It genuinely happens. I used to run some networking cables through the walls and forgot one went up into the loft where an old machine was! For a while I was using this machine and couldn't figure out where on earth it was hiding - it didn't help it was covered in the loft! I only remembered it was still at my parent's place after I moved out - I think they even changed router several times but plugged it back in thinking it was something like a printer or extender or something.
An old friend had a house where it was as if his room was built within a room, so there was some gap between his inner wall and and outer wall. He used to crawl around it and hide his servers there.
That made me laugh so much back in the day. But what was ridiculous back in the early 2000s is now a practically everyday event. My wife frequently uses a "find my phone" app to find her online device.
An old friend had a house where it was as if his room was built within a room, so there was some gap between his inner wall and and outer wall. He used to crawl around it and hide his servers there.