What's Your Best Nursing Ghost Story?

Nurses General Nursing Nursing Q/A

Nursing is a profession that often involves long lonely night shifts in eerie hospital wards. It's a perfect breeding ground for ghost stories. These stories often involve sightings of apparitions, strange noises, and unexplained events that are said to have taken place in hospitals, hospices, and other healthcare settings. Some of these stories are believed to be based on true events, while others are purely fictional. Regardless, they continue to captivate and intrigue both nurses and non-nurses alike - providing a spooky glimpse into the world of healthcare after dark.

I know you have seen and heard freaky things. Share your nursing ghost stories...

Specializes in Geriatrics, Completing the O.R. course.

I work nights in a LTC facility and we are always telling ghost stories. One night we were working short staffed, so there was a PSW and myself. We had a death happen on days that was unexpected and another lady who was palliative. It was the beginning of the shift and I decided to check on the lady who was not well, sure enough she had just passed away. I left her there until both the PSW and myself could deal with her. The PSW and I were doing our rounds and we were walking near the activity room that was empty. All of sudden we heard what sounded like a chair move accross the floor. Both of us looked at each and asked if we both heard that. We walked in the activity room thinking that maybe one of the residents were up and wandering around. But the room was empty.

Later on that same night the PSW came to where I was and asked if I was her home area. I said no why, she said that she was had taken her cart to one of the residents room and left it outside of the door. When she came back out the cart was moved up the hall and up against the opposite wall. We were pretty freaked out that night but had a good laugh thinking our minds were playing tricks on us.

Another night I was in the basement (which I hate going to) to pick up supplies. I had funny feeling that I was not alone that night but shrugged it off that it was my mind playing tricks on my. As I was leaving the hallway to go the elevators I felt as if someone or something was behind me the I heard my name being called in whisper. I quickly went to the elevator and got on as I was standing that the door would not close, it kept opening as if someone were blocking the door or trying to get on. I don't think I went the basement for about a month after that.

Not to steal anyone's thunder, but is this the one about the two medical workers who went down to medical records (?) in the basement, and when they got off the elevator they came across a field hospital from Civil War times? A doctor was motioning for them to come over to help, but they just kept repeatedly hitting the elevator to go up.

I saw that one on a television show that does paranormal investigations. I have to agree that Gettysburg is a hot spot for paranormal activity.

Here then is the story of the ghostly apparition at Gettysburg as it was related to me during a tour there some years ago.

During the Civil War Gettysburg College was known as Pennsylvania College. On the campus then as today sits what was then known as Pennsylvania Hall, and now serves as the college administration building.

In the late 80's a pair of ladies were working late one evening on the top floor. Wrapping things up for the night they entered the elevator to go down to the ground floor and from there out to their vehicles. There were only two problems: 1. The elevator did not stop on the ground floor but instead continued down to the basement level, and 2. The elevator did not serve the basement level.

The doors opened onto a nightmarish scene straight out of antiquity. Before them was a Civil War hospital, complete with scurrying orderlies, sweating surgeons and scores of wounded laid upon plank tables for surgery.

You need to know in order to understand the scene what the Mini' Ball was and did. They were actually conical bullets as opposed to the previously standard round lead balls. Propelled by black powder they were slow, heavy and frangible, and struck with tremendous force. When they struck bone they expanded, as lead is wont to, shattering bone. Mortality from what were open, comminuted fractures was significant. Medical science at the time was unable to effectively treat such wounds. The best hope for recovery lay with amputation, which there was a better than even chance of surviving vs., mortality of 80-90% otherwise.

The scene that presented itself before the two women was complete with sight, sound and smell. There were the groans of the wounded, the smell of blood and gore, the flicker of candle and kerosene lanterns. Surgeons cleaved and sawed at limbs, working quickly to reduce shock. The area was wide open, with only supporting columns intervening in the space. Rude cots held patients either awaiting surgery or recovering. The clothing worn by the wraiths seemingly made flesh and blood once again was authentic in every detail, the crude instruments and leather tourniquets strictly period. Flesh was cauterized with a hot flat iron; there was no time to make nice flaps or even rows of sutures. If the patient survived the procedure by more than a few hours the chances were good for recovery.

As the women stood there, horrified as you might imagine, staring at the scene made possible by an apparent rift in time, an orderly, the strain plainly showing on his face, turned towards the open elevator and witnessed the two women standing there in shock. He beckoned to them and began to approach them.

Their reaction as you may imagine was to frantically hit the buttons for the door to close, the elevator to go anywhere else, away from the scene before them. After what was reported to be an interminable period of time but in actually probably lasted a mere handful of seconds the doors closed and the elevator traveled upwards to the ground floor.

The women exited as quickly as humanly possible, gaining their cars and fleeing the area. A security guard was reported to have been encountered as they departed and they stopped long enough to explain in garbled fashion what they had witnessed.

Of the two women one never returned to the building, ever. The other, older woman continued to work there for several more years at least, but reportedly never again used the elevator.

The basement at that time, and presumably since, is divided into storage rooms. It is seldom if ever visited as the heat is supplied via underground steam pipes issuing from a central plant serving several buildings on the campus. It represents nothing like the wide-open area witnessed by the two women.

The history of the building shows, however, that the dividing up of the basement area came decades after the Civil War. It also shows that there was indeed a hospital sheltered in the basement during the battle for Gettysburg. Such a location would have been considered as safe from shelling.

The employee who remained there at the college after the apparition has been interviewed repeatedly and the story published in the "official" annals of Gettysburg hauntings.

Ayrman

Aryman,

Thank you for explaining it in more detail! That's the same one that I was thinking about. I saw it explained on something iike the Discovery Channel and found the whole story to be incredibly spooky. You did an excellent job relaying the story.

Wow, if something like that happened to me, I would have had an MI and died right there - with only Civil War medicine to save me! :p

I wonder what would have happened if the two women stepped off the elevator.............

wow.............

Specializes in midwifery, NICU.

..ok, so posted before about the woman who walks down our NICU corridor. I HATE nights because others have seen her, and the very end of the corridor ends in a v v v creepy fire escape! Right where the special care is! So, first night on, and I keep all the lights on in the corridor--feels normal, next 2 nights, workin with a right "oh dont be mad, its OK nurse!!", all lights out etc!

She thought it would be funny, (along with the doc!) to run along the corridor in a white sheet! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So not funny, and they were un-nerved when I said to our wandering woman that I was not making fun of her!!!! I STILL ask her EVERY night shift that I go on, not to make herself seen to me, I AM scared, but I just want to take care of my babies in such a spooky place! So far--she does not show herself to me, so glad, as I have goosebumps thinkin of her! But she must be kind, allows me to take care of my babes and not go home in fright!!!!!!!!!!!

This isn't a ghost story but it involves the supernatural and it's a lovely story about my sister.

My sister (I'll call her A.), who is also a nurse, married very young. This was in the late '70's and the ceremony can only be described as hippish-- no wedding dress or rings, the bride and groom were barefooted.

Her husband was a good man, but not very attentive and oblivious to the sort of things wives need from spouses, such as words of love, compliments, attention.

A's husband went on to earn a PhD in physics and though they had no children, A. stayed at home was quite dependent upon him. As the years went by A. decided to go to college and eventually earned her bachelors in nursing. I want to note that during this time A.'s husband was supportive, in that he paid for her schooling, but otherwise uninvolved. She received no encouragement or praise from him.

Once out of school A. went to work in a local hospital and met a man, a fellow nurse, who became quite attentive to her. He showered her with compliments, intimate letters, invitations to dinner. She was seduced by this, their relationship broadened into an affair, and she left her husband. After the divorce, A. married her new man in a quickie, no ring, civil ceremony at the court house.

The marriage was a disaster. A's new husband virtually stopped working. He drank and he spent her money. Once, she arrived home from work to find him selling some antique china she had inherited. A year into their marriage A. had some sort of spat with her new husband that resulted in his striking her. A.'s hubby apologized profusely. He said he was going to do bettter, work more, etc. etc. None of this happened, there was another fight, another act of violence, after which A. divorced husband # 2.

At the ending of this marriage A. had lost everything. A.'s husband had spent all the money A. had earned and money A. had received from our late mother's estate. She began living by herself in the home that had been our mother's.

A. entered a period of deep depression and isolated herself from family and friends. She began thinking of suicide. One day while vaccuming the stairs at home, she again began to think of taking her life. She was vaccuming the stairs, manuevering the vaccum, and crying out to "whoever made the universe" about all her mistakes, how alone she had felt her entire life, and telling this "impersonal God who didn't care"...that neither of her husbands had shown any real interest in her at all. "I've never even gotten an engagement ring", she sobbed.

Suddenly A. saw something shining deep in a crevice in one of the carpeted stairs. She turned off the vaccum and used a barrett she was wearing to dig out the shiney object. It was a beautiful 1/2K diamond.

As far as we know, my mother never complained of having lost a diamond out of any jewelry. No visitors to her house have either. A. knows that the "impersonal God of the universe" in that moment told her that He loves her intimately and completely and that He would always be with her.

It has been some years since A. was given her engagement diamond and she has remained single. She is open to a man coming into her life but she trusts the "man" that is there already and joyfully knows her life is in His hands.

Specializes in nursery, L and D.
I looked down and there lying on the pavement was seven pennies, all showing heads up. To know the significance of this you would have to go back to the week before my sons friend, Stacy, was murdered. We were at my sons house and were the only one's in the house at the time. I looked down on the floor and saw a penny. Stacy told me to pick it up, and I told him, no, that it was on tails and that was unlucky. I know that Stacy left those pennies there for me that day to let me know that he was ok and that my sons would be ok. There weren't any cars parked beside of mine when I pulled into the parking lot, and there weren't any beside of it when I came out of class. I've still got those pennies and wouldn't take a million dollars for them. I know from my own personal experience that the people we love never leave us. They are always there watching over us.

A few years ago my grandfather died. It was very unexpected. My grandmother and him actually cared for my children (toddlers) everyday while I worked. He had a GI bleed. I got him to the hospital, they stablize and get him to GI lab and cautrize his bleeding dueodenal ulcer and all is well for a time, everything looks good. I go home to tell my sis about all this (she was at home with my kids) and she keeps saying, its not over, its not over. Well, me being a nurse, I certainly thought the worst was over, that everything was fine. All signs indicated this. I spent the night in the hospital waiting room with my younger sis. ICU calls me and says he is bleeding again and they needed to talk to me. His ulcer is bleeding again and rapidly, he codes with me and my sis standing by his room. He is paniced at first saying I can't breath, etc (very tramatic to us) and then this look of peace came over him and he looked at us with so much love in his eyes and dies. They code him and get him back but I can't really feel him there, if you know what I mean. I call in the other family and make my grandpa a DNR after this and sit with him all night and into the morning. My mother found two pennies on her seat during the morning when she comes back from a break. My grandfather and her collected pennies when she was little. Now everytime she is feeling stressed or upset she finds a penny somewhere unexpected. We can also smell my grandfathers cologne at certain times in the house. Its a comfort.

I would have called for an excorcist after death and praying the divine Mercy chaplet with the man if he was so frightened of dying

The rose petals just started floating down from the ceiling. It was like someone was just showering the room with them. This has happened several times over the years.

My creepiest and scariest ghost story for me happened about a year ago. It really was more of a posession than a ghost story. I was helping another nurse with a patient that had lived a very hard life. It had numerous things going on with him from cardiac to renal failure. You name it, he had it going on. This man was very much afraid to die. Every time his heart monitor beeped, he would just go into a rage screaming, "Don't let me die! Don't let me die!" The other nurse and I found out why he didn't want to die. About 0200 his cardiac monitor starts alarming V-Tach. We both rush into the room. I am pulling the crash cart behing me. When I get to the room, the other nurse is completely white. This man was sitting about 2 inches above the bed and was laughing. His whole look completely changed. His eyes just had a look of pure evil on them and he had this evil smile on his face. He laughed at us and said, " You stupid b****es aren't going to let me die will you?" and he laughed again. We were kinda frozen. I did reach up and hit the Code Blue button and when I did the man went into V-fib. He crashed back onto the bed. We started coding him, but after 20 minutes it was called. 5 minutes after the code was called several of the code team is in the room cleaning up when this man sits straight up in the bed and says, " You let him die. Too bad." and then begins laughing. The man collapsed back to the bed. We heard a horrible, agonizing scream ( actually every patient in the unit that night commented on the scream), and then you could hear "don't let me die" being whispered throughout the unit. Everyone of the nurses that night was pale and scared. No body went anywhere by themselves. By morning the whispers of "don't let me die" were gone. The night shift nurses had a prayer service in the break room before we left for home and then we all had nightmares for weeks.

Wait... youy don't need a crash cart for v-tach, a carotid sinus massage would have snapped him outr of it,

Uh.....yeah, you do. V-tach is an unstable rhythm, which calls for the crash cart. And nurses cannot perform a carotid massage.

Fascinating thread. I'm a police officer who has had several run ins with the diabolical, once in a hospital.

I got a call for a 20 year old female who punched her father. She was manic and upset with him because his ancestors were tormenting her. She said they were attacking her as well as taking the form of insects and animals to talk to her.

Law enforcement doesn't do exorcisms so I had to take her for a psych eval under the imminent threat to others (dad). It was approved by the shrinks and I took her to the hospital (Fairfax Hospital, VA) for medical clearance before going to the psych ward.

While we were sitting in the private room in the ER she talked to me and told me about what was happening to her, in great detail. I'm no expert, I have no idea if she had severe mental issues or was struggling with diabolical possession. Or both. I humored her in an effort to develop a rapport and keep her calm.

She quieted down and I started wandering in my own thoughts. I was sitting in the corner in a chair and she was on the hospital bed. The bed started rattling and shaking and I paid no attention. You know how people will sit and shake their leg? That's what I thought it was. After it persisted and got kind of strong I looked over at her to see what she was doing. She was sitting up on the bed with both her legs drawn up close and she was resting her cheek on her knees. She was doing nothing to shake the bed. There was no mechanical buzzing or noises. I was sitting and could feel that it was not an earthquake or the building shaking. I was looking at her and the bed trying to figure out what was going on when it suddenly stopped and she was had not changed her position or demeanor in any way. The moment after it stopped a nurse walked into the room.

That's the freakiest thing I've seen on the job in terms of possible overt diabolical.

PS: I don't write nurses tickets. I figure if I ever get a sudden onset of terminal lead poisoning at work I don't want to see one of you who I just wrote a ticket to. "This may hurt a little bit." :D ;)

Not nursing but an EMS horror story for lack of a better description off the top of my head.

I worked a couple of years for a small hospital-based service in Keokuk County, Iowa back in the mid-later 80's. Prior to coming there they had an "event" with a teen-age male patient in an outlying town, the call coming in as a possible suicide attempt. As it was described to me they (the squad/crew) arrived on scene to find a modest crowd of people, including the First Responders, standing outside staring at the house. No one, it seems, was inclined to remain inside with the subject.

Upon entering they found the teen-agers sitting in a chair in the living room, listening to .... are you ready for this? Ozzie Ozborn (sp?). His demeanor was frankly described as "freaky" and displaced. He spoke with an otherworldly voice to the crew who questioned him while they treated modest cuts to his wrists.

Okay so far, just another freak show sort of call. But it gets wierd, really wierd. This was back when the monitor, a Lifepak-5, was equipped with a simultaneous voice/ECG recorder. The crew had put the monitor on the patient and were recording as a matter of routine, just another way to make notes for later as well as record a continuous ECG without wasting paper. I would have called the following just a case of getting at the new guy had I not listened to the tape myself. It was preserved as you will quickly see why, rather than erased for reuse later.

On the tape you can distinctly hear the one Paramedic talking to the patient, along with at least one First Responder (they did go in with the crew), and also the other Paramedic on the phone in the next room talking to Medical Control at a hospital in the next county. What you CAN NOT hear, not even the hint of a whisper, was the voice of the patient. I've talked with both medics (one since deceased as well as others present, and all swear he was speaking in a conversational volume but with a wierd, unearthly, deep voice. He identified himself as some sort of demon as I recall, and said his intent was to cross over to the "other side."

This kid was about 16, and of course was taken in for a psych eval such as it was worth. Within a year he was found in a local cemetary - quite deceased of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The tape was perfect, the blank spots where he should have been speaking - you could hear the crew responding to his reponses - had only the background noise you'd expect to be washed over by his closer voice. I would never have believed the tale if the tape had not been saved and I listened to it on two seperate occasions.

Ayrman

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