87: MYSTERY | The Disappearance Of The Sodder Children

Avery After Dark

Avery Ross

Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality, True Crime

4.8 • 746 Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2023

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On Christmas Eve in 1945, a mysterious fire broke out at the Sodder home in Fayetteville, West Virginia. George Sodder, his wife Jennie and four of their nine children escaped. Leaving 5 of the children still inside

The fire department didn't arrive for 7 hours. When they finally did get to the scene, the home was nothing but ash

Strangely, the bodies of the five children were never found. The Sodder Family began to question the fire. Strange occurrences before & after lead them to believe that their children were kidnapped that night. They believed the fire was set as a diversion & they survived

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Christmas Eve 1945. Everything was merry and bright in the town of Fayetteville, West Virginia.
0:21.6	Twinkling lights illuminated the town, families and children anticipating the coming days of cheerful Christmas get-togethers.
0:29.6	But after a series of bizarre events, at 1 a.m. on Christmas Eve, the Sauter family were met with tragedy.
0:36.6	Their home unexpectedly and mysteriously went up in
0:39.9	flames. Some of the family escaped, but five of their children were never seen again. Officials ruled they
0:47.2	must have perished in the fire, but others, including the Sotter family, believed that the fire was set
0:53.2	deliberately, and their five
0:55.0	children were kidnapped that Christmas Eve. The circumstances leading up to the fire and what
1:00.2	came afterwards have left the public questioning, what really happened that night? It's one of the
1:05.9	most puzzling Christmastime mysteries of all time. This is Avery After Dark, and I'm your host, Avery Ross.
1:11.9	Welcome back to the show. I'm so glad you tuned in for today's episode. Many of you have
1:16.5	requested this case, and you know how I roll, you ask, and I give it to you. When I first looked
1:21.8	into the Sotter family case, I read a super brief summary of the story a few months back. Wanted to see what the case was all about.
1:29.3	And I initially wondered, where's the mystery here?
1:32.3	It seemed pretty open and shut.
1:34.1	A tragic fire.
1:35.2	But this past week, I decided to look into it a bit more.
1:38.4	And oh, my goodness, was I mistaken?
1:42.7	This is anything but open and shut. This will be one of the most complex cases we
1:48.0	cover on Avery After Dark. It is twist after twist. And be warned, this story is a never-ending rabbit
1:54.0	hole. And if you're new here, welcome. On Avery After Dark, I cover true crime, mysteries, supernatural,
2:00.2	and everything in between. So if that's up
	...

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