My son sees dead people... I think

My son Ethan turned 3 in May, and since the age of about 6 months he has shown signs of being able to see and talk to people no one else can see.

At 6 months he began focusing on the rocking chair in his room, laughing and waving at it as though someone was seated there and laughing and waving back. No big deal really, I thought it was cute.

At the age of one, he began babbling to the chair and having 'conversations' with someone there. Again not such a big deal, though it was strange that he actually paused as though listening to someone, laughed and began answering in his baby speak.

At 18 months, things started getting downright weird. He could say Grandma M---- as clear as a bell but couldn't say cat properly.

Around the age of 2 I really got weirded out. I went to get him out of his crib and he pointed to the rocking chair and asked "Who Dat?" I said I didn't know who it was (there was no one there for me to identify). He again asked "Who Dat?" and I said " I don't know, who is it?" His reply- "Da Man" I said, " Oh a man?" Ethan said, "yeah, dat da man" so I proceeded to wave to the man and say hi (whoever he was I wasn't about to be rude). I had chills as this was the first time that Ethan had been able to voice actually seeing someone sitting in the rocker (a quick aside- the rocker is not old, was purchased new by me and is not thought to be in any way connected to the 'haunting'). Skip ahead 2 weeks later, I had finally managed to hang a photo collage that I had in storage. Ethan saw it and wanted to look at the photos. He began pointing to each picture saying who it was- Mommy, Daddy, Didgit (his sister Bridget), Gamma, Poppy... and when he came to a photo of my great-Uncle- a man he's never met nor ever seen before in photos- he got excited and began yelling "Da man da man!" (picture Tattoo from Fantasy Island getting all excited over planes). I felt relieved that this was the mysterious "man" in the room as Pepop as he was called, was someone I was very close to and I welcome his presence. Around the same time, the family was gathered at my aunt's house (known to be haunted). While seated on my dad's lap in the dining room, Ethan began waving to someone standing in the kitchen and saying bye. My dad asked him who he was waving to, Ethan's response "Da Girl". My aunt asked him where the girl was and Ethan pointed to the door leading down to the basement. My aunt told me her granddaughter has also talked about seeing a girl at her house, and of course, no one likes going down into the basement there.

Ethan also says he sees "Onsters" (monsters). One monster named Chocit Mook (Chololate Milk) lives outside in Ethan's playhouse. Perhaps this is simply a normal imaginary friend. Chocit Mook is apparently brown, doesn't say much, and never comes into the house. Also, he doesn't scare Ethan at all. This is an important observation because Ethan has started to become terrified of his room and the dark.

In broad daylight, the lights must be on in the room Ethan is in- Living Room, Dining Room, Bedrooms... At night, he sleeps with the ceiling light on. Nightlights (he has several) don't work adequately enough for him). He expects someone to sleep in the rocker in his room at night. Sometimes we manage to sneak out saying we have to get a pillow and/or a blanket. This doesn't really work much anymore as he is smart enough to have learned we're lying. When he wakes up (as he nearly always does) he is screaming in terror. It's not a typical 'I want Mommy' type thing, it's full out terror get me outta here now sort of cry/scream.

At my aunt's house again for another gathering, Ethan was concerned about something he saw in the hallway. No one likes the hallway in my aunt's house either. Ethan saw something, and the change in his expression was so telling and graphic it gave me chills. He went from relaxed and happy to sheer terror in an instant and ran into the other room. My cousin and I told my aunt what happened, so we sat in the living room area that looks into the hallway to 'talk'. Ethan came back, began staring at something in the hallway again, was overcome by the same fear and facial expression change but this time he climbed on a chair and turned the hall light on. He then stared into the hallway looking, went back and turned the light off, looked, got scared and turned the light on. Still looking, he again got very frightened, only this time both of my aunt's and cousin saw a shadowy form move from one side of the hall to the other (I of course had my back to the area, but saw Ethan's face and that was enough).

Now Ethan is 3. Ethan had another friend show up, this time, however, Ethan was able to give more information. Seeing him talk animatedly with someone unseen, I asked who he was talking to. He looked at me like I was an idiot and pointed to the air next to him and said "Howard" like duh mom he's right there. I told Howard hello. I began looking into Howards to see if there was one at daycare, or a movie he had seen with someone named Howard, anything to explain his use of the name. Nothing. I was certain we had no Howards in the family, but after day 2 of Howard, I emailed my dad and aunts to see if perhaps I was wrong. My dad responded immediately telling me my Grandmother had a 1st cousin named Howard who had died less than a year ago. FREAKY. Howard hung around for a while, and in that time I got what descriptions I could of Howard. Most of what I got from Ethan matched what was know of my grandmother's cousin. Howard has since left and isn't around anymore so says Ethan.

We've also had unnamed girls at the house, and I believe they are children as they seem to want Ethan's milk. He either offers them his cup to have some or spends time at the dinner table arguing about it being his and snatching the cup away from these unseen people. And again at my aunt's house this summer, Ethan was talking to someone who was sitting under a tree. This one didn't scare him, and according to my aunt, it was Ethan's great-great grandfather who she has seen there occasionally.

Some background info that is pertinent.... My great-great grandmother was a medium. She held "Church Meetings" in her home where she would go into a trance and speak in a voice that was not her own- my grandmother witnessed this personally. My maternal great-aunt who was an Irish immigrant could read tea leaves with such accuracy that her Priest told her she could not do it anymore. And my late mother-in-law was a psychic as well (this would be the Grandma Molyneaux I referenced earlier).

I think it is also important to note that my grandmother is terminally ill. Doctors gave her a year in February of 2008. Some say our departed relatives begin gathering in preparing to help another family member cross. Is this why Ethan saw Howard? and why he saw my grandmother's dad (Ethan's gg grandfather) under the tree?