Not today Satan, not today!

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

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

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.

[Davey Do]

~Mi Vida Loca~RN said:

As most nurses know we are often asked "What's the craziest thing you have seen?"

I recently had this conversation with the Checkout Lady at the Grocery Store.

[NightNerd, MSN, RN]

Um. Holy crap on a cracker. As if I needed another reason for tonight's insomnia. That was a good one!

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

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.

Okay Ruby....seriously??? Is that for real??

[RainMom]

It seems we always have call lights going off in empty rooms anytime census is super low. Guess the ghosts are trying to keep us on our toes! There was a major fire with multiple casualties many yrs ago; that tragedy always comes to my mind when something spooks me at work.

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

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.

That was good! I mean obviously not at the time, but that got me HR a little elevated reading it.

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

This one isn't scary per say but was creepy none the less. A co-worker and I went to go clock out. As travelers this hospital had an old school punch clock for us since we weren't in the regular system. Well we had gotten kind of turned around and knew we needed to be on the 3rd floor so we go up this back stairwell we found. We get to the third floor and it's badge only, so we go back down and the door is locked to get out. We literally were stuck in the stairwell for an hr and a half waiting for someone to walk by that we could get their attention. Our cells weren't working in the stairwell.

It was shortly after that it was all over the news that a pt was found dead in a stairwell at some big hospital and everyone kept saying "how can that even happen" my co-worker and I looked at each other like WE KNOW EXACTLY how that can happen.

[BadwomanM]

That's the most frightening one yet!!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Okay Ruby....seriously??? Is that for real??

Yes, it's for real. And I still wake up sometimes and pray fervently that that malevolent spirit stayed right where it was instead of following me home. That hospital had more than one ghost, but that's the only one that scared me so thoroughly.

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

Yes, it's for real. And I still wake up sometimes and pray fervently that that malevolent spirit stayed right where it was instead of following me home. That hospital had more than one ghost, but that's the only one that scared me so thoroughly.

Do you know if that is still an issue at that hospital or if there was a history you were aware of for that particular room?

When I went to work at the hospital in Cheyenne, Wy the had another campus where their older hospital used to be. One of the wings was turned into like a hospitality house for families in town where they could stay for cheap. They also used it for employees, if you lived in CO or out of town and bad weather was expected it was hospital policy you were expected to stay. They would pay for hotel if the hospitality house was full or you could stay there free. I had to stay there one night for a snow storm coming. That building had been the hospital in the early 1900's and it definitely had that feel. My room was tiny, big enough for a bed and night stand. There was a communal bathroom in the hall that was tiny as well. I remember lying there to go to sleep wondering how many people had died in that room. Especially when Typhoid had hit Cheyenne in the early 1900's.

But I am someone that would love to go search through old abandoned hospitals and abandoned farm houses I see in the field during road trips.

[audreysmagic, 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.