The enigma of the Sodder folk began Christmas Eve , 1945 . George and Jennie Sodder were raising their class in a house in Fayetteville , West Virginia , near what ’s nowNew River Gorge National Park and Preserve . They lived , by all accounts , a distinctive small - town life ; but what happened that nighttime was unusual , deeply tragical and remains amysteryto this day .
A blast , start up under suspicious circumstance , burned the family ’s home to the ground . While George and Jennie get away along with four of their children , five others never made it out of the house . At least , that was the prescribed story . For more than 70 year , uncertainty have hang in about the actual destiny of the five Sodder children .
The Night of the Sodder Family Fire
George and Jennie — like many of their Fayetteville neighbor — had both emigrated from Italy as kid . The Sodders owned a trucking company and haul ember from the neighborhood ’s mines . On the night of the flame , they were at home with nine of their 10 youngster ( the second - firstborn , Joe , was away with the Army , serving in World War II ) . George and the two oldest boy were already in bed . Jennie took the young , two - twelvemonth - old Sylvia , to bottom with her around 10 p.m.
At 19 , Marion was the oldest Sodder girl . She and five of theyoungerchildren — Maurice , Martha , Louis , Jennie and Betty — detain up a bit later on . At 12:30 ante meridiem , a phone call roused Jennie , the mother , who pass downstairs to answer it . She told the caller , a cleaning lady with a " uncanny laughter , " that she had the incorrect number . Then she hang up and go back up to bed , noticing on her way that Marion had fallen asleep on the sofa .
An time of day later , Jennie Sodderwokeagain , this time to the smell of hummer . She rushed into George ’s office , which was full of fire . She and George run Sylvia out of the business firm , and the three oldest children — John , Marion and George Jr. — run too . The step to the attic , where the young children slept and where the kin assumed they were immobilize , were already engulfed in fire .
The Sodder ’s phone did n’t work , so Marion ran to a neighbour ’s house where she tried to call the local fervour section . Meanwhile , George tried madly to reach the attic from outside the theatre . He rushed for a ravel that was ordinarily stored against the side of the home , but it was miss . He essay to pull one of his coal - haul trucks to the theatre so he could climb on top of it and get hold of the 2nd tale . Neither would start , though they ’d just been driven the day before .
In the end , all the pull round Sodders could do was watch helplessly as their house burned and collapsed . When the fire section finally arrived hours subsequently , there was nothing left but embers and ash . Everyone assumed the five untested Sodders were dead .
Where Were the Bodies of Five of the Children?
Soon , though , enquiry get up . The first hunt sour upno signof human remains . The fire chief ’s explanation for why it take hours for help to arrive seemed suspicious .
There were rumors about threats George Sodder had have in the workweek and months run up to the fire . It was all enough to fan the spark of doubt , and the Sodders began to take a firm stand that their five missing baby were still alive — kidnapped before the attack even start out . In 1952 , they rear a monolithic billboard along State Route 16 in Ansted , West Virginia , near the house . It featured photos of the children and read , in bold letters , " What was their fate ? " It also put up a reward of $ 5,000 .
" I grew up driving by their sign for many years , " saysLewis A. Cook , the official town historian of Fayetteville , in an email interview . In fact , it became a form of landmark in the area , and even those who did n’t know the details of the 1945 fire knew about the secret .
The Sodder family spend the rest of their lives running down leads about their missing child all over the country . They tried to affect theFBI ; though J. Edgar Hoover himself responded to George Sodder ’s letters , the bureau correct to take the sheath .
Goerge Sodder go in 1969 after pursuing lead for the rest period of his life . The billboard on Route 16 stood until 1989 , when Jennie Sodder fail and her remaining children require the sure-enough faded and weathered sign of the zodiac down . Eventually , as the people involve passed away , the story became more local traditional knowledge than cold case waiting to be reopened .
The Mystery Lives on Today
" I am bad to say that I have little to sum to the tarradiddle of the Sodder sept , " says Cook . " Most of the people I knew who were firefighters or others living during the clip are long gone , " adds Fayetteville mayor Sharon Cruikshank .
The report of the Sodder shaver , however , go on . A local author named George Bragg wrote about it in his 2012 Good Book " West Virginia Unsolved Murders . " It ’s been the subject of a segment onNational Public Radioand an episode of the History Channel ’s " History ’s Greatest Mysteries . " It ’s frequently discussed in on-line forums dedicated to unresolved crimes and murders . Cook feels most of the retellings exist strictly for amusement economic value .
" I have seen multiple account statement of the report that have been produced , " he say . " The story , as it is secernate in the multiple TV yield , is likely over - dramatized but with a certain expression of credibleness . I suppose all human community have such machination . "
For his part , Cook says he " could take , given my impression of the incident , that it could have happened as presented . " In other words , it ’s plausible that the tyke simply perish in the fire , and the probe that flush it to find any remains was just too cursory . That ’s the conclusion most others who ’ve examined the taradiddle in recent years have fall to , as well . Still , the " genuine outlandishness " around it all , as NPR reporter Stacy Horn put it , make water the Sodder children ’s destiny an enduring — and challenging — mystery .
