NORAD’s Santa Tracker started with a typo 60 years ago

The misdirected call was the result of the child reversing two numbers of a Santa Line phone number printed in a Sears advertisement, according to the National Archives.

People looking to find NORAD Tracks Santa can do so here, complete with video of the places on Earth that Santa has already visited on this Christmas Eve.

Kids in MI can join others around the world today in following Santa’s journey to deliver toys to good boys and girls.

NORAD was created in 1958 by the governments of Canada and the United States as a bi-national air defense command.

“He looked it up and used our radar and let the kids know where Santa was and although it started as an accident, a pure accident, we are honoured to continue the tradition”.

When he realised what had happened, Colonel Harry Shoup – who came to be known as the “Santa Colonel” – quickly told his staff to answer the calls with an update on Father Christmas’s current position.

In the meantime, children of all ages can prepare for the annual flight of jolly old St. Nick on the NORAD Tracks Santa official site. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through operations hotline for the commander of the Continental Air Defense Command. Last year, hundreds of volunteers, including many NORAD employees and Michelle Obama, fielded 135,000 calls from 234 countries.

You can also follow Santa’s progress on NORAD’s Santa Twitter page. “The satellites detect Rudolph’s bright red nose with no problem”, NORAD noted in its top-secret Santa file.

NORAD tracking apps are also available in the Windows, Apple, and Google Play stores.