Seventy years ago, a child phoned the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) looking for Santa Claus - and found him, or at least some kindly military personnel who were willing to play along by helping the youngster to track Santa's location as he zipped around the globe. As the story goes, a Sears Roebuck ad included a phone number for children to call, but that number was wrong. Instead of reaching the retailer's Christmas line, it included the unlisted number for NORAD command.
In 1955, Sears Roebuck & Co. ran an advertisement in a Colorado Springs-area newspaper with a phone number that children could call to speak with Santa. But rather than being a direct line to the North Pole, the misprinted number instead connected to a telephone on the desk of the Continental Air Defense Command's director of operations, Col. Harry Shoup.