Boy's terrifying nightmares about 9/11 led his mother to a startling discovery

A young boy developed such an intense fear of skyscrapers and aeroplanes that his family struggled to drive through downtown areas without him panicking, according to an account shared by his parents on LMN's The Ghost Inside My Child.

Nightmares that started early

Cade Wilson was just three years old when he began waking up at night describing a recurring dream of working in a tall building where he could see the Statue of Liberty from his office, and of falling as the building came down. His mother, Molly Curnutte, initially dismissed it as an active imagination, and his father Rick has said Cade had never been to New York and had no family connection to the World Trade Center.

Around the same time, Cade developed a specific fear of aircraft, not of flying itself, but of where planes seemed to be headed. His grandmother described him as being genuinely terrified of them. Over time, his descriptions became more specific, with his mother saying he eventually stated plainly that he'd been in a building that was hit by something, that it exploded, and that he had fallen. He also began insisting his name wasn't really Cade.

A connection found online

Struggling to make sense of what her son was describing, Curnutte posted his story to an online forum. Another parent responded with a link to the story of a man who had worked in the World Trade Center and died on 9/11, whose life and death reportedly closely matched the details Cade had been describing. Curnutte has said the parallels were striking when she looked into the man's obituary and photographs, though she's chosen not to contact his surviving family, wary of intruding on their grieving process.

The impact on Cade's life

The family says the situation has been difficult socially, with other children calling Cade a liar, some parents keeping their kids away from him, and teachers growing frustrated with related disruptions in class. Curnutte has described the experience as heartbreaking, saying she simply wants people to accept her son.

Despite the strain, both parents say their focus is on helping Cade have as normal a childhood as possible going forward.