Finding Mr. Claus: The Great Santa Search

I have a confession to make. My name is Courtney Mroch and I’m a 40 year old woman who’s never stopped believeing in Santa Claus.

I forget how old I was when my dad finally broke the news about Santa’s real identity. I couldn’t believe it. It sort of made sense. I mean, that would explain why the gifts I told Santa about at the mall were never the gifts under the tree Christmas morning.

But on the other hand it made no sense at all. He just had to exist. There was way too much magic in the air for him not to be real.

WILL SANTA’S REAL NORTH POLE PLEASE STAND UP?

Ever since then I’ve been on a quest to find Santa. The first stop was the logical choice. The North Pole. It’s where his fabled home and workshop full of elves is said to be.

But don’t be fooled into thinking it’s full or penguins, polar bears and icebergs like the one they’d have you believe he resides in in North Pole, Alaska.

Alas, that North Pole is a ruse. Once upon a time there might have been a workshop there, but these days, as with all the big businesses, you’ll find North Pole and workshop hubs across the country. Like these:

• Santa’s Workshop in Cascade, CO
• Santa’s Workshop in North Pole, NY
• Santa’s Workshop in Christmas, MI
• Santa’s Village in Jefferson, NH
• Santa’s Village in Santa Cruz, CA (now closed…or is it?)

And there are no shortage of places you can find Santa and his workshop online.

PLACES SANTA MIGHT LIVE

I really thought I’d find him in Santa Claus, Indiana. Wrong. I found jolly good times at Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari but Mr. Claus? Nowhere to be seen.

I wrote about how I was looking for haunted Christmas-named places and found a list of holiday place names. According to it, there are 12 commonly used holiday place names in multiple parts of the U.S. (Examples include Christmas, Arizona, Christmas Valley, OR, and Rudolph, WI.)

Could Mr. Claus’s real abode reside in any of these places? (That’s assuming Santa even lives in the U.S. He could easily live anywhere  in the world he wanted.)

TRACKING SANTA GUARANTEED

I don’t know. Santa appears to be just too darn elusive and well insulated from detection. The only surefire way to ever know where Santa really is at any given time is today, Christmas Eve, when you can track Santa via the NORAD Santa Tracker. 

But you know what I’ve come to learn? No matter where the real Mr. Claus is, a little bit of Santa’s spirit resides in every one of us. Sort of like our psychic sides, some of us channel our inner Santas more than others. But in the end he dwells within.

If you’ve ever picked out a present for a loved one, or smiled watching a little one open a present you chose especially for them and had your heart fill with joy as they delighted in receiving it, you’ve spread Santa’s cheer.

Merry Christmas!

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.