13 Small Details In 'The Sixth Sense' That Gave Away The Big Twist

When Cole first spots Malcom outside of his house, he runs away and flees into a church for safety. Cole was clearly terrified when he first started seeing Malcolm.

Later, after meeting him inside his apartment, he knows his mother cannot see him, so he doesn't ask her about him. He merely freezes in the doorway until Malcom starts engaging with him. 

All of their early meetings are tinged with fear until Cole learns that Malcolm is trustworthy and won't hurt him as other ghosts have in the past. It's obvious that Cole understands that Malcolm is deceased. It's also obvious that he knows that Malcolm does not understand that he's dead. 

Cole is helping Malcolm by allowing Malcolm to help him.

Anne Crowe seems quite cold towards her husband when he comes in late for their anniversary dinner, mumbling a quick “Happy anniversary” to him before taking off. She doesn't even make eye contact. In fact, not a single person makes contact with Malcolm during the entirety of the movie except for Cole, hinting that Malcolm is, in fact, dead.

Once you know the twist, it's fun to watch the awkward silences between the earth-bound mortals and the undead figures who don't know they're dead, including Malcolm. Malcolm sits in silence, appearing to be contemplating Cole's predicament, but in truth, he's sitting unnoticed by the living.

This is pure craftsmanship on the director's part and makes the movie great fun to watch a second, third, and fourth time.

From Redditor u/brush_between_meals:

In the church, after Cole meets Malcolm for the first time, Cole steals another figurine on his way out of the church. If each new figurine represents a ghost [who haunts Cole], then Cole took this one because he has just added a new ghost (Malcolm) to his menagerie.

Throughout the movie, the color red often indicates or foreshadows the presence of a ghost or spirit. Redditor u/derfmai states:

Most [of] Shyamalan's films use color as visual cues. The Sixth Sense uses red as a precursor to tense emotional moments. Red balloon before he gets locked in the closet. Red tent when he's hiding from angry ghosts. His mom is wearing a red coat in the car with him when she learns the truth. Bruce Willis encounters the red door handle when he learns the truth about himself.

In the scene in which Cole visits Kyra's funeral, her mother is the only person at the event to wear red. Some Redditors speculate that not only does she wear this color because of the role she played in her daughter's death (slowly poisoning her over two years), but because she craves attention due to her possibly suffering from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy.

From Redditor u/estheredna:

[When Cole] is looking out a window during [the bus drive to Kyra's funeral], he gasps and turns away when the bus passes a graveyard, [clearly scared]. A little detail that adds to the sense that he sees more than what we are shown onscreen.