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Santa sleuths find 'proof' online

By Josh Shaffer, McClatchy Newspapers, Source: MCT News Service

This Christmas, don't look for Santa Claus bounding down the chimney. Instead, expect him live-streaming through your laptop.

For $14.95, minus $4 if you click "like" on Facebook, a website will take a picture of your living room and superimpose a movie of Santa delivering presents there _ proof that the Jolly Old Elf really exists.

There's no faith required. No Christmas Eve patience. Just green-screen technology and the magic of the Web.

"Our product is a real complement to a Santa letter," said Bradley Owen, creator of thesantavideo.com. "It sounds hokey, but I happen to love Christmas."

This holiday brings a new flood of virtual St. Nicks to the family laptop _ an easy, electronic alternative to long lines at the mall or the uncertainty of sending wish lists through the U.S. Postal Service.

You may miss the touch and feel of a real Santa. You may feel like the Santa Claus story loses something when you no longer have to trust that he's real.

But, the Santa sites explain, nothing excites a child quite like photographic evidence. Now you can see him when you're sleeping.

The website icaughtsanta.com offers pictures and videos of Kris Kringle in your home starting at $9.99, offering the chance to make you "a hero to children by catching Santa 'in the act."" Similar deals exist for the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Cupid.

"We got the idea when me and my wife forgot to eat the cookies and luckily ran in at 5 in the morning," said Steven Lockhardt, the creator.

If they hadn't eaten the cookies, they would have risked giving their daughters room to doubt. But that's no longer a worry with a Santa snapshot. "When our daughters got the pictures of Santa caught in their house, they took it to Grandma's house and were carrying them around all day. It just adds to the magic," Lockhardt said.

Traffic for both of these sites, the creators say, tops 100,000 people.

Another Canadian site, portablenorthpole.tv, lets you send in a few details _ name, home state _ and receive a personalized video message from Santa himself. These products also feature a nail-biting segment where elves determine whether you're naughty or nice with the aid of a truth-telling machine. Launched four years ago, Portable North Pole boasts that 20 million people have visited the site.

To a professional Santa, the whole trend sounds a bit, well, faithless.

"Santa Claus is love and those who have faith receive the benefit," said Raleigh, N.C., Santa Rock Kershaw. "Those who believe always receive. I have a 26-year-old son and he believes. "

The Postal Service insists it's still a viable Santa connection.

Any Santa letter gets collected and distributed to local groups who send back form letters from the North Pole, said USPS spokesman Carl Walton in Greensboro, N.C.

"Each one gets a form letter from Santa saying 'Thank you for writing. Hope you've been a good boy."" Walton said. "The address can be just chicken scratch Santa."

But can the old-fashioned, analog Santa exist in a digital age? Will the North Pole start accepting wish lists online? Will Santa be reduced to an app?

Don't seal your chimney.

"Santa comes on Christmas Eve," said Kershaw, the Raleigh Santa. "But from time to time, he makes surprise appearances."

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     A few opportunities for virtual Santas:
     Portablenorthpole.tv
     Thesantavideo.com
     Icaughtsanta.com
     And for the traditional method:
     The mailbox

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     (c)2011 The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
     Visit The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) at www.newsobserver.com

     Distributed by MCT Information Services