Santa Letters Sent to Random Couple Get Fulfilled in 'Miracle on 22nd Street' Mystery

“It’s been a crazy ride," said Jim Glaub, who doesn't know why they get them.

ByABC News
December 22, 2016, 9:43 AM

— -- What started as a mail mix-up has now turned into a global movement.

Jim Glaub and Dylan Parker would receive hundreds of letters addressed to Santa at their apartment in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. So the two eventually decided to start “Miracle on 22nd Street,” a project that helps make those children’s Christmas wishes come true.

“We moved into this apartment and the people who lived there before us said, ‘You might be getting some letters from Santa,’” Glaub, 36, said on “Good Morning America” today. “We didn’t really think anything of it at the time, but then a couple years went by and in 2010 we had over 300, 400 letters that had come into our mailbox. They were coming every day. Batches of 20, 30, 40 every day. It was a really crazy thing.”

At first the couple was unsure of what to do with the letters. The previous two tenants before them had also received letters but did not answer them.

“I initially thought we should take them to an organization or something but as we talked with our friends, more and more people wanted to take a letter and fulfill it,” said Parker, 35. “We had so much response from people that we know and people that we didn’t know that we figured we would at least try to get them fulfilled that first year with our friends.”

The Christmas mission snowballed from there and now has its own Facebook page called Miracle on 22nd Street to help the two men, who now live in London, keep up their efforts.

“And since we’re just two guys we did team up with this organization called BeAnElf.org and they’re taking letters up until Christmas Eve,” said Glaub. “It’s been a crazy ride.”

Glaub and Parker still do not know why the Santa letters were mailed to their apartment but a few theories have cropped up over the years.

“We really don’t know,” said Glaub. “The time we’d be spending on trying to figure out where they’re coming from could be spent getting the gifts fulfilled. There was a thought that the letters were coming from a school district. Some theorists also think it has something to do with Clement Moore. He wrote ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Most of Chelsea back in the 1800s was estates, and it’s believed he had that whole block. There’s a little park with his name on it. He had between 9th and 10th [Avenues]. There was thought that it was children writing to him around Christmas, but that’s a stretch to think it’s been going on that long.”

But the two men said they aren’t really concerned with getting to the bottom of this seasonal situation.

“So much of our lives has to have an answer, but maybe this one should remain a mystery,” said Glaub.

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