How did NORAD’s Santa Claus tracker come about? It started with a wrong number

An artist dressed as Santa Claus greets residents of Berlin, Germany, as he rides his sleigh with reindeer through a traditional Christmas market, with an illuminated panoramic wheel in the background, on December 22, 2023.

Santa Claus does the impossible every year on Christmas Eve, but following his journey live has only recently become a global tradition.

While it’s true that the North American Aerospace Defense Command, known as NORAD, maintains around-the-clock vigil and guards against potential threats to North American airspace, the agency has also been tracking Santa Claus, who has been feeding children around the world since 1955.

And it all started with an accidental phone call from a little boy from Colorado Springs hoping to get in touch with Santa Claus, they say. Instead he reached NORAD.

“He kept going a little bit, took a deep breath and then said, ‘Hey, you’re not Santa Claus,'” Air Force Col. Harry W. Shoup told The Associated Press in a 1999 interview.

Through this strange coincidence, NORAD became an unofficial official hub for information about Santa Claus. It received calls from children and parents around the world and posted updates on social media to millions of fans. NORAD is also updating its website to track Santa’s progress on Christmas Eve.

Here’s what you should know about NORAD Tracks Santa and how you can follow Santa’s journey on Christmas Eve.

How did NORAD start tracking Santa Claus?

A Sears ad in a Colorado Springs newspaper asked children who wanted to speak with Santa Claus to call the number provided. But they accidentally gave the top-secret phone number for the Continental Air Defense Command, the predecessor of NORAD, which was also based in Colorado Springs.

Shoup picked up an emergency-only “red phone” and was greeted by a quiet voice that began reciting a Christmas wish list, the Associated Press reported.

It didn’t take long for the boy to realize he wasn’t talking to Santa, but Shoup still responded to the boy in a “deep, cheerful” voice, according to the AP.

“Ho, ho, ho! Yes, I am Santa Claus. “Were you a good boy?” Shoup told the AP.

He told the boy’s mother that Sears accidentally printed the agency’s phone number. He hung up, but soon the phone rang again as a young girl recited her Christmas list. Fifty calls a day followed, AP reported.

Another NORAD employee “jokingly” drew Santa Claus and his sleigh over the North Pole on a 60-by-80-foot plexiglass map of North America that was used to track unidentified objects. According to the AP, Shoup “immediately saw the opportunity” and was inspired by the drawing and the accidental phone call to boost the morale of troops and the public alike.

“It made the military look good — like we weren’t all a bunch of snobs who don’t care about Santa Claus,” Shoup told the AP.

Follow Santa’s delivery route until Christmas Eve

NORAD’s “Track Santa” website went live on December 1st, but the real fun began on Christmas Eve, when visitors can track Santa’s route from 4 a.m. to midnight MST / 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. EST.

The map showing Santa Claus’ journey around the world can be found here. It is available in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese and Korean. The NORAD Tracks Santa app is available in the Apple App and Google Play stores, and the tracker will be available on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X, according to NORAD.

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