Philadelphia · autumn 1998 · M. Night Shyamalan

The Sixth Sense

Bruce Willis in a black bow tie, speaking, with a moustache and goatee — Bruce Willis at Harvard in February 2002, named Hasty Pudding Man of the Year, three years after the film. George Weinstein · CC BY 2.0

Haley Joel Osment as a boy in a checked shirt, sitting in a canvas chair — Haley Joel Osment in 2001, two years after he played Cole. Thomas from Vienna, Austria · CC BY-SA 2.0

Red is rare in this film. Here, it is only for the film’s own red things.

Toni Collette in 2005, the closest free photograph to the film. sheksays on flickr.com · CC BY 2.0

Toni ColletteLynn Sear · 2005

Six red things

Follow the red.

Shyamalan kept red out of almost every frame of the film and let it in only now and then. Each red thing below is still grey. Find it and it turns red, and the street where it was filmed opens.

Six red things are hidden in the grey. Find them.

Where we read it

The colour red is absent from most of the film; the list of red things (the church door, the party balloon, carpet and sweater, the tent, the tape recorder’s numbers, Anna’s shirt at the restaurant, her shawl). Two red things, tied to the ending and to a wake, are left out here.
Wikipedia: The Sixth Sense

Nothing red yet. Start with the door.

The painted nave of St Augustine’s church, rows of pews leading to a white marble altar — Inside St Augustine’s: the nave and the marble altar. Bestbudbrian · CC BY-SA 3.0

Fourth and New Streets · Old City

The red door.

Cole runs to St Augustine’s, and Malcolm meets him inside it for the first time. The church door is one of the few red things in the film.

A mob burned the first church on 8 May 1844. Napoleon LeBrun designed the one that replaced it; the cornerstone was laid in 1847 and it was finished in December 1848.

It is the national shrine of the Santo Niño de Cebú for Filipino American Catholics, and welcomes visitors of all faiths.

A working parish church. The red door is on the New Street side; look down New Street from Third Street, as Malcolm does, and go inside only when the church is open.

Where we read it

A narrow Old City street lined with parked cars and brick buildings, a church steeple at its end — New Street from North Third Street, looking up to St Augustine’s. Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0

New Street

Malcolm stands on New Street looking down towards the church. Stand on New Street at Third and the steeple closes the view.

A red door in a pale stone doorcase in the brick side of St Augustine’s church — The side entrance of St Augustine’s at Fourth and New Streets, with its red door. Wiki Takes Philadelphia, team AMP · CC BY-SA 3.0

Penn’s View Hotel

Penn’s View Hotel, Old City

Old City

A small hotel at Front and Market Streets in Old City, with exposed brick, fireplaces in some rooms and river views; Panorama, its Italian restaurant and wine bar, is downstairs. St Augustine’s is a short walk north.

See the hotel

St Albans Place · near Fitler Square

Wait on the bench.

Cole and his mother live in a brick house on St Albans Place, a few blocks from Fitler Square. Shyamalan jumped out of a scouting van to claim the street. Malcolm waits for him on a bench across the street. The bench where Malcolm waits across from the house was a prop. The production left it behind when it wrapped, and it is still there.

Where we read it

Brick paths, lamp posts and railings in a small leafy square — Fitler Square, a few blocks from Cole’s street. Sbacle · Public domain

Early. The street is quiet. Wait.

Morning
Pine Street at Broad, half a block east of 1420 Pine. Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0
To school · 1420 Pine Street, at South Carlisle Street
College Hall, 1420 Pine Street
Not yet. Keep waiting.
Where we read it
Afternoon
The churchyard at Old Pine in spring. Kevin Burkett · CC BY-SA 2.0
The bus home · 412 Pine Street, at Fourth and Pine, Society Hill
Old Pine Street Church
Not yet. Keep waiting.
Where we read it
Evening
Twentieth and Christian: St Charles Borromeo, at the corner a few doors east of Shiloh Baptist. NMGiovannucci · CC BY-SA 4.0
In the car with his mother · 2040 Christian Street, Graduate Hospital
Shiloh Baptist Church
Not yet. Keep waiting.
Where we read it

Cole’s run starts here: out onto 24th Street and up Grays Ferry Avenue.

3400 Civic Center Boulevard

The hall.

Many of the film’s scenes were shot at the Philadelphia Civic Center, since demolished.

After the hall closed in 1996 it served as a soundstage; the title fight in Rocky V had been shot there in 1990.

Where we read it

Center City

Dinner, statues, a premiere.

Dinner

A tall stone-and-brick office front with columns on Walnut Street — Walnut Street a few doors east of 1500: the old Philadelphia Stock Exchange at 1409–1411. Smallbones · Public domain

1500 Walnut Street, at 15th Street, Rittenhouse

1500 Walnut Street

The restaurant scene was filmed here.

Anna wears a red shirt at the restaurant: another of the film’s few red things.

The room held the Striped Bass for years. Stephen Starr bought it out of bankruptcy and made it Butcher & Singer, named after the brokerage that had used the building for decades.

Today it is a steakhouse, open from 5pm.

Now Butcher & Singer, a steakhouse open for dinner from 5pm every day.

Where we read it

The statues

Green bronze figures in the jets of a round fountain — The Swann Memorial Fountain in Logan Circle. Dudva · CC BY-SA 4.0

Logan Circle, Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Swann Memorial Fountain

A quick shot in the film holds on the fountain’s statues.

Alexander Stirling Calder made it in 1924. Its three figures stand for the city’s three waters: the Delaware, the Schuylkill and the Wissahickon.

In the middle of Logan Circle on the Parkway. Cross to it at the lights.

Where we read it

The premiere

A narrow white theatre front with a round Film Center sign on a busy Chestnut Street block — The Philadelphia Film Center at 1412 Chestnut Street in 2024, the Prince Music Theater in 1999. ajay_suresh · CC BY 2.0

1412 Chestnut Street, Center City

Philadelphia Film Center

The film had its Philadelphia premiere here on 2 August 1999, when it was the Prince Music Theater. It opened across the US four days later, on Shyamalan’s 29th birthday.

The theatre opened in 1921. The Philadelphia Film Society bought it in March 2015; the main house seats 443.

The 35th Philadelphia Film Festival runs from 15 to 25 October 2026.

A working cinema, run by the Philadelphia Film Society. Check its programme for screenings.

Where we read it

The people

Who made it.

Bruce Willis at Harvard in February 2002, named Hasty Pudding Man of the Year, three years after the film. George Weinstein · CC BY 2.0
Bruce WillisMalcolm Crowe · 2002
Haley Joel Osment in 2001, two years after he played Cole. Thomas from Vienna, Austria · CC BY-SA 2.0
Haley Joel OsmentCole Sear · 2001
Toni Collette in 2005, the closest free photograph to the film. sheksays on flickr.com · CC BY 2.0
Toni ColletteLynn Sear · 2005

M. Night Shyamalan wrote and directed it, and appears as Dr Hill. Around Willis, Osment and Collette are Olivia Williams as Anna Crowe, Donnie Wahlberg as Vincent Grey, Mischa Barton as Kyra Collins and Trevor Morgan as Tommy Tammisimo. James Newton Howard wrote the score. Shyamalan grew up making films in his parents’ back garden in Wynnewood, and told the Inquirer in 1999 that Philadelphia was home.

$40mThe budget
6 Aug 1999US release, Shyamalan’s 29th birthday
$672.8mTaken worldwide
6Oscar nominations

Where we read it

Cast and roles, Shyamalan as Dr Hill, James Newton Howard’s score, the $40 million budget, the US release on 6 August 1999, $672.8 million worldwide and six Oscar nominations.
Wikipedia: The Sixth Sense
Shyamalan’s films in his parents’ Wynnewood back garden, “Philadelphia is home”, and the release on his 29th birthday.
Philadelphia Inquirer: The Sixth Sense at 25

Go there.

Where it is now

8 places you can visit, all in Philadelphia. Malcolm’s house, Cole’s house and the party house are private homes: named here by their street, not on the map.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working parish church. The red door is on the New Street side; look down New Street from Third Street, as Malcolm does, and go inside only when the church is open.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working Presbyterian church. The churchyard lies behind railings on Pine Street; you can see it from the pavement.

The side entrance of St Augustine’s at Fourth and New Streets, with its red door. Wiki Takes Philadelphia, team AMP · CC BY-SA 3.0
243 North Lawrence Street, at Fourth and New Streets, Old City
St Augustine’s Church
Cole runs to St Augustine’s, and Malcolm meets him inside it for the first time.
A working parish church. The red door is on the New Street side; look down New Street from Third Street, as Malcolm does, and go inside only when the church is open.
Where we read it
The churchyard at Old Pine in spring. Kevin Burkett · CC BY-SA 2.0
412 Pine Street, at Fourth and Pine, Society Hill
Old Pine Street Church
Cole rides past its churchyard on a bus, under autumn trees.
A working Presbyterian church. The churchyard lies behind railings on Pine Street; you can see it from the pavement.
Where we read it

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