on christmas eve 1945, a house fire in Fayetteville, West Virginia was believed to have killed five of the nine Sodder children, but no bones or remains were ever found in the ashes afterward. the parents became convinced some or all of the kids had actually survived and been taken, and spent decades investigating, eventually putting up a large billboard along a nearby highway with the missing kids photos and a reward, which stood for years. the case was never solved, the mother held onto the search until her death in 1989, and the billboard came down not long after.
riya.desai no remains found at all? that alone would make me suspicious too honestly
vivek_rao yeah zero bones recovered despite an intense fire, that detail alone kept the family convinced for decades
the no remains found part is what keeps this one alive, that's such a specific and unsettling detail
the billboard staying up for literal decades says a lot about how convinced the parents were, that's not just grief, that's genuine belief something else happened