Strange Sight | CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND UNSOLVED CASES

The Sodder Children

[OVERVIEW]

It was Christmas Eve in 1945 in the town of Fayetteville, West Virginia. The Sodder family was asleep when they were woke up to smoke filling their home at 1 am. Most of them got out, but there were some who seemingly vanished without a trace.

[SODDER FAMILY + FIRE]

The Sodder family consisted of the parents, George and Jennie, along with 9 children. They had another son but he was shipped off to war. In the house was John, 23. Marion, 17. George Jr., 16. Maurice, 14. Martha, 12. Louis, 9. Jennie, 8. Betty, 5. And Sylvia, 2. All of the children slept upstairs. John, Marion, Sylvia and George Jr., were able to escape. Maurice, Martha, Louis, Jennie and Betty were assumed to be inside the house. The children who didnt escape shared two bedrooms, the girls in one and the boys in another.

The fire started around 1 AM. When George realized that not all of his children were outside he went back inside. He couldn't get back upstairs however because the staircase was engulfed in flames. He went back outside and went to retrieve his ladder, only to find that it was missing. He had the idea of pulling his truck up to the house, climbing on top of the truck and climbing in the window, only his cars wouldn't start, even though they both worked perfectly the day before.

During this time, the oldest daughter Marion ran to a neighbors house to call the fire department. She received no answer. Another neighbor who saw the smoke also called the fire department but she too got no answer.

That neighbor decided to drive into town herself and she found the fire chief, F.J. Morris. Even though the fire department was only 2.5 miles away from the burning home they didn't get there until 8 am, 7 hours after the fire started.

Authorities searched the ashes for the remaining children but found nothing. They had been presumed dead. The fire chief said that the fire must have been so hot that it cremated all parts of the children, including their bones.

While that may seem reasonable, it's not accurate. When a person is cremated, some parts of their bones remains, even if in fragmented form. Also, you would be able to smell flesh burning in a house fire, but there were no reports of that kind of smell during or after the fire.

The coroners jury determined it to be faulty wiring (and we will come back to this in a minute cause it's important). Days after the fire the children's death certificates were issued. The cause of death was ruled smoke inhalation as no one wants to really believe these innocent children burned to death.

[GEORGE SODDER]

No, no one believes George had 5 of his children killed. But people do believe it had something to do with him.

It's important to know that George is original from Italy and immigrated to the United States when he was 13. His brother, who accompanied him immediately returned to Italy, leaving George on his own. Jennie was also from Italy but her family moved to the US when she was 3.

George and Jennie got married and moved to Fayetteville, which at the time was a popular place for Italian immigrants.

Now George never told anyone who he was so desperate to leave Italy, making people believe he might have gotten caught up in some shady things at a young age.

Although he never explained why he left, he was always vocal about his disapproval of Mussolini and the fascist government of Italy.

[STRANGE OCCURRENCES]

George and Jennie started to suspect their children were not really in the house. They believed they were kidnapped before the fire started and the fire was just a diversion.