Psychology of past-life memories: 3-year-old kept saying he 'died' during 9/11 attack. When his story matched with a real victim, parents were left shocked

A three-year-old boy's repeated claims about death, airplanes and a tall building left his parents struggling to understand what he was talking about. Cade Wilson had never been to New York, yet he spoke about working in a high-rise from where he could see the Statue of Liberty and described falling from the building after it was hit by a plane.

Years later, the story was featured on LMN's The Ghost Inside My Child, a programme about children who claim to have memories or experiences connected to past lives. Cade's parents said the details eventually led them to a man who had worked at the World Trade Center and died in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Cade's strange memories started when he was three

According to accounts shared by his mother, Molly Curnutte, Cade began waking during the night and crying about working inside a tall building. He reportedly talked about seeing the Statue of Liberty from his office.


At first, Molly did not think much of it. "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 said.

Cade's father, Rick, also found the claims difficult to connect to anything the boy could have experienced. He said Cade had never visited New York and that the family had no connection with the World Trade Center.

But the conversations did not stop.

Molly recalled, “I would be in bed and Cade would just start crying in the middle of the night and he would wake up screaming about working in a tall building and he could see the Statue of Liberty from his office".

Soon, Cade also developed an intense fear of airplanes and tall buildings. His grandmother described him as being "totally petrified" of planes, while his father said driving through areas filled with tall buildings could leave him frantic.

The details became harder for parents to ignore

The situation changed when Cade began describing what he said had happened to him.

"He just flat out said that he was in a building that was hit by something, that it exploded, and that he had fallen. The pieces suddenly came together like a puzzle, the planes, the tall buildings. This person was at the World Trade Center."

Cade also reportedly told his parents that his name was not really Cade.

His description was even more specific when he spoke about the attack.

“The plane hit the World Trade Center then it got stuck in the building. When I was falling, I was still alive and then all the rubble hit me. I didn’t feel anything because I died."

Molly eventually searched online for information and, according to her account, another mother directed her towards the story of a man who had worked at the World Trade Center. She said the man's life and death appeared to closely match what Cade had been describing.

The family never contacted his relatives, Molly said, because she did not want to interfere with their grief.

What does psychology say about past-life memories?

The idea of children remembering previous lives remains controversial. Mainstream science does not consider such accounts proof that reincarnation exists, and psychologists have pointed to factors including memory, expectations, cultural beliefs and the way people interpret unusual experiences.

However, research into these reports continues. A 2026 discussion published by Psychology Today cited a study involving 1,678 documented cases of children reporting memories of previous lives. Researchers from the University of Virginia's Division of Perceptual Studies examined the timing between the reported previous person's death and the child's birth.

The study found that the average gap was shorter when the reported previous person had died unexpectedly or violently than when the death had been expected after illness. The researchers stressed that this pattern does not establish that reincarnation is real.

Psychology Today also noted that in a representative German sample, 11% of participants said they had distinct memories that made it seem as though they had lived a past life in another body.

For Cade's parents, though, the issue was less about proving reincarnation and more about helping their young son cope with frightening experiences.

"As a mother, I am feeling very helpless. I can’t make this memory go away. I don’t know how to fix this. I need him to learn to be Cade, to learn to be a kid again, learn to laugh and I think we’re going to get there, I do," Molly said.

The story therefore remains just that, a reported case involving a child, rather than scientific proof of reincarnation.