How a misprinted phone number made NORAD Santa’s official tracker for 69 years

We’re fully into the holiday season and with Christmas Eve just around the corner, those celebrating know it’s time to get the cookies ready, pour the milk and look for Santa. Now it’s easier than ever to know when he’s coming near you to deliver gifts – and when you need to jump into bed to let the big man do his job.

NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, has been tracking the funny man for 69 years and counting.

“It started in 1955,” said Col. Jason White. “Every Christmas Eve, we utilize the countless resources available to NORAD for the defense of North America to track down Santa Claus and ensure his passage through North American territory unhindered.”

The military command has been answering calls since 1955, when Air Force Col. Harry Shoup — the duty commander at NORAD’s predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command — answered a call from a child who dialed a misprinted phone number in a department store newspaper ad she thought she was calling Call Santa Claus.

“A local newspaper had printed a hotline number for children to call and find out about Santa’s whereabouts, but they had printed the number incorrectly and the number they had printed was for the former NORAD operations center,” he said . “The on-call guard answered and instead of saying, ‘Hey, you have the wrong number,’ and hanging up, he played with the kids calling the number they thought was the right number.”

Since then, they have fielded hundreds of thousands of calls each year to inform callers about where Santa might be on his busiest day of the year. More than 1,250 Canadian and American uniformed personnel and Department of Defense civilians are volunteering time Dec. 24 to answer the thousands of phone calls and emails received from around the world.

They answer the important questions: whether Santa visits everyone (“Indeed!”), how old Santa is (“NORAD intelligence shows Santa is at least 16 centuries old”), and whether NORAD’s fighter jets ever intercepted Santa have.

“Our aircraft are on routine patrols and encounter Santa Claus from time to time,” he said. “I don’t think we can keep up with him – he flies at such a high speed.”

According to NORAD’s Santa Tracker website, Santa Claus can travel the world in a day because he simply doesn’t experience time the way we do.

“His journey may seem to take 24 hours to us, but to Santa it could take days, weeks or even months,” the website says. “The only logical conclusion is that Santa Claus somehow functions within his own time-space continuum.”

There’s a lot of preparation for the big day, but Col. White says the actual pursuit of Santa is something NORAD is already ready to do.

“NORAD’s daily mission is to monitor the airspace and waters off North America. That’s why we prepare 24 hours a day, 265 days a year to accomplish this mission,” he said. “When Santa Claus flies, we are carrying out our normal, everyday mission and simply have the honor of helping the big man.”

At the end of the day, he said it was an honor for the volunteers and Col. White to help Santa with his work.

“It is an honor to defend the United States and keep the country safe and to assist Santa Claus during the holidays and help him make his joyride there unhindered,” he said. “When the kids call and find out about Santa, it’s great to hear the excitement in their voice.”

The NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center will be fully operational starting December 24th at 4 a.m. MST.

You can call 1 877 HI-NORAD (1 877 446-6723) to speak directly with a NORAD representative who can provide you with Santa’s exact location. The employees are available until midnight.