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December 9, 2025 24 mins

It's a very One Strange Thing Holiday as we count down to the season with re-releases of some of our favorite episodes--and a special treat awaits at the end. It's become a holiday tradition for us to tell you this one, strangers. . . though locals tell us that things have changed with the tree (see link below). Still, we enjoy the story: Episode 34—The Elves.

Arizona might not seem like the typical setting for holiday magic, but for decades, some mysterious local "elves" have turned a  spherical, scrubby-looking desert juniper out on I-17 into what has to have been one of America's more unlikely Christmas spectacles; but who are they, and why are they so determined to light up the lonely landscape? 

 

Hosted and Written  by Laurah Norton

Researched by Bryan Worters and Laurah Norton

Engineered and  Produced by Maura Currie 

 

Christmas Tree update: https://www.kjzz.org/kjzz-news/2024-12-05/arizonas-i-17-mystery-tree-is-gone-the-state-balladeer-hopes-the-christmas-tradition-will-return

 

Sources on our website: https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/

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episodes: https://www.patreon.com/OneStrangeThing

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