Hurley Can't Really See Dead People... by Goombajuice

To start out this theory, you'll have to accept the fact that I believe Aaron to be "claimed" by the smoke monster. The reason I believe that is because in season 1, Claire said that "I haven't felt the baby since the crash" (a slight hint that it might have died in the womb) and then she had the baby many episodes into the season, whereas in "LA X" we see that she has the baby almost immediately after the plane lands. And that would also explain why Aaron is so important to the others in season 1 and why Ethan was injecting her with medication.

Alright, so now that you have my reasoning for why I believe Aaron is claimed (and to me, claimed implies that the person IS the Smoke Monster...whatever that means, I'm convinced we don't know that fully yet). This could also be the reason why the psychic said to Claire that SHE has to raise this baby, not anyone else (maybe he saw that she would be stuck on the island, maybe would even be claimed herself, and to make sure that the baby never leaves the island). Well, the baby DID leave the island and WAS raised by someone else off of the island and the baby never returned (remember Eloise said "you ALL have to return." I always found it odd that they never thought that that would imply Aaron too. If it meant a dead Locke, then CERTAINLY it would mean Aaron too. But anyway, on to the theory.)

So all of a sudden, off of the island, the Oceanic Six start to see apparitions...NOT just Hurley. We assume that Hurley actually SAW Charlie (maybe because the other crazy guy acknowledged a physical Charlie to Hurley), but I'm convinced it was the Smoke Monster off of the island (remember, the Smoke Monster can PHYSICALLY manifest itself, a la Locke + Christian on-island). So this means that as a result of Aaron being off of the island, so too is the Smoke Monster (remember he said "I want to go home"...maybe he means back to the island??). Jack also sees his father. And Kate sees Claire. These are all "dead" people and people who could have been claimed by the Smoke Monster. Remember, there was no signs of Hurley seeing dead people in the flashbacks (nor in the alt-reality, though it's a bit early), and there are also no weird apparitions in any of the flashbacks, so why all of a sudden in the flash forwards are they throwing weird island specific stuff OFF of the island?! ?

So this brings me to the point of Jacob visiting Hurley. Was it REALLY Jacob?? Or was it the Smoke Monster claiming Jacob to manipulate Hurley?? Maybe he wanted Hurley to bring Sayid to the temple in order to have someone infiltrate the Temple?? Perhaps the Smoke Monster knew that the brown water wouldn't work in healing Sayid because Jacob is dead, thus having a "claimed" person within the Temple (before they can lay down the ash).

I believe Miles may actually be able to "connect" with the dead (since it was shown in a flashBACK that Miles was able to). He also, I believe, successfully connected with Juliet ("it worked"). So maybe in a future episode we will see Miles getting a connection to Jacob, telling Hurley that he messed up (can't you see the "poor Hurley moment" already?? Sad music, maybe even have it be a Hurley episode, a nice juxaposition to his alt-reality of "good luck" off of the island?).

OK, that's my theory. Even if it doesn't turn out to be right, I still think it's feasible.