New Penn State wide receiver Chase Sowell recently mentioned the first thing he noticed on campus was the mountains. He thought “it looked like ‘The Polar Express’ because there was snow all over.”

That had us thinking, is Penn State the actual location of the movie?

Yes, we know that Chris Van Allsburg’s book “The Polar Express” is set in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. But what about the movie? It had to have been shot somewhere. Why not Happy Valley?

After all, Sowell isn’t the first football-related entity to reference “The Polar Express”.

In 2024, when SMU came to town for the first round of the college football playoffs, their game day poster featured a train passing through snowy mountains on its way to Beaver Stadium.

The Pony Express.

CFP First Round Poster #PonyUp pic.twitter.com/LiRdn9YM9m

— SMU Football (@SMUFB) December 19, 2024

The Mustangs are also known as “The Pony Express.” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Furthermore, the actual train, The Polar Express, is based on the Pere Marquette 1255, which was left next to Spartan Stadium on Michigan State’s campus in 1951.

You know who visited East Lansing that same year? That’s right, Penn State football in an eventual 32-21 loss to the Spartans.

Just six years earlier, the passenger train that ran through Penn State’s campus stopped its service, but special football trains continued to run until 1964. Is it impossible that the North Pole passenger train, better known as the Polar Express, transformed into a Penn State Athletics train, and broke down in East Lansing while carrying the football team?

Then there’s the actual contents of the 2004 movie.

In the entire film, there is only one person with a real name. Billy. Could that be a reference to legendary Nittany Lion offensive lineman Bill Contz? Potentially.

The lines the characters have Penn State connections as well.

“The bell still rings for all who truly believe,” Hero Boy says at the end of the movie, potentially referencing the Old Main Bell Tower in the heart of Penn State’s campus.

What if only those who believe in another Penn State football national championship can hear it?

Now, maybe the filmmakers didn’t intend to make the movie about Penn State. Maybe the snowy mountains, football trains, Billy, and mysterious bells are all just coincidences.

Then again, as psychologist Carl Jung puts it, there are no coincidences.

We aren’t saying “The Polar Express” is set at Penn State. We’re just saying nobody has proven it isn’t.