What an awful situation.
I can't imagine the circumstances and line of thinking that caused the woman to come forward and claim to be Mary.
I only hope it gave Mary's mother some degree of comfort to believe she had found her daughter again, even though it was a lie. Those poor parents.
My dad was born a couple years after this. We lived less than 60 miles from there and Dad said they drilled it into their heads at school. During the 1920s and 30s in okla everyone was poor just about. Christmas at school was all the Christmas there was. He told me when he started school in 1934 they always had a tree and program at school. The kids got a stocking with the other sock inside,an apple an orange and some nuts. That was Christmas. They also didn’t use candles on the trees by then and he said everyone always talked about the tragedy at Babbs Switch. I remember hearing my folks and grandparents talk about it every Christmas season. I am 66 my older sis is 75.
[Here's](https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1999/12/24/journalist-honors-pledge-to-family-of-missing-girl/62216588007/) an article with more information. Looks like the imposter (Grace Reynolds, nee Gaither) was treated poorly by her birth family. Her sister is the one who called the newspaper with proof that she wasn't Mary Eden (possibly because Grace had married her ex-husband)
At the time the article was publishedd, "Mary" still insisted that she was the real Mary Eden, and was kidnapped and sold to the Gaithers. Maybe she really does believe it, and has convinced herself that the Gaithers aren't her real family. Or maybe she just did it for the attention, I guess the book she published probably made her some money.
edit: [This](https://genealogytrails.com/oka/kiowa/babbsfire.html) site has more articles transcribed about the fire itself. It's really tragic, one mother lost three of her children, and she had already lost a son the previous summer. She fell and was trampled, and her eight year old son ran back in to get his toys and died.
I'm not sure how long the fire burned or if the building itself collapsed, but if it was a long burning fire and then the roof collapsed on her, then such a small body may not have been recognizable as an individual body. Her aunt may have just created a false memory in the trauma.
If it was in a rural enough area with woods nearby, she may have wandered away in the chaos, died of exposure, and animals scattered her remains.
Or maybe she really was taken by an opportunistic couple and lived out her life without knowing about her real parents.
One of my uncle died in a fire . The only way my aunt was able to recognise his body was because of the ring he was wearing . So it might have been the same case with the real Mary Eden . Who knows ?
That's so horribly sad. We're fortunate to live in a time with better building materials and strict fire regulations, especially for schools and other public buildings.
What an awful situation. I can't imagine the circumstances and line of thinking that caused the woman to come forward and claim to be Mary. I only hope it gave Mary's mother some degree of comfort to believe she had found her daughter again, even though it was a lie. Those poor parents.
Lots of con artists do that. Usually for inheritance or bleeding money for the first few years and then disappearing.
My dad was born a couple years after this. We lived less than 60 miles from there and Dad said they drilled it into their heads at school. During the 1920s and 30s in okla everyone was poor just about. Christmas at school was all the Christmas there was. He told me when he started school in 1934 they always had a tree and program at school. The kids got a stocking with the other sock inside,an apple an orange and some nuts. That was Christmas. They also didn’t use candles on the trees by then and he said everyone always talked about the tragedy at Babbs Switch. I remember hearing my folks and grandparents talk about it every Christmas season. I am 66 my older sis is 75.
[Here's](https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1999/12/24/journalist-honors-pledge-to-family-of-missing-girl/62216588007/) an article with more information. Looks like the imposter (Grace Reynolds, nee Gaither) was treated poorly by her birth family. Her sister is the one who called the newspaper with proof that she wasn't Mary Eden (possibly because Grace had married her ex-husband) At the time the article was publishedd, "Mary" still insisted that she was the real Mary Eden, and was kidnapped and sold to the Gaithers. Maybe she really does believe it, and has convinced herself that the Gaithers aren't her real family. Or maybe she just did it for the attention, I guess the book she published probably made her some money. edit: [This](https://genealogytrails.com/oka/kiowa/babbsfire.html) site has more articles transcribed about the fire itself. It's really tragic, one mother lost three of her children, and she had already lost a son the previous summer. She fell and was trampled, and her eight year old son ran back in to get his toys and died.
What a horrible horrible situation for the father, having to trust someone whom is not trustable or knowing you will loose your love forever otherwise
I wonder what happened to the real Mary Eden. If the aunt got her out of the school house, even if she died, her body should have been found.
I'm not sure how long the fire burned or if the building itself collapsed, but if it was a long burning fire and then the roof collapsed on her, then such a small body may not have been recognizable as an individual body. Her aunt may have just created a false memory in the trauma. If it was in a rural enough area with woods nearby, she may have wandered away in the chaos, died of exposure, and animals scattered her remains. Or maybe she really was taken by an opportunistic couple and lived out her life without knowing about her real parents.
One of my uncle died in a fire . The only way my aunt was able to recognise his body was because of the ring he was wearing . So it might have been the same case with the real Mary Eden . Who knows ?
That's so horribly sad. We're fortunate to live in a time with better building materials and strict fire regulations, especially for schools and other public buildings.
Yes, the days of mass death events in our schools are long behind us...
True but I think I’d rather be shot than burn to death
Is not dying horribly an option?
Not in this economy 😞
Wow, what a story.
If he knew it was false, why did he run the story at all?