Encounter Atlas
The word 'gnome' was coined, or at least first printed, by the Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus in a book published after his death in 1566. He described gnomes as earth elementals, about two spans (18 inches) tall, that move through solid rock as easily as we move through air. He borrowed the idea from German miners' stories of the Bergmännlein, little mountain men who haunted the mines.
From there gnomes spread into fairy tales and fantasy. In the 19th century German potters began making small clay gnome figures for gardens. Sir Charles Isham brought a group of them to his rockery at Lamport Hall in Northamptonshire from 1847; the one survivor, nicknamed Lampy, is often called the oldest garden gnome in England.
Today's red-hatted gnome owes a lot to the Scandinavian tomte and the Dutch kabouter. Modern sighting reports of small bearded figures in gardens and woods often use the word gnome, even when the witness describes something closer to a dwarf or brownie.
What witnesses report
- A small bearded figure in a pointed red cap
- Glimpsed in gardens or at the edge of woods
- Movement in rocks or underground
- Knocks in mines
Famous cases
- 1847Sir Charles Isham begins the gnome rockery at Lamport Hall
Lamport, England
Seen the Gnomes?
Tell us what happened. Every report is read by a person before it goes on the map, and you can stay anonymous.
