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**It's implied she just liked to record her puppet shows. She heard her mother coming and she was supposed to be sick in bed, so she quickly put things away and hadn't enough time to turn the camera off before Mom barged in. The real question to be asked is how did she acquire that tape after dying? Even if she knew its contents would implicate her mother in her death after being made aware of it with Cole's help (since she knew the tape existed before her death), it doesn't really follow that she could just produce the tape as a real world object to Cole upon requesting the help her.


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** It's a concept among ghost hunters called EVP (electronic voice phenomenon). Supposedly, the voices/energies of the dead can be recorded at extremely low volumes by electronic equipment, but it gets garbled into the static/white noise present in the recording (or may even BE the static, with innumerable overlapping voices creating nothing but noise). It's largely dismissed as a form of pareidolia (attribution of humanity to an inanimate or nonliving thing, the "seeing faces" mental illusion) or false positive in pattern recognition. Or in others words, finding what you want to be there. Compared to "real" examples present by paranormal enthusiasts, the Spanish speaker is remarkably discernible and clear. A somewhat goofy example of it was used in the film White Noise where it was a sort of conduit between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
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** That was her mother? I thought she was an EvilStepmother.

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** That was her mother? I thought she was an EvilStepmother.WickedStepmother.
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** The film doesn't say anything either way. But they did choose an actress who looked quite similar to Mischa Barton - shoulder-length blonde hair, angular jaw - so it's likely Shyamalan intended her to be the biological mother.
** The script refers to her as 'Mrs Collins' and 'the girl's mother', so yes she is the biological mother.


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** It depends on how she was poisoning Kyra. Take ''Literature/FlowersInTheAttic'' where characters are poisoned over a few months by arsenic being added to their food. Perhaps she was giving her enough poison to make her feel poorly, but not enough to raise the doctors' suspicions. As said above, she was said to have been getting better before she died - and the mother gave her a bigger dose of poison.

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** By being a quiet person with a lot on their minds. This troper spent most of her high school lunches being ignored in silence and is probably not dead.
*** [[TomatoInTheMirror You sure?]]
**** [[WeirdnessCensor Is who sure?]] (This troper agrees with the one below, to a degree, and Bruce Willis was only fully manifest for things that wouldn't have killed his weirdness censor, and was just metaphorically and absentmindedly kicking a can around the street to pass the time.)
**** I was merely questioning if the troper I was replying to was sure about the "probably isn't dead" thing. Perhaps a Troper in life is left a Troper in death, and is unaware of death because existence as a ghost is filled entirely with surfing this web page rather then interacting with humans. Of course, the question is if that's [[TVTropesWillEnhanceYourLife heaven]] or [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife hell.]]
**** I was kidding. That was what the link to WeirdnessCensor was suppposed to indicate. You See Dead People. ByTheEyesOfTheBlind may have been better, but I didn't think of it. My apologies for any confusion. In addition to the opinion above and below that Bruce Willis' ghost stopped paying attention to existence most of the time, just wandering around without thinking, it's also possible, nay probable that he would have figured it out before, and blanked it out, like a lot of ghosts do in other movies. Probably what the hanged ghosts were doing almost constantly. "I've been hanging here a while, when am I going to finally die? Hey, that kid in the weird clothing walked through my leg! I must already be dead! Nooooooo! Noooo! Nooo... Ah, well, whatever." Three hours later: "Hey, I've been hanging here a long time..." You've got to remember, he wasn't dating and most of his patients stopped seeing him a while back.

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** By being a quiet person with a lot on their minds. This troper spent most of her high school lunches being ignored in silence and is probably not dead.
*** [[TomatoInTheMirror You sure?]]
**** [[WeirdnessCensor Is who sure?]] (This troper agrees with the one below, to a degree, and Bruce Willis was only fully manifest for things that wouldn't have killed his weirdness censor, and was just metaphorically and absentmindedly kicking a can around the street to pass the time.)
**** I was merely questioning if the troper I was replying to was sure about the "probably isn't dead" thing. Perhaps a Troper in life is left a Troper in death, and is unaware of death because existence as a ghost is filled entirely with surfing this web page rather then interacting with humans. Of course, the question is if that's [[TVTropesWillEnhanceYourLife heaven]] or [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife hell.]]
****
I was kidding. That was what the link to WeirdnessCensor was suppposed to indicate. You See Dead People. ByTheEyesOfTheBlind may have been better, but I didn't think of it. My apologies for any confusion. In addition to the opinion above and below that Bruce Willis' ghost stopped paying attention to existence most of the time, just wandering around without thinking, it's also possible, nay probable that he would have figured it out before, and blanked it out, like a lot of ghosts do in other movies. Probably what the hanged ghosts were doing almost constantly. "I've been hanging here a while, when am I going to finally die? Hey, that kid in the weird clothing walked through my leg! I must already be dead! Nooooooo! Noooo! Nooo... Ah, well, whatever." Three hours later: "Hey, I've been hanging here a long time..." You've got to remember, he wasn't dating and most of his patients stopped seeing him a while back.

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** A poster (the very poster on the [[Film/TheSixthSense Film]] page, for that matter) lists "Touch, Taste, Hear, Smell, See, '''Fear'''" (emphasis mine). Fear may not be a "sense" by the traditional or literal definition of the word, but it certainly fits the movie. Plus, [=ESP=] ''is'' traditionally called "the (or 'a') sixth sense".



*** Some of this isn't necessarily WMG; Malcolm's profile of Cole notes that he was "referred autumn 1998", so it's possible that he was supposed to start therapy with Malcolm before the good doc got busy with his not-being-alive-ness.



* How did the voice of the spanish-speaking ghost get recorded on the tape that Malcolm had of his appointment with Vincent? If ghosts can't be seen or heard by anyone with the exception of those with powers like Cole and Vincent, it doesn't make sense that their voices could be recorded, or at the very least, only those with powers should be able to hear the voice on the recording. If ghosts can be recorded, they surely would have been discovered by the general public given how they are everywhere and many of them are quite loud; you'd think plenty of people would have caught them in audio recordings over the years (or even possibly video - if their voices could be recorded, why not their bodies?). This seemed to me to be a very major plot hole, is there any explanation?

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* How did the voice of the spanish-speaking Spanish-speaking ghost get recorded on the tape that Malcolm had of his appointment with Vincent? If ghosts can't be seen or heard by anyone with the exception of those with powers like Cole and Vincent, it doesn't make sense that their voices could be recorded, or at the very least, only those with powers should be able to hear the voice on the recording. If ghosts can be recorded, they surely would have been discovered by the general public given how they are everywhere and many of them are quite loud; you'd think plenty of people would have caught them in audio recordings over the years (or even possibly video - if their voices could be recorded, why not their bodies?). This seemed to me to be a very major plot hole, is there any explanation?
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* Didn't Cole's teacher mention that Philadelphia (their city) is one of the oldest parts of America, and most buildings have had previous uses? Like the schoolhouse. People may have died in Their apartment before it became a home.
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** We only hear of the seven doctors from two people attending the funeral, not from the mom or dad. It might have been a lie she said earlier on that spread. For all we know she had never taken Kyra to the doctor or was counting school nurses and other medical staff who wouldn't be able to run those kind of tests as "doctors".


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** Alternatively, all those ghosts needed closure from a specific person while Crowe needed closure from helping a child with a similar problem to his former patient and it didn't matter who that child was.
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** The same way the other ghosts go decades or centuries and still not know. They don't feel time passing like the living.


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** In general, the ghosts seem to see Cole as someone from their life based on whatever trauma is keeping them a ghost. It happens that what Crowe needs for closure is to help a child suffering like Vincent was. In other words, he was the only ghost that actually saw and interacted with Cole as what he was and tried to actually have a conversation.
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** He always knew. It is established that he saw the gunshot wound all along just like he sees all the ghosts in their dead state. He pointedly looks at it several times.
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** Keep in mind that by the time Malcolm's giving Vincent's tapes another listen, Cole's told him about being able to see the dead. Malcolm is now specifically listening for ''something'' and has turned up the volume beyond his normal listening volume. Once he hears a tiny something out of the ordinary, he turns the volume all the way up and finally hears the Spanish ghost that scares Vincent. There's also the fact that Lynn must have looked at photos of Cole numerous times and yet, never noticed the little Tinkerbell-ish light that represents a ghost in each and every one of them (right at which Cole is looking) until that point in the film where her son's issues are coming to a head. So ghosts are being recorded, but in such a subtle way that the average person just doesn't notice until they're looking for it or if they do notice it, it's explained away. More like, "Oh, they must have screwed up developing the pictures at the One Hour Photo," (because this was 1999 before everybody and their mom had a DSLR) or "Must be some extra noise or voices that accidentally got recorded or something." Something before people leap to "Must be ghosts."

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** Keep in mind that by the time Malcolm's giving Vincent's tapes another listen, Cole's told him about being able to see the dead. Malcolm is now specifically listening for ''something'' and has turned up the volume up beyond his normal listening volume.level. Once he hears a tiny something out of the ordinary, he turns the volume all the way up and finally hears the Spanish ghost that scares Vincent. There's also the fact that Lynn must have looked at photos of Cole numerous times and yet, never noticed the little Tinkerbell-ish light that represents a ghost in each and every one of them (right at which Cole is looking) until that point in the film where her son's issues are coming to a head. So ghosts are being recorded, but in such a subtle way that the average person just doesn't notice until they're looking for it or if it. If they do notice it, it's explained away. More like, "Oh, they must have screwed up developing the pictures at the One Hour Photo," (because this was 1999 before everybody and their mom had a DSLR) or "Must be some extra noise or voices that accidentally got recorded or something." Something before people leap to "Must be ghosts."
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** Keep in mind that by the time Malcolm's giving Vincent's tapes another listen, Cole's told him about being able to see the dead. Malcolm is now specifically listening for ''something'' and has turned up the volume beyond his normal listening volume. Once he hears a tiny something out of the ordinary, he turns the volume all the way up and finally hears the Spanish ghost that scares Vincent. There's also the fact that Lynn must have looked at photos of Cole numerous times and yet, never noticed the little Tinkerbell-ish light that represents a ghost in each and every one of them (right at which Cole is looking) until that point in the film where her son's issues are coming to a head. So ghosts are being recorded, but in such a subtle way that the average person just doesn't notice until they're looking for it or if they do notice it, it's explained away. More like, "Oh, they must have screwed up developing the pictures at the One Hour Photo," (because this was 1999 before everybody and their mom had a DSLR) or "Must be some extra noise or voices that accidentally got recorded or something." Something before people leap to "Must be ghosts."
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*** No it doesn't make sense. First of all, he's a ghost. He doesn't have a brain. Also, if he's only around when he's on screen then what determines when he's on screen and when he isn't? All the other ghosts seem to be around all the time, not just when we see them, so why should Malcolm be an exception? If, as the point below suggests, he knows on some level already that he's dead but just hasn't accepted it yet, that makes more sense but still doesn't really answer why he didn't accept it after like a week of everybody completely and unnaturally ignoring him in every respect.

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----

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----* How come, if the rest of the ghosts don't see Cole as Cole (since the housewife sees her husband, Kyra likely sees her father, etc), Malcom does? Why is he the only one to actually see Cole, the medium, as himself?
**I guess this could imply a number of things (but I'm still unsure). One, maybe he saw Cole before his death but didn't talk to him. Two, Cole doesn't actually look as he does on screen, but as a patient Malcom wished he could help. Three, Cole was just some random kid Malcom saw and, like the other ghosts, projected onto him what he still needed to do on Earth - not make up with his wife, but to realize he was dead and his career was over. I know this approaches WMG territory, but I'd like to know what others think.
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** How would he know he's a ghost upon first contact? He feels eyes on him when Willis is around him near the bench, but when he follows him into the church he is totally unafraid upon seeing him and appears not to recognize him as the presence he felt before. Even if he did make the connection, that wouldn't prove the guy watching him was a ghost. Willis's wounds are covered up and since he's not in the room with anyone while he's pissed off until the end, their breath is never visible. But Cole ''is'' uncertain, starting to get a little paranoid about everyone he meets since he's around ghosts so much these days, and says, "I...''am'' going to see you again...aren't I??" He's wary again when Willis shows up at his home, but he warms up to him quickly and once again, has no proof that he is a ghost. If the idea is still in his head at all later in the film, he's probably pushed it out by the time it suddenly hits him, during the infamous "I see dead people" scene. ''That's'' when the shit hits the fan. You can see the fear flood into his eyes when Willis tells his story because he realizes ''he's heard stories like this before. He knows this mentality. He's been hanging out with a ghost!'' But he decides to stick with him. Because they've already started to grow close and, as he tells Willis later on, "If you can't help me, no one can!"

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** How would he know he's a ghost upon first contact? (Note: TitleDrop, maybe?) He feels eyes on him when Willis is around him near the bench, but when he follows him into the church he is totally unafraid upon seeing him and appears not to recognize him as the presence he felt before. Even if he did make the connection, that wouldn't prove the guy watching him was a ghost. Willis's wounds are covered up and since he's not in the room with anyone while he's pissed off until the end, their breath is never visible. But Cole ''is'' uncertain, starting to get a little paranoid about everyone he meets since he's around ghosts so much these days, and says, "I...''am'' going to see you again...aren't I??" He's wary again when Willis shows up at his home, but he warms up to him quickly and once again, has no proof that he is a ghost. If the idea is still in his head at all later in the film, he's probably pushed it out by the time it suddenly hits him, during the infamous "I see dead people" scene. ''That's'' when the shit hits the fan. You can see the fear flood into his eyes when Willis tells his story because he realizes ''he's heard stories like this before. He knows this mentality. He's been hanging out with a ghost!'' But he decides to stick with him. Because they've already started to grow close and, as he tells Willis later on, "If you can't help me, no one can!"
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** The house is about 200 years old, by the look of it / neighbourhood it's in. The kid that accidentally blew his brains out while showing a friend his dad's gun had hair and clothing that indicated he was from the early 70's. The housewife that slit her wrists (apparently as a way to escape her husband), looked like she was from the 50's. Neither realize that decades have gone by, because of the strange time-sense. (Hence the ghost at the school still protesting that he didn't steel the master's horse.)
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** Possibly Malcolm was sensitive as well, to a much lesser degree, and didn't realize it.
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*How did the voice of the spanish-speaking ghost get recorded on the tape that Malcolm had of his appointment with Vincent? If ghosts can't be seen or heard by anyone with the exception of those with powers like Cole and Vincent, it doesn't make sense that their voices could be recorded, or at the very least, only those with powers should be able to hear the voice on the recording. If ghosts can be recorded, they surely would have been discovered by the general public given how they are everywhere and many of them are quite loud; you'd think plenty of people would have caught them in audio recordings over the years (or even possibly video - if their voices could be recorded, why not their bodies?). This seemed to me to be a very major plot hole, is there any explanation?
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** She wasn't getting angry at her husband, if that's what you mean. It seems like it before you know the twist, but after the big reveal it's clear she was feeling ''sad'' about [[spoiler:his death]]. As the above troper said, continuing to observe traditions you shared with [[spoiler:a dead loved one]] is not uncommon. It's just a natural part of the grieving process in most cases.

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Pithied up an answer that I don\'t think was ever in question.


** I've always assumed it was Munchausen syndrome by proxy, judging by the mother's (fake) catatonia and all of the attention it's bringing her during the wake.
** That's exactly what this troper thought, too.
*** This Troper, too, particularly since one of the funeral-goers mentioned that the little sister was ill as well. That's why the ghost girl needed Cole's help; to make sure that her mother didn't kill the little sister didn't die as well.

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** I've always assumed it was Munchausen syndrome by proxy, judging by the mother's (fake) catatonia and all of the ''Munchausen's Syndrome'' is a mental illness where you seek attention it's bringing her during by harming yourself; ''Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy'' is the wake.
** That's exactly what this troper thought, too.
*** This Troper, too,
same, but you seek attention by harming (and possibly going so far as killing) those in your care, particularly since one your children. This is the obvious reading of that part of the funeral-goers mentioned movie. It might be possible to come up with an alternate reading but there'd have to be some pretty good explanation to go with it.
*** Besides having all the hallmarks of Munchausen's, there's also the fact
that the little sister was is growing ill as well. That's why - the mother has moved on to a secondary target. Had the ghost girl needed not sought Cole's help; help, or Cole not conquered his fear to make sure that her help her, the mother didn't kill would've continued harming her daughter, giving her an infinite supply of sympathy for the little sister didn't die as well.poor woman with one daughter dead and another sick. (Possibly consolation: With no further victims to move on to, it's unlikely she would've deliberately killed her - just kept her ill and miserable.)



** Also, at the funeral, there's a mention that the daughter's sister has fallen ill, too.
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** A sense is a means in which your body perceives outside stimuli, the way in which you conceptualise it is related, but not the same thing. The actual mechanics of the boy's power are unexplained, but I'm going to guess that it is not a case of light reflecting off a ghost, hitting his eye and being picked up in this manner. He clearly has some ability to pick up stimuli that normal humans lack, hence an additional[[hottip:*:Humans actually have at least 10 senses, the ones that Aristotle missed are nociception (pain), equilibrioception (balance), proprioception and kinaesthesia (joint motion and acceleration), sense of time and thermoception (temperature differences), and depending on what definition is being used it can go up to about twenty. Sight alone can be considered as three different senses - colour, brightness and depth.]] sense.

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** A sense is a means in which your body perceives outside stimuli, the way in which you conceptualise it is related, but not the same thing. The actual mechanics of the boy's power are unexplained, but I'm going to guess that it is not a case of light reflecting off a ghost, hitting his eye and being picked up in this manner. He clearly has some ability to pick up stimuli that normal humans lack, hence an additional[[hottip:*:Humans additional[[note]]Humans actually have at least 10 senses, the ones that Aristotle missed are nociception (pain), equilibrioception (balance), proprioception and kinaesthesia (joint motion and acceleration), sense of time and thermoception (temperature differences), and depending on what definition is being used it can go up to about twenty. Sight alone can be considered as three different senses - colour, brightness and depth.]] [[/note]] sense.
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*** Do note that after Cole and Malcom's first meeting in the church, that Cole, on the way to the exit, loots one of the [[{{Foreshadowing}} religious figurines]] from a nick-knack table. Apparently, he feels the need for an additional protective totem for his anti-ghost tent at home. Interesting...
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* Once you know the twist, the anniversary dinner scene briefly becomes {{Fridge Brilliance}} before you realise that it reduces to Malcolm's wife inexplicably booking a table at a fancy restaurant in order to sit and eat [[spoiler:alone, getting upset in public about her dead husband]] and paying for the privilege.
** Some people continue the traditions started with [[spoiler:dead loved ones]] even though it emotionally hurts.

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** She might have been giving her several different things and even lying about symptoms.



*** Why wasn't Crowe's wound visible? We could clearly see it after he got shot in the opening.

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*** Why wasn't Crowe's wound visible? We could clearly see it after he got shot in the opening.opening.
*** It was threw and threw and off to the side where it could be hidden by his jacket or arm or whatever. He bled out through his back.
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*** Why wasn't Crowe's wound visible? We could clearly see it after he got shot in the opening.



<<|ItJustBugsMe|>>

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<<|ItJustBugsMe|>>
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* Another thing about Kyra: what the fuck was her (step?) mother giving her that six doctors over two years didn't notice? The bottle looked like it could have been cleaning solution, but... you'd think that would show up in a blood test.

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* Another thing about Kyra: what the fuck was her (step?) mother giving her that six doctors over two years didn't notice? The bottle looked like it could have been cleaning solution, but... you'd think that would show up in a blood test.test or something. Or caused a more abrupt, ghastly death instead of prolonged illness.
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* Another thing about Kyra: what the fuck was her (step?) mother giving her that six doctors over two years didn't notice? The bottle looked like it could have been cleaning solution, but... you'd think that would show up in a blood test.
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** What Cole said was that ''some'' ghosts don't realize they're dead. The ghosts from the school are probably in the group that does realize it.
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YMMV sinkhole.


** After finding out that I'd been dead for a year and too much of a jackass to realize it, [[YourMileageMayVary I'd probably be FURIOUS.]] Besides, emotions are almost never mutually exclusive, even in the weirdest combinations. One can be sad, wistful, and angry all at once. And more besides.

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** After finding out that I'd been dead for a year and too much of a jackass to realize it, [[YourMileageMayVary I'd probably be FURIOUS.]] FURIOUS. Besides, emotions are almost never mutually exclusive, even in the weirdest combinations. One can be sad, wistful, and angry all at once. And more besides.
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**Crowe's wound wasn't visible, so he wasn't scary to look at. All the ghosts that scare Cole have been pretty horrible in appearance.
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* How come Cole is so calm when meeting Malcolm for the first time when he's shown to be terrified of ghosts? I know that he figured Malcolm was nice, but with the other ghosts he was scared from just sensing or seeing them, without them necessarily doing anything to him. Yet when Malcolm shows up he stays completely calm and has no trouble conversating with him (not counting his shy manner of speaking). Though I guess that if Cole had been shown to be frightened of him at first, the ending might have been given away...

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