On December 23, 1927, 14-year-old Woody Harris was driving his family around Cisco, Texas, in their Oldsmobile. He had no idea that this Christmas would be different. And unforgettable.
At a stoplight, Woody looked out his window and saw something that must have caused him a brief moment of amusement. There in the road was Santa Claus—not the Santa, obviously, but a Santa—and he appeared to be coming toward the Harris vehicle.
Before Woody could process what was happening, Santa brandished a gun. So did the two men with him. They ordered the Harris family out of their car, screaming for them to hurry. The men quickly loaded their belongings from a nearby Buick into the Oldsmobile, including a giant and cumbersome sack like the kind Santa toted for gifts. Santa also produced a moaning and bleeding man from the back seat of the Buick, who was summarily stuffed into the Oldsmobile. Two children were with him, but they didn’t appear to be there of their own volition. Down the road, dozens of men were running toward them, most bearing a firearm of some kind.
Woody Harris did not know why Santa had a gun, why he was accompanied by a badly injured man, why a mob appeared to want to kill him, or why he had carjacked his family. He and his relatives ran away, gunshots ringing in the air.
Well, that ruined Christmas for the Harris family. What they had fallen into was the aftermath of a bank robbery gone deadly wrong. Read the entire story at Mental Floss.
(Image source: Library of Congress)
Here is a podcast version of the same story. Narrated in classic true-crime format. Hilariously funny in effect.