Not today Satan, not today!

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN]

Catchy title right??? Ok so trying to think of some new topics after the post about bringing back nursing discussions; I know we used to have one similar to this years ago, so I am starting a fresh one.

As most nurses know we are often asked "What's the craziest thing you have seen?" I never know how to answer that because it depends on what the persons definition of crazy is. Working Emergency for 6 years I have seen a lot of crazy things on various scales. I have worked in small community hospitals, I have worked in the busiest Level 1 Trauma center in my state, have worked at another place that was the only trauma center in that state. So I have seen a variety of things in different areas of the country.

So let's specify, what has been your creepiest thing you have experienced. The situation that made you think "Not today Satan, not today!"

I will start, so I am well versed on scary movies. They are my favorite. I guarantee you I would last to the end on a horror movie, that's how well groomed I am to this stuff. I don't get scared often. So was working one night and they brought in a psych patient.

She was working at some chicken factory and co-workers called 911 saying she was having a psychotic break. No one knew of any medical history of mental illness and she had never acted like this before. Her mom got to the hospital before her and said she has never had any psych issues. Given her age I thought maybe she was going to end up being diagnosed with schizophrenia or something because so often we would see the first episode present similar and she was in her early 20's.

Anyway patient gets there and they move her into the room, I have the zone that has 2 acute medical rooms and 2 acute psych rooms. Lights are a bit dim and we already cleared out the room. EMS brings her in and she is sitting on the corner of the bed looking around and kind of rocking back and forth. I go in and introduce myself and do all that and explain to her I would need to take blood and get urine. I notice she keeps looking up to the corner of the room towards the ceiling that is shadowed and flicking her eyes back and forth to that corner and back to me all while subtly rocking. I am close to the door with the door open because you always have to be close to an exit in situations like this. I go to ask her a few things and while she is answering me she looks quickly back to the shadowed corner in the ceiling and rapidly whispers *I know I am trying to get rid of her* and looks right back to me and finishes her sentence. Like not missing a beat, not acknowledging she just whispered to the shadowed corner.

The hairs on my arms stood up and I took 3 steps back, told her I would be right back and said *not today satan, not today* told my resident I was done. LOL Said I have watched enough scary movies to know that I am not even going there!!!!

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

"Not today, Satan!" is my go-to for ANY situation that displeases me, honestly... :)

I'm just so immune to run-of-the-mill haunted hospital stories by now, I guess because I was a Ghostbusters fangirl back in the day and so I have read some doozies. (Though Ruby's story had me jumping - WOW!) Plus working in hospitals and theatres, the two most notoriously haunted places. And I'm pretty sure my old apartment had a spook - a friendly one, but still. I've seen too much NOT to believe in some supernatural force at work.

Most of my "holy crap" moments are from actual, living humans. Peds and psych (or, if you like to subspecialize the heck out of yourself like me, peds psych) seem to have more than their fair share of patients who just are really good at being creepy. I'm not even counting the ones who are TRYING to creep you out. More than once in school nursing, I had children seemingly materialize out of nowhere in my office, without a sound, and I'd turn around to find them staring at me. My creepiest, though, was a 7 year old patient, who called me in her room to remove the ghosts. I dutifully sprayed ghost repellent under the bed (it was air freshener) and sat down to talk with her about this. She very calmly informed me that the ghosts were waiting for her, because, "I died one time, when I was little, and they're waiting for me to come back and join them." THAT was freaking creepy. Never did find out if she'd ever had cardiac arrest or anything like it in her past, but the absolute certainty with with she said it really made me wonder.

See I don't play much into "hauntings and ghosts" I think that's why that pt freaked me out so much. She didn't seem to be putting one over like I have seen since most our psych patients that roll into the ER are in an acute episode. She seemed legit and like she legit saw something in that corner she was conversing with. One of the only 2 times in my life I felt genuine fear. :|

[BSN_to_ICU]

Not a nursing story, but my mom passed a few years ago and my dad told a story that freaked me out. So my mom died at home, in their bedroom of 15 years. He had told me that when he was going to sleep he would feel someone sit on the bed next to him (a few months after she passed). He said it didn't scare him, but he actually felt calm. One night he said the same thing happened and suddenly the lights in the bedroom came on (he had been in the bed half asleep). He said he got up thinking something had chewed through the wires and when he looked at the switch, it had been flipped up...freaked me out no doubt. Still hate that bedroom.

[foggnm]

LOL. I guess next time you'll know to turn the lights on! Hey, sometimes you have to say "I need a break from this." I applaud your ability to remove yourself from an uncomfortable situation and know your limits!

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

I can't touch most of these, but I'll try...

Double occupancy room, only one bed occupied at this time. The occupant was a woman who, in spite of being able to answer any and all questions as someone A&Ox3 and appropriate, clearly had several screws loose, so to speak.

Middle of the night, she rings her call bell and says she needs a new room, please. Sorry, ma'am, you already have an entire room for two to yourself. We can move you to the bed closer to the door if you'd like but otherwise we don't have any beds available. She keeps telling us she most definitely won't move to that bed, as that's the reason she wants to leave the room all together. O...kay...

Some time passes, she rings her call bell and DEMANDS we remove that other bed or remove her from the room. She is so insistent and also so very close to going ape turds that we get the stupid bed out, push it against a wall wherein it won't be in the way and then tuck her in for the night. Nary a peep from weird lady was heard 'til day shift.

However...that bed. Now, we'd left it against the wall. It was just hanging out, no one was touching it. It was unplugged and the call bell mechanism was deactivated.

Wouldn't you know, though? A bit after most of us were sitting down doing chart checks that blasted bed started to MOVE. Not, as in, across the floor. No, it moved up and down, the head, the feet, you name it. Again, NOT PLUGGED IN!

Soooo who were the crazy ones in this story?

[Mavrick, BSN, RN]

As they always do, this tale of the supernatural starts on the night shift in the ICU. A female patient had expired on the evening shift and the body was still in the room. The family hadn't decided which funeral home would be called, so we just waited. No problem as we had an open room and plenty of staff. In fact we had even assigned a nurse to the dead body to finalize the family phone calls, transfer and such. Room was dark, glass doors were shut and curtain had been pulled. For privacy? Or to remind us not to go into the room accidentally.

After initial rounds done and meds given, a couple of us kicked back at the desk to chart and sip a non-alcoholic beverage. Out of the corner of my eye I saw them. Feet. Under the curtain were two feet in socks standing at the bedside. I ain't afraid of no ghosts but I was also NOT the nurse assigned to that "patient" so why do I have to be the one to go in there and check it out???

'cuz you were the one to see 'em.

I cautiously approached the room and slid open the glass door. Even more cautiously pulled back the curtain ........ The form of the sheet-covered body was still in the bed, but standing beside it was a gown-clad male patient. What? Huh? How?

Simple natural explanation . The guy on tele monitoring in the adjoining room had gotten up in the night to use the shared bathroom and had used the wrong door to return to his room. He was as confused as I must have looked to discover someone was "sleeping" in his bed.

I calmly escorted him back to his own room and tucked him into bed before returning to an otherwise unremarkable ICU night shift.

Boy, did we have a story to tell the day shift about our night!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Years ago, when I was a new grad, I was given the task of doing daily weights on half of our 30-bed unit while the team leaders were taking night shift's report. I won't go into how young, dumb and totally clueless I was as a new grad -- that's for another thread. Suffice it to say it usually took me twice as long to do my weights as it took the CNA on the other hall.

The first morning, I went into the end room, there was a steaming pile of poop in the corner. I asked the female patient how got there, thinking "DUH!" And she said that a crazy old lady scurried into her room, squatted right there in the corner and pooped, then scurried out again. I charted that she'd had a soft, formed bowel movement and then, in the interest of being complete, charted what she had said.

The next morning, there was again a steaming pile of poop in the corner of the end room -- same question, same answer, same charting. And again the third day. On the fourth day (these were 8-hour shifts, mind, a torture which I hope never to have to endure again), there was no poop in the corner. While I was getting the patient up for her daily weight, a little old lady scurried into the room, lifted her johnny, squatted in the corner and left a steaming pile of poop.

Imagine charter your way out of three days of THAT!

[AceOfHearts<3]

Totally not nursing related as this happened when I was in elementary school, but this thread reminded me of this creepy and long forgotten memory.

My family built a house in a brand new subdivision when I was in kindergarten. Right at that time my dad accepted a new job and spent the majority of the week out-of-town. My mother, older brother, and I were the only ones home late one night when I was probably 6 or 7. We suddenly started hearing a really creepy giggle coming from our basement when nobody was down there. I had a Baby Walk 'N' Roll doll that I no longer played with that was kept in the basement. It was remote controlled and would make laughing noises. The system had no batteries in it and had mysteriously started to move around and laugh in the basement. That thing went in the trash right away after that...

Here is a link to a YouTube video of the toy:

[BSN_to_ICU]

"Years ago, when I was a new grad, I was given the task of doing daily weights on half of our 30-bed unit while the team leaders were taking night shift's report. I won't go into how young, dumb and totally clueless I was as a new grad -- that's for another thread. Suffice it to say it usually took me twice as long to do my weights as it took the CNA on the other hall.

The first morning, I went into the end room, there was a steaming pile of poop in the corner. I asked the female patient how got there, thinking "DUH!" And she said that a crazy old lady scurried into her room, squatted right there in the corner and pooped, then scurried out again. I charted that she'd had a soft, formed bowel movement and then, in the interest of being complete, charted what she had said.

The next morning, there was again a steaming pile of poop in the corner of the end room -- same question, same answer, same charting. And again the third day. On the fourth day (these were 8-hour shifts, mind, a torture which I hope never to have to endure again), there was no poop in the corner. While I was getting the patient up for her daily weight, a little old lady scurried into the room, lifted her johnny, squatted in the corner and left a steaming pile of poop.

Imagine charter your way out of three days of THAT!"

This has to be one of the best ones ever! That is crazy!!!

[raptorfem, BSN, RN]

RUBY! THIS STORY IS CRAZY!!! *shivers*

[beachnurse14]

I deal with psych patients a lot. The most recent creepy experience is that and one told a coworker that he had a baby on the way. My coworker made his fiance take a pregnancy test that morning and it turns out she is pregnant. Then the next night the patient said to my coworker "your Wendy's husband." And yes, his fiance's name is Wendy.

[MikeyT-c-IV]

I was a critical care nurse, but the surgeons were at a conference and with no scheduled surgeries, our census was down. They floated me to the rehab floor. Nights were extremely slow on the rehab floor that week, and most of what we did was a med/vital signs round at midnight and then another one later on. In between we sat and talked. On night shift, the talk inevitably turns to ghost stories or creepy experiences or something to that effect.

At 2am the charge nurse looked at her watch, and then at me. "It's 2am," she said. "You have room 2. Whatever you do, stay out of the "D" corner." "OK, which is the "D" corner?" "The one without a patient in it."

Sounded easy, right? No more was said. Then the call light went off for room 2 and I went to see which of the three little old ladies in there needed something. The rooms were set up so that they were mirror images of each other. In one room you'd walk in and everything would be set up one way, and the next room would be a mirror image. So when I walked in and the curtains were pulled around one particular bed, it didn't strike me that it hadn't been that way before. I just thought I'd gotten confused which was room 2 and which was room 3. The call light seemed to be originating from the corner with the drawn curtains, so glancing at the three sleeping ladies who were all breathing comfortably (I know -- THREE ladies), I headed for the fourth corner to answer the call light. As I touched the curtain to pull it back, a pillow came flying straight at me, hit me in the face. Instead of being angry, as I probably should have been/would have been, I felt fear -- the most intense fear I've ever felt in my life. A wave of emotion came oozing out of that corner -- the only word that comes to mind is malevolence. I found myself backing away without even realizing it. And then I remembered . . . THREE patients. No one IN that corner. And I fled.

When I got back to the lounge, I found the other two nurses staring at the locked (and windowed) med room with huge, saucer eyes. Everything in the med room had been pulled off the shelves and smashed. Drawers were opened and the contents strewed around. Liquid medication bottles were smashed with the red, sticky liquid oozing all over the floor and the meds on the floor. The charge nurse looked at me and said "You went into the D corner, didn't you?" The two of them had heard of the malevolent spirit that went on periodic rampages, but they had never seen it before. And neither wanted to see it again. The next time I saw either of them, they were working on different floors.

This may be the creepiest story I've ever heard. It's said that our hospital has a lurking spirit but nothing as crazy.

Here's a funny story. My wife used to work the night shift and she worked with a pharmacy tech that was known to be deathly afraid of spirits. I think it was a cultural thing. Anyway, one Halloween my wife dressed and did my daughters makeup to be a ghost. She, another nurse, and this pharmacy tech went to restock a pyxis on a dark empty floor. My daughter was strategically placed around a corner and as they turned that corner my daughter slowly and softly walked in a circle singing "ring around the rosie." This poor little guy nearly lost his, well, you know.

[ChryssyD]

Years ago, I worked in the pediatric section of a sub-acute facility. One of the larger rooms had a rocking chair in it. Hospital lore held that an elderly patient who used to rock the babies would periodically reappear and set the chair a-rockin.' I was unimpressed--until I actually saw it rocking lazily all by itself one night.

I suppose one of the RTs or CNAs could have been playing a joke on me. Or maybe it was the ventilation system, blowing air in the general vicinity. I can't be sure. All I know is, I was making rounds, and that chair was just a-rockin'--no one was around; no one, as far as I knew, had been around, anytime in the last few minutes. It was so quiet...

I don't spook easily, but that was freakin' weird. I can't swear that someone wasn't messing with me, but it sure didn't look like the someone in question was of this world. No one was around--honestly. It was really, really weird. I know I should be more skeptical, but...I was there, and no one else was, at least, not that I saw. I just...I just don't know...

It was weird. That's all I can say.