It's not everyday that one finds herself seriously doing research on the history and legends of gnomes.  But today, that is exactly where I am.  Some interesting tidbits I've stumbled across are noteworthy.  'True believers' claim that adult male gnomes are 7x stronger than their human counterparts.  Gnomes' sense of smell is 19x stronger than that of humans, as well.  Their life span is more than four times longer than ours, and they marry around age 200.  Most interesting for my story is that gnomes have ESP capabilities.

Gnomes were given their name back in the 16th Century by Paracelsus, who believed that they were the most important of elemental beings on Earth.  (Gnomes are celebrated today as a symbol to take better care of the Earth.)  Some carvings dating back to 1200BC lead some to claim that gnomes have existed since long before Christianity.  Like with fairies and other mystical creatures, there are people who avidly swear that gnomes do indeed exist.  For the purpose of my story, I haven't decided yet if gnomes will truly exist or if some other entity will just be trapped in the body of a garden gnome. 

Garden gnomes became popular back in the 1800s when the 10th Baronet of Lamport Hall, Sir Charles Isham, brought back several of the small little statues from Germany and plopped them in his garden.  Sir Isham apparently was a trendsetter, as the phenomenon caught on.  Many folks put gnomes in their gardens, and the sybolic reasons for which are quite interesting.  Some see garden gnomes in the same light as one might view a good luck trinket.  In Europe, clay gnomes are believed to bring health, wealth and happiness, and are passed from generation to generation.

Some folks don't treat their garden gnomes quite right, which have given rise to the GNOME LIBERATION FRONT (GNF).  Honest to goodness, I'm not making this up.  People (crazies?) join the GNF and kidnap garden gnomes from their evil oppressors and set them free.  While this movement originated in France, it is currently alive and well here in America.  In fact, some guy testified before Congress in 2002 to help save the garden gnomes of the world.  Check out his testimony at FreeTheGnomes.com.  This group is not associate with the bonefide GNF, but the two groups share the same goal: free the gnomes.  Mission statement: "FreeTheGnomes.com provides Garden Gnome Liberation information and calls to action. We advocate an end to oppressive gardening and freedom for garden gnomes everywhere."  Totally, totally bizarre!  Go check it out; it's worth the laugh.

The scary thing is that I see a crazy plot formulating in my mind involving some conspiracy that involves some group like this.  If I can pull it off, it might actually be a funny subplot of my romance novel.  Otherwise, it might doom my book to failure.  Who knows?  It's still early yet.