Serial: The Christmas Surprise

Automatically generated script; wording may contain errors.

1. 00:06

   I want you to think about things you can't see.

2. 00:10

   The rotation of the planets, electricity, gravity.

3. 00:14

   Because we only see the results and not the process,

4. 00:18

   should we come to the conclusion that it doesn't exist?

5. 00:22

   I'm Sarah Koenig.

6. 00:23

   On December 25th, 1999, a small boy awoke in Baltimore, Maryland.

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   He went down to his living room and found a Nerf N-Strike Mega Magnus Blaster.

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   It's a mouthful, I know, that's the toy you wanted.

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   The toy had no tag, no receipt.

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    It was as if it appeared out of thin air.

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    The boy maintained the toy had been brought by magic,

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    by a mysterious man named Chris.

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    But I had to ask myself, could Chris really have done this?

14. 00:51

    And if so, how?

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    This is a Global Soundlink prepaid call from Chris Kringle and Alf at the North Pole.

16. 01:10

    Toys just appear at our house, not just this year, every year.

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    And you're not buying them.

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    that's Jennifer the boy's mother she's actually the one who contacted me about

19. 01:24

    this story she sides with her son saying that she wasn't responsible for the gift

20. 01:29

    that Chris did it that he snuck into her house in the middle of the night and

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    just left things she says she even has proof I left the cookies okay and when I

22. 01:41

    woke up they were gone and nobody followed up with you on this no Wow

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    For the past year, I've been talking to Chris, a thousand-year-old toy maker who lives up north.

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    It should be noted that Chris is part of a population who identify themselves as elves.

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    They're a minority in the United States, often looked at as shifty, secretive.

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    But I'll get to that later.

27. 02:06

    Chris says that he not only left the toy for the boy in Baltimore,

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    but he leaves millions of toys for kids around the world.

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    And he does it in one night.

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    I know, shocking, right?

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    You know it's like you said you hit every house I mean like you understand

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    that's that's hard for people to swallow right you know what I mean Chris

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    me or not,

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    but I know it's real, okay?

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    Chris

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    would

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    get like this sometimes about the more unbelievable parts of a story but I

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    guess he was right how do you explain these things it's just you you said you

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    You hit every town, like, you understand.

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    That's hard for people to swallow, right?

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    You know what I mean?

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    Yeah, I understand.

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    that. I get that, you know, but for me, what it comes down to is, like, Christmas magic.

44. 03:01

    Yeah.

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    I mean, I don't know what else to say, I just don't know

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    What to say, you know?

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    I had to follow up on this.

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    It just seemed so outlandish.

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    So I called my friend David,

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    who's been delivering packages for 12 years.

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    The same kind of packages Chris would have been delivering.

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    What would the timeline be for someone

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    to deliver a series of presents throughout the world?

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    Like, is that even possible?

55. 03:25

    No, I don't think so.

56. 03:26

    Yeah.

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    I should mention that David works for UPS,

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    which would be in direct competition with Chris.

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    No, I've never seen anything like that.

60. 03:34

    Okay.

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    If he says he can do it, he's lying.

62. 03:37

    Okay.

63. 03:37

    Yeah.

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    So we attempted it.

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    My producer Dana and I built a sleigh.

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    Couldn't get rain gear, so we got a small horse.

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    Needless to say, it went badly.

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    The horse wouldn't even fly.

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    I mean, we tried this.

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    We didn't even get close, you know?

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    But you didn't have my reindeer, you know what I'm saying?

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    Like, magic reindeer only know where I'm at.

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    You know, regular people can't just make a reindeer fly.

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    You know what I'm saying?

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    Yeah.

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    Yeah.

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    This is my biggest problem with Chris's story.

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    I understand hitting one town overnight, maybe two.

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    But every town in the world just didn't seem right.

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    That brings us to Jingle.

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    Jingle's an elf who claims he was with Chris on December 25, 1999.

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    He says they drove around, got high, hung out.

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    That's it.

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    No presents.

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    No flying.

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    Jingle was the prosecution's star witness in a trial against Chris on 34th Street a

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    few years ago.

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    Here's a recording of defense attorney Adina Hernandez cross-examining Jingle back then.

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    Now, Jingle, since the other 14, that grass was magic.

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    Ma'am, I could not...

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    You never! Not once!

92. 04:54

    No, ma'am.

93. 04:56

    So if Jingle didn't see Chris leave the present, did anyone?

94. 05:03

    Maybe there are people out there who claim they've seen Chris leave lots of presents.

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    Maybe they've written him letters.

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    Maybe they've sat on his lap.

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    And then there's the Nisha call.

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    Next time on Serial.

99. 05:20

    It's Mel King.

100. 05:22

     What?