The letter a man wrote to Santa nearly 60 years ago has been discovered in the chimney of his childhood home.
It was Christmas eve in 1961 and Robert Crampton, now 65, and his late father, who was a sergeant with the Royal Army Service Corps, penned the note together, asking Santa for a "cowboy suit and guns and a hat and everything" which would be "enough" for him for Christmas, according to The Epoch Times.
The letter, which included the note "see you tomorrow night," was discovered on July 20 by Cheryl Thorne from Sweeps Chimney Services.
"This is the most remarkable thing we’ve ever found while doing this job," Thorne, who resides in Doe Lea, Derbyshire, England, said, adding that the letter was still intact despite the fact that it was hidden away in a chimney for all these years.
Crampton, who was five years old at the time, explained that the letter was written on his behalf by his father, the senior Robert Crampton. It was the handwriting on the note that revealed this vital piece of information and helped him establish that it was indeed the letter they had written together to Santa.
"I spoke to my mum, and she said 'it must have been your dad's handwriting because if it was yours you'd probably have got a doll's house'," he told BBC. "[She] reminded me I did in fact get some of the kit - I got a cap gun which was like a cowboy six-shooter and a holster, and I remember getting a sheriff's badge."
Thorne described the story to the Epoch Times as "magical," adding that she loved to imagine Crampton "put his letter at the bottom hoping the draft would carry it up and to Santa.”
"I found his request so endearing because most kids today want iPads and things like that so it’s so interesting to get into the mind of a kid back then," she added.
On his side, Crampton, who was born in Retford and now lives in Surrey, had his Christmas wish come true. He served for 30 years in the Surrey Police department before retiring in 2013 and although he wanted to initially be a sheriff, working as a police officer "was in a way," he said.
Now Crampton hopes to be reunited with the letter, which serves as a memento of his father, who died in 1996. It is currently in the hands of the house's present owners.
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Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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