The 'I See Dead People' meme originates from the 1999 psychological thriller The Sixth Sense, where the young protagonist Cole Sear (played by Haley Joel Osment) whispers the haunting line to Dr. Malcolm Crowe. While the original context is dark and suspenseful, the internet has repurposed the image of a tearful Cole wrapped in a blanket to describe situations where one notices something eerie, invisible, or 'dead' that others ignore. It is commonly used to joke about exhausted employees, dead social media trends, or empty rooms, often substituting the word 'dead' with other nouns to fit a specific comedic scenario.