For the 52nd consecutive year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will be tracking Santa Claus as he makes his worldwide journey Christmas Eve night.
NORAD's traditional Santa Tracker started in 1955 -- all because of a wrong number.
According to NORAD lore, phones starting ringing off the hook at NORAD's predecessor the Continental Air Defense Command in December 1955. Confused personnel at the Colorado headquarters couldn't understand why so many children were calling and asking for Saint Nick.
Turns out, they didn't need to look any further than the local newspaper, the Colorado Springs Gazette.Sears-Roebuck placed an ad in The Gazette telling kids to dial a number if they wanted to talk to Santa. Unfortunately, the number was one digit off. But ever in the holiday spirit, Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup answered many of those calls -- and told the delighted kids that the U.S. military would keep their eyes peeled and their radars locked on the skies for any sign of Santa.
Since moving the operation online in 1988, NORAD's Santa Tracker website has exploded in popularity. In 2004, www.noradsanta.org collected 912 million hits from 181 countries in addition to fielding 55,000 phone calls.
I got this story from the Channel 10 website.
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