Episode 203: Smollop: The Sodder Children

Gareth: Wrangling ten kids during a fire?Dave: Not like you’ve ever done it.Gareth: Well…not ten!

http://traffic.libsyn.com/thedollop/The_Sodder_Children.mp3

No matter how bad your worst Christmas was, it was never this bad—
Family drama, green bowling ball presents, weather drama, more family drama—
Never. This. Bad.

Since there are so many children, details are confused between official stories, family stories, and rumors, and two of the children share their parents’ first names, here are the actual lists, listed presuming the missing children died in the house fire:

Died:

• Maurice, age 14
• Martha age 12
• Louis age 9
• Jennie age 8
• Betty age 7

Lived:

• Sylvia, age 2
• Marion, age 17
• John, age 23
• George, age 16
• andJoe, the eldest, who was not at home, serving in the Army at the time

The Children Who Went Up in Smoke: Very detailed breakdown of the aftermath of the investigation at the Smithsonian, with photographs of the billboard and flyers

Because it’s difficult for me to riff off of missing/deceased children (for too long, anyway), taken either way on Christmas eve, here’s some Christmas horror movies for your viewing pleasure. You’re welcome:

• Black Christmas (1974) — old school creepy, ’70’s style
• Black Christmas (2006)
• Krampus
• A Christmas Horror Story
• Silent Night Deadly Night
• Silent Night Deadly Night 2
• Silent Night Bloody Night
• Silent Night Bloody Night 2: Revival
• Silent Night Bloody Night: The Homecoming
• All Through the House
• Dismembering Christmas
• Night of the Krampus
• Silent Night
• Christmas Evil
• Krampus: The Christmas Devil

Band names from this episode:

• Crazy Insurance Salesman
• Dynamite Box
• Pretty Bananas
• Spine Yard–neogrunge, reminiscent of Alice In Chains, first hit = “4 and a Spine”
• Bone the Dirt
• Handful of Teeth

Cultural references from this episode:

• Michael Jackson’s hair (more fire)
• The Game

Friend of the Dollop (FOD) alert: Neighbor podcast episode: Thinking Sideways October 15, 2015. Their approach to mysteries is to lay out all the facts, then review every theory, no matter how improbable.