Episode description

Christmas Eve 1924. Babbs Switch, Oklahoma. A fire breaks out at a Christmas party taking place at a schoolhouse and claims the lives of 36 people. The remains of one of the presumed victims, three-year old Mary Elizabeth Edens, cannot be found and since Mary’s aunt recalls handing the child to an unknown person, her family believes Mary might have been abducted. Over 32 years later, evidence is found to suggest that a California woman named Grace Reynolds might be Mary and she winds up having a reunion with the Edens family. However, in 1999, it is revealed that additional evidence was uncovered to indicate that Grace was not actually Mary after all, so the actual fate of the missing child remains unknown. For this year’s final holiday-themed episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we will be exploring a tragic Christmas Eve mystery that has gone from unsolved to solved to back unsolved again over the course of a century.

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Additional Reading:

https://oklahoman.com/article/2679856/journalist-honors-pledge-to-family-of-missing-girl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babbs_Switch_fire

http://rebelcherokee.labdiva.com/babbsfire.html

http://genealogytrails.com/oka/kiowa/babbsfire.html

https://oklahoman.com/article/5378711/deadly-1924-christmas-eve-fire-in-oklahoma-brought-reform

https://www.newspapers.com/image/596063048/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/455386905/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/603696188/

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

“The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on  GetVokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True  Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.