The Santa Clause

One more for tonight.....

A coworker of mine's husband plays Santa every year for the kid's Christmas party. He has done this for about 9 years now. Every year he sneaks into the upstairs room of the center to change into his Santa costume and then comes down with a Ho Ho Ho. Afterward, he always goes back into that room to change into his street clothes and head home. It's the only room up there because it's actually the converted garage.

So fine, last year he finished his Santa job and went out the door. I assumed he went into the garage to change back to his normal clothes, and I waited a few minutes because I had a few more of the kids' presents to take up there. That is also where our coat room and cubbies are. I figured I had waited a decent amount of time, and hauled the gifts up the stairs. I stopped outside the door and called out "Are ya' decent?' and I heard his reply but wasnt exactly sure if he meant Yes or No. The door to that room does not go all the way down to the floor, there is about a 6 inch gap. I could hear his voice coming out from beneath and through the door, a male voice, clearly talking, but not make out his actual words. I pushed open the door a couple of inches and called out around it "Sorry, I didnt hear you" or whatever, something like that. I was met with silence. Total silence. I thought 'What the heck?" and I peeked carefully around the door to make sure I was not catching Santa in his birthday suit - but the room was completely empty. I was shocked.

I had worked there for almost 18 years at the time, 7 of them consecutively, so I am used to the sounds of the area and how voices carry from outside the walls, etc. The garage is heavily insulated, the doors are metal, and I rarely hear anyone talking from outside even when I am right inside the garage.... so what the heck happened? I heard him - or some man - answer me. I could almost make out the words, the voice was very deep, definitely saying a short sentence of a few words - but no one was there. It freaked me out so much, I ran in there, threw the presents in the cubbies as fast as I could, and ran back down the stairs. Yes, I am brave lol. I stayed long enough to confirm that the room was indeed empty, since it's my job to keep the kids safe and we cant have a stranger in the daycare obviously, but then I got the hell out of there.

I came back in the main center looking a bit weird, so my coworker asked what was up. I said "oh, I thought your hubby was still in the garage" and she said "no, he came here already dressed today cos he thought it would be funny to drive around as Santa, so he just left right away". I said 'Oh' but then filled her in later on what really happened. She was floored. She has heard the odd voice here and there, but I hadn't, so it was a new thing to everyone. We never tell our boss these stories because it's actually in her home lol, but the rest of us share experiences and there have been a lot over the years. I would love to talk to 3 former staff I worked with back in the 90s to see if they had strange things happen to them too, but I never run into them in a place where I could ask such questions. Maybe one day...