' and other pictures of the gnome around Hollywood, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. The owner, who had not even noticed the gnome was missing until she found it returned on her porch, was interviewed on ''Good Morning America''.

According to ABC News, the owner decided to auction the gnome on eBay, which sold with the photo album for in May 2005, because she became tired of all of the media attention. However, in February 2006, it was reported that the gnome had actually been secretly purchased on eBay by the owner's friends who continued to take photos of it around the world in locations such as Canada, Mexico, Italy, and Thailand. After it was returned for the second time, the original owner, referring to it as "the prodigal gnome", said she had decided to keep it and would not sell it on eBay again.

In 2016, an ASDA Gnome named Gnorman was stolen from its owner in Luton, England. The perpetrator sent him a letter stating "Goodbyes are not forever, Goodbyes are not the end, They simply mean I‘ll miss you, Until we meet again.", and then continued to taunt him by making a Facebook profile in the Gnome's name then followed by posting pictures of it in many locations, such as the cinema, pubs, a trampoline park, a bowling alley, and an arcade.

Gnoming as theft

There have also been a number of criminal incidents in which individuals or groups steal large numbers of garden gnomes without the intention of returning, often with the purported mission of "freeing" gnomes and "returning them to the wild". These crimes can cause distress to the victims of the theft, particularly if the gnomes have sentimental value.

France's Garden Gnome Liberation Front was formed in 1997 in Alençon, France, aiming to release garden gnomes in their "natural habitat", for instance forests. In 2006 they claimed 165 active groups in France, Canada, Germany, Spain, and the United States, and became known to the public in the 1990s when they took credit for the theft of hundreds of garden gnomes around France. In 1997, their ringleader was sent to prison and fined for stealing over 150 garden gnomes over a period of several years.

In 1998, the Garden Gnome Liberation Front made headlines again when they staged a "mass suicide" of gnomes by hanging 11 garden gnomes with nooses around their necks under a bridge at Briey

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