My mother told me that when my sister was little, she had a friend. She had called him "Cody". When my mother and father asked her about her imaginary friend. She said something that puzzles me. She said "Hi mommy and daddy! This is Cody, he's the little boy that drowned on a boat!" Now, this is kind of eerie. I am not sure if it was just some wild imaginary friend... Or something else. I kind of need some help. I'll search up history of the house.
There's another part of this story too. We moved to a different house in Ohio that was pretty old. It was built in the 1940's. Well I should tell you my story's in that house.
The first experience I ever had there was when I was 6, it was late and everyone else was in bed. I was watching television when I saw a shadow move past the doorway. I said "Daddy?" and walked into the hall. Nobody was there and I passed it off as being tired made me hallucinate.
The next experience was also when I was 6. A month after the past experience, in the middle of the night I heard footsteps. I thought "Hm, daddy is walking around." But the footsteps sounded like heavy, military combat boots. I looked out into the hall. No one was there not even the cats or the dogs (because both were sleeping with mom and dad).
I might search up the history of the other house, too. I am very fascinated, however I did not ever make contact with anything paranormal ever again. From what I heard children a young age (like me, at the time of the story) are more prone to seeing the paranormal.
Also...I thought this would have some connection like you stated such as... After the boy was never seen again, maybe the entities followed us and "possibly" the entity making the heavy noises with the fisherman boots (a great theory) I think it might have the father that you stated might have been with his son on the water on that fateful night. I might post some more stories once I have time. 😁