US4 min(s) read
A three-year-old boy developed an intense fear of skyscrapers and planes, leaving his family baffled by a series of disturbing statements about a life he seemingly couldn't have known about, particularly in relation to the 9/11 attacks.
Cade Wilson was only three when he began waking during the night in tears, telling his mother, Molly Curnutte, about working inside a tall building where he could see the Statue of Liberty from his office.
Appearing on LMN's The Ghost Inside My Child, Curnutte recalled how her son also described falling from the building and claimed it was how he had died.
At first, however, she didn't believe there was anything particularly significant about what he was saying.
"I noted it, but I never thought anything of it. I noted it as an oddism. I just thought he had a vivid imagination," she claimed.
Cade's father, Rick, also dismissed the possibility that the stories could be connected to a real event. The youngster had never visited New York, and his parents said nobody in their family had any known connection to the World Trade Center.
But Cade's behavior soon became increasingly difficult to explain.
His mother noticed that he had developed an overwhelming fear of aircraft. It wasn't necessarily flying that frightened him, but rather the apparent destination of the planes.
His grandmother, Fae, recalled that Cade was "totally petrified" whenever he saw aircraft, describing his reaction as being "like they were monsters".
The youngster's fear of tall buildings was equally severe. Simply travelling through downtown with Cade in the car could result in him becoming extremely distressed.
According to his father, Cade would become frantic when surrounded by skyscrapers.
Then his comments became much more specific.
Rather than simply talking about being scared of buildings, Cade allegedly began describing an incident in which a building was struck, exploded, and ultimately collapsed.
His mother recalled that he "flat out said that he was in a building that was hit by something, that it exploded, and that he had fallen".
There was another detail that left his parents particularly confused: Cade repeatedly insisted that he wasn't actually Cade.
Unsure where the behavior and stories were coming from, Curnutte eventually decided to share her son's experiences on an online forum in the hope that someone might recognize something in his story.
She said the response she received from another mother ultimately changed everything.
"It was actually another mother who sent me the link," Curnutte explained.
The woman reportedly directed her towards information about a man who had worked at the World Trade Center and died during the September 11 attacks.
"And she said there was a man that worked in the World Trade Center. And he died on 9/11. His life mimics what Cade describes his life and his death was."
Curnutte then looked through the man's obituary and photographs.
She claims she was stunned by the similarities between the man's life and death and the details Cade had previously described.
Despite the discovery, she said she has never reached out to the man's surviving relatives because she did not want to interfere with their grieving process.
The family's experience has also reportedly created difficulties for Cade socially.
Curnutte said some children accused her son of making up his stories, while certain parents reportedly became reluctant to allow their children to play with him. His behavior also caused frustration among teachers as his comments were said to have disrupted lessons.
"I'm heartbroken, absolutely heartbroken," his mother said. "You just want everybody to like your kid."
For Cade's parents, however, the priority is now helping their son move forward and enjoy as ordinary a childhood as possible.
Rather than focusing on the unusual claims he has made, they want him to grow up feeling comfortable with who he is.
"I need him to learn to be Cade, to learn to be a kid again, to learn to laugh," Curnutte said.
"And I think we're gonna get there. I do."
