I remember the traveling gnomes. The St. Francis thing was on an episode of “Unsolved Mysteries, IIRC. LONG ago — back when it first started. It tickled me so much that I never forgot it. It fould be a fun and harmless joke to play on somebody.
It would be fun to receive the pics and postcards from the item’s travels.
Geocaching looks like fun, too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching