Conspiracy on the Polar Express

The metaphor of the ringing bell

3 min readNov 10, 2023

I have seen the Polar Express too many times. My son loved the movie and watched it three times a day for at least a year, and then my other kids loved the movie too. So it is quite possible that I have seen it close to 1,000 times. The movie lines are burned in my brain. As a result, I have had some time to think about things that others may not have.

Some have theorized that the Conductor is the kid when he’s older, and I suppose you could also theorize that the ghost is the kid after he dies in some odd time warped theory. This is clued in by Tom Hanks playing all these people. However, that misses some minor foreshadowing.

The mother is pregnant. The detail only appears for three seconds when the boy is looking through his keyhole to spy on what his sister is saying to their parents. The next morning, spoiler alert, he opens his presents and finds the bell from Santa that only him and his sister could hear.

One second of his mother holding her hands over her stomach because there is a baby in there

Then he says, “over time, my friends could no longer hear the bell and even my sister was unable to hear it, but I also could.” There is no mention of another sibling. Why wouldn’t he show his new, younger sibling the bell unless something sinister happened.

This reflection, a minute later into the film, shows she is clearly pregnant which can also be seen how she walked into the room.

Maybe his sibling was still born, and the Polar Express is a way for him to grief the death of his bother. Or the baby died in their infancy. Or as a young child, they were run over by a train at Christmas time (hence the Polar Express).

Tom Hanks plays the dad, conductor, ghost, and Santa.

First, the number of train cars on the Polar Express is always changing. I don’t know if that is because it is a magic train or a production issue. It varies from 5 to 20 cars.

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Conspiracy on the Polar Express

The metaphor of the ringing bell

Further readings of mine:

Written by Robert McKeon Aloe