MESA, Ariz. — A notorious holiday stunt that shocked East Valley residents nearly a century ago will be dramatized as a radio-style performance on Nov. 25 at the Mesa Arts Center.
"The Man Who Killed Santa Claus" will be told by Mayor John Giles and several local actors in commemoration of an event that left a memorable mark on the city's history.
The story is a real-life account of a holiday event in 1932 that unexpectedly ended in disaster and tarnished the reputation of a local newspaper editor.
John McPhee, the editor of the Mesa Journal-Tribune, had wanted to spread some Christmas cheer as the city continued to feel the pains of the Great Depression.
He invited locals to come out and watch a Santa-dressed stuntman jump out of an airplane and parachute down into Mesa to deliver presents for a crowd of children.
But on the day of the big scheduled event, things did not go according to plan.
According to old newspaper accounts, the stuntman hired by McPhee was too drunk to jump so the editor hastily looked for an alternative solution. He found a department store mannequin and dressed it up to look like old St. Nick.
McPhee planned to swap out the dummy for a live Santa Claus on the ground and the town would proceed with kicking off its holiday parade.
Though the mannequin's chute never deployed, resulting in Mesa's children having to watch a fake Santa Clause plunge to his death in a farm field.
McPhee later recalled hearing children cry and mothers scream as the town processed the seemingly-horrific stunt.
The Tribune attempted to spin the incident as some sort of Christmas miracle, claiming Santa survived the fall "unhurt and unperturbed."
Once the truth about the dummy was revealed, the story quickly became a Mesa legend and would forever haunt McPhee's legacy.
The newspaperman's 1968 obituary couldn't help but mention the "Santa Claus-killing" incident from decades earlier.
"I'm the man who 'killed' Santa Claus and I'm sorry," McPhee said years after the failed stunt.
Mayor John Giles will be retelling McPhee's story during Mesa's Merry Main Street festivities on Nov. 25. More information about the event can be found here.
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