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The pandemic has brought the best out in some people and in others, it has just caused them to be a little on the crazy side.

Perhaps that is what happened in the Portobello area of Edinburgh, Scotland when a Garden gnome was stolen from a local café.

Photo: Facebook/Butternut Squash

It started innocently enough when their gnome appeared to be “going on adventures.” They shared on Facebook, “This wee guy seems to keep going on adventures. He wasn’t here yesterday morning but back today….”

However, it wasn’t long before the garden gnome outside of the Butternut Squash Café really went missing and a ransom note showed up. Interestingly, they weren’t asking for money, they wanted cheesecake. Naturally, Butternut Squash Café shared a photo of the note on Facebook and people found it quite amusing.

Photo: Facebook/Butternut Squash

The note read: “We have your gnome. If you want to see him again leave 2 cheesecakes when you shut the cafe, We will be watching.”

Ransom negotiations are a very sticky subject, but the café would not give in to the demands of the criminals. Rather than leaving cheesecake outside, they left shortbread, saying: “Kidnappers your treasure awaits…”

Photo: Facebook/Butternut Squash

The kidnappers were not amused, sending another note with a picture of a broken gnome, saying they had 24 hours to cough up the cheesecake or the gnome would get “dusty binned.”

Photo: Facebook/Butternut Squash

The café refused to bow to their wishes, saying: “We will not negotiate with gnomenappers.” However, a few days later, staff arrived in the morning to find a new gnome that’d been stripped of its clothes and tied to a pole.

Photo: Facebok/Butternut Squash

The staff finally gave in and let cheesecake out for the gnomenappers. They said, “Ok ok you win!!!
Cheesecake is there for you please bring him home to meet his new friends.”

Photo: Facebook/Butternut Squash

The ransom did ask for two cheesecakes, so it’ll be interesting to see if they get their gnome back.

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