Alex Carson
Did you know that Dallas was once home to an 85-foot-tall Santa Claus holding a full-sized car in his lap? Did you also know that this holiday attraction ended in a tragic accident that claimed a man’s life? In this video, we explore the 1953 Porter Chevrolet Santa disaster—one of the most bizarre and forgotten episodes in Dallas history.
▬Contents of this video▬
00:00 – Intro
00:36 – Building a Giant Santa
03:02 – The Fatal Fall of Roy Davis
05:30 – A Holiday Spectacle in Shadow
07:42 – Outro
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Created by Jack Bridges, the same artist behind Big Tex, the massive Santa was designed as a bold holiday marketing stunt and quickly became a local sensation. But just a day after the towering figure was completed, the mood turned grim when Roy V. Davis, a crane superintendent hoping to snap a Christmas card photo beside Santa, suffered a fatal fall in front of stunned bystanders.
Drawing from archived news reports, rare footage, and research by journalist Robert Wilonsky and historian Paula Bosse, we uncover the full story behind the display, the media attention it briefly attracted, and the way the tragedy quietly faded from public memory. This is more than just a strange footnote in Christmas history—it’s a haunting example of how quickly even dramatic events can be buried beneath the festive surface of the past.
How the Porter Chevrolet Santa Disaster Left a Man DEAD
