Dec. 24, 2025

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE SODDER CHILDREN (CHRISTMAS EVE, 1945)

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE SODDER CHILDREN (CHRISTMAS EVE, 1945)

On Christmas Eve 1945, a devastating house fire tore through the Sodder family home in Fayetteville, West Virginia. By morning, five of the Sodder children were presumed dead. But as the fires were put out, one haunting question remained: where were the bodies?

In this episode, we unravel the baffling disappearance of the Sodder Children-  from missing remains and incomplete fire investigations to strange sightings, unanswered threats, and a mother who refused to accept the official story, this mystery spans decades. Was the fire an accident, or a carefully staged cover-up? And if the children survived… who took them, and why?

80 years later, there are still no answers and the yearning for a conclusion remains just as strong as ever.

RESOURCES:

"Mystery of Missing Children Haunts W.Va Town" (NPR, 2005)

"What Happened to the Sodder Children, the Siblings Who Went Up in Smoke in a West Virginia House Fire?" (Smithsonian Magazine, 2012)

"The Mysterious Disappearance of the Sodder Children" (Buzzfeed Unsolved)

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