Canberrans travelling down to the South Coast this spring have been shocked to see an empty Pooh's Corner.
Located in a manhole on the Kings Highway on Clyde Mountain, Pooh's Corner has delighted children and travellers since at least the 1970s.
Crookwell potato farmers David and Barbara Carter claimed they started putting teddies at the spot to distract their children on road trips.
Over decades, the hideaway has been inundated with teddy bears, letters and toys. Several signs have come and gone. And acts of alleged vandalism have outraged and rocked the community.
The Canberra Times columnist, Tim the Yowie Man, first heard the sign had been removed on Sunday.
"It must be the warm weather, there's a few more people travelling down the coast. People sent me some photos of Pooh Corner with no sign and no Pooh Bears, which is unusual," he said.
Tim took to social media on behalf of his followers, asking if anyone knew what had happened.
The theories were vast and sometimes farfetched and unverified.
The sign and bears were removed because it creates a driving hazard, some people said.
One follower reported the sign had been destroyed by bushfires, although many others said they had seen a sign since.
Pooh got evicted so the owners could put the rent up by 500 per cent, another follower joked.
The Canberra Times went straight to Eurobodalla mayor Mathew Hatcher to address the scandalous rumours.
It actually isn't unusual to see the hollow absent of teddies, as the Eurobodalla council regularly cleans up the site, the mayor said.
"If someone drives past it, sees it's pretty ugly and manky, and they report it to us and we just clean it up as needed," he said.
Cr Hatcher wrote in a comment on the Yowie Man's Facebook post that the sign needed repairs and it would be returned.
He did confirm a new one was being created by a Eurobodalla men's shed. Pooh's Corner is to remain.
"It's obviously got sentimental value to many people," Cr Hatcher said.
"[I just want to tell] people not to freak out. It's just one of those things that happened. Signs have to be replaced and we've got to go through the correct procedures to to get all the boxes checked before we can put it back up. But it is coming."
Like many things in this story, the actual origin of Pooh's Corner is disputed. While the Carter's claimed they were the first to put teddies at the spot, others say they have seen bears there as early as the 1950s.
What is known is that the hollow itself was created in World War II in case the Japanese decided to invade the South Coast and head inland.
"Explosives were placed there so that if we were attacked we could ... block the roads to stop advancing enemies coming up on the mountain path," Tim The Yowie Man said.
"I guess it's a little bit of war history that not many people know about, because it's so long ago."
The holes never had to be used for their intended purpose, and Pooh's Corner has become part of local folklore, Tim said.
"Once you hit that corner as you come in from Canberra, you sort of know you're on the way to the coast," he said.
"It's nice to have the sign just to remind people, to rekindle memories of holidays going past and fun times. It's an important part of our folklore which has sort of developed in more recent times."
However, the seemingly innocent attraction has courted some controversy in recent years.
One person took to Tim the Yowie's post to say it smelled like its namesake.
"Last 2-3 times we stopped there it smelled like a public toilet," they said.
"Weren't sure whether people were using it as a loo or if it was years worth of mould and rotting polyester and nylon teddies."
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