Pretty much everyone knows about Santa Claus, Indiana. I once told you about the town’s post office and museum, which has been the official headquarters for all those “Dear Santa” letters since 1914. Forget the internet! People really, really, really want a Santa Claus, IN postmark. But did you know there’s another town called Santa Claus? In 1937 Nina Talbot and her husband founded Santa Claus, Arizona as an attempt to attract buyers to the desert (at a time when air conditioning wasn’t really a thing). And just like the Indiana version, the town featured several Christmas-themed buildings, including a successful restaurant called the Christmas Tree Inn, as well as a post office that sent out mail postmarked with the Santa Claus name. Although it was a popular tourist attraction, no one ever really bought land here, and by 1995 the last gift shops and amusements went out of business and Santa Claus became a ghost town. As of 2015 little remains of Santa Claus as it is just two boarded up vandalized buildings, a wishing well, and a derailed, pink children’s “Old 1225″ train. Inside one of the houses is graffiti of an elf giving the middle finger. Someone even stole Santa’s face off the front sign.
Apparently there’s no Christmas cheer for Santa and Mrs. Claus – Bah humbug!
