November 12, 2025 • 9 mins
The Sodder Children’s disappearance on Christmas Eve 1945 remains one of America’s most disturbing unsolved cases. Their home burned—but five children vanished without a trace, defying all logic and forensic science.
This Tales of the Twisted true crime podcast episode blends unsolved disappearances, creepy real stories, and dark historical mysteries to unravel a fire that defies logic.
Theories range from kidnapping to arson to a cover-up involving local officials. A chilling billboard kept the story alive for decades, as the Sodder parents searched relentlessly for truth—refusing to believe their children died in the fire.
What really happened that night?
🔗 Related Episodes:
• Springfield Three
• Bennington Triangle
Follow for new unsettling true stories every week.
Get more info at talesofthetwisted.com
This Tales of the Twisted true crime podcast episode blends unsolved disappearances, creepy real stories, and dark historical mysteries to unravel a fire that defies logic.
Theories range from kidnapping to arson to a cover-up involving local officials. A chilling billboard kept the story alive for decades, as the Sodder parents searched relentlessly for truth—refusing to believe their children died in the fire.
What really happened that night?
🔗 Related Episodes:
• Springfield Three
• Bennington Triangle
Follow for new unsettling true stories every week.
Get more info at talesofthetwisted.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Tales of the Twisted true stories of the Strange, weird, bizarre,
and eerie. Each episode reveals real events that blur the
line between tragedy and mystery, stories that remind us that
sometimes the truth is the most haunting part of all.
(00:27):
Let's get into the story of the Solder Children, the
fire that are rased a family. It was Christmas Eve,
nineteen forty five in Fayetteville, West Virginia, a small Appalachian
town where families still gathered by the fire, exchanging gifts
and stories before midnight Mass. In a modest two story
(00:48):
home on a quiet rural road, George and Jenny Sowd
tucked their ten children into bed. The Soders were well
known in the community. George and Italian immigran and owned
a small trucking business. Jenny stayed home to raise their children. Bright,
lively kids ranging in age from three to twenty three.
(01:09):
The family was close knit, but that night, something strange
was already brewing. Around twelve thirty am, the phone rang.
Jenny answered it. A woman's voice, one she didn't recognized,
asked for someone Jenny didn't know. Behind her, laughter and
(01:30):
clinking glasses echoed kind of like a party. In the background.
Jenny told the caller she had the wrong number. A
woman laughed softly before hanging up. Jenny thought little of it,
but as she turned off the lights and headed back
to bed, she noticed something odd. The downstairs lights were
(01:51):
still on the curtains, opened the door unlocked. She saw Marion,
one of her older daughters, asleep on the couch. The
rest of the children, she assumed, had gone upstairs. She
switched off the lights, locked the door, and went to sleep.
It was the last normal moment the Solder family would
(02:15):
ever know. At one am, Jenny woke to the smell
of smoke. She ran into the hallway. Thick black smoke
was rolling down the stairwell. George shouted for the children.
They rushed to the windows, coughing, choking. Jenny, George, and
four of the children, Marian, Sylvia, John, and George Junior
(02:38):
managed to escape through the front door and into the
freezing night, but five children remained trapped inside. Maurice who
was fourteen, Martha twelve, Louis nine, Jenny eight, and Betty
only five. George tried to go back in, but the
staircase was already engulfed. He smashed away window, slicing his
(03:01):
arm wide open. He ran to get his ladder, but
the ladder was gone. He then tried to move his
two trucks to the side of the house to climb
up to the window, but both trucks, which had worked
perfectly the day before, wouldn't start. Now the fire is
raging uncontrollably, neighbors are gathering. Someone tried to call the
(03:23):
fire department, but there was no operator on duty. It
took the Fayetteville Fire Department nearly seven hours to arrive.
By then, the house was just reduced to a pile
of ash and smoke. Everyone assumed the five missing children
had perished in the flames, but when the fire cooled
(03:45):
and the search began, no one could find any remains
at all. Authorities come through the ashes. Not a single bone,
not a fragment of skull, not even teeth. Experts later
testified that even in a fire hot enough to destroy
a home, bones do not completely disintegrate. There should have
(04:09):
been something left behind, but there was nothing. When the
state Fire Marshall ruled the cause as faulty wiring, George disagreed.
He had recently had the wiring inspected and it was fine,
even stranger. The family's lights had stayed on during the fire,
which wouldn't have been possible if faulty wiring was to blame.
(04:34):
Then came the witness reports. A telephone repairman told investigators
the home's phone line hadn't burned, it had been cut.
A neighbor reported seeing a man stealing a block and
tackle from the Solder property around the time of the fire.
Others say they saw a man nearby with a strange
(04:54):
truck the next morning, and one woman swore she saw
the missing Solder children live watching the blaze from a
car parked on the highway. Over the next few years,
reports poured in from all over the country. A woman
in Charleston claimed she saw the five children at a
tourist stop the morning after the fire, riding in a
(05:16):
strange car with Florida license plates. Another witness, a waitress
in a nearby town, said she served breakfast to a
group of children matching their description, accompanied by two well
dressed Italian men and a woman. A third sighting came
from Saint Louis, where a woman said one of the
missing girls was attending a convent school. Each lead ended
(05:39):
the same way inconclusive, unverifiable, and endlessly haunting. In nineteen
forty seven, desperate for answers, George and Jenny did something
no family had ever done before. They erected a massive
billboard on Route sixteen near their home. It read five
(06:01):
Solder children missing since fire December twenty fourth, nineteen forty five.
Help us find them. Below are the names and photos
of each missing child, Rhys, Martha, Louis, Jenny, and Betty.
The billboard became a landmark, a monument to grief in
defiance that stood for nearly forty years. Drivers from across
(06:25):
the country passed it, many sending letters or tips to
the Solder family, but none of those tips never led
to the truth. In nineteen sixty seven, over twenty years
after the fire, Jenny received an envelope in the mail,
no return address, and it was postmarked from Kentucky. Inside
(06:47):
was a photo of a man in his twenties, dark hair,
deep eyes, and a handwritten note. It said, Louis soder
I love brother Frankie. The resemblance was under deniable. The
young man looked exactly like her missing son Lewis. George
and Jenny hired a private investigator to tracked down the center,
(07:08):
He took the case and vanished. The photo was never explained.
Decades a speculation followed. Some believed the Soder children were
kidnapped as revenge for George's outspoken anti Mussolini views. He
had been critical of Italy's dictator, which made enemies within
the local Italian community. Others suspected organized crime. The latter
(07:32):
moved the truck, sabotaged the phone line, cut all signs
of planning. Then there was the theory that the fire
had been staged a diversion to cover un abduction. But
if the children were taken, why and by whom? No
ransom was ever demanded. No bodies were ever found, and
(07:54):
the fire's true cause remains unproven even to this day.
George and Jenny never rebuilt their home. Instead, they turned
the site into a memorial garden, surrounding it with flowers
and the billboard that would stand for decades. George died
in nineteen sixty nine, still searching for answers. Jenny wore
(08:14):
black for the rest of her life and passed away
in nineteen eighty nine without ever knowing what happened to
her five children. Today, the surviving solder siblings now elderly,
continue to see closure. Theories still circulate online, in documentaries
(08:35):
and among amateur sleuths. Were the children kidnapped, murdered, hidden
away by someone who knew the family? We may never know,
but what we do know is this. On Christmas Eve
nineteen forty five, five children vanished, leaving behind no evidence,
(08:58):
no remains, and no explanation, only a mystery carved in
smoke and ash. You've been listening to tales of the
twisted true stories of the strange, weird, bizarre and eerie.
If this story left you haunted, follow the show wherever
(09:18):
you listen to podcasts, and shared with someone who loves
the mysterious and unexplained, Because sometimes the answers we seek
are already gone, burned away with the past.
Welcome to Tales of the Twisted true stories of the Strange, weird, bizarre,
and eerie. Each episode reveals real events that blur the
line between tragedy and mystery, stories that remind us that
sometimes the truth is the most haunting part of all.
(00:27):
Let's get into the story of the Solder Children, the
fire that are rased a family. It was Christmas Eve,
nineteen forty five in Fayetteville, West Virginia, a small Appalachian
town where families still gathered by the fire, exchanging gifts
and stories before midnight Mass. In a modest two story
(00:48):
home on a quiet rural road, George and Jenny Sowd
tucked their ten children into bed. The Soders were well
known in the community. George and Italian immigran and owned
a small trucking business. Jenny stayed home to raise their children. Bright,
lively kids ranging in age from three to twenty three.
(01:09):
The family was close knit, but that night, something strange
was already brewing. Around twelve thirty am, the phone rang.
Jenny answered it. A woman's voice, one she didn't recognized,
asked for someone Jenny didn't know. Behind her, laughter and
(01:30):
clinking glasses echoed kind of like a party. In the background.
Jenny told the caller she had the wrong number. A
woman laughed softly before hanging up. Jenny thought little of it,
but as she turned off the lights and headed back
to bed, she noticed something odd. The downstairs lights were
(01:51):
still on the curtains, opened the door unlocked. She saw Marion,
one of her older daughters, asleep on the couch. The
rest of the children, she assumed, had gone upstairs. She
switched off the lights, locked the door, and went to sleep.
It was the last normal moment the Solder family would
(02:15):
ever know. At one am, Jenny woke to the smell
of smoke. She ran into the hallway. Thick black smoke
was rolling down the stairwell. George shouted for the children.
They rushed to the windows, coughing, choking. Jenny, George, and
four of the children, Marian, Sylvia, John, and George Junior
(02:38):
managed to escape through the front door and into the
freezing night, but five children remained trapped inside. Maurice who
was fourteen, Martha twelve, Louis nine, Jenny eight, and Betty
only five. George tried to go back in, but the
staircase was already engulfed. He smashed away window, slicing his
(03:01):
arm wide open. He ran to get his ladder, but
the ladder was gone. He then tried to move his
two trucks to the side of the house to climb
up to the window, but both trucks, which had worked
perfectly the day before, wouldn't start. Now the fire is
raging uncontrollably, neighbors are gathering. Someone tried to call the
(03:23):
fire department, but there was no operator on duty. It
took the Fayetteville Fire Department nearly seven hours to arrive.
By then, the house was just reduced to a pile
of ash and smoke. Everyone assumed the five missing children
had perished in the flames, but when the fire cooled
(03:45):
and the search began, no one could find any remains
at all. Authorities come through the ashes. Not a single bone,
not a fragment of skull, not even teeth. Experts later
testified that even in a fire hot enough to destroy
a home, bones do not completely disintegrate. There should have
(04:09):
been something left behind, but there was nothing. When the
state Fire Marshall ruled the cause as faulty wiring, George disagreed.
He had recently had the wiring inspected and it was fine,
even stranger. The family's lights had stayed on during the fire,
which wouldn't have been possible if faulty wiring was to blame.
(04:34):
Then came the witness reports. A telephone repairman told investigators
the home's phone line hadn't burned, it had been cut.
A neighbor reported seeing a man stealing a block and
tackle from the Solder property around the time of the fire.
Others say they saw a man nearby with a strange
(04:54):
truck the next morning, and one woman swore she saw
the missing Solder children live watching the blaze from a
car parked on the highway. Over the next few years,
reports poured in from all over the country. A woman
in Charleston claimed she saw the five children at a
tourist stop the morning after the fire, riding in a
(05:16):
strange car with Florida license plates. Another witness, a waitress
in a nearby town, said she served breakfast to a
group of children matching their description, accompanied by two well
dressed Italian men and a woman. A third sighting came
from Saint Louis, where a woman said one of the
missing girls was attending a convent school. Each lead ended
(05:39):
the same way inconclusive, unverifiable, and endlessly haunting. In nineteen
forty seven, desperate for answers, George and Jenny did something
no family had ever done before. They erected a massive
billboard on Route sixteen near their home. It read five
(06:01):
Solder children missing since fire December twenty fourth, nineteen forty five.
Help us find them. Below are the names and photos
of each missing child, Rhys, Martha, Louis, Jenny, and Betty.
The billboard became a landmark, a monument to grief in
defiance that stood for nearly forty years. Drivers from across
(06:25):
the country passed it, many sending letters or tips to
the Solder family, but none of those tips never led
to the truth. In nineteen sixty seven, over twenty years
after the fire, Jenny received an envelope in the mail,
no return address, and it was postmarked from Kentucky. Inside
(06:47):
was a photo of a man in his twenties, dark hair,
deep eyes, and a handwritten note. It said, Louis soder
I love brother Frankie. The resemblance was under deniable. The
young man looked exactly like her missing son Lewis. George
and Jenny hired a private investigator to tracked down the center,
(07:08):
He took the case and vanished. The photo was never explained.
Decades a speculation followed. Some believed the Soder children were
kidnapped as revenge for George's outspoken anti Mussolini views. He
had been critical of Italy's dictator, which made enemies within
the local Italian community. Others suspected organized crime. The latter
(07:32):
moved the truck, sabotaged the phone line, cut all signs
of planning. Then there was the theory that the fire
had been staged a diversion to cover un abduction. But
if the children were taken, why and by whom? No
ransom was ever demanded. No bodies were ever found, and
(07:54):
the fire's true cause remains unproven even to this day.
George and Jenny never rebuilt their home. Instead, they turned
the site into a memorial garden, surrounding it with flowers
and the billboard that would stand for decades. George died
in nineteen sixty nine, still searching for answers. Jenny wore
(08:14):
black for the rest of her life and passed away
in nineteen eighty nine without ever knowing what happened to
her five children. Today, the surviving solder siblings now elderly,
continue to see closure. Theories still circulate online, in documentaries
(08:35):
and among amateur sleuths. Were the children kidnapped, murdered, hidden
away by someone who knew the family? We may never know,
but what we do know is this. On Christmas Eve
nineteen forty five, five children vanished, leaving behind no evidence,
(08:58):
no remains, and no explanation, only a mystery carved in
smoke and ash. You've been listening to tales of the
twisted true stories of the strange, weird, bizarre and eerie.
If this story left you haunted, follow the show wherever
(09:18):
you listen to podcasts, and shared with someone who loves
the mysterious and unexplained, Because sometimes the answers we seek
are already gone, burned away with the past.
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