Strange origins

After ‘The Sixth Sense’ hit cinemas in 1999, some viewers pointed out the movie follows oddly similar plot points to Nickelodeon’s TV show ‘Are You Afraid Of The Dark?’, specifically the episode ‘The Tale of the Dream Girl’.

In the 1995 episode, a teenager named Johnny and his sister Erica - who work together at a bowling alley - begin to notice a particularly beautiful young lady who calls to him. Erica then informs her brother the name of this girl is Donna, adding she had died in a tragic accident.

Despite the conceptual similarities, Shyamalan insisted he had no knowledge of the programme when he was making his movie.

He later said: "I don’t think I’ve ever seen that show.

"I don’t want to ignore something that might have been an influence, but nothing rings a bell when you say that.

"I remember specifically the notebook I was writing in and it was about a little boy at a funeral. That was the first image that came to mind, and he was on the stairs talking to no one.

"Then, in my mind, I was wondering if he was talking to the person that had died at that funeral. That kind of stimulated the story."