Children who remember fire

[TJ]

Since my middle son was about two, he engaged in constant conversation with his "imaginary" friend, "Thomas". I would ask my son if Thomas was his friend. Incredulously, he would reply, "No mom, he's my brother." At first, I just shrugged it off to common childhood imagination.

When he was about three, he asked me if I remembered the fire. I inquired what fire he was speaking about. He said, "You know, mom, the fire when I died." I told him I didn't "remember" that, but to tell me more about it. He said, "You were there ... except you weren't my mom, you were my sister ... and we lived in New York ... on a farm. When the fire started, you pushed me and Thomas and Jonifer down into a hole with a door." I asked him about Jonifer using a female pronoun, and he corrected me, stating Jonifer was a boy. At the time, the descriptions he was using seemed very detailed and advanced for his age. Further, we had never visited New York nor talked about it to my knowledge.

Since Jonifer is such an unusual name, I have actually contemplated researching the incident but don't know where to begin.

Ironically, my older son had a terrible phobia of candles as a young child. At Christmas time, his grandmother's house was decorated with artificial candles in each window. We had to turn them all off in order to get him to stay inside the house. Coincidence?

This post and discussion are continued in the thread: Son's Early Memories and "Imaginary" Friend

 

[raisingirl]

My Niece

My niece is a very smart little girl. She has an amazing vocabulary for a four year old, and she always talks very properly. My sister said that one day they were sitting in the living room and her daughter told her a story. She said a long time ago she was cooking marshmallows in her oven and her house caught on fire. Then she said that the angels cut a hole in her ceiling and took her out.

My sister says that every time she says this, it is always the exact story (no variations). And when my sister asked her to tell my mom the story, she kept saying no, that it happened a long time ago.

This post and discussion are continued in the thread: My Niece

 

[Victoria]

I think my son remembers his death.

From the age my son could talk he would talk of his round house.He said he lived in a round house with chandeliers and he could see Kangaroos in the park from the window (squirrels maybe).
He would recount that there was a fire, the chandeliers fell, he ran from the house. The last memory he has is that of being in a hole. I think this could have been his grave. He gradually stoped talking about this when he started school. He is 8 now.