Christmas is a time of cheer and joy. People in high spirits spreading love and spending their time with the people closest to them. Families all get together to spend Christmas with one another to have a losing time. But amongst all this joy and cheer, there is some darkness stowed away. The darkness that you wouldn't want to come to light. Some families just have different plans for Christmas. If you are a crime junkie, these true crime stories are for you.

Anderson family massacre

A family that may seem perfect from the outside may not necessarily be that way. The Anderson family seems awfully close with one another spending Christmas together but that Christmas eve, it came to a gruesome end.

On December 24, 2007, Michele Anderson along with her boyfriend Joseph McEnroe went to spend Christmas Eve in the Andersons' home in Carnation, Washington. Michele's parents had invited them over to have a warm home-cooked meal with their family right before Christmas.

Once they were inside, it seemed as if Joseph and Michele had plans of their own. Joseph distracted Michele's mother Judy while Michele shot her own father Wayne with a pistol. The sound of the gun releasing obviously rang some alarms and Judy and Joseph ran to the kitchen.

Michele's gun had jammed after the first she knew Joseph had to kill Wayne as well as Judy. Joseph apologized to Judy before he shot her in the face, not like that should make up for it.

After such an event they dragged the bodies to a shed and cleaned u all evidence there might have been in the house. They cleaned the house well so that when Michele's brother Scott along with his wife and children arrive, they wouldn't have a clue on what happened.

As soon as the family entered the living room, Michele shot her brother. Scotts's wife Erica tried calling 911, but in a vain attempt of protecting her children, the line got disconnected, and she was shot. Joseph further went ahead and killed the children as well thinking it would be beneficial for them since otherwise they would have been scarred for the rest of their lives.

Their bodies were found on December 26, two after the murder when Judy's friend showed up at their house, curious as to why she didn't show up for work. Judy's friend Linda Thiele suspected Michele, and when they were called in for questioning, she broke down and confessed.

She said her motive was that she was tired of everyone stepping on her. Her sister Mary-Victoria Anderson was spared though, since she was not feeling well, thus not attending the family gathering which saved her life.

Murder of the Lawson family

The murder of the Lawson family took place on December 25 in Germanton, North Carolina, United States.

The Lawson family consisted of Charles Lawson, a 43-year-old farmer along with his 37-year-old wife Fannie and eight children, Marie, Arthur, Carrie, Maybell, James, Raymond, Mary Lou and William. William had unfortunately passed due to an illness in 1920.

In 1929, shortly before Christmas Charles took his family into town to buy new clothes and get a family portrait taken. It was considered a little unusual since they were a working-class family, but Lawson was considered a well to do farmer, so it was reasonable.

On Christmas afternoon Lawson first shot his two daughters Carrie and Maybell as they were leaving for their uncle's house. He waited by a tobacco barn to have them in range, and once they were, he shot them with a 12-gauge shotgun and placed their bodies in the tobacco barn.

On returning home, Charles shot Fannie on the porch. On hearing the gunshot panic had induced among the remaining Lawson children. Marie screamed while James and Raymond tried to look for a place to hide.

Charles shot Marie next and then proceeded to kill the two boys. Lastly, he killed his baby Mary Lou, and it is assumed she was bludgeoned to death. A few hours later, he went into the woods and shot himself. Arthur, his eldest son, was the only survivor who he had sent on an errand before going on the killing spree.

Their bodies were found with their arms crossed and rocks under their heads. The gunshot where Lawson shot himself was heard by many of the neighbors. A police officer who was with Arthur discovered Lawson's body along with a letter to his parents. There were footprints encircling the tree where he was found dead insinuating that he was pacing before he shot himself. She was caught for her crime and punished for it.

The motive was believed to be either a head injury that Charles had injured a few months prior to the event or the possible pregnancy of Marie by her own father. The second claim was backed up by a relative of the family, Stella Lawson and even Marie Lawson's close friend Ella May.

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Sodder family disappearance

An unusual set of events took place at the Sodder house on Christmas eve of 1945 in Fayetteville, West Virginia, United States. They celebrated on Christmas eve, and some of the children requested their parents to let them stay awake past their bedtime.

At around 12:30 a.m. the phone rang and Jennie, the mother picked up the phone. It was a woman's voice whom she was not familiar with, and she was asking for a name she had not heard. There were strange noises in the background as well, but Jennie paid no heed to it and went back to bed.

At 1:00 a.m. she was again awoken by the sound of an object hitting the house's roof with a loud bang and a rolling noise. But since didn't hear anything else, she ignored it and fell back into slumber. Suddenly at 1:30 a.m., she woke up smelling smoke. She found that the room George used as an office was on fire around the telephone and fuse box.

Jennie woke him and four of their children and fled the house. They frantically yelled for the children that were upstairs, but there was no response from any of them. They couldn't even go upstairs since the stairs were aflame, and any other way of reaching and aiding the children were also exceptionally complicated.

They had difficulty reaching out to the fire department. George tried climbing in through the attic window, but he cut his arm in the process. The eldest sons tried climbing a ladder to the attic, but the ladder that rests in the same spot was nowhere to be found. A water barrel that could've been used to extinguish the fire but it was found frozen solid.

Thus they could do anything but watch their house burn down until the fire department arrived. They assumed their other five children had perished in the blaze. But the firefighters told the Sodders that no remains of bones were found inside the house. It was never really clarified whether this was a true crime or not.

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Final thoughts

These unfortunate events took place during the most loving and heartwarming time of the year. Although Christmas is a joyful and warm time to spend with your family, some families just don't receive the memo.