On Christmas Eve 1945, the Sodder family home in Fayetteville, West Virginia, went up in flames. George and Jennie Sodder escaped with four of their children, but five more were trapped inside. By morning, the house was reduced to ash — yet no trace of the missing children was ever found. Were they consumed by fire, or taken under the cover of smoke? From vanished bones to cut phone lines, strange late-night calls, and decades of sightings, this case blurs the line between accident and abduction. The Sodder parents never stopped searching, their grief and determination immortalized on a billboard that stood for over 40 years.

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Sources:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-happened-sodder-children-siblings-who-went-up-in-smoke-west-virginia-house-fire-172429802/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodder_children_disappearance

https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1370

https://www.wvpublic.org/news/2020-12-24/the-75-year-old-mystery-of-the-missing-sodder-children

https://www.fayobserver.com/story/news/2020/12/23/sodder-children-west-virginia-christmas-eve-fire-mystery-unsolved/4005563001/

Thanks so much for listening, and I'll catch up with you again on Thursday.

Sarah xx

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