Mysterious circumstances surround the 1945 fire that destroyed the Sodder family’s West Virginia home, and the remains of five children believed to be inside were never found.
On Christmas Eve, 1945, a fire ripped through the Sodder family home in the middle of the night. The house was completely destroyed and only four of the nine Sodder children managed to escape Maurice, 14; Martha, 12; Louis, 9; Jennie, 8; and Betty, 5 were never seen again.
Their parents George and Jennie, alongside their surviving siblings John, 23; Joe (who was away with the U.S military), 21; Marion, 17; George Jr., 16; and Sylvia, 2 were plagued for the rest of their lives with the mystery of what really happened that night. Did the children die in the fire? Were they murdered or kidnapped?
More than 75 years later, there are still many facts about the disappearance that don’t add up.