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Your story reminds me of one wich happened to a close friend. She's an RN, and her mother was an LPN. I had Christmas with them at their house in 1996.
The mother died Dec 26 of that year. A really unfortunate time to pass. We all knew she was terminally ill, but we thought there would be at least a little more time than there was. Both my friend and I were hospice nurses at the time.
My friend and her family had used the same hand-me-down Christmas light set for many years. They had been passed down from grandmother, to mother to daughter.The garland lights part of the set worked, but the attached angel for the top had not worked for years and years.
Well, within several minutes of my friend's mother passing, we were all crying- the angel lit up- it stayed lit for only a couple of minutes, and went out again.
My friend still uses that old light set to this day- but the angel has never lit up again.
Nov 20, 2007 11:33 PM - i work in many hospitals (being in a traveler), many have haunted stories. i take them all at face value...but do not discredit any. because i've had several episodes when the hair was freakin' out! this sounds like a story column of it's own, everything from call bells calling on their own,elevators opperating, etc,. but no i've never gotten a phone call like that--yet. however. i did get called to a room once that no longer existed as a patient room..thinking it was only a prank. my older sister told me latter that was the room where my grandfather died. it was in the original part of the hospital....coincidinence, whatever i ain't messin' with it!
Nov 20, 2007 11:41 PM - something i've thought about for years, if i'm doomed to pass away in a hospital and if i have the option. i would like to hang aroung awhile. think of all the fun you could have...
Nov 23, 2007 08:41 PM - my grandmother had been in the hospital since 9-11-2001, and had been basically comatose the whole time. We knew it was only a matter of time until her passing. When I was little, she would always wake me up by saying, "you'd better get up, your going to be late, we're going to (wherever we were going)"...On 9-29-01 at night, I had left the hospital to go home and get some sleep, a shower, etc. On 9-30-01 I was awakened at 6:30 am by the phone ringing. When I answered, it was grandma saying, "wake up, your going to be late, because I've got to go" then dead silence-no click, dial tone or anything, just nothing. My mother in law and my husband both asked who was calling so early and did I give them what for. I said that it was my grandma and that I would be getting a call anytime saying that she had died. At 6:37 am, my mom called and said that grandma had died at 6:30, details, etc. I just told mom I already knew, told her about the phone call. She thought I was lying until she talked to my dh. She told all the other relatives about the call, and of course a couple of relatives asked why she would call me (I wasn't the closest grandchild, but I was the oldest)....My only answer was that maybe I was the only one who was listening.....Until the day I die, I will cherish that last call from grandma......
About twelve years ago, I was working nights as an LPN at an inpatient hospice unit. It was a quiet night. I was sitting in a patient's room with the patient and her family.
I will call the patient "Gladys."
Gladys was quietly actively dying, and her son "Bill" and daughter-in-law "Sue" were with her. I heard the phone ring at the desk. The CNA "Mary", answered it, took a message and met me in the hallway. She said "That was a weird call. It was some guy named "Harry." He said to tell Gladys that he'll be here for her in a half hour."
I walked back to the patient's room and relayed the message to Bill, Sue and Gladys. Gladys was non-responsive, so I leaned over and spoke the message quietly in her ear. The message didn't make sense to me, but I figured the family would know what is was about. Bill and Sue didn't say anything, but they gave me the strangest look. I went back to the desk.
A couple of minutes later, Bill and Sue came to the desk. Sue said "Are you sure the caller's name was Harry? The only Harry we know is Gladys' husband, and he's been dead for five years." Mary was sitting there, and read from the message log, confirming the message.
Bill said "That doesn't make any sense." Then he and Sue went back to Gladys' room. A little while later, Sue came to tell me that Gladys was not breathing. I went to check. She breathed two more times, and stopped. I assessed for signs of life, and wrote down the time of death and called the Charge Nurse, who confirmed it.
When we checked, we saw that Gladys' time of death was one half hour TO THE MINUTE from the time that Harry called. Mary said that his voice had had an echoing, staticy quality to it.
Was it really Gladys' dead husband calling to let everyone know her time was at hand? Who knows!?
We all talked about that incident for a long time after that.
Oh...as a hospice nurse I LOVE TO hear these kind of stories, they're not creepy or weird, just more proof that there's so much more after this life that we don't understand, and I find that so intriguing and comforting.
Nov 24, 2007 11:41 AM - We just finished Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and were finishing up our coffee, which is our tradition before everyone disperses to watch football. The lights in the dining room went out. I just KNEW it was Dad. I looked up at the ceiling and said "Jerry (dad's name), that's not funny". Mom wrote it off as my niece turning on the heater instead of the light when she used the upstairs bathroom, but I don't think so.... and later my nephew told my Mom "Papa Jerry was here... I just know it"....
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