10 Baffling Details Surrounding The Sodder Children, Who Went Up In Smoke

6 /10 Curious Circumstances

As more curious details emerged in the coming months, the Sodder family began to question whether the five children were even at the house when it burned.

In addition to the missing ladder, which was later found in a ditch just about 20m away from home, and two faulty trucks, some evidence mounted to a case of arson.

A telephone repairman suggested that the phone line to the house was deliberately cut. To do that, someone had to climb a telegraph pole and reach a further 60cm distance to reach the wire. It was quite a mission.

5 /10 Fuse Boxes

Few months before the fire, a stranger pointed to two fuse boxes and said they would cause fire someday.

George ignored the warning because the local power company had already checked the electric installation of the house and deemed it safe.

Around the same time, another man tried to sell family life insurance to George. When he declined, the salesperson warned that George’s house was going up in smoke and his children would be destroyed.

The older Sodder sons also noticed a man parking alongside the highway and watching their younger siblings.

4 /10 Napalm Pineapple Bomb

While the family was visiting the fire scene, Sylvia found a green rubber ball that George knew was a napalm pineapple bomb; an explosive device used in warfare.

It most likely was the object Jennie heard landing on the roof moments before the fire.

A bus driver who happened to pass the Sodder home that night also told the police he saw a group of men throwing balls of fire at the house.

A neighbor saw a man stealing a tackle and block from the property; the thief was arrested, but he denied having anything to do with the fire.

3 /10 1100ºC Fire

The fire department assessed that the fire was hot enough to burn human bodies to the point where no bone remains could be identified.

However, when Jennie was going through the rubble, she found some kitchen appliances still in recognizable shape.

She contacted the local crematorium to ask questions about this and was informed that fire burning at 1100ºC for two hours would still leave human bones intact.

On Christmas Eve in 1945, the Sodder family home was burned at a lower temperature for less than an hour.

Therefore the remains of the supposedly trapped five children should have been found.

2 /10 Sightings

Based on what they knew, the Sodder family suspected arson and that the five siblings were still alive. There have been reports of sightings of the missing children over the years.

One of the earliest was around the same time as the fire incident itself. A woman claimed to have seen the children in a passing car with their heads sticking out the window.

In 1968, Jennie Sodder retrieved a letter with no return address. It contained a photograph of a young man. Written on the flip side was “Louis Sodder. I love brother Frankie. Ilil Boys. A90132 or 35.”

1 /10 The Billboard

George and Jennie erected a billboard bearing the images of his five children. The idea of Louis was updated using the photograph Jennie received in the letter.

George Sodder traveled around the country to track down every rumor of his missing children, to no avail. He died in 1968 and his wife in 1989. 

Following the death of Jennie Sodder, the billboard was finally taken down after more than four decades standing along Route 16.

Every Christmas is a night to remember their stories for those who grew up seeing the kids’ faces on the billboard.