December 23, 2025 • 53 mins
Who is Santa’s father? To find the answer, we tell the extraordinary true story of the two hundred year search for Santa Claus, Sr.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is Red Pilled America. On December twenty third, twenty
twenty five, Santa Claus will be two hundred and two
years old, and if.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
You can believe it, there's a bit of a controversy
over who's the father of Santa Claus. For about one
hundred and eighty years, people believed it was poet Clement
Clark Moore, but over the course of two decades, the
ancestors of a different poet began staking a claim on
that title.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
So we thought we'd put the whole controversy to rest
by telling the true story of Santa's search for his father. Yes,
you heard that right, This is a true story. Use
your imagination on how that could be possible. This episode
was originally broadcast on December twenty fourth, twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Don't forget to share, like, and subscribe to this podcast
wherever you're listening to it, and if you want add
free access to our entire archive of episodes, be sure
to become a backstage subscriber. To subscribe, just visit Redpilled
America dot com and click join in the top menu.
That's Redpilled America dot com and click join in the
top menu. Help US Save America one story at a time.
(01:09):
This story is safe for the little ones, and it's
based on real events. Some aspects and timelines have been
fictionalized for purposes of drama citation. Any similarity to real
people or events in the fictionalized elements are completely unintended.
So don't get your panties up in a bunch unless
you want to go on the naughty list. Now enjoy
(01:32):
the show.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Imagine you're an orphan, all on your own and without
a father figure around. You pick up some unfortunate habits.
You smoke, you break into homes, and sadly you get
addicted to caine. You're a wild child. But then i
few hard work, you turn your vices into an international
(02:03):
enterprise the likes of which no one's ever seen before.
You become a global superstar, the biggest philanthropist in the
history of mankind. I mean, that's a story fit for
the big screen, right, Well, there's more. One day a
man comes along claiming to be your father. You're hesitant
(02:24):
at first, but you learn he's a good Christian man
and he's filthy rich, one of the most respected gentlemen
in New York City. He explains that he never gave
you up. No, what happened was someone store you from him.
It's the final piece in the puzzle of your life.
(02:45):
Now everything makes sense. But just as you think you
figured it all out, someone else comes along and makes
a shocking claim.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Your father's an impostor, a fake, a charlatan.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
He's not your father at all, your real doubt.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
It's a different man, a jolly, kind soul. Well, this
unbelievable story happened to yours, truly. It sent me on
a tailspin. The moment I learned about this shocking accusation,
I knew what I needed to do. I had to
find out who was my real father. This is the
(03:23):
true story of me search. But before we get any further,
let's make some introductions.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I'm Santa Claus and I'm missus Clause.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
And this is Red Pilled America, a storytelling show. This
is not another talk show covering the day's news. We're
all about telling the stories.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Stories Hollywood doesn't want you to hear.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Stories.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
The media marks stories about everyday Americans that the NATI
globalists ignore.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
You can think of Red Pilled America's audio documentaries, and
we promise only one thing.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
The Truth.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Welcome to Red Pilled America, North Pole Edition. Who's my
real father? It's a question every orphan eventually asks, But
in my case, there was a major twist. You see,
(04:19):
I'm Santa Claus Old Chris Kringle, and I've got a
public image to uphold. But the controversy around who was
my real father exposed a lot of my dirty laundry.
So I have decided to come clean. I'm going to
take some time out of me busy schedule to tell
you a little story, the true story about the search
(04:41):
for me real father, Santa Claus Senor. The hunt was
a long one because, like most orphans, I knew almost
nothing about me past. I did know, however, that I
was different than everyone around me. I was born in Troy,
a tiny town in upstate New York. I was placed
(05:01):
on the doorstep of a man magnificent building called the
Troy Sentinel. I must have appeared odd to the people
that took me in because, unlike every other newborn, I
came into this world as a chubby old man. But
I was the size of a wee little elf. Most
newborns are born hairless, not I. From day one, I
(05:23):
had a full head of white hair with a big
beard on me chinned the match, and instead of a pacifier,
I had a stump of a pipe clenched between me teeth.
In those days, I felt like I'd lived an entire
life before landing in Troy, because everyone seemed to know me.
They called me by a nickname, and I mean that
quite literally. Everyone referred to me as Saint Nick. Child.
(05:47):
Labor laws weren't strictly enforced at the time, because I
went to work the day after my birth delivering gifts
to local children in and around the New York area.
I was an orphan, so I felt compelled to be
of service to little innocent children. For the first few
(06:09):
years of me life, I wasn't thinking much about finding
me parents. I was simply too busy running a one
man gift giving operation out of upstate New York with
just eight Reindeers to help me carry the load. All year,
I'd build toys that on Christmas Eve, I'd delivered them
to every girl and boy in the area. Frankly, it
(06:30):
was exhausting. I was sweating me jingle bells off, and
I needed something to keep me awake to finish the
year round work. That's when I got hooked on cane
sugar cane.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
That is, I.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Scarfed down just about every sweet sweet you can imagine, cookies,
candy canes, gingerbread houses, and licorice by the licorice guy.
If it was sweet, it went right into me belly.
But my first gift giving start up was booming. You see,
I was exploiting a niche in the market. Before I
(07:04):
knew it, children were writing me from every corner of
our young country, from New York, Philadelphia, New England, Massachusetts,
and well just about every city and small town in America.
Department stores booked me to attract shoppers. Flyers were made
using my likeness, and come to think of it, I'm
still waiting on me royalty checks now. I was an
(07:27):
unusual child. By the time I reached five years old,
I slowly sprouted from an elf sized old man to
a full grown human old man. But I still had
no clue of where I came from. That's when I
decided to hire some investigator Elves detectives Patrick and Adriana.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
That's us.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, Santa wanted us to search for anything we could
find on his parents, so.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
We did some digging. We started our search at the
Toy Sentinel, where he was born, and learned that Santa
Claus came to life on December twenty third, eighteen twenty three.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
But get this, he wasn't born like everyone else. He
was brought to life by a magical string of letters
weaved together by a mysterious poet. This guy was a
wizard with words. He penned an extraordinary poem on Christmas
Eve eighteen twenty two, called a Visit from Saint Nicholas.
The piece somehow made its way to the Troy Sentinel,
(08:24):
and when they published it in their newspaper, Santa miraculously
came to life.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
You mean I was born from a poet's magical words.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
That's right, Santa, which means whoever wrote the poem is
your father. We continued our research, but eventually hit a snag.
We met with the common problem when searching for an
orphan's parents. The Troy Sentinel could not reveal his father's name.
They did say that they knew his identity just months
(08:54):
after receiving the magical poem, but they were sworn to secrecy.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
By the time I was a teenager, I was a
bona fide superstar. The likes of which America had never
seen before. Everyone wanted a piece of me. Kids, paants,
grand patents, store owners, toymakers. Even police officers looked the
other way when I broke into Holmes. My fame was undeniable,
(09:21):
so no one should have been surprised when someone came
forward to claim they were my papa.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Then one day, our investigation began to heat up.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
As Santa's fourteenth birthday approached, his father's name first appeared
in print. It was Clement Clark Moore. Clement was an author,
college professor, theologian, philanthropist, biblical scholar, and yes, a poet.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Our investigation turned up some interesting factoids about Santa Claus senior. Apparently,
he was a big baller in New York City. His
home was on the west side of the Island of
Manhattan and covered a massive area he called his estate Chelsea.
Clement was the kind of parent that every orphan dreams of.
But we still couldn't be sure that he was indeed
(10:03):
Santa's father because he wasn't what we expected. Looks wise,
there was no resemblance. Santa was frivolous and fat, with
the belly that shook like a bowlful of jelly. Clement
Clark Moore was serious and skinny, with not an extra
pound to hold him down. Except first, we weren't convinced
that this was the guy, and anyway, Clement still hadn't
publicly claimed to be Santa's father.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Well, Investigator Elves, you're the experts. What should we do?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Sanna was getting antsy. He wanted answers and who could
blame him? We assured him that the day would come
when Moore would be revealed, and that day arrived. When
Sanna was about twenty years old, Clement Clark Moore announced
publicly that he was indeed the father of Santa Claus.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Over the next twenty five years, my investigator Elves uncovered
a lot about my past, like how I became an orphan.
I thought I was abandoned, left at the doorstep of
the Choice Sentinel.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
But that wasn't the case. Clement Clark Moore wrote the
poem that brought Santa to life on Christmas Eve eighteen
twenty two. That night, he read the poem to his
children and a friend of the family was present. She
adored the magical poem so much that she secretly copied
it and took it back to her hometown of Troy.
She then shared it with a Sunday school teacher. That
(11:22):
teacher then brought it to the Sentinel. The newspaper published
the poem on December twenty third, eighteen twenty three, and
voila Santa was magically born.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
I finally knew my origin story, and it gave me
a new outlook on life. I was still a workaholic,
of course, but I began to see that there was
more to life than just making toys. Family is what mattered.
So in eighteen forty nine I met a lady and
we quickly married. She was a rambunctious woman that liked
(11:53):
to run a tight ship. In no time flat, missus
Claus took over my toy making operation.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
That's right. The old man was running a massive enterprise
out of New York and he was hemorrhaging cash. He
was given presents to every single child, even the naughty ones.
That was unacceptable. Besides putting us on the red every year,
we were sending kids the wrong message. And I take
that kind of thing seriously. So I put an end
(12:20):
to that foolish practice. Immediately from that moment forward, we
began making a list, checking it twice, and anyone in
the naughty category received a lump of call on Christmas Morning.
Over the next few years, I finally got us out
of debt, and with the savings we hired our first
help us, some orphan elves. We wanted a family. I
was past my childbearing years and these lovable worker bees
(12:42):
needed a home, and it was a win win.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
As me fortieth birthday arrived, tragedy struck my father, Clement
Clark Moore, passed away. He lived a long, full life,
and I was happy to know him.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
To cope, Sanna threw himself into his work, and our
enterprise continued to grow exponentially, so much so that it
became harder to walk the streets. Santa and I couldn't
go anywhere without being noticed. The paparazzi were relentless, so
I got to thinking his father was gone. There wasn't
much holding us in New York, and besides, the state
(13:24):
taxes were killing us, so we scoped out the real
estate market and found a new home. A few days
after Christmas Eve eighteen sixty six, we packed up and
headed up to the North Pole, and there we built
a magnificent workshop for Santa and the elves.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
For the next fifty years, my life was pretty sweet.
I got rid of me pipe, and business was expanding
all across the globe. But there was one hiccup. I
started to hear some nasty rumors, rumors about me father
that would turn me world upside down. More of Red
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taste the difference. Welcome back to Red Pilled America, the
greatest storytelling show that the world has ever known. So
after me, Father Clement Cluckmore passed away, Missus Claws and
(15:32):
I decided to move our gift giving operation to the
North Pole. For the next fifty years, life was pretty sweet.
But there was one hiccup. I started to hear some
rather nasty rumors about me, Father Clement Clockmore, Rumors that
he was not actually me Papa. Some people were making
(15:53):
noise that a Poughkeepsie native named Henry Livingston Junior was
me real dad. At first I paid it no mind.
My father publicly c respected scholars endorsed his claim. Even
the Choice Sentinel backed him up. But the chorus got
a little louder when in nineteen twenty a story was
(16:14):
published in the Christian Science Monitor.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
The descendants of this Livingston fela claimed that their ancestors
wrote the magical poem that brought my husband to life
way back in eighteen oh five. They began a brutal
attack on Santa's father, saying he was a curmudgeon that
could never have written the magical poem and that their
ancestor was just the kind of chap that could and did.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
It was a character assassination. Not only were they calling
me father Eliah, he was a thief to boot. For
about the next eighty years, the issue would periodically rise
to the surface, but then would quickly fizzle out. So
I thought the whole controversy was coming to an end.
But then came the year two thousand. That's when a
(16:57):
bombshell hit me life.
Speaker 6 (16:59):
The evidence looks pretty strong that Mare did not write
the night before Christmas, and that Henry Livingston den.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
The most frequent people on my naughty list. The media
began picking up the story.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
Twas the Nights before Christmas went all through the house.
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Speaker 7 (17:17):
It's a classic example of literary history. We all know
the words.
Speaker 8 (17:21):
The Night Before Christmas transformed a stern and skinny Saint
Nick into a plump, jolly elf. And author Clement Clark
Moore became known as the father of Christmas as we
celebrated today.
Speaker 7 (17:34):
But is he descendants of Henry Livingston, a happy, go
lucky poet of the early eighteen hundreds, say the Night
before Christmas twas ripped off by the man who until
now has gotten credit for the rhyme, Clement Clark Moore.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
When I was introduced, as all boys and girls are
introduced to the poem the Night before Christmas, I was
always told that it was stolen from our family.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Of course, this family had been spreading this ugly life
for eighty years. But now they added some credibility to me.
They claim they convinced some so called expert to look
into the issue.
Speaker 9 (18:08):
The Livingston legend was passed down until the new millennium,
when Mary Vandus, another Livingston descendant convinced literary sleuth Don
Foster to help investigate.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
What he said is if I was willing to get
down and dirty and do the grunt work, that he
was willing to use historical comparisons to see if he
could prove it.
Speaker 9 (18:25):
Foster sifted through hundreds of documents and was startled by
the difference between twas the Night before Christmas and Moore's writings.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
In my opinion, there's no chance that Clement Clarke Moore
wrote the Night before Christmas.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
This was shocking, even coming from the fake news. It
sent me into a funk. So I turned again to
meet trust the investigator elves Patrick and Egiana for some advice.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
We sat down and watched the media coverage with Sanna
then looked into this literary expert and learned he wasn't
just some random dude. Don Foster had a serious resume.
He was known as an expert on finding the identity
of anonymous off and it was that fact that the
media grabbed onto.
Speaker 8 (19:06):
He identifies writers by studying stylistic fingerprints.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
War comes across as being something of a grinch, something
of a scrooge, not the man necessarily I thought you
would naturally assume would be the father of America. Santa Claus.
Speaker 8 (19:20):
Professor Foster believes the poem's true creator is Poughkeepsie poet
Henry Livingston.
Speaker 9 (19:26):
Foster points to other inconsistencies. More hated tobacco, but Saint
Nicholas smokes a pipe.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
This was the point that first got me eye, But.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
We assured Santa that it was smoke and mirrors. Our
research showed that Clinic Clark Moore likely planted a pipe
in Santa's mouth to pay homage to his friend Washington Irving,
an author who first wrote about Saint Nicholas carrying a pipe.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
That calmed me nerves, but then came another line of
attack on me.
Speaker 10 (19:58):
Father Foster sees more proof in the original names of
the reindeer we I know as Donner and Blitzen. Originally
they were named Dunder and Blixum, Dutch names, and Livingston
spoke Dutch. Their names were changed when Moore, who didn't
know Dutch, created handwritten copies of the poem.
Speaker 6 (20:17):
And changing them. He seems not to recognize the name
of his own Dutch reindeer.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I didn't know how we could ignore these allegations any longer,
but Missus Klaus had a different take.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I called Malachy. Everyone knows you can't trust the media. Plus,
these people had no proof this Henry Livingston Junior fella
never publicly claimed to be Santa's father. There was nothing
tying him to the magical poem, and his ancestors waited
until after Santa's father was dead before causing this hullaballoo.
And that business about changing the reindeer's names from Dutch
(20:51):
to German is preposterous. Hey Papa, what do I say to.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
You when you sneeze gazoon tite?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
That's right? Does that make me German? This was all
a scamp by these Livingston people to stay claim on
all fame allegedly.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
I thought she was probably right, but now this thing
had legs, and I have to admit I was on
the fence. They made a convincing argument, so I had
to have my investigator Elves, look into it further.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
That's the part that got my girdle and a bunch.
We'd already paid these guys good money, so I demanded
that they do the work pro bone thom.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
We gladly accepted the task. We wanted to set the
record straight, and Plus we were afraid she'd put us
on the naughty list. So we began our research and
found a guy named Duncan Crairie.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
I first found out about the authorship question through a
famous book called Author Unknown by Don Foster.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
That's Duncan. He's a publicity artist based in Santa's hometown
of Troy, New York. Duncan was intrigued by Don Foster's
past success in finding anonymous authors. He'd identified the anonymous
author of the book Primary Colors to be Joe Klein,
a President Clinton insider.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
So that book came out in two thousand and I
think a lot of people were paying attention because of
the Primary Colors authorship, you know, anonymous author mystery. But
then they kept reading the book and they actually came
upon this question of who wrote the poem that begins
twas the Night before Christmas, and this is the poem
that contains the magic verses that made Santa Claus real.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
The entire controversy intrigued Duncan, and the fact that the
mystery was centered on his hometown hooked him in.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
So my ears immediately peaked up, or my eyes you know,
opened wide. When I was reading Don Foster's argument for
why Henry Livingston might have been the true author of
the poem, not Clement Clark Moore, and just being a
local in the area, I was interested. Every year around
Christmas time, I would bring up this story of how
(23:01):
we're not really sure who wrote the poem that made
Santa Claus real.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
One year, Duncan convinced a local bar owner to call
one of their ales Dundar and blixing the original Dutch
names of the Reindeers to commemorate the controversy over who
was Santa's father.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
And then I think I finished that year saying, you know,
this is such a great controversy, we should, really we
should put this on trial.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
So he did. Duncan Prairie organized a court trial to
settle once and for all the question of who was
the father of Santa Claus. Our client from the North
Pole was finally going to learn the truth. Welcome back
to red pilled America. So event consultant Duncan Prairie became
intrigued by the question of who was Santa's father, so
(23:47):
he organized a court trial to settle the question once
and for all. The trial was held in twenty thirteen,
but it ended with the hung jury, so Duncan organized
another trial the following year.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
When I caught wind of the trial, I had mixed feelings.
I had grown to love me father Clement Clark Moore,
but at the same time I had to know the truth.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I was relieved we'd finally be able to put this
whole charade to rest. Sana and I wanted to see
this spectacle up close. So we disguised ourselves and snuck
in on the trial, and we brought an investigator, Elves,
along as our translators.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
The trial commenced on December seventh, twenty fourteen, and was
held in the John T. Casey Ceremonial Courthouse in Troy,
New York. Duncan Craerry dubbed it the Trial before Christmas,
and it was presided over by a real bona fide judge,
retired New York State Supreme Court Justice Edward O. Spain.
Speaker 11 (24:44):
This is the matter of the case of Livingston versus Moore.
The charge basically is that the descendants of Major Henry
Livingston Junior charged Clement Clark Moore with literary piracy concerning
the authorship credit for a cat out of visit from
(25:05):
Saint Nicholas, which is also known as Twas the Night
before Christmas. I'll ask it an opening statement on behalf
of the Livingston descendants he presented at this time by
mister Case.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
What is a poet?
Speaker 12 (25:19):
To me? A poet is a person who has a
deep feeling that wishes to that he wish he or
she wishes to communicate to the rest of mankind, and
does so through the lens of his or her personality.
We have a poem here that one hundred and ninety
one years ago was published anonymously in the city of Troy.
(25:43):
It's called a Visit from Saint Nicholas who wrote it.
We have Clement Clark Wore, a very narrow academic, a
very wealthy individual who lived in a four story mansion
in Chelsea, New York, and separated himself usually from humanity.
He was wealthier and above everybody else, and claim for
(26:03):
one hundred and fifty years thereabouts to the authorship of
this poem.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
It's not true. It's been over one hundred and seventy
five years that Clement came out as your father.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Honey bype it down, though the recognize us he was
the son of a bishop.
Speaker 12 (26:16):
He wrote poetry, and most of his poems are lessons
and how to behave, and if you don't behave properly,
you're going to get punished. There's a snake under every
flower in the garden of Clement Moore Patrick.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Where's he going with this? He's saying that Santa's father
was a grumpy elitist that couldn't have written a jolly
poem that magically gave Sannah life.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
That's defamatory. I've put enough.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Let's go Seanna, honey, please, I've got to know the truth,
all right.
Speaker 12 (26:46):
Clement Clark Moore is always trying to impart a moral
He thinks that mankind is evil and needs to be chastised.
Henry Livingston, on the other hand, a man of the earth,
a man of the people, a man that put his
life on the line and the lives of his family
to fight the revolution and make this country free. Livingston
(27:06):
was also a poet. He churned out poetry day by
day by day, very rarely put his name on it,
published enormous amounts of poetry and journals and never signed them.
Henry Livingston was a devoted father, and the celebrations of
the holidays at his farm and Poughkeepsie were legendary in
the Lower Hudson Valley. He played the fiddle. He loved
to dance. The anapestic meter he used in most of
(27:28):
his poetry was the night before Christmas, to go through
the house that a creature was. It's a dancing sort
of meter.
Speaker 13 (27:35):
Think about the men, think about who they were. Clement
Clark Moore thought everyone, men, women, and even children were
sinners in the hands of an angry god.
Speaker 12 (27:49):
Henry Livingston saw the goodness of man, con the innocence
of children, and the magic of this life we share.
And that's what he embodied in this hall. So we
asked for your attention today to the witnesses that we produce.
And we're sure that at the end of this your
verdict is going to be for Henry Livingston.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Scared assassination. I would stand for it. I'm going to
keep that young man a piece of my mind.
Speaker 11 (28:15):
Order in this court, Madam say, I'm just an old
lady who's hot and heary.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I'll keep your playing that.
Speaker 11 (28:24):
How will hear from mister Jones on behalf of the Moors.
Speaker 14 (28:28):
This poem was published in Troy Central eighteen twenty three.
Mister Livingston was alive in eighteen twenty three. In eighteen
twenty three, mister Livingston's boats were parked in Troy, New York.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Did you know that?
Speaker 14 (28:42):
From eighteen twenty three to eighteen twenty eight, mister Livingston
never ever took credit for this poem. This poem became
a classic in eighteen twenty three, was repeated throughout the land,
and the Christmas is to come. From eighteen twenty three
to eighteen twenty eight, Livingston never said one thing about
(29:06):
this poem being his. At no time while mister Moore
was alive did any member, any member, child, grandchild.
Speaker 15 (29:15):
Of the Livingston family come forward and.
Speaker 14 (29:17):
Say that's my dad's, that's my granddad's, not a risper.
Speaker 16 (29:22):
It wasn't until years after mister Moore had passed away
that the Livington family first claimed, well, that's something we
saw many many decades ago in my father's home.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
It's a great point.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Now this my god, honey, you're going to get us
thrown out.
Speaker 14 (29:42):
In eighteen thirty seven, a publisher wrote to mister Moore
inquiring as to whether or not mister Moore was the
author of this now famous famous poem. For the first
time in eighteen thirty seven, mister Moore was outed and
(30:03):
he said, yes, I am the author.
Speaker 17 (30:07):
Ask yourself if a.
Speaker 14 (30:09):
Person is a published author, a poet, a college professor,
a theologian, a father of nine, a grandfather, a philanthropist,
someone who's been published widely, and a biblical scholar, a
renowned biblical scholar who lived his life in accord with
the precepts of the Bible. Would a man like that
(30:33):
ever try to perpetrate a fraud an entire nation? That's
just how silly this position is that mister Casey and
team Casey, you are taking here now.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
We're talking caise closed.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
But missus claws, it's not that cut and dry. The
Livingston lawyers are Jack Casey and Molly Casey. Don't underestimate them.
There's some of the best in this city. They're calling
their first witness.
Speaker 11 (30:58):
Miss Casey. Mister Casey, you're prepared to call your first witness.
Speaker 12 (31:01):
We would call Kathy She in your honor to the witness,
stand who she?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
She's a city historian of Troy, New York.
Speaker 12 (31:09):
Oh sure, what's been marked as planets Exhibit one? Does
this look familiar?
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Yes?
Speaker 10 (31:14):
It does.
Speaker 12 (31:14):
Could you tell the jury.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
What this is it is.
Speaker 18 (31:17):
It's a letter that isn't the collection of at the
Museum at the City of New York by mister Tuttle,
referencing mister Luther Holly, who was the editor of the
Troy Sentinel, talking about how he obtained the poem of
visit from Saint Nicholas.
Speaker 16 (31:33):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (31:34):
What's all this about?
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Piatrick?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
I think this is what the Livingston family thinks. Is
the smoking gun that proves Clement Clark Moore isn't Santa's father.
We have to go back in time here for a minute.
This mister Tuttle guy the witness mentioned was the owner
of the Troy Sentinel, the newspaper that first published the
magical poem. In eighteen forty four. Clement Clark Moore wrote
(31:57):
a letter to mister Tuttle. It's since been lost, though,
but mister Tuttle's response survived because Santa's father saved it.
In this saved response letter, mister Tuttle stated that the
editor of his newspaper initially didn't know who the poem's
author was, but would later find out that it was,
in fact Clement Clark Moore. And this is where the
ancestors of Henry Livingston Junior make their biggest character attack
(32:20):
on Santa's father. They're saying that Clement was feeling pressure
from his family to publish the Magical Verses in an
upcoming book of his poetry. In their view, Clement knew
he didn't write the poem, so he contacted the Choice
Sentinel to see if anyone else had come forward claiming
to be its author. Once he learned no one had,
Clement figured the coast was cleared to steal it for himself.
(32:42):
They're calling Santa's father a thief, But how can they
make that leap? I don't know, missus Claus, but let's
see how Clement's lawyer handles this city historian witness.
Speaker 14 (32:53):
How many copies of any Christmas poem entitled Night Before
Christmas are there in existence?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
To your knowledge edited by mister Livingston, None that I
know of that exists.
Speaker 15 (33:09):
And how many poems are there mister Moore's handwriting on
them and signed by I.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Think there are at least three.
Speaker 15 (33:18):
Now in eighteen twenty three when this poem was first
published in the Troy Paper. And Exhibit one just shown
to you by mister Casey. How did that poem according
to Exhibit one, get to the Troy Sentinel.
Speaker 18 (33:39):
It was first brought by Harriet Butler, who was the
daughter of Reverend David Butler from Saint Paul's Episcopal Church.
They were friends with the Moore family. Matter of fact,
of Clement Clark Moore's father was one of the bishops
who consecrated Saint Paul's Church, so the families were very close.
As the story went, she was in Chelsea and heard
(34:01):
the poem and brought it back to Troy, and then
it ended up the Sentinel. However, we did find out
that through mister Holly, who was the editor of the
Troy Sentinel newspaper, that he said a Missus Daniel Sackett
actually delivered the letter to him at the Troy Central
the newspaper. After doing a little research, we found that
Missus Daniel Sackett was the Sunday school teacher at Saint
(34:23):
Paul's Episcopal Church, so it would have been Harriet's Sunday school.
She would have been harriet Sunday school teacher.
Speaker 15 (34:28):
And the link there through both then would be to
the Moore family, to the.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Moors and the Butler family exactly.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Boom Chick a boomboo boo, box up, your father said,
I know, honey.
Speaker 14 (34:41):
In eighteen thirty seven mister Moore was contacted by a
publisher with respect to this poem.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
Is that correct, yes, Charles Fenno Hoffmann.
Speaker 14 (34:51):
And what if anything, did he do with respect to
the names of any of the reindeer in republishing mister Moore's.
Speaker 18 (35:00):
Christmas work according to what the uncation was. But mister Huffman,
they changed a couple of the names from Donner and
Blitzen from Donder and Blixen similar.
Speaker 14 (35:09):
What was it then or and is it now uncommon
for editors and publishers to change the submissions of a
particular author.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Oh no, it happens all the time.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Oh here we go again with the Dundar Blixum nonsense
because in tight honey.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
But this is important, guys. I think Livingston's lawyer is
going to say that your father never changed it back
to the original Dutch reindeer names when he was given
the chance. Oh here we go, you've testified.
Speaker 12 (35:38):
I think that an editor in New York. You believe,
maybe that an editor in New York had changed the
names from the Dutch to a German. Uh huh, in
that poem in his writing, did he change them back
to the Dutch No.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
It looks like it says Donner and Blitzen.
Speaker 12 (35:53):
So in eighteen twenty three it was Dutch. Then an
editor took it upon himself to change it to German.
But when he rewrote it, he didn't change it back
to the way he had originally written.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Yes, thank you, Adriana. Why does this even nata?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
The first time the Magical Poem was published, the last
two reindeers were given the names Dunder and Blixen, which
are Dutch for thunder and lightning. Years later, a New
York book publisher gave your father a copy of the
poem for review, with the last two reindeer names changed
to Donner and Blixen, German for thunder and lightning. Your
father didn't change it back to their original Dutch names.
(36:32):
So Henry Livingston's lawyer is making a big stink about this.
Livingstone was of Scottish and Dutch descent, your father was
of German descent. If the original two reindeers were given
Dutch names, he's arguing the magical poem must have been
written by Livingstone, not your.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Father, but my father's wife was Park Dutch.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
And the magical poem passed through two hands before reaching
the Troy Sentinel. Maybe someone copied it wrong. Things were
handwritten back then, no cobbon copies.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
You're right, missus Klak. We'll see if the jury catches that.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
After the break, Welcome back to red pilled America. So
Clement Clark Moore's lawyer was dropping the ball. He let
several key issues go unanswered before the jury, and now
the Livingston lawyer was calling a new witness.
Speaker 11 (37:22):
Call your next witness, Thank your missione.
Speaker 13 (37:25):
McCalls in the sand.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Who's this lady?
Speaker 1 (37:28):
I saw her on the news yesterday. She published a
book with a version of toys the night before Christmas.
Why did that make the news because she removed the
pipe from Santa's mouth in the poem?
Speaker 19 (37:38):
And Ms McCall, why did you decide to remove the
references to smoking from your version of the poem?
Speaker 3 (37:44):
I live in the twenty first century.
Speaker 20 (37:46):
It was written in eighteen twenty two. I think that
the damage from tobacco that we all have now witnessed
warrants having children protected from the tobacco industry. So I
took out smoking.
Speaker 19 (37:56):
Did you do any research about Clement Clark Moore. When
you were going through the process of publishing this book.
Speaker 20 (38:01):
I went back to the writings of Clemencymour and I
discovered that not only did he have a dislike of tobacco,
he called that Opium's villainous, treacherous friend. This was an
extremely pious man, and smoking to him would have been
a sin. You certainly wouldn't have been getting any Christmas
(38:24):
presents if you were smoking. So I think for this
man to have taken out, to have put the idea
of this man would have put a pipe in a
story for his children, makes no sense to me at all.
Speaker 19 (38:36):
This McCall, is your opinion that Clemency Moore was not
the author of this poem to a reasonable.
Speaker 20 (38:40):
Degree of certainty, Yes, that is my opinion.
Speaker 13 (38:43):
Thank you.
Speaker 15 (38:44):
That's all I have.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Holy smokes, These Casey lawyers are good. They're going in
for the kid.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Sanna, your father's lawyers should nail her on this and
cross examination. Our research shows that your dad was inspired
to make you by his friend Washington Irving, who wrote
about Saint Nicholas carrying.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
I have a question for you. It has to do
with smoking, sir.
Speaker 17 (39:08):
How do you feel about Frosty the snowman with his
corn cob pipe and his button nose and two eyes
made out of coal smoking coal.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Whoa another missed opportunity.
Speaker 11 (39:25):
Our council prepared for closing arguments.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Don't worry, Sannah. Your father's lawyer is going to make
his closing argument now, and I'm sure he'll tie everything
up neat leading.
Speaker 16 (39:35):
I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this.
Speaker 14 (39:37):
You've been here with me for the last hour and
a half.
Speaker 15 (39:40):
There's nothing I can tell you now that you haven't.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Already heard both an opening and through the witnesses.
Speaker 14 (39:44):
It is vitally important to the city of Troy that
this poem be recognized for what it was recognized as
back in eighteen twenty three. To distort and disrupt the
historical rhythm I can, including that mister Moore is not
(40:05):
the author of this poem would do irreversible, long term
damage to the psyche of this city. So I have
a suggestion for you that you agree to disagree, that
you have another home journey. That way, no one wins,
Loma loses.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Oh wasn't a closing argument. I'm putting this joker on
the naughty list.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
That's all right, missus Claus. The facts are on Clement's side.
Let's hear how Livingston's attorney ends this.
Speaker 19 (40:36):
And this poem was first published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel.
The editor of that newspaper had this to say about it.
There is, to our apprehension, a spirit of cordial goodness
in it, a playfulness of fancy, and a benevolent alacrity
to enter into the feelings and promote the simple pleasures
of children, which are altogether charming. Twenty one years after
(40:59):
this poem was published, Clement Clark Moore made a furtive
inquiry of the editor of the newspaper to make sure
that no author had come forward, and he did that
so that he could misappropriate this poem with impunity. Literary
piracy at its finest, Ladies.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
And gentlemen, it's a lot.
Speaker 11 (41:18):
Order in this court, Madam.
Speaker 19 (41:19):
Sorry, mister Moore wanted to make sure that he didn't
get caught, and he didn't during his lifetime. But now,
one hundred and sixty years later, you have the ability
to set this right. You heard the evidence. You know
that Henry Livingston wrote this poem, and you honor his
(41:41):
memory and his reputation with your verdict in his favor tonight.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
That was a strong argument. Now what does that heat?
Speaker 2 (41:49):
No, the judge is going to send the jury off
to deliberate.
Speaker 11 (41:52):
Now who wrote the night before Christmas? Mister Livingstone or
mister Moore. That is what I charge you to determine,
and I leave that up to you go deliberate.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
When that jury went into deliberation, I got to be honest,
I was nervous. My father's lawyer dropped the ball on
the pipe on the reindeer names, and he got some
of the dates wrong. Every argument that the Livingston lawyer
made could be explained, but one argument seemed to really
move the jury. That whole mess about me father fishing
(42:32):
to see if the coast was clear so he could
steal the magical poem for himself. Everything seemed to hinge
on that point. It made me Dad look sinister. Well,
we didn't need to wait long for the verdict. The
jury worked faster than me elves because they came back
after a few minutes of deliberation.
Speaker 13 (42:53):
The poor person, please stand. Has the jury reached the
verdict right?
Speaker 3 (42:59):
What is that verdict?
Speaker 4 (43:01):
Jerry and Ashley decided that the author was a night
for Christmas.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
I sat there shocked. Only one thing was going through
my mind. Clement Clarckmore was not me real father. My
whole life felt like a lie. How could this man
do this to me? He was wanting for nothing. He
was rich and accomplished, respected by all. He didn't need
(43:32):
to capitalize on me fame. Why did he do it?
It was all too painful, missus claws and I said,
fell well to our investigator Elves, and went home to
the North Pole.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
That's when he fell off the wagon. He bingched on
candy cane for weeks.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
The verdict hit me hard. Finding me father after years
of being an orphan was such a relief. I thought
he was a great man, and for years I'd celebrate
the genius behind his magical poem that blocked me to life.
But now a hometown judy found him guilty of piusy.
(44:21):
It took me a few months to compose meself. Then
I contacted me investigator Elves.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Santa thought we should issue a correction informing the world
that we'd gotten it wrong, that Henry Livingston Junior was
his real father.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
But something about the Livingston claim left a bad taste
in our mouths Adriana and I didn't know what it was,
but we couldn't leave it alone. Frankly, we became a
bit obsessed with it. We were no longer on the clock,
but we started to research it on our own dime,
and that's when we found him.
Speaker 5 (44:51):
I remember being very intrigued by that. What the Night
before Christmas is not by Clemencymore, Wow.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
That's Gott Norseworthy, a blogger and authorship enthusiast with a
PhD in English.
Speaker 5 (45:03):
And then they had this kind of very appealing, persuasive
story on the face of it that gets circulated in
the newspapers annually around Christmas time, and I remember seeing
that in the seventies.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
When the issue came up again around the time of
the trial, Scott decided to look into it himself. But
to our surprise, everywhere Scott looked pointed to Clement Clark
Moore as Santa's father, not Henry Livingston Junior.
Speaker 5 (45:27):
I looked at the Livingston claims and checked, and I
looked at the More claims and checked, and in every case,
the More claim checks out beautifully, and then the Livingston
claim doesn't check out. There's many, many inconsistencies and falsehoods
that are wrapped up in this presentation of this claim
that seems very compelling on the surface, but it's crafted.
(45:50):
It's crafted in a very appealing way, using a lot
of misinformation.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Scott saw that this whole business that Clement Clark Moore
was too conservative and stiff to write such a joyous
poem was carefully crafted fabrication.
Speaker 5 (46:04):
Those charges were just not true.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
He found clear examples in Clement's other poems that proved
he often wrote magically. But that wasn't the half of it.
What Scott found digging in the library archives completely exonerated
Clement Clark Moore. Remember the big stink that the literary
expert Don Foster made in his book and the Livingstone
lawyer made during the trial, The stink about Clement Clark
(46:27):
Moore contacting the Troy Sentinel to see if the coast
was clear so he could steal the magical poem. Well,
it turns out that wasn't true.
Speaker 5 (46:36):
That's how Don Foster left it. By presenting this letter
from Norman Tuttle two More in reply to a lost
letter from More, apparently asking about the authorship of the
Night Before Christmas so we have this letter and Don
Foster with the worst possible spin on it and the
most sinister interpretation by suggesting that this was what he
(46:59):
called the Coast is Clear Letter, and the sinister interpretation
more nose deep down that he didn't write it, but
is being pressured by family and friends to publish this poem.
He needs to claim credit, but he's afraid that the
real author might be out there somewhere, so he asks.
He writes to Troy and then he gets a letter saying, nope,
we understand that you're the author. Everything's okay. And then
(47:22):
he only then does he publish the poem under his
name in his eighteen forty four anthology. That's the Coast
is Clear Letter, and the Livingstones make a lot of that.
Don Foster made.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
A lot of that, And this was the key piece
of evidence the Livingstone lawyer drove home in the trial
and closing argument. Well, Scott Norsworthy found evidence that completely
debunked that theory. On December twenty second, eighteen forty three,
somewhat contacted a Washington, DC paper called The Daily National Intelligencer,
(47:57):
claiming that the magical poem was written by an artist
named Joseph Wood. The person asked the paper republished the
poem and attribute it to this Joseph Wood, who'd recently
been deceased. The paper complied and published it on Christmas
just a few days later. But shortly after the newspaper
hit the stands, a reader wrote the newspaper telling them
(48:19):
they'd gotten it wrong and that it was well known
that the magical poem was written by Clement Seymour of
New York City. When Clement caught wind of all of this.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
He went into action.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
He wrote the letter to mister Tuttle, the owner of
the Toy Sentinel, about the original publication of the poem
in eighteen twenty three, apparently asking how the newspaper got
his poem. Then he wrote a friend at a newspaper
called The New York American, forcefully claiming that someone in Washington,
d c. Was attempting to misattribute his magical poem to
(48:49):
Joseph Wood. Clement asked his friend to publish his statement
that he'd written the verse sometime between eighteen twenty three
and eighteen twenty four, not for publication, but instead to
amuse his children, and was surprised when it ended in
the pages of the Sentinel. He explained that when the
nineteen thirty seven New York Book of Poems was about
to be published, he was asked to contribute some of
(49:11):
his work. He agreed, giving the publisher several pieces, one
of which was the magical poem A Visit from Saint Nicholas.
In other words, he publicly claimed the magical poem as
his own in eighteen thirty seven, not eighteen forty four,
as the Livingstone team had claimed. Clement closed out his
public statement, stating it was printed under my name and
(49:34):
has frequently since been republished in your paper, among others,
with my name attached to it. Under these circumstances, I
feel it incumbent on me not to remain silent while
so bold a claim as above quoted is laid to
my literary property, however small the intrinsic value of that
property may be.
Speaker 3 (49:54):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
This statement was published by the New York American newspaper.
Scott Norsworthy found this smoking gun statement on microfilm as
the New York Public Library, and what I.
Speaker 5 (50:06):
Found just established that, really, for a certainty, Moore had
been told of a false attribution to somebody named Joseph
Wood in eighteen forty three, and at the urging of
his friends, he wrote a letter to the editor of
the New York American, who was his friend, Charles King,
and Charles King published this letter from Moore on March first,
(50:29):
eighteen forty four, where he unambiguously asserts his authorship of
the poem and furthermore says that he gave the publisher
of the New York Book of Poetry the night before
Christmas and several other poems, so he actively submitted those
in eighteen thirty seven. And it was basically what I
found showed that he claimed the poem in eighteen thirty seven,
(50:51):
not eighteen forty four. So that coast is Clear issue
is a non issue.
Speaker 2 (50:55):
The entire coast is Clear argument was false, but the
jury never got to hear this fact. However, Scott Norsworthy
was done. He found another smoking gun. In eighteen sixty two,
Clement Clark Moore was asked by an art collector to
submit to the New York Historical Society a handwritten copy
of the magical poem for archival preservation. Clement agreed and
(51:18):
give the handwritten copy to the art collector. The art
collector then submitted the poem to the New York Historical
Society with an accompanying cover letter, and the eighteen sixty
two art collector that wrote this cover letter was Henry Livingston,
Junior's cousin, which leads us back to the question who
(51:42):
was Santa's father. The answer is clear, I knew it
all along. It's Clement Clarke, Moore Patrick and I took
the first flight to the North Pole to deliver the
good news to Santa.
Speaker 1 (51:53):
Are you sure this time? Are you sure he's me father?
Speaker 2 (51:57):
Yes, Santa, that's right.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
Scott Norrisworthy proved it without a doubt. Sir, that's the
best thing I've heard since. Oh, I guess since missus
Claws said.
Speaker 2 (52:07):
I do, good job, my investigator Elves. I couldn't have
been more happy for my plump old man. We've been
telling people for years at Clema clock more with Santa's father,
and no one likes to issue a correction. So I
guess we'll be taking our investigator Elves off the naughty list.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
Red Pilled America is an iHeartRadio original podcast. It's produced
by Missus Claws and Me Santa for Inform Ventures. Special
thanks to Duncan Querry and Scott Norsworthy. Don't forget that
you can sign up to become a backstage subscriber. Well,
you'll have access to all the episodes of the greatest
(52:46):
storytelling show in the history of mankind. Just visit Redpilled
America dot com and click support in the top menu.
Oh and Mary Christmas
This is Red Pilled America. On December twenty third, twenty
twenty five, Santa Claus will be two hundred and two
years old, and if.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
You can believe it, there's a bit of a controversy
over who's the father of Santa Claus. For about one
hundred and eighty years, people believed it was poet Clement
Clark Moore, but over the course of two decades, the
ancestors of a different poet began staking a claim on
that title.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
So we thought we'd put the whole controversy to rest
by telling the true story of Santa's search for his father. Yes,
you heard that right, This is a true story. Use
your imagination on how that could be possible. This episode
was originally broadcast on December twenty fourth, twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Don't forget to share, like, and subscribe to this podcast
wherever you're listening to it, and if you want add
free access to our entire archive of episodes, be sure
to become a backstage subscriber. To subscribe, just visit Redpilled
America dot com and click join in the top menu.
That's Redpilled America dot com and click join in the
top menu. Help US Save America one story at a time.
(01:09):
This story is safe for the little ones, and it's
based on real events. Some aspects and timelines have been
fictionalized for purposes of drama citation. Any similarity to real
people or events in the fictionalized elements are completely unintended.
So don't get your panties up in a bunch unless
you want to go on the naughty list. Now enjoy
(01:32):
the show.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Imagine you're an orphan, all on your own and without
a father figure around. You pick up some unfortunate habits.
You smoke, you break into homes, and sadly you get
addicted to caine. You're a wild child. But then i
few hard work, you turn your vices into an international
(02:03):
enterprise the likes of which no one's ever seen before.
You become a global superstar, the biggest philanthropist in the
history of mankind. I mean, that's a story fit for
the big screen, right, Well, there's more. One day a
man comes along claiming to be your father. You're hesitant
(02:24):
at first, but you learn he's a good Christian man
and he's filthy rich, one of the most respected gentlemen
in New York City. He explains that he never gave
you up. No, what happened was someone store you from him.
It's the final piece in the puzzle of your life.
(02:45):
Now everything makes sense. But just as you think you
figured it all out, someone else comes along and makes
a shocking claim.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Your father's an impostor, a fake, a charlatan.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
He's not your father at all, your real doubt.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
It's a different man, a jolly, kind soul. Well, this
unbelievable story happened to yours, truly. It sent me on
a tailspin. The moment I learned about this shocking accusation,
I knew what I needed to do. I had to
find out who was my real father. This is the
(03:23):
true story of me search. But before we get any further,
let's make some introductions.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I'm Santa Claus and I'm missus Clause.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
And this is Red Pilled America, a storytelling show. This
is not another talk show covering the day's news. We're
all about telling the stories.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Stories Hollywood doesn't want you to hear.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Stories.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
The media marks stories about everyday Americans that the NATI
globalists ignore.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
You can think of Red Pilled America's audio documentaries, and
we promise only one thing.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
The Truth.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Welcome to Red Pilled America, North Pole Edition. Who's my
real father? It's a question every orphan eventually asks, But
in my case, there was a major twist. You see,
(04:19):
I'm Santa Claus Old Chris Kringle, and I've got a
public image to uphold. But the controversy around who was
my real father exposed a lot of my dirty laundry.
So I have decided to come clean. I'm going to
take some time out of me busy schedule to tell
you a little story, the true story about the search
(04:41):
for me real father, Santa Claus Senor. The hunt was
a long one because, like most orphans, I knew almost
nothing about me past. I did know, however, that I
was different than everyone around me. I was born in Troy,
a tiny town in upstate New York. I was placed
(05:01):
on the doorstep of a man magnificent building called the
Troy Sentinel. I must have appeared odd to the people
that took me in because, unlike every other newborn, I
came into this world as a chubby old man. But
I was the size of a wee little elf. Most
newborns are born hairless, not I. From day one, I
(05:23):
had a full head of white hair with a big
beard on me chinned the match, and instead of a pacifier,
I had a stump of a pipe clenched between me teeth.
In those days, I felt like I'd lived an entire
life before landing in Troy, because everyone seemed to know me.
They called me by a nickname, and I mean that
quite literally. Everyone referred to me as Saint Nick. Child.
(05:47):
Labor laws weren't strictly enforced at the time, because I
went to work the day after my birth delivering gifts
to local children in and around the New York area.
I was an orphan, so I felt compelled to be
of service to little innocent children. For the first few
(06:09):
years of me life, I wasn't thinking much about finding
me parents. I was simply too busy running a one
man gift giving operation out of upstate New York with
just eight Reindeers to help me carry the load. All year,
I'd build toys that on Christmas Eve, I'd delivered them
to every girl and boy in the area. Frankly, it
(06:30):
was exhausting. I was sweating me jingle bells off, and
I needed something to keep me awake to finish the
year round work. That's when I got hooked on cane
sugar cane.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
That is, I.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Scarfed down just about every sweet sweet you can imagine, cookies,
candy canes, gingerbread houses, and licorice by the licorice guy.
If it was sweet, it went right into me belly.
But my first gift giving start up was booming. You see,
I was exploiting a niche in the market. Before I
(07:04):
knew it, children were writing me from every corner of
our young country, from New York, Philadelphia, New England, Massachusetts,
and well just about every city and small town in America.
Department stores booked me to attract shoppers. Flyers were made
using my likeness, and come to think of it, I'm
still waiting on me royalty checks now. I was an
(07:27):
unusual child. By the time I reached five years old,
I slowly sprouted from an elf sized old man to
a full grown human old man. But I still had
no clue of where I came from. That's when I
decided to hire some investigator Elves detectives Patrick and Adriana.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
That's us.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, Santa wanted us to search for anything we could
find on his parents, so.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
We did some digging. We started our search at the
Toy Sentinel, where he was born, and learned that Santa
Claus came to life on December twenty third, eighteen twenty three.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
But get this, he wasn't born like everyone else. He
was brought to life by a magical string of letters
weaved together by a mysterious poet. This guy was a
wizard with words. He penned an extraordinary poem on Christmas
Eve eighteen twenty two, called a Visit from Saint Nicholas.
The piece somehow made its way to the Troy Sentinel,
(08:24):
and when they published it in their newspaper, Santa miraculously
came to life.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
You mean I was born from a poet's magical words.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
That's right, Santa, which means whoever wrote the poem is
your father. We continued our research, but eventually hit a snag.
We met with the common problem when searching for an
orphan's parents. The Troy Sentinel could not reveal his father's name.
They did say that they knew his identity just months
(08:54):
after receiving the magical poem, but they were sworn to secrecy.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
By the time I was a teenager, I was a
bona fide superstar. The likes of which America had never
seen before. Everyone wanted a piece of me. Kids, paants,
grand patents, store owners, toymakers. Even police officers looked the
other way when I broke into Holmes. My fame was undeniable,
(09:21):
so no one should have been surprised when someone came
forward to claim they were my papa.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Then one day, our investigation began to heat up.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
As Santa's fourteenth birthday approached, his father's name first appeared
in print. It was Clement Clark Moore. Clement was an author,
college professor, theologian, philanthropist, biblical scholar, and yes, a poet.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Our investigation turned up some interesting factoids about Santa Claus senior. Apparently,
he was a big baller in New York City. His
home was on the west side of the Island of
Manhattan and covered a massive area he called his estate Chelsea.
Clement was the kind of parent that every orphan dreams of.
But we still couldn't be sure that he was indeed
(10:03):
Santa's father because he wasn't what we expected. Looks wise,
there was no resemblance. Santa was frivolous and fat, with
the belly that shook like a bowlful of jelly. Clement
Clark Moore was serious and skinny, with not an extra
pound to hold him down. Except first, we weren't convinced
that this was the guy, and anyway, Clement still hadn't
publicly claimed to be Santa's father.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Well, Investigator Elves, you're the experts. What should we do?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Sanna was getting antsy. He wanted answers and who could
blame him? We assured him that the day would come
when Moore would be revealed, and that day arrived. When
Sanna was about twenty years old, Clement Clark Moore announced
publicly that he was indeed the father of Santa Claus.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Over the next twenty five years, my investigator Elves uncovered
a lot about my past, like how I became an orphan.
I thought I was abandoned, left at the doorstep of
the Choice Sentinel.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
But that wasn't the case. Clement Clark Moore wrote the
poem that brought Santa to life on Christmas Eve eighteen
twenty two. That night, he read the poem to his
children and a friend of the family was present. She
adored the magical poem so much that she secretly copied
it and took it back to her hometown of Troy.
She then shared it with a Sunday school teacher. That
(11:22):
teacher then brought it to the Sentinel. The newspaper published
the poem on December twenty third, eighteen twenty three, and
voila Santa was magically born.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
I finally knew my origin story, and it gave me
a new outlook on life. I was still a workaholic,
of course, but I began to see that there was
more to life than just making toys. Family is what mattered.
So in eighteen forty nine I met a lady and
we quickly married. She was a rambunctious woman that liked
(11:53):
to run a tight ship. In no time flat, missus
Claus took over my toy making operation.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
That's right. The old man was running a massive enterprise
out of New York and he was hemorrhaging cash. He
was given presents to every single child, even the naughty ones.
That was unacceptable. Besides putting us on the red every year,
we were sending kids the wrong message. And I take
that kind of thing seriously. So I put an end
(12:20):
to that foolish practice. Immediately from that moment forward, we
began making a list, checking it twice, and anyone in
the naughty category received a lump of call on Christmas Morning.
Over the next few years, I finally got us out
of debt, and with the savings we hired our first
help us, some orphan elves. We wanted a family. I
was past my childbearing years and these lovable worker bees
(12:42):
needed a home, and it was a win win.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
As me fortieth birthday arrived, tragedy struck my father, Clement
Clark Moore, passed away. He lived a long, full life,
and I was happy to know him.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
To cope, Sanna threw himself into his work, and our
enterprise continued to grow exponentially, so much so that it
became harder to walk the streets. Santa and I couldn't
go anywhere without being noticed. The paparazzi were relentless, so
I got to thinking his father was gone. There wasn't
much holding us in New York, and besides, the state
(13:24):
taxes were killing us, so we scoped out the real
estate market and found a new home. A few days
after Christmas Eve eighteen sixty six, we packed up and
headed up to the North Pole, and there we built
a magnificent workshop for Santa and the elves.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
For the next fifty years, my life was pretty sweet.
I got rid of me pipe, and business was expanding
all across the globe. But there was one hiccup. I
started to hear some nasty rumors, rumors about me father
that would turn me world upside down. More of Red
Pilled America after the break Licorice, Lickory, Where art thou Licorice?
(14:06):
If you listen to Red Pilled America, you know that
I love licorice, and there is no licorice in America
better than the delicious, gourmet licorice made by the Licorice Guy.
The Licorice Guy is simply the best. What sets their
licorice apart is its flavor and freshness. They have a
great selection of flavors to choose from, like red blue, raspberry, black,
(14:27):
and green apple, just to name a few. The freshness
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in licorice before. Seriously, if you haven't tried licorice from
the Liquorice Guy yet, then you ain't living life right.
Trust me, you will not regret it. It's time to
dump that store bought liquorice, but so hard it'll break
your teeth, and get yourself the soft, fresh stuff from
(14:48):
the Licorice Guy. What I also love about the Liquorice
Guy is that it's an American family owned business. It's
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Right now, Red Pilled America list get fifteen percent off
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(15:09):
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A ship daily. Treat yourself and those you'll love and
taste the difference. Welcome back to Red Pilled America, the
greatest storytelling show that the world has ever known. So
after me, Father Clement Cluckmore passed away, Missus Claws and
(15:32):
I decided to move our gift giving operation to the
North Pole. For the next fifty years, life was pretty sweet.
But there was one hiccup. I started to hear some
rather nasty rumors about me, Father Clement Clockmore, Rumors that
he was not actually me Papa. Some people were making
(15:53):
noise that a Poughkeepsie native named Henry Livingston Junior was
me real dad. At first I paid it no mind.
My father publicly c respected scholars endorsed his claim. Even
the Choice Sentinel backed him up. But the chorus got
a little louder when in nineteen twenty a story was
(16:14):
published in the Christian Science Monitor.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
The descendants of this Livingston fela claimed that their ancestors
wrote the magical poem that brought my husband to life
way back in eighteen oh five. They began a brutal
attack on Santa's father, saying he was a curmudgeon that
could never have written the magical poem and that their
ancestor was just the kind of chap that could and did.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
It was a character assassination. Not only were they calling
me father Eliah, he was a thief to boot. For
about the next eighty years, the issue would periodically rise
to the surface, but then would quickly fizzle out. So
I thought the whole controversy was coming to an end.
But then came the year two thousand. That's when a
(16:57):
bombshell hit me life.
Speaker 6 (16:59):
The evidence looks pretty strong that Mare did not write
the night before Christmas, and that Henry Livingston den.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
The most frequent people on my naughty list. The media
began picking up the story.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
Twas the Nights before Christmas went all through the house.
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Speaker 7 (17:17):
It's a classic example of literary history. We all know
the words.
Speaker 8 (17:21):
The Night Before Christmas transformed a stern and skinny Saint
Nick into a plump, jolly elf. And author Clement Clark
Moore became known as the father of Christmas as we
celebrated today.
Speaker 7 (17:34):
But is he descendants of Henry Livingston, a happy, go
lucky poet of the early eighteen hundreds, say the Night
before Christmas twas ripped off by the man who until
now has gotten credit for the rhyme, Clement Clark Moore.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
When I was introduced, as all boys and girls are
introduced to the poem the Night before Christmas, I was
always told that it was stolen from our family.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Of course, this family had been spreading this ugly life
for eighty years. But now they added some credibility to me.
They claim they convinced some so called expert to look
into the issue.
Speaker 9 (18:08):
The Livingston legend was passed down until the new millennium,
when Mary Vandus, another Livingston descendant convinced literary sleuth Don
Foster to help investigate.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
What he said is if I was willing to get
down and dirty and do the grunt work, that he
was willing to use historical comparisons to see if he
could prove it.
Speaker 9 (18:25):
Foster sifted through hundreds of documents and was startled by
the difference between twas the Night before Christmas and Moore's writings.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
In my opinion, there's no chance that Clement Clarke Moore
wrote the Night before Christmas.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
This was shocking, even coming from the fake news. It
sent me into a funk. So I turned again to
meet trust the investigator elves Patrick and Egiana for some advice.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
We sat down and watched the media coverage with Sanna
then looked into this literary expert and learned he wasn't
just some random dude. Don Foster had a serious resume.
He was known as an expert on finding the identity
of anonymous off and it was that fact that the
media grabbed onto.
Speaker 8 (19:06):
He identifies writers by studying stylistic fingerprints.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
War comes across as being something of a grinch, something
of a scrooge, not the man necessarily I thought you
would naturally assume would be the father of America. Santa Claus.
Speaker 8 (19:20):
Professor Foster believes the poem's true creator is Poughkeepsie poet
Henry Livingston.
Speaker 9 (19:26):
Foster points to other inconsistencies. More hated tobacco, but Saint
Nicholas smokes a pipe.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
This was the point that first got me eye, But.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
We assured Santa that it was smoke and mirrors. Our
research showed that Clinic Clark Moore likely planted a pipe
in Santa's mouth to pay homage to his friend Washington Irving,
an author who first wrote about Saint Nicholas carrying a pipe.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
That calmed me nerves, but then came another line of
attack on me.
Speaker 10 (19:58):
Father Foster sees more proof in the original names of
the reindeer we I know as Donner and Blitzen. Originally
they were named Dunder and Blixum, Dutch names, and Livingston
spoke Dutch. Their names were changed when Moore, who didn't
know Dutch, created handwritten copies of the poem.
Speaker 6 (20:17):
And changing them. He seems not to recognize the name
of his own Dutch reindeer.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I didn't know how we could ignore these allegations any longer,
but Missus Klaus had a different take.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I called Malachy. Everyone knows you can't trust the media. Plus,
these people had no proof this Henry Livingston Junior fella
never publicly claimed to be Santa's father. There was nothing
tying him to the magical poem, and his ancestors waited
until after Santa's father was dead before causing this hullaballoo.
And that business about changing the reindeer's names from Dutch
(20:51):
to German is preposterous. Hey Papa, what do I say to.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
You when you sneeze gazoon tite?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
That's right? Does that make me German? This was all
a scamp by these Livingston people to stay claim on
all fame allegedly.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
I thought she was probably right, but now this thing
had legs, and I have to admit I was on
the fence. They made a convincing argument, so I had
to have my investigator Elves, look into it further.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
That's the part that got my girdle and a bunch.
We'd already paid these guys good money, so I demanded
that they do the work pro bone thom.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
We gladly accepted the task. We wanted to set the
record straight, and Plus we were afraid she'd put us
on the naughty list. So we began our research and
found a guy named Duncan Crairie.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
I first found out about the authorship question through a
famous book called Author Unknown by Don Foster.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
That's Duncan. He's a publicity artist based in Santa's hometown
of Troy, New York. Duncan was intrigued by Don Foster's
past success in finding anonymous authors. He'd identified the anonymous
author of the book Primary Colors to be Joe Klein,
a President Clinton insider.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
So that book came out in two thousand and I
think a lot of people were paying attention because of
the Primary Colors authorship, you know, anonymous author mystery. But
then they kept reading the book and they actually came
upon this question of who wrote the poem that begins
twas the Night before Christmas, and this is the poem
that contains the magic verses that made Santa Claus real.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
The entire controversy intrigued Duncan, and the fact that the
mystery was centered on his hometown hooked him in.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
So my ears immediately peaked up, or my eyes you know,
opened wide. When I was reading Don Foster's argument for
why Henry Livingston might have been the true author of
the poem, not Clement Clark Moore, and just being a
local in the area, I was interested. Every year around
Christmas time, I would bring up this story of how
(23:01):
we're not really sure who wrote the poem that made
Santa Claus real.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
One year, Duncan convinced a local bar owner to call
one of their ales Dundar and blixing the original Dutch
names of the Reindeers to commemorate the controversy over who
was Santa's father.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
And then I think I finished that year saying, you know,
this is such a great controversy, we should, really we
should put this on trial.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
So he did. Duncan Prairie organized a court trial to
settle once and for all the question of who was
the father of Santa Claus. Our client from the North
Pole was finally going to learn the truth. Welcome back
to red pilled America. So event consultant Duncan Prairie became
intrigued by the question of who was Santa's father, so
(23:47):
he organized a court trial to settle the question once
and for all. The trial was held in twenty thirteen,
but it ended with the hung jury, so Duncan organized
another trial the following year.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
When I caught wind of the trial, I had mixed feelings.
I had grown to love me father Clement Clark Moore,
but at the same time I had to know the truth.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I was relieved we'd finally be able to put this
whole charade to rest. Sana and I wanted to see
this spectacle up close. So we disguised ourselves and snuck
in on the trial, and we brought an investigator, Elves,
along as our translators.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
The trial commenced on December seventh, twenty fourteen, and was
held in the John T. Casey Ceremonial Courthouse in Troy,
New York. Duncan Craerry dubbed it the Trial before Christmas,
and it was presided over by a real bona fide judge,
retired New York State Supreme Court Justice Edward O. Spain.
Speaker 11 (24:44):
This is the matter of the case of Livingston versus Moore.
The charge basically is that the descendants of Major Henry
Livingston Junior charged Clement Clark Moore with literary piracy concerning
the authorship credit for a cat out of visit from
(25:05):
Saint Nicholas, which is also known as Twas the Night
before Christmas. I'll ask it an opening statement on behalf
of the Livingston descendants he presented at this time by
mister Case.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
What is a poet?
Speaker 12 (25:19):
To me? A poet is a person who has a
deep feeling that wishes to that he wish he or
she wishes to communicate to the rest of mankind, and
does so through the lens of his or her personality.
We have a poem here that one hundred and ninety
one years ago was published anonymously in the city of Troy.
(25:43):
It's called a Visit from Saint Nicholas who wrote it.
We have Clement Clark Wore, a very narrow academic, a
very wealthy individual who lived in a four story mansion
in Chelsea, New York, and separated himself usually from humanity.
He was wealthier and above everybody else, and claim for
(26:03):
one hundred and fifty years thereabouts to the authorship of
this poem.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
It's not true. It's been over one hundred and seventy
five years that Clement came out as your father.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Honey bype it down, though the recognize us he was
the son of a bishop.
Speaker 12 (26:16):
He wrote poetry, and most of his poems are lessons
and how to behave, and if you don't behave properly,
you're going to get punished. There's a snake under every
flower in the garden of Clement Moore Patrick.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Where's he going with this? He's saying that Santa's father
was a grumpy elitist that couldn't have written a jolly
poem that magically gave Sannah life.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
That's defamatory. I've put enough.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Let's go Seanna, honey, please, I've got to know the truth,
all right.
Speaker 12 (26:46):
Clement Clark Moore is always trying to impart a moral
He thinks that mankind is evil and needs to be chastised.
Henry Livingston, on the other hand, a man of the earth,
a man of the people, a man that put his
life on the line and the lives of his family
to fight the revolution and make this country free. Livingston
(27:06):
was also a poet. He churned out poetry day by
day by day, very rarely put his name on it,
published enormous amounts of poetry and journals and never signed them.
Henry Livingston was a devoted father, and the celebrations of
the holidays at his farm and Poughkeepsie were legendary in
the Lower Hudson Valley. He played the fiddle. He loved
to dance. The anapestic meter he used in most of
(27:28):
his poetry was the night before Christmas, to go through
the house that a creature was. It's a dancing sort
of meter.
Speaker 13 (27:35):
Think about the men, think about who they were. Clement
Clark Moore thought everyone, men, women, and even children were
sinners in the hands of an angry god.
Speaker 12 (27:49):
Henry Livingston saw the goodness of man, con the innocence
of children, and the magic of this life we share.
And that's what he embodied in this hall. So we
asked for your attention today to the witnesses that we produce.
And we're sure that at the end of this your
verdict is going to be for Henry Livingston.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Scared assassination. I would stand for it. I'm going to
keep that young man a piece of my mind.
Speaker 11 (28:15):
Order in this court, Madam say, I'm just an old
lady who's hot and heary.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I'll keep your playing that.
Speaker 11 (28:24):
How will hear from mister Jones on behalf of the Moors.
Speaker 14 (28:28):
This poem was published in Troy Central eighteen twenty three.
Mister Livingston was alive in eighteen twenty three. In eighteen
twenty three, mister Livingston's boats were parked in Troy, New York.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Did you know that?
Speaker 14 (28:42):
From eighteen twenty three to eighteen twenty eight, mister Livingston
never ever took credit for this poem. This poem became
a classic in eighteen twenty three, was repeated throughout the land,
and the Christmas is to come. From eighteen twenty three
to eighteen twenty eight, Livingston never said one thing about
(29:06):
this poem being his. At no time while mister Moore
was alive did any member, any member, child, grandchild.
Speaker 15 (29:15):
Of the Livingston family come forward and.
Speaker 14 (29:17):
Say that's my dad's, that's my granddad's, not a risper.
Speaker 16 (29:22):
It wasn't until years after mister Moore had passed away
that the Livington family first claimed, well, that's something we
saw many many decades ago in my father's home.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
It's a great point.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Now this my god, honey, you're going to get us
thrown out.
Speaker 14 (29:42):
In eighteen thirty seven, a publisher wrote to mister Moore
inquiring as to whether or not mister Moore was the
author of this now famous famous poem. For the first
time in eighteen thirty seven, mister Moore was outed and
(30:03):
he said, yes, I am the author.
Speaker 17 (30:07):
Ask yourself if a.
Speaker 14 (30:09):
Person is a published author, a poet, a college professor,
a theologian, a father of nine, a grandfather, a philanthropist,
someone who's been published widely, and a biblical scholar, a
renowned biblical scholar who lived his life in accord with
the precepts of the Bible. Would a man like that
(30:33):
ever try to perpetrate a fraud an entire nation? That's
just how silly this position is that mister Casey and
team Casey, you are taking here now.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
We're talking caise closed.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
But missus claws, it's not that cut and dry. The
Livingston lawyers are Jack Casey and Molly Casey. Don't underestimate them.
There's some of the best in this city. They're calling
their first witness.
Speaker 11 (30:58):
Miss Casey. Mister Casey, you're prepared to call your first witness.
Speaker 12 (31:01):
We would call Kathy She in your honor to the witness,
stand who she?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
She's a city historian of Troy, New York.
Speaker 12 (31:09):
Oh sure, what's been marked as planets Exhibit one? Does
this look familiar?
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Yes?
Speaker 10 (31:14):
It does.
Speaker 12 (31:14):
Could you tell the jury.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
What this is it is.
Speaker 18 (31:17):
It's a letter that isn't the collection of at the
Museum at the City of New York by mister Tuttle,
referencing mister Luther Holly, who was the editor of the
Troy Sentinel, talking about how he obtained the poem of
visit from Saint Nicholas.
Speaker 16 (31:33):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (31:34):
What's all this about?
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Piatrick?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
I think this is what the Livingston family thinks. Is
the smoking gun that proves Clement Clark Moore isn't Santa's father.
We have to go back in time here for a minute.
This mister Tuttle guy the witness mentioned was the owner
of the Troy Sentinel, the newspaper that first published the
magical poem. In eighteen forty four. Clement Clark Moore wrote
(31:57):
a letter to mister Tuttle. It's since been lost, though,
but mister Tuttle's response survived because Santa's father saved it.
In this saved response letter, mister Tuttle stated that the
editor of his newspaper initially didn't know who the poem's
author was, but would later find out that it was,
in fact Clement Clark Moore. And this is where the
ancestors of Henry Livingston Junior make their biggest character attack
(32:20):
on Santa's father. They're saying that Clement was feeling pressure
from his family to publish the Magical Verses in an
upcoming book of his poetry. In their view, Clement knew
he didn't write the poem, so he contacted the Choice
Sentinel to see if anyone else had come forward claiming
to be its author. Once he learned no one had,
Clement figured the coast was cleared to steal it for himself.
(32:42):
They're calling Santa's father a thief, But how can they
make that leap? I don't know, missus Claus, but let's
see how Clement's lawyer handles this city historian witness.
Speaker 14 (32:53):
How many copies of any Christmas poem entitled Night Before
Christmas are there in existence?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
To your knowledge edited by mister Livingston, None that I
know of that exists.
Speaker 15 (33:09):
And how many poems are there mister Moore's handwriting on
them and signed by I.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Think there are at least three.
Speaker 15 (33:18):
Now in eighteen twenty three when this poem was first
published in the Troy Paper. And Exhibit one just shown
to you by mister Casey. How did that poem according
to Exhibit one, get to the Troy Sentinel.
Speaker 18 (33:39):
It was first brought by Harriet Butler, who was the
daughter of Reverend David Butler from Saint Paul's Episcopal Church.
They were friends with the Moore family. Matter of fact,
of Clement Clark Moore's father was one of the bishops
who consecrated Saint Paul's Church, so the families were very close.
As the story went, she was in Chelsea and heard
(34:01):
the poem and brought it back to Troy, and then
it ended up the Sentinel. However, we did find out
that through mister Holly, who was the editor of the
Troy Sentinel newspaper, that he said a Missus Daniel Sackett
actually delivered the letter to him at the Troy Central
the newspaper. After doing a little research, we found that
Missus Daniel Sackett was the Sunday school teacher at Saint
(34:23):
Paul's Episcopal Church, so it would have been Harriet's Sunday school.
She would have been harriet Sunday school teacher.
Speaker 15 (34:28):
And the link there through both then would be to
the Moore family, to the.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Moors and the Butler family exactly.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Boom Chick a boomboo boo, box up, your father said,
I know, honey.
Speaker 14 (34:41):
In eighteen thirty seven mister Moore was contacted by a
publisher with respect to this poem.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
Is that correct, yes, Charles Fenno Hoffmann.
Speaker 14 (34:51):
And what if anything, did he do with respect to
the names of any of the reindeer in republishing mister Moore's.
Speaker 18 (35:00):
Christmas work according to what the uncation was. But mister Huffman,
they changed a couple of the names from Donner and
Blitzen from Donder and Blixen similar.
Speaker 14 (35:09):
What was it then or and is it now uncommon
for editors and publishers to change the submissions of a
particular author.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Oh no, it happens all the time.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Oh here we go again with the Dundar Blixum nonsense
because in tight honey.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
But this is important, guys. I think Livingston's lawyer is
going to say that your father never changed it back
to the original Dutch reindeer names when he was given
the chance. Oh here we go, you've testified.
Speaker 12 (35:38):
I think that an editor in New York. You believe,
maybe that an editor in New York had changed the
names from the Dutch to a German. Uh huh, in
that poem in his writing, did he change them back
to the Dutch No.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
It looks like it says Donner and Blitzen.
Speaker 12 (35:53):
So in eighteen twenty three it was Dutch. Then an
editor took it upon himself to change it to German.
But when he rewrote it, he didn't change it back
to the way he had originally written.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Yes, thank you, Adriana. Why does this even nata?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
The first time the Magical Poem was published, the last
two reindeers were given the names Dunder and Blixen, which
are Dutch for thunder and lightning. Years later, a New
York book publisher gave your father a copy of the
poem for review, with the last two reindeer names changed
to Donner and Blixen, German for thunder and lightning. Your
father didn't change it back to their original Dutch names.
(36:32):
So Henry Livingston's lawyer is making a big stink about this.
Livingstone was of Scottish and Dutch descent, your father was
of German descent. If the original two reindeers were given
Dutch names, he's arguing the magical poem must have been
written by Livingstone, not your.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Father, but my father's wife was Park Dutch.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
And the magical poem passed through two hands before reaching
the Troy Sentinel. Maybe someone copied it wrong. Things were
handwritten back then, no cobbon copies.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
You're right, missus Klak. We'll see if the jury catches that.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
After the break, Welcome back to red pilled America. So
Clement Clark Moore's lawyer was dropping the ball. He let
several key issues go unanswered before the jury, and now
the Livingston lawyer was calling a new witness.
Speaker 11 (37:22):
Call your next witness, Thank your missione.
Speaker 13 (37:25):
McCalls in the sand.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Who's this lady?
Speaker 1 (37:28):
I saw her on the news yesterday. She published a
book with a version of toys the night before Christmas.
Why did that make the news because she removed the
pipe from Santa's mouth in the poem?
Speaker 19 (37:38):
And Ms McCall, why did you decide to remove the
references to smoking from your version of the poem?
Speaker 3 (37:44):
I live in the twenty first century.
Speaker 20 (37:46):
It was written in eighteen twenty two. I think that
the damage from tobacco that we all have now witnessed
warrants having children protected from the tobacco industry. So I
took out smoking.
Speaker 19 (37:56):
Did you do any research about Clement Clark Moore. When
you were going through the process of publishing this book.
Speaker 20 (38:01):
I went back to the writings of Clemencymour and I
discovered that not only did he have a dislike of tobacco,
he called that Opium's villainous, treacherous friend. This was an
extremely pious man, and smoking to him would have been
a sin. You certainly wouldn't have been getting any Christmas
(38:24):
presents if you were smoking. So I think for this
man to have taken out, to have put the idea
of this man would have put a pipe in a
story for his children, makes no sense to me at all.
Speaker 19 (38:36):
This McCall, is your opinion that Clemency Moore was not
the author of this poem to a reasonable.
Speaker 20 (38:40):
Degree of certainty, Yes, that is my opinion.
Speaker 13 (38:43):
Thank you.
Speaker 15 (38:44):
That's all I have.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Holy smokes, These Casey lawyers are good. They're going in
for the kid.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Sanna, your father's lawyers should nail her on this and
cross examination. Our research shows that your dad was inspired
to make you by his friend Washington Irving, who wrote
about Saint Nicholas carrying.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
I have a question for you. It has to do
with smoking, sir.
Speaker 17 (39:08):
How do you feel about Frosty the snowman with his
corn cob pipe and his button nose and two eyes
made out of coal smoking coal.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Whoa another missed opportunity.
Speaker 11 (39:25):
Our council prepared for closing arguments.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Don't worry, Sannah. Your father's lawyer is going to make
his closing argument now, and I'm sure he'll tie everything
up neat leading.
Speaker 16 (39:35):
I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this.
Speaker 14 (39:37):
You've been here with me for the last hour and
a half.
Speaker 15 (39:40):
There's nothing I can tell you now that you haven't.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Already heard both an opening and through the witnesses.
Speaker 14 (39:44):
It is vitally important to the city of Troy that
this poem be recognized for what it was recognized as
back in eighteen twenty three. To distort and disrupt the
historical rhythm I can, including that mister Moore is not
(40:05):
the author of this poem would do irreversible, long term
damage to the psyche of this city. So I have
a suggestion for you that you agree to disagree, that
you have another home journey. That way, no one wins,
Loma loses.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Oh wasn't a closing argument. I'm putting this joker on
the naughty list.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
That's all right, missus Claus. The facts are on Clement's side.
Let's hear how Livingston's attorney ends this.
Speaker 19 (40:36):
And this poem was first published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel.
The editor of that newspaper had this to say about it.
There is, to our apprehension, a spirit of cordial goodness
in it, a playfulness of fancy, and a benevolent alacrity
to enter into the feelings and promote the simple pleasures
of children, which are altogether charming. Twenty one years after
(40:59):
this poem was published, Clement Clark Moore made a furtive
inquiry of the editor of the newspaper to make sure
that no author had come forward, and he did that
so that he could misappropriate this poem with impunity. Literary
piracy at its finest, Ladies.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
And gentlemen, it's a lot.
Speaker 11 (41:18):
Order in this court, Madam.
Speaker 19 (41:19):
Sorry, mister Moore wanted to make sure that he didn't
get caught, and he didn't during his lifetime. But now,
one hundred and sixty years later, you have the ability
to set this right. You heard the evidence. You know
that Henry Livingston wrote this poem, and you honor his
(41:41):
memory and his reputation with your verdict in his favor tonight.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
That was a strong argument. Now what does that heat?
Speaker 2 (41:49):
No, the judge is going to send the jury off
to deliberate.
Speaker 11 (41:52):
Now who wrote the night before Christmas? Mister Livingstone or
mister Moore. That is what I charge you to determine,
and I leave that up to you go deliberate.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
When that jury went into deliberation, I got to be honest,
I was nervous. My father's lawyer dropped the ball on
the pipe on the reindeer names, and he got some
of the dates wrong. Every argument that the Livingston lawyer
made could be explained, but one argument seemed to really
move the jury. That whole mess about me father fishing
(42:32):
to see if the coast was clear so he could
steal the magical poem for himself. Everything seemed to hinge
on that point. It made me Dad look sinister. Well,
we didn't need to wait long for the verdict. The
jury worked faster than me elves because they came back
after a few minutes of deliberation.
Speaker 13 (42:53):
The poor person, please stand. Has the jury reached the
verdict right?
Speaker 3 (42:59):
What is that verdict?
Speaker 4 (43:01):
Jerry and Ashley decided that the author was a night
for Christmas.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
I sat there shocked. Only one thing was going through
my mind. Clement Clarckmore was not me real father. My
whole life felt like a lie. How could this man
do this to me? He was wanting for nothing. He
was rich and accomplished, respected by all. He didn't need
(43:32):
to capitalize on me fame. Why did he do it?
It was all too painful, missus claws and I said,
fell well to our investigator Elves, and went home to
the North Pole.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
That's when he fell off the wagon. He bingched on
candy cane for weeks.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
The verdict hit me hard. Finding me father after years
of being an orphan was such a relief. I thought
he was a great man, and for years I'd celebrate
the genius behind his magical poem that blocked me to life.
But now a hometown judy found him guilty of piusy.
(44:21):
It took me a few months to compose meself. Then
I contacted me investigator Elves.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Santa thought we should issue a correction informing the world
that we'd gotten it wrong, that Henry Livingston Junior was
his real father.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
But something about the Livingston claim left a bad taste
in our mouths Adriana and I didn't know what it was,
but we couldn't leave it alone. Frankly, we became a
bit obsessed with it. We were no longer on the clock,
but we started to research it on our own dime,
and that's when we found him.
Speaker 5 (44:51):
I remember being very intrigued by that. What the Night
before Christmas is not by Clemencymore, Wow.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
That's Gott Norseworthy, a blogger and authorship enthusiast with a
PhD in English.
Speaker 5 (45:03):
And then they had this kind of very appealing, persuasive
story on the face of it that gets circulated in
the newspapers annually around Christmas time, and I remember seeing
that in the seventies.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
When the issue came up again around the time of
the trial, Scott decided to look into it himself. But
to our surprise, everywhere Scott looked pointed to Clement Clark
Moore as Santa's father, not Henry Livingston Junior.
Speaker 5 (45:27):
I looked at the Livingston claims and checked, and I
looked at the More claims and checked, and in every case,
the More claim checks out beautifully, and then the Livingston
claim doesn't check out. There's many, many inconsistencies and falsehoods
that are wrapped up in this presentation of this claim
that seems very compelling on the surface, but it's crafted.
(45:50):
It's crafted in a very appealing way, using a lot
of misinformation.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Scott saw that this whole business that Clement Clark Moore
was too conservative and stiff to write such a joyous
poem was carefully crafted fabrication.
Speaker 5 (46:04):
Those charges were just not true.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
He found clear examples in Clement's other poems that proved
he often wrote magically. But that wasn't the half of it.
What Scott found digging in the library archives completely exonerated
Clement Clark Moore. Remember the big stink that the literary
expert Don Foster made in his book and the Livingstone
lawyer made during the trial, The stink about Clement Clark
(46:27):
Moore contacting the Troy Sentinel to see if the coast
was clear so he could steal the magical poem. Well,
it turns out that wasn't true.
Speaker 5 (46:36):
That's how Don Foster left it. By presenting this letter
from Norman Tuttle two More in reply to a lost
letter from More, apparently asking about the authorship of the
Night Before Christmas so we have this letter and Don
Foster with the worst possible spin on it and the
most sinister interpretation by suggesting that this was what he
(46:59):
called the Coast is Clear Letter, and the sinister interpretation
more nose deep down that he didn't write it, but
is being pressured by family and friends to publish this poem.
He needs to claim credit, but he's afraid that the
real author might be out there somewhere, so he asks.
He writes to Troy and then he gets a letter saying, nope,
we understand that you're the author. Everything's okay. And then
(47:22):
he only then does he publish the poem under his
name in his eighteen forty four anthology. That's the Coast
is Clear Letter, and the Livingstones make a lot of that.
Don Foster made.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
A lot of that, And this was the key piece
of evidence the Livingstone lawyer drove home in the trial
and closing argument. Well, Scott Norsworthy found evidence that completely
debunked that theory. On December twenty second, eighteen forty three,
somewhat contacted a Washington, DC paper called The Daily National Intelligencer,
(47:57):
claiming that the magical poem was written by an artist
named Joseph Wood. The person asked the paper republished the
poem and attribute it to this Joseph Wood, who'd recently
been deceased. The paper complied and published it on Christmas
just a few days later. But shortly after the newspaper
hit the stands, a reader wrote the newspaper telling them
(48:19):
they'd gotten it wrong and that it was well known
that the magical poem was written by Clement Seymour of
New York City. When Clement caught wind of all of this.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
He went into action.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
He wrote the letter to mister Tuttle, the owner of
the Toy Sentinel, about the original publication of the poem
in eighteen twenty three, apparently asking how the newspaper got
his poem. Then he wrote a friend at a newspaper
called The New York American, forcefully claiming that someone in Washington,
d c. Was attempting to misattribute his magical poem to
(48:49):
Joseph Wood. Clement asked his friend to publish his statement
that he'd written the verse sometime between eighteen twenty three
and eighteen twenty four, not for publication, but instead to
amuse his children, and was surprised when it ended in
the pages of the Sentinel. He explained that when the
nineteen thirty seven New York Book of Poems was about
to be published, he was asked to contribute some of
(49:11):
his work. He agreed, giving the publisher several pieces, one
of which was the magical poem A Visit from Saint Nicholas.
In other words, he publicly claimed the magical poem as
his own in eighteen thirty seven, not eighteen forty four,
as the Livingstone team had claimed. Clement closed out his
public statement, stating it was printed under my name and
(49:34):
has frequently since been republished in your paper, among others,
with my name attached to it. Under these circumstances, I
feel it incumbent on me not to remain silent while
so bold a claim as above quoted is laid to
my literary property, however small the intrinsic value of that
property may be.
Speaker 3 (49:54):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
This statement was published by the New York American newspaper.
Scott Norsworthy found this smoking gun statement on microfilm as
the New York Public Library, and what I.
Speaker 5 (50:06):
Found just established that, really, for a certainty, Moore had
been told of a false attribution to somebody named Joseph
Wood in eighteen forty three, and at the urging of
his friends, he wrote a letter to the editor of
the New York American, who was his friend, Charles King,
and Charles King published this letter from Moore on March first,
(50:29):
eighteen forty four, where he unambiguously asserts his authorship of
the poem and furthermore says that he gave the publisher
of the New York Book of Poetry the night before
Christmas and several other poems, so he actively submitted those
in eighteen thirty seven. And it was basically what I
found showed that he claimed the poem in eighteen thirty seven,
(50:51):
not eighteen forty four. So that coast is Clear issue
is a non issue.
Speaker 2 (50:55):
The entire coast is Clear argument was false, but the
jury never got to hear this fact. However, Scott Norsworthy
was done. He found another smoking gun. In eighteen sixty two,
Clement Clark Moore was asked by an art collector to
submit to the New York Historical Society a handwritten copy
of the magical poem for archival preservation. Clement agreed and
(51:18):
give the handwritten copy to the art collector. The art
collector then submitted the poem to the New York Historical
Society with an accompanying cover letter, and the eighteen sixty
two art collector that wrote this cover letter was Henry Livingston,
Junior's cousin, which leads us back to the question who
(51:42):
was Santa's father. The answer is clear, I knew it
all along. It's Clement Clarke, Moore Patrick and I took
the first flight to the North Pole to deliver the
good news to Santa.
Speaker 1 (51:53):
Are you sure this time? Are you sure he's me father?
Speaker 2 (51:57):
Yes, Santa, that's right.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
Scott Norrisworthy proved it without a doubt. Sir, that's the
best thing I've heard since. Oh, I guess since missus
Claws said.
Speaker 2 (52:07):
I do, good job, my investigator Elves. I couldn't have
been more happy for my plump old man. We've been
telling people for years at Clema clock more with Santa's father,
and no one likes to issue a correction. So I
guess we'll be taking our investigator Elves off the naughty list.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
Red Pilled America is an iHeartRadio original podcast. It's produced
by Missus Claws and Me Santa for Inform Ventures. Special
thanks to Duncan Querry and Scott Norsworthy. Don't forget that
you can sign up to become a backstage subscriber. Well,
you'll have access to all the episodes of the greatest
(52:46):
storytelling show in the history of mankind. Just visit Redpilled
America dot com and click support in the top menu.
Oh and Mary Christmas
Hosts And Creators
Adryana Cortez
Patrick Courrielche
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