Santa Claus Ghost Town!

Santa Claus Ghost Town!

Many people tell of seeing Santa Claus in the middle of the night, but for those who drive U.S. Route 93 through the sweltering Mojave Desert between Phoenix and Las Vegas, the abandoned town of Santa Claus surely sends a creepy shiver down their spines. Back in 1942, the town was an active tourist attraction with its pink children’s train painted with Santa and his elves. For a hefty fee, parents would send Christmas cards to the town’s post office to be re-mailed with the Santa Claus, Arizona postmark. Over the years with construction of the Interstate Highway system, the town began to lose popularity, fell into a state of abandonment and was even removed from the state map. In 1983, owner Tony Wilcox, put the town up for sale for $95,000 with high hopes. When offered $50,000 he turned it down. Today all that remains are tattered skeletons of buildings, the weathered Santa Claus sign and the sad remnants of the children’s Christmas train now covered with graffiti.