The Santa Files. A Geographic Look At The Santa Encounters
©1997 By Dr M. Mustoe Geographer, Eastern Oregon University
Abstract Each year around this time the Governments of the United States and Canada as well as many other countries around the world receive numerous sightings of a flying sleigh and reindeer supposedly piloted by a large, bearded man of considerable age in a red exposure suit. These sightings which I call a Global Santa Event (GSE), have been correlated around the world with the seasonal arrival of an "individual" known as Father Christmas, Santa Claus or Jolly Old St. Nicholas and other names. Unlike the relatively recent arrival of flying discs and other UFO type sightings, the flying sleigh, reindeer and Santa seem to date back well before this century. This report looks at the geography behind this event and suggests some ideas about the advanced technologies Santa is obviously involved with during these seasonal encounters with particular populations on the Earth.
Who Is Santa, Is He Human? According to eye-witness reports, the pilot of the sleigh seems to be a human and not a robotic device. Observations suggest that Santa is a person of considerable size, especially his mid-section which has been observed to tremble like "jelly" when he laughs. The white hair and beard indicate someone of a mature age, but no one has determined a specific birth date for him. Whatever the scenario, perhaps we can suggest that Santa is a mature flying sled pilot. Which, by that suggestion brings up plenty of other questions.
Chronological Evidence His story possibly dates back in terms of centuries if you agree with his "St. Nicholas" connections. St. Nicholas, the patron Saint of Greece and Russia, was born sometime about 270 AD. Following the St. Nicholas stories, Santa (St. Nicholas) was born in a location known as Lycia now a part of Turkey. It seems Nicholas became a very young bishop in these parts and was known for his generosity and a handful of miracles. Ultimately with the mixing of his story from the coastal Mediterranean regions (a place reindeer and snow sleds are rarely found), with some Medieval Norse tales, St. Nicholas begins to be associated with more northern roots.
This northern exposure ultimately establishes the assumptions that his base of operations is somewhere near the geographic North Pole. However, in none of the eyewitness accounts has there ever been observed any particular international markings or any other kind of identification indicating a port of registry on the sleigh or the reindeer . Even the earliest composite sketches of Santa drawn by Thomas Nast and published in Harper ' s Weekly in 1866 show no kinds of markings or identification on his sophisticated exposure suit. The fact remains that there is little or no indication of Santa's national origin. AKA Abundant Even his name provides very few clues that point specifically to his origin. In Germany, St. Nicholas became associated with the name Kriss Kringle. Kriss Kringle was a name that was extrapolated from the German word, "Christkindle" which translates to "Christ child." This ties the Kriss Kringle personage to the current holidays associated with the birth of Jesus Christ. However, some suggest the name "Santa Claus" was most likely derived from the Dutch. While in the American colony of New Amsterdam (present day New York City) this individual was named, "Sint(e) Claas" which very well could of given us the contemporary AKA Santa Claus. In France he is known as "Père Noël". Nevertheless, in all the international eye-witness accounts, Santa always uses the appropriate alias for the region or country he is presently in and speaks fluently in the indigenous language.
Current Flying Sleigh Technology Checking to see if the sleigh might be registered internationally, I contacted the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal, Quebec. In a communique I had with an ICAO technical officer, it was confirmed that there were no aircraft registered in their records fitting the Santa, flying sleigh vehicle profile. This official also stated that the Santa sleigh does not fit, or even come close to conforming to ICAO regulations for cargo hauling aircraft (the beacon on Rudolph's nose, just does not meet the standards) and he added, that there had been no attempt by Santa or any of his representatives to contact the ICAO to register with his organization and have the flying sleigh inspected. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration Airman and Aircraft Registration Section in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma concurred with the ICAO's findings. Officials at the FAA reported that there is nothing registered as a flying sleigh operating from U.S. airspace. In checking their records they did find some licensed pilots with last names Claus and Nicholas, but none having the first name as Santa. Thus, even these international and national agencies provide little in the way of clues on the actual operational headquarters for Santa or for his origin.
Geographic Considerations of a Santa Encounter What can we determine about the Santa events given the sparse data we have on Santa, his Reindeer and Sled? First let's consider the Santa event in the context of human demographics. Although the world population rests at approximately 5.6 Billion, every year Santa visits only the culturally receptive populations. These include Christian and some Non-Christian/Non-Religious peoples; the world population consists of about 33% Christian, or about 1.8 billion people and about 16.6% nonreligious, or about 890 million people. Based on the model suggested by Coots and Gillespie in 1934, those good people in the world who fit the pre-requisites for a Santa encounter, could potentially produce a visitation factor of about 2.8 billion people this coming Christmas Eve. The spatial logistics of this is staggering! Considering Spatial Data Eyewitness accounts have all concurred that at each stop Santa conducts a series of activities. This includes:
Considering then that if Santa was only given 1 minute for each stop it would take him over 5,400 years to complete his rounds for one seasonal event! Obviously this is not what happens since Santa delivers his goods within one evening's worth of time. Here then is a possible model for this event based on some known data that this researcher has collected and has empirically observed.
Global Time Factors Assuming Santa delivers his goods in the stealth of Christmas Eve he could only begin his flight plan at precisely the moment of midnight 24 December at the International Date Line since this is the only moment in time that the whole world, excluding the line of the international date line, is still on the day of the 24th. (Some of the world is still in daylight at this time so Santa has to compensate for that) At this time the Eastern Hemisphere is experiencing the phenomenon of Christmas Eve, while the west is just getting started with the day. Thus, hypothetically, Santa would begin his deliveries along the International date Line and move west.
Gray Line and Insolation Factors There is more darkness in the Northern Hemisphere during the winter than in the South at this time of year. However, this should pose no problem for Santa since most of his deliveries will be in the North. But it does present an interesting problem with relativity. Data from the United States Naval Observatory in Washington D.C. and the U.S. Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, indicates that just south of the Arctic Circle at 66 degrees north and 15 degrees east, the phenomenon of Christmas Eve will begin at about 1:24 in the afternoon local time, this is local Sunset near Mo, Norway providing this area nearly 11 hours of Christmas Eve darkness for Santa to work in. At the same time however, latitudes in the south provide far less of a working window of time for Santa. For example, Christmas Island at 10 degrees South has only about 6 hours of Christmas Eve darkness. Locational Factors Given the population densities, Santa will be spending about 75% of his time in the Northern Hemisphere and the remainder in the South. It is next to impossible to calculate the time he will spend globally in these areas since we do not know his precise route and given that at every latitude the length of night changes, we can't determine his operational time window precisely.
Assumptions However, for the sake of convenience and to suggest the relativistic side of this event, we could say that the average number of hours of darkness during Christmas Eve in the Northern Hemisphere is about 15 hours and in the South perhaps 9 hours of darkness. This then is a total delivery time window of about 14 hours and well within the limits of the circle of illumination for the earth on the 24th of December.
The 1989 an 1994 Events Consider the observation I made in the 1989 and again in the 1994 Santa events. I was monitoring a radio news program late Christmas eve when the program was interrupted and went directly to a live interview with an official of the The North American Air Defense System in Colorado. She mentioned that the sleigh had been spotted in the area of the Canadian border near 49 degrees north with a longitude of about 100 degrees west, and was reported as, "just now entering U.S. airspace." This was about 11 PM EST. But when I went out to look under the tree, my presents had already been delivered and the cookies and cafe latté I had left for Santa were gone! This phenomenon was also observed at my home near Wenatchee, Washington (47 degrees north and 120 degrees west) in 1989 at about 8 PM PST.
Alternative Theories Some have suggested that the speed of Santa's sleigh is in the range 2,340,000 MPH. However, since the actual distance in ground miles that Santa and the Reindeer travel is not available, it is impossible to determine its true linear velocity. The NORAD system, has repeatedly tracked the Santa vehicle moving at high rates of speed. However, I would suggest that what NORAD is really tracking is something after the fact. My hypothesis is, that the vehicle has already made the deliveries and what NORAD is really tracking is an echo of the sled moving from warp speeds into the conventional time/speed dimension. Given a conventional understanding of motion and velocity it is very difficult to theorize how Santa does so well with the limited amount of time he has to work with. There is strong conjecture that Santa is using some form of applied quantum mechanics in addition to the use of a transportation system unknown to conventional travel
Area 51 Technology and Santa? What this researcher suggests is that Santa, the sled, and the reindeer, are operating at speeds well outside the range of the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) and the capabilities of current transportation technologies. How then can eyewitness accounts of Santa be explained if only minute fractions of a second are spent at each stop? Some witnesses have observed strange actions made by Santa at each stop; the twinkling of the eyes as the finger is placed next to the nose, and then the beaming effect of the body through the chimney and sending it up to the roof. Could these events actually be taking place in some time dimension yet unknown to modern technology? If this is the case then children and handful of adults that have viewed these actions were probably manipulated by Santa himself, possibly with the use of some sophisticated form of holographic technology.
High Tech Flying Ruminants Consider the propulsion device for the sled. Clement C. Moore in 1823, in his story "A Visit from St. Nicholas," was one of the first to observe that reindeer seem to be the only propulsion system for the sled. In his story he clearly documents the presence of eight reindeer that seem to be pulling the sled in mid-air. This correlates with reports from Scandinavia where the sleigh is also propelled by these deer. Through first-hand accounts it has been determined that these deer are in fact real deer, probably from the biological group Rangifer, only with the exception that this breed can fly. Sketches of these animals suggest they are closely related to species commonly found in Northern Canada, Lapland, Siberia, and Greenland. The common animal was domesticated in pre-historic times by the Lapps, Tungus, Yakuts, and Samoyeds. There is a documented report that in 1892, just 69 years after the Moore Report, that a group of domesticated reindeer was imported into Alaska, from Norway. What, if any, connection this importation may have with the flying reindeer species requires further research. Normal reindeer are extremely small. (See this example in Alaska)They are rarely over six feet long and usually only a few feet high, but have incredible strength and stamina. On the average a reindeer can pull twice its weight over snow continuously for 2 days. In Norway reindeer have been reported to pull through snow continuously for up to 49 hours and then drop dead. If we consider an average weight of 3 pounds of presents per person, Santa's sleigh will be carrying an estimated weight of 4,214,400 Tons of presents. This represents a 526,800 ton load for each deer on the 8 reindeer sled. The flying reindeer used for this event are undoubtedly some kind of special breed, possibly genetically altered.
Conclusions There is no event on Earth quite like the seasonal arrival of the Global Santa Event. At the time of this writing I have lived through over 42 GSE's in my lifetime and I can honestly say that every year, with uncanny accuracy the gifts that were delivered were right on time and somehow they were always exactly what I wanted. This year, once again, I will be waiting to see this phenomenon unfold. Indeed, we may never completely understand the origins of Santa nor comprehend the technology he uses. However, in my estimation the Global Santa Event carries with it something much more amazing than new, unknown technologies. Far more amazing than flying reindeer, we find this season brings with it a spirit that can transform humans hearts, bring an end to wars, and provide, albeit for perhaps only a moment, a vision of what world peace could be. Perhaps the greatest enigma of a global Santa experience is tied to the power found only in the act of giving unselfishly and the miracles that an act of giving can bring about.
Although I have never personally had a Santa encounter, my research suggests that the odds are good that anyone could have an encounter with him. These people are special. However, there is an even greater likelihood that anyone could spontaneously practice Santa's special trade of openly giving good things to others. In fact if we choose, we are all empowered with the ability to care and give to one another all year around. Something Santa does impressively in magical fashion, but even with his technology, something he can only accomplish once each year.
SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN J. Fred Coots, Henry Gillespie (c) 1934
Oh! You better watch out, You better not cry, You better not pout, I'm telling you why: Santa Claus is coming to town!
He's making a list, Checking it twice, Gonna find out who's naughty or nice. Santa Claus is coming to town!
He sees you when you're sleeping, He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, So be good for goodness sake!
Oh! You better watch out, You better not cry, You better not pout, I'm telling you why:Santa Claus is coming to town!