“It’s almost time for Santa to begin his journey around the world, and that means the volunteers over at NORAD are gearing up to keep tabs on St. Nick with their annual Santa Tracker.
“These days the young (and the young at heart) can hop online to follow Santa’s progress across the globe, but the tradition started almost 60 years ago with a typo and a phone call.
“In 1955 Sears published an ad in a Colorado newspaper encouraging kids to call Santa, but accidentally printed a wrong number.
“That number didn’t reach Sears, or the North Pole, but instead rang up a secret military hotline — often known as a “red phone” — manned by U.S. Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup.
“Shoup’s kids recently joined StoryCorps to tell their memories of the fateful call.”
Read more: AOL.com
