What's Your Best Nursing Ghost Story?

What Members Are Saying (AI-Generated Summary)

Members are sharing personal experiences and stories related to ghosts, spirits, and paranormal occurrences in healthcare settings. Some members discuss encounters with deceased loved ones or unexplained phenomena, while others share their interest in ghost stories and movies like "Doctor Sleep" and "The Shining." There is a mix of skepticism, curiosity, and belief in the supernatural among the forum participants.

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...

This is not a work story but my youngest told me that she saw grandma my mother in her bedroom looking at her and that she was wearing blue pj's and then a couple of days after my mother passed I saw her comming down the stairs at my house.

Another time when my youngest Haley was about 2 my husband and I were doing some genealogy research down in So Illinois and I found an article about a couple who had one of the family names which I took a copy of, then trying to find my grandmothers brothers tombstone who died at the age of 4, I was walking around this small country cemetary. Haley was sitting on a tombstone carrying on a conversation with "herself" my husband was nearbye then I took her hand and started to walk to the car, she broke away and ran to that same tombstone and said bye bye I looked down at the tombstone and it was the same people who I had copied thier information which I didnt know where they were buried at. My husband and I had hair standing on the back of our necks :chair:

Now thats a coincidence! Great story! Did your daughter get her "friend's" name? Or were you too scared to ask?

This is not a work story but my youngest told me that she saw grandma my mother in her bedroom looking at her and that she was wearing blue pj's and then a couple of days after my mother passed I saw her comming down the stairs at my house.

Another time when my youngest Haley was about 2 my husband and I were doing some genealogy research down in So Illinois and I found an article about a couple who had one of the family names which I took a copy of, then trying to find my grandmothers brothers tombstone who died at the age of 4, I was walking around this small country cemetary. Haley was sitting on a tombstone carrying on a conversation with "herself" my husband was nearbye then I took her hand and started to walk to the car, she broke away and ran to that same tombstone and said bye bye I looked down at the tombstone and it was the same people who I had copied thier information which I didnt know where they were buried at. My husband and I had hair standing on the back of our necks :chair:

This is not a work story but my youngest told me that she saw grandma my mother in her bedroom looking at her and that she was wearing blue pj's and then a couple of days after my mother passed I saw her comming down the stairs at my house.

Another time when my youngest Haley was about 2 my husband and I were doing some genealogy research down in So Illinois and I found an article about a couple who had one of the family names which I took a copy of, then trying to find my grandmothers brothers tombstone who died at the age of 4, I was walking around this small country cemetary. Haley was sitting on a tombstone carrying on a conversation with "herself" my husband was nearbye then I took her hand and started to walk to the car, she broke away and ran to that same tombstone and said bye bye I looked down at the tombstone and it was the same people who I had copied thier information which I didnt know where they were buried at. My husband and I had hair standing on the back of our necks :chair:

Many children especially the really young ones are capable of talking to and seeing ghosts rather than older children, teenagers & adults. Also when children get older they some how lose that ability or just forget how... but you can get that ability back. Interesting story, thank you for sharing.

Specializes in med/surg/tele/neuro/rehab/corrections.
Read "Many Lives, Many Masters" by Brian Weiss. It explains a lot of what many of you have described here. It's absolutely awesome!

I have that book and yes it is awesome! :)

Specializes in Med/Surg, Orthopaedics,.

We have had some strange things happen on our ward lately. The call bell system is completely out of whack! Bells ringing from empty rooms! A colleague always has trouble taking ECG's. Yes, always. The machine malfunctions and she needs to get one of the other nurses to take the ECG.

The other night, I was doing my morning drug round at the end of the night shift. The sun was not up yet so I had dim lights on in the corridor. Suddenly the lights all went out. I looked up to see which of the nurses were playing a joke on me and no-one was around. As I looked down the corridor where the light switch was located I saw what looked like smoke hanging in the air which promptly "moved" quickly down the stair well. Has this happened to anybody else? Does anyone have famous ghosts that live in their hospitals?

i've seen that 'whoosh' you speak of, but not frequently.

more typical, is the scent/perfume of a pt who died- or highly unusual occurences, like a radio suddenly going on, playing a song a past pt used to sing/love- in the room they used to occupy.

and always, the area where these happen, are always, always freezing.

just in that immediate area.

dang, the stories i could tell...

as long as their presence is peaceful or playful, enjoy it!!!

leslie

Specializes in Med/Surg, Orthopaedics,.

Can you tell me just one story? More if you've got time!

I worked nights for over 26 years and we did have a room in which the undertakers had just removed a body, the call light continued to go off in that room several times till AM. We were spooked, the CNA made me come down that hallway with her to do AM rounds.

My first job out of nursing school was in a state run OLD physch. hospital. We had a very nice male RN that worked on dayshift. The RN's could take their keys home with them. For the longest time the CNAs kept telling me about a white figure they saw at the end the VERY LONG hallway in the sunroom, they were getting more and more frightened nightly,I never saw it so I thought they were full of $&%#. Well it turned out to be the male RN who was having a nervous breakdown and "haunting" the wards at night. He used his keys to let himself in the building and used the back stairwell that everybody else was afraid to use, except me. Thank goodness I never ran into him, I may have wet myself!:eek:

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

One night in the UK on a very very old ward the PCT told me about the gray lady who walked around the hospital when death was near or had just happened. How I laughed to hear her storys so I asked and how do these ghosts walk? Like us? No she said they sort of floated and she claimed to see ghosts all the time. About an hour later we heard the running of feet upsatairs and we knew there was a cardiac arrest. So I said smartly I expect the gray lady is walking then.

About an hour later I went out into the corridor to use the bathroom when I looked up the dimly lit stairwell I saw this vision floating down the stairs. I couldn't help myself I screamed really loudly and the vision screamed too I had frightened the life out of the PCT from the upstairs ward who was coming downstairs to borrow something.!!!!!! So much for my ghostly encounter.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Orthopaedics,.

Thanks ingelein, remind me to stay clear of old psych hospitals! ditto,I have a son the Royal Australian Navy..how proud are we!

Specializes in Med/Surg, Orthopaedics,.

Thanks for the laugh Madwife2002! When I trained back in the 80's there was a story abou the "grey nurse" who lived in the old wing of the hospital. Many a nurse recounted visions of her in the stair well but thankfully I did not see her. What is it about ghosts and stairs?

Just because things happen you can't explain doesn't mean it's automatically a ghost. There is probably a much more mundane explanation, though it may not be as fun as to believe in ghosts.

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