WV - Sodder Family - 5 children, Christmas eve 1945 - #1

Shadow205 said:

Stacy, click on this link to see a picture of the billboard http://www.rootsweb.com/%7Ewvrcbiog/WhatReallyHappenedToChildrenb.html

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This is the picture I remember too. I was really young, but I remember being very scared that children were missing! My granny lived in Montgomery. I also have a book by the Braggs that I just got today and read this story! I was really surprised to see a thread on it. Off topic, but my great grandmother died in the 1932 flood, along with her son, and she was mentioned in the book. Pretty cool. I love history!

I read that someone sent the mom a picture that was supposed to be Louis Sodder when he was about 28, but she didn't pursue it because she was concerned for this safety. Curious, or maybe a cruel joke.

It looks like I'm going to be doing this piece! They loved the story, a budget has been submitted, so we'll see. I am so psyched! I might be going to Fayetteville! I'll have to do a ton of research. Who still lives in the area (I forget)?

Stacy Horn said:

It looks like I'm going to be doing this piece! They loved the story, a budget has been submitted, so we'll see. I am so psyched! I might be going to Fayetteville! I'll have to do a ton of research. Who still lives in the area (I forget)?

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Stacy, that is great news! It is me who lives in the area.

I have lived my entire life in Summersville, WV, which is about a 30-minute drive to Fayetteville. I can remember visiting the site while I was in HS and being fascinated with the story. The WV Unsolved Murders book came out in 1993 or 94 and I immediately bought one for this story. It's something that comes to my mind every now and again and I was excited to see this thread about it.

I have a friend who was a long-time neighbor of George, Jr., "Ted" and his wife. This friend said that he never mentioned his missing siblings and now he suffers from Alztheimers. She said he took the death of his mother very hard and you wonder about the memories he had to deal with at that time.

Everyone would agree that the entire story is mysterious. However, there are a few things that I have always thought about - the biggest one - How do you "steal" 5 healthy, active kids? Maurice was a 14-year old male. We're not talking about tiny children you could quickly tuck under an arm and leave with. After looking at this again recently, I really believe that they either left of their own free will (ran away) or they left with someone they knew.

One article mentions that perhaps the children were told that the family had died in the fire and they were to go with the abductors. This doesn't make much sense to me. The children were likely abducted shortly before or at the time of the fire being started. I find it hard to believe that a 14-year old would fall for that story just as the fire is getting started.

One other thing, the fire supposed started on the roof. Jennie wakes to find smoke pouring into the first floor bedroom. She goes to the adjoining, first floor room where the phone was located, but it was already fully involved in flames at that point. She then goes to wake George back in their bedroom, then goes to the bottom of the steps to call the children down. The 2 older boys come down the stairs with their hair singed. It seems odd to me that a fire that started on the roof would move to a first floor room and fully engulf it, but at least one room upstairs was escapable and the stairs were still intact?

Where did these kids end up that they never had the desire to return "home"? All of them were old enough to remember their home and family in Fayetteville. The billboard stood until the mother's death some time in 1989. If any did return, they would have seen it?

Sorry for the length of my post. But excited to share my thoughts with fellow "enthusiasts". My friends and family are tired of hearing me talk about it!!

Hi, welcome, and feel free to talk as long as you like! I've been an advocate of the "orphanage kidnapping" theory after researching it some in the past months. Five kids don't just disappear (thought I did find an article by a guy who claims aliens are to blame)...What if a person in authority, a law enforcement officer for example, were involved? He arrives at the scene as the fire is getting out of control, the kids are seperated from their parents, scared, and desperate for direction...He tells the kids to get into his vehicle so that he can take them to a safe place to be reunited with the rest of the family, and then turns them over to someone else who transports them away to their fate? Why kids don't speak up or act out has been discussed here in depth, for instance in the case of Sharon Marshall which I am deeply involved in. For her entire life, Sharon never spoke out against the monster who was molesting her...Possibly the kids were taken far away, told never to return under threat of death (or the death of their siblings). Maybe one or some of them did return, but couldn't make contact for some psychological reason we can't begin to understand...

Remember, this was 1945 and kids were taught to respect authority figures, and many of those figures were happy to take advantage of that. As to the fire, its hard to say exactly where the fire began. Its possible that some time of accelerant was applied to the sides and roof of the home-the fire could have started on the roof, but would have quickly followed the accelerant.

Maybe some answers will finally come to light, all these years later.

shadow ... the authority figure theory seems reasonable. And, it would play into the FACT that no one in law enforcement was willing to investigate the story. How do you abduct 5 kids without alerting anyone? has always been the one part of the story that I just cannot figure out. Mary Ann (or Mariane, I've seen a few diff spellings) was supposedly asleep on the couch with 5 kids awake and playing and eventually abducted. Maybe she is a deep sleeper and she's asleep through all this. But, the article states that by the time Jennie realized the house was on fire, checked out the second room, returned to the bedroom to wake George, Mary Ann had gotton 3-yr old Sylvia out of that room and was headed outside. Did Jennie yell and wake Mary Ann up at that point? Jennie gets George up. Did Mary Ann not wake her dad when she went into the room to get Sylvia? I honestly find Mary Ann's involvement in this to be a little strange.

Do you happen to have any of the original articles that were written about the story in 1945? I would love to see how the story was reported while everything was fresh in everyone's mind. Also, I would love to find the transcripts of the 1950's hearings. Who initiated the hearings? Who testified? Were death certificates ever issued for the 5 kids?

LButler, welcome to Websleuths! I am glad to see someone else interested in the Sodder Family Mystery. I grew up in WV not far from Fayette county and after 20 years in Florida have recently moved back to WV. I can remember seeing the billboard when I was a kid and I never forgot it. It kind of haunts you. There are so many unanswered questions as to what happened to the children. I hope to find some of the answers.

LButler said:

shadow ... the authority figure theory seems reasonable. And, it would play into the FACT that no one in law enforcement was willing to investigate the story. How do you abduct 5 kids without alerting anyone? has always been the one part of the story that I just cannot figure out. Mary Ann (or Mariane, I've seen a few diff spellings) was supposedly asleep on the couch with 5 kids awake and playing and eventually abducted. Maybe she is a deep sleeper and she's asleep through all this. But, the article states that by the time Jennie realized the house was on fire, checked out the second room, returned to the bedroom to wake George, Mary Ann had gotton 3-yr old Sylvia out of that room and was headed outside. Did Jennie yell and wake Mary Ann up at that point? Jennie gets George up. Did Mary Ann not wake her dad when she went into the room to get Sylvia? I honestly find Mary Ann's involvement in this to be a little strange.

Do you happen to have any of the original articles that were written about the story in 1945? I would love to see how the story was reported while everything was fresh in everyone's mind. Also, I would love to find the transcripts of the 1950's hearings. Who initiated the hearings? Who testified? Were death certificates ever issued for the 5 kids?

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Hi. My computer is in the shop and I'm here on my SLOW, backup computer, without my notes, or everyone's email address, etc.

But I wanted to stop in and say that NPR approved the budget, so I'm going to be doing this story for their show All Things Considered. I'm so excited. And so grateful to all of you and Websleuths. I love nothing better than getting to sink my teeth into such a haunting, moving story. Personally, that billboard that was up for over 40 years, and the fact that the people who grew up seeing it can't forget it is what drew me to the story, and I plan to talk about this place and the people here who talk about it (if that's okay). Anyway, it's an astounding story, and I just can't get over the fact that I am going to get to tell it. I am so LUCKY. Sometimes.

I've ordered the book West Virginia Unsolved Mysteries (and plan to try to contact the authors after I read the Sodder chapter). I will also try to find all the articles that were written about it in the local papers. I will also be making a list of all the people I would like to talk to, the children, neighbors, local police and firefighters, and you guys (again, if you are willing). This is for radio, not print (although I hope to also be able to write about it, too). So I will be going to West Virgina and recording people. Hopefully.

I may only be here sporadically until my "real" computer comes back from the shop, in hopefully no longer than a week. NPR plans to run this piece Christmas week.

That is great Stacy. It is a story that needs to be told.

Stacy Horn said:

Hi. My computer is in the shop and I'm here on my SLOW, backup computer, without my notes, or everyone's email address, etc.

But I wanted to stop in and say that NPR approved the budget, so I'm going to be doing this story for their show All Things Considered. I'm so excited. And so grateful to all of you and Websleuths. I love nothing better than getting to sink my teeth into such a haunting, moving story. Personally, that billboard that was up for over 40 years, and the fact that the people who grew up seeing it can't forget it is what drew me to the story, and I plan to talk about this place and the people here who talk about it (if that's okay). Anyway, it's an astounding story, and I just can't get over the fact that I am going to get to tell it. I am so LUCKY. Sometimes.

I've ordered the book West Virginia Unsolved Mysteries (and plan to try to contact the authors after I read the Sodder chapter). I will also try to find all the articles that were written about it in the local papers. I will also be making a list of all the people I would like to talk to, the children, neighbors, local police and firefighters, and you guys (again, if you are willing). This is for radio, not print (although I hope to also be able to write about it, too). So I will be going to West Virgina and recording people. Hopefully.

I may only be here sporadically until my "real" computer comes back from the shop, in hopefully no longer than a week. NPR plans to run this piece Christmas week.

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That is great news!! I found an article from the Charleston Gazette done on 12-25-95 and it had some info in it that I had never seen before. I had gone back through the article posted here and could only find mention of 9 kids even though they had 10. The "new" article states that Joe was not home from the war at the time but was expected soon. That really struck as tragic considering they have a child surviving and coming home from the war and lose these 5.

Other things that I had not heard before: Mrs. Sodder checked the coal stoves that heated their home after answering the wrong number phone call, then went back to bed. Marion ran to a neighbor's house to call the Fire Dept. after they got outside. It said there was a rumor going around that the 5 kidnapped kids were in a taxi and watched the house burn. A Smithers woman claimed that the kids had been brought to her home after the fire and then someone with Florida license plates came and took them away.

The greatest thing about this article, they talked to or interviewed Sylvia, the 3-yr old at the time of the fire, and she is very interested in seeing the mystery solved. She remembered sitting in the cab of the truck while the house burnt. Granted, she was only 3 and can't provide much info prior to and right at the time of the fire, but she lived with her parents through alot of the years that they searched for the children.

I don't want to insinuate anything ugly about the family here or any ethnic group, but I have wondered about the involvement of the Mafia in this case. Anyone else?

Way cool. I'm glad to see these children finally get some attention.

LButler, I have read that article that was printed in 1995 too. Interesting info in it. Sylvia now lives in St. Albans.

LButler said:

That is great news!! I found an article from the Charleston Gazette done on 12-25-95 and it had some info in it that I had never seen before. I had gone back through the article posted here and could only find mention of 9 kids even though they had 10. The "new" article states that Joe was not home from the war at the time but was expected soon. That really struck as tragic considering they have a child surviving and coming home from the war and lose these 5.

Other things that I had not heard before: Mrs. Sodder checked the coal stoves that heated their home after answering the wrong number phone call, then went back to bed. Marion ran to a neighbor's house to call the Fire Dept. after they got outside. It said there was a rumor going around that the 5 kidnapped kids were in a taxi and watched the house burn. A Smithers woman claimed that the kids had been brought to her home after the fire and then someone with Florida license plates came and took them away.

The greatest thing about this article, they talked to or interviewed Sylvia, the 3-yr old at the time of the fire, and she is very interested in seeing the mystery solved. She remembered sitting in the cab of the truck while the house burnt. Granted, she was only 3 and can't provide much info prior to and right at the time of the fire, but she lived with her parents through alot of the years that they searched for the children.

I don't want to insinuate anything ugly about the family here or any ethnic group, but I have wondered about the involvement of the Mafia in this case. Anyone else?

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http://www.unsolvedmysteries.com/usm146854.html

Look at this website and put Louis Sodder in the search engine-someone
has posted a search for him.

Sorry, I tried this address and it didn't work but if I put use Netscape enhanced by Search Google I can bring up "louis sodder" and it will bring up the posting.

Sorry, it didn't work.

Try this: Louis Sodder
[size=-1]Louis Sodder they were supposed to have died in a fire two miles out of Fayetteville
W V there were five children ages six to fourteen and half a good ...
myusm.com/usm224982.html - 40k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages[/size]

fox1950 said:

Try this: Louis Sodder
[size=-1]Louis Sodder they were supposed to have died in a fire two miles out of Fayetteville
W V there were five children ages six to fourteen and half a good ...
myusm.com/usm224982.html - 40k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages[/size]

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Welcome to WS!!! Are you from WV? Have you given thought to e-mailing this person and letting them know of our discussion here?

Actually someone here found that site, and did email them (I think it was someone here, unless I'm mixing people up). I don't think they've heard anything back yet.

I also have the 1995 article, it gives a great overview. I also now have the George and Melody Bragg book, West Virginia Unsolved Mysteries. They did a good job.

I just emailed the person and the email bounced. The address is no longer valid.

Away all day yesterday. I too found this site about Louis at one point. However, that internet provider (hawksnet, or whatever it was) has been defunct for some time.

I spent some time at the Fayette County Courthouse yesterday. Not much there that we don't already know. They were living in Smithers and bought the Fayetteville property in 1935 and moved. It was 7.5 acres and the property was in Jenny's name only.

Also, went to Beckley to the library and found the original article about the fire in the Beckely Post-Herald. It was first reported on Wed. Dec. 26. Mrs. Sodder and John both stated at this early point that they felt the fire had been set. The article indiates that the fire started at the box where the power came into the house, therefore an electrical fire.

December 28 has a short article about an inquest that was scheduled for the same day because the family felt that the fire had been set. I found no follow-up to that article. The only other mention of this was an article about the community raising funds and getting items they needed donated to help them.

Didn't have much time yesterday so that is all I was able to locate.

LButler said:

I don't want to insinuate anything ugly about the family here or any ethnic group, but I have wondered about the involvement of the Mafia in this case. Anyone else?

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I personally don't think the Mafia had any involvement, but there are other points in that vein that may warrant discussion. Being in the "heartland", people there are patriotic, to say the least. In this period, just at the end of WWII, anti-German, Japanese, and Itilian feelings were still running deep. And, moreover, people in some areas of WV are not shy about showing their prejudices.
As I haved pointed out previously, the coal fields were a battlefield all their own. There were many deaths over the years directly attributable to battles over mine rights, unionization, etc. The miners fought the mine owner's agents, the agents fought the miners, and everyone fought the independent workers-non-union truckers, for exampe. Running an independent trucking business in the coal fields of the early 20th Century was dangerous business. If someone were determined to get rid of Sodder, they may have seen this as an opportunity to make some cash at the children's expense...