The Sad Story of the Plane Crash Santas
And How I Nearly Solved the Mystery of the Stolen Propeller (Day 35)
At a recent book event, a kind and curious attendee named Douglas was telling me the story of his time as a AMC Hut Croo member back in the late 1960s. I admit to being distracted, trying to work the larger crowd, half an ear on his story.
Then he brought up the Santa Crash, a not well known plane crash that happened in 1969, where two Santa impersonators were killed near Boott Spur at about 5,500 feet just off the summit of Mount Washington.
Doug was working at Lakes of the Clouds Hut, nearby the crash site. He said something to the effect of: Well, we went down there and kicked around the wreckage, and you know, we might have grabbed a few things.
Now he had my full and undivided attention.
Perhaps some background first.
At around 7 a.m. on Nov. 29, 1969, a Cessna 172 with three men aboard took off from Portland, Maine, bound for Burlington, Vermont. Two of the men aboard were dressed in Santa Claus suits. They were going to drop out of the plane and parachute over two malls in the Burlington area for a holiday show.
They never made it. The aircraft disappeared over New Hampshire in a storm and a search and rescue operation began. Dense woods, snow, and the Cessna’s green and white paint made it hard to see the wreckage from the air. Finally, after nearly four days, the plane was spotted on Dec. 2, on Boott Spur. When rescuers reached the area they found all three men had been killed in the crash.
For the sad record, the three men were the pilot Kenneth Ward, Jr., of Augusta, Maine, Paul Ross, of South Portland, Maine and Cliff Phillips, of Island Pond, Vermont.
The bodies were recovered but the wreckage was left until the following season, as conditions proved too difficult for any recovery of the plane.
Enter AMC Hut Croos. Enter the famous Santa Propeller. Enter Douglas.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the propeller from that crash mysteriously began to appear as a trophy at the nearby AMC Hut System. Hut Croos would make midnight raids on nearby huts to recover the propeller and bring it back to their respective hut. This went on for a long time, until finally the raids got so out of hand and became so competitive that rumor has it, an AMC official hiked up, grabbed the propeller and tossed it into Lakes of the Clouds, where it supposedly remains to this day
Here’s where Douglas comes in. Nobody knows who took the propeller.
“You took some stuff?” I ask Douglas.
“Well, you know, we might have been smoking a little.” He puts his thumb and forefinger to his lips like he’s taking a toke. “The wreckage was right there so we pushed it down a bit.”
“You- you pushed it down? Like into the gully?” I’ve never been so interested in a story.
“It rolled, you know. We didn’t tell anybody.”
“Oh. My. God.”
“Yeah, then a few months later, I get a call from my boss at the AMC and he says, ‘Hey you know anything about that old wreckage? The FAA says it’s not where it’s supposed to be.’”
My mouth is hanging open.
“So, you know what I tell him? I say, ‘Tell ‘em to look a little further down!’”
He breaks into a laugh, his eyes lighting on fire as he remembers these core memories from when he was a young man.
Now it’s my turn. I take a deep breath.
“Douglas,” I say slowly, “did YOU take the famous propeller from that plane? Was that you?”
“Oh the propeller! I know that one, we used to do raids. But no man, that wasn’t me. I don’t know who took that.”
Alas, not this time. The mystery of the propeller remains.
Incidentally, as of 2019, the propeller raids had begun again. Apparently, in May of that year, a “new” propeller was delivered to a gathering of AMC Hut Croo members during their pre-hut opening training session. The propeller was delivered/donated by an anonymous person known only as “Santa” who showed up in a red suit with his face covered by a beard. He delivered the propeller and disappeared back down the mountain.
The raids continue. The mystery remains.
Author’s Note: There is some unknowns in the time-line of this plane wreck and recovery. For example, one newspaper articles of the day claimed that members of the nearby Mount Washington Observatory hiked immediately down to the wreckage. Other stories claim that the wreckage is still there, buried in overgrowth and half way down the slope. And, as always, when somebody tells me a story, I generally believe them. I believed Douglass. My goal was to tell the tale with as much certainty as I could find. But hey, history can be a funny thing sometimes.