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...

murph said:
I would want to comfort someone in any way that I could. I would talk to her, find out about her beliefs. Ask her if she believes John Edward (the guy that talks to dead people), does she believe in psychics, that kind of stuff. Tell her about a story that you read on this web site, in other words assess her.

I believe in all kinds of things in other realms, it is absurd to assume that we know everything. We are limited by our 5 senses, everyone has a 6th sense they just need to develope it. Now you think that I am a nut! I had a fiance die in a helicopter crash 1 month before our wedding. My cousin saw him sitting on her bed one night. I was comforted. Lots of other things happened too but not for this thread. I'd say assess her and if she is open tell her. :p

Back in the 70's when paramedics were in their infancy the local Community collage would have ER nurses work with paramedic students on IV's, assessment, reading monitors etc. One night on 3-11 I had a group of paramedics to work with, I put two in ICU, one in CCU, one in Step-down and 2 in the ER. The night was going on just fine except for a code in the ICU. I continuously made rounds and carried a beeper. Around 9PM I was on my way to the ICU and came accross one of my students standing in the hall. I asked her the problem, she said that she could not go back into the ICU (now this was a really bright and talented individual). I asked why, she said that I would think that she was crazy and I did. She said that she could not look at all of the auras leaving the patients. She had seen one earlier and the patient coded and now she saw 3 more. OOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKK I said how about you go over to step down, before she went I asked which beds the three patient's were in. The next morning I was at work in the ER at 7. Just for a chuckle I went up to the ICU. All three patient's that she told me about had died during the night. She was a great paramedic but when she brought patients in I never asked about their aura!!! :p

Specializes in Case Management.

I am so glad people keep coming up with new stories. I love this thread, and I keep remembering some. This one is not about ghosts, however, it is about angels.

When I was in nursing school, I had a friend who had had a brother who died of cancer. at the time (1970's, before the popularity of angels) she was around 13 and he was 19. There was not much talk of angels in general during that time but in his last weeks he kept talking of angels coming in to his room at night. My friend was scared but not her brother. He was very happy to see them. Before he died, he called out to them and was so exited, whats the word, more than exited, it was like in a state of higher plane of existance. His body shone, he looked angelic himself. My friend describes his death as a beautiful experience. His angel came for him (there was one in particular that he described as "his angel") He called out in anticipation. The whole family was in awe, as he was so exited. to go. I still can't think of the word I want, to use, just really beautiful as my friend describes it. They did not see the angel per se, but noted her brother and how different he looked,healthy and strong. Then he died but it affected my friend profoundly, and when she spoke of it, she always cried and it brought tears to all of us also, just the awe and beauty of it all. :saint:

I posted a little story yesterday and said that nothing weird ever happens at this hospital and the nurses do not have any stories. We had a 9pm nurses meeting lastnight and the DON was late so I was helping the busy nursing staff while we waited. I had admitted a lady last week who broke l hip and shoulder and had her hip pinned 3 days ago. Her IV was beeping and I went in and was fuming because day shift had reset her pump and was running the last 400cc @kvo,( bag hung more than 24 hours )

Patients daughter pulled me aside to tell me mom has been talking about people walking on the roof outside her window, and seeing people crouched all around the room. mom also agitated because her family was not seeing these people also or hearing the whispers.

All I could think was I shouldn't have stayed up half the night reading the ghost story thread. lol. Scard myself alittle.

I reported the information to the patients nurse for follow up.

melissa

First I want to convey that all of the stories previously posted have been unbelievable and truly awesome to read.

My stories do not take place in a hospital but..............

When I was a little girl my bedroom was always very cold no matter what the thermostat for the house was set at. Our house was a new construction, in other words our family was the first to inhabit our home. I recall so clearly as I was growing up that I always felt as though I was not alone. So much so that I began talking to the whatever it was. At times I would feel something brush by my arm, but of course there was nothing/no one there. I never told a soul. I just dealt with it. Well now to fast forward to many many years later my best friend had some friends over her house to hang out. One of the guests claimed to be psychic and said she would do complimentary readings for everyone. Well, when I sat down and did the card thing she required she looked me in the eyes and said, "You must stop speaking to the spirits in your bedroom" I freaked out. I was embarassed and crying and Scared. Like I said, I had never told anyone, including my best friend. The psychic said that they were not necessarily bad spirits but that I should not encourage. SHe advised me to go home and rebuke the spirits from my room or something like that. I did do what she advised. Not long after that I moved out of my parents house and got my own place 2500 miles away. LOL

Next story............I was about 9 years old and was attending my Uncles wake. While sitting there staring at him, I totally saw him get up out of the casket. I screamed. Of course everyone said it was my imagination but I know differently, especially after reading all these awesome posts.

Thanks for the opportunity to share!!!

Karen

Florida RN

Whew talk about giving me the spooks!! These stories are scary and mind-blowing at the same time.

Here's mine:

A few years ago I was employed at this LTC facility as a CNA. I worked nights so it always felt creepy walking down the dark halls alone. Because of that, our charge nurse would advise us to pair up together and do our rounds. Well one night myself and a fellow co-worker/friend were doing our 2a.m rounds together. We finally made it to our last room which was a elderly woman was in a room by herself. It was a 2bed resident room, but no one ever lasted longer than a month for some strange reason when they were in that second bed. The elderly woman in the room would always scream and grab on ya when you were changing her and never once spoke a word. I had been working with her for almost a year and never heard as much as "hello".

Well on this particular night we finished our last resident and went into her room to clean her up and change her linens. When we went into her room we closed the door, but left it slightly open so we could hear the nurse if she was walking the halls searching for us. Once finished, we both cleaned up the room and proceeded to walk thru the door. I reached the door knob and couldn't get it to turn. It was if it was locked, but there is no locks on the residents doors. I pulled again and got no luck. So my co-worker tried and had no luck. We both looked at each other and I decided to call the nurses station to tell the nurse to open the door cause it seemed stuck. Just as I touched the button, the temperature changed completely. Mind you it was Summer and this resident didn't like to run her air in her room so it wasn't on. It was freezing. My co-worker is standing there looking just as spooked as I was. It was like a scene from the Sixth Sense. While looking at each other stinned, the resident looked straight ahead and said "He's here, he's in my room again. Can you feel his presence?" When she said that, myself and my co-worker nearly knocked each other down trying to run into the resident's bathroom in her room. This lady had never once spoke the entire time I had been employed in this facility until then. About 5 minutes later the nurse steps in looking for us. She finds us in the restroom looking scared to death. We tell her the door was locked and she frowned and showed us it wasn't because she came right in. We walked out and felt like complete idiots. As we did our final rounds that morning we left the door open completely.

At the end of my shift, the nurse walked with us to our car and told us about what happened in the room. She said a few years ago the resident's husband had died around 2a.m. She said that right after he died employees spoke of the door mysteriously locking on them and the room becoming cold suddenly. After hearing that, I became frightened completely. I put in my resignation a week later cause I couldn't get over it. To this day it freaks me out, writing it is freaking me out right now.

When I worked in a nursing home we had a resident that was unpleasant to say the least. One day I was on bell duty (it was my responsibility to answer all the bells for 2 hours), and the man rang his bell and told me that there was a black dog under his bed. I looked under the bed, but there was nothing there. I thought that he could have possibly seen a dog because it was a hot day, and the front door to the home was open. I told him that the dog must have gone out of the door before I arrived. He rang the bell again a short time later, insisting that he could see a dog under the bed, again I couldn't see anything. This carried on. He became quite hysterical on one occasion shouting that the black dog under his bed was trying to bite him, and that it had red eyes. He looked terrified, and I couldn't calm him down for ages until the dog had disappeared. I handed over what happened to the nurse in charge, and went home as it was the end of my shift. The next day I was on an afternoon shift, and found out that the man had died not long after I had gone home.

It really freaked me out. He was a very unpleasant man, and I often wondered if the dog was there to take him away to you know where. One i'll never forget

Emma

This isn't a nursing story, but the black dog reminded me of something. When my grandmother passed away it was very sudden and unexpected. She was at the home she had shared with my grandfather and raised her children in and was in full control of her mind and "faculties" as she always said she wanted to go. Anyway, when the family started arriving in town (we were coming from all parts of the US) there was a HUGE snow white dog at the house. Grandma didn't own a dog and it didn't belong to any of the neighbors. The dog acted very familiar with everyone and "greeted" us as we arrived like it had always known our family. It followed us around when we were outside and hung out on the porch when we were inside. The dog sat on the porch and watched us all leave for the funeral and was gone when we got back. No one ever saw it again. My mom is convinced that the dog was my grandmother's spirit greeting her family who hadn't been together in at least 15 years.

We were with a 100 yr old woman when she died. The respers stopped and it took ten minutes for the heart to stop. She had lots of wrinkles that were soft and we could see her become younger and there was a rosy appearance in her cheeks. With the last beat gone you could see a mist raising upward to the ceiling. As it rose it disipated. The Black nurse's aide opened the window for the spirit to leave the room. Now when I have a death the window is then opened. There was 6 of us and we all thought we were crazy. We didn't talk for awhile.

my husband came home after an evering shift as security at the copper mine. I said "you smell like lilacs, and you are as cold as an ice cube." to which he responded: "I do? I am?". Then he told me the story. One building that had been a school in the 1800's was on his rounds. After he got through with hes rounds his buddy asked him if he had met the lilac lady. They asked if he had smelled lilacs when he was in the old school building. Yes he had smelled lilacs when he was in there. That is when they told him about the school teacher ghost who is still there and you can tell when she is around by the smell of lilacs. He tryed to tell her that her students were now all gone and that she should go also, but it diden't help. So when he could feel her and smell lilacs he started singing "Hello Dolly" She would go away emediatly! Guess she diden't like his singing. Some nights he would come home and I would say "you met the lilac lady tonight diden't you?" He would say "Yes how can you tell?" He smelled of lilacs each time.

There was another building that had once been an iron works building. He was warned if you hear noise just pass that one by and check latter. Guards that failed to head that warning were thrown across the room by somone the diden't see and injured. Can you imagine showing up at the hospital saying " The ghost threw me across the room?"

hee hee.

I finaly got all these read! I will get to bed before 4 AM tonight. I know the storys are real and I have enjoyed every one. I have felt ghosts, heard them, just not seen them.

Where was this Catholic hospital where the rose petals appeared? To experience something like that would almost justify changing my career ambitions to work L&D. Who could doubt God or the afterlife after experiencing something like that? For those like myself who want to believe in an afterlife, but just can't quite get over the skeptical hump, somthing like what you describe could be life changing.

I used to work in an old catholic hospital. Where the labor and delivery unit is located now, it used to be the convent for the nuns that worked at this hospital. One of the nuns died of natural causes years ago. This nun loved and raised numerous varieties of roses. Ever since the OB department was moved to this area, anytime a mother or baby is having difficulties you can smell the scent of roses throughout the whole unit. The OB nurses know to be prepared when they start smelling the scent of roses. If a mother or baby dies, the room suddenly fills with rose petals. It is one of the creepiest, but also loving things that happens. I was standing in a room one night when the baby died. The room filled with white and pink rose petals. The nurses and family was creeped out.

I worked at another hospital where you would see a nurse in the old white dress and cap walk down the hallway and smile at you. Then she would walk into a patient's room and apply wrist restraints. All the nurses knew her. It was just Mildred who died 60 years ago. You just had to follow her so you can take the wrist restraints off.

I do have other stories that are a lot creepier than these.

Hi, This is my 1st post on this board. :) I just had to reply. Although my most significant experiences did not happen as a "nursing ghost story" per se. Although some have.

In 1984, I was preparing to be a bridesmaid in a friends wedding and I was expecting at the time. My friend was having another friend alter our dresses. Well, my dress came back and it was about 3 sizes too big and too long, so my Gram, whom I was very close to, as I was her 1st Grandchild, said, "I'll do the alterations for you honey". During my many fittings, we would always talk about my having her 1st Great Grandchild and how she was also making the netting for the bassinet too. She swore it would be a girl, and made a pink one. As we were getting close to my last fitting, she told me to stand up on the chair with my heels on carefully, as she could not bend over and wanted to check the length. She was 74 yrs young at the time. God I loved her. :sniff: Well, I put my heel right through the back of the gown, tearing a huge hole in it at the bottom! :eek: She calmly told me, "Get down off the chair now Emilee and please go home, I will fix it". I couldn't apologize enough as I walked out the door, she had worked so hard on it for me and I know she was a bit perturbed about it and just didn't want me to see her frustration.

A few nights later, I was sound asleep in bed, when I felt the hair on my forehead being brushed aside and felt a very distinct kiss on it and a very warm embrace. I sat straight up and looked over at my husband at the time, thinking it was him, and he was over on the other side of the bed snoring away. :confused: I sat there with an odd feeling I couldn't understand and looked at the clock, it said 10:02pm. I just couldn't shake what I know I felt and had not dreamt.

I got up to get a water and sat on my couch for about 45 mins trying to rationalize what I felt, when my phone rang. It was my Mom and she said, "Em, can you come to the house, Gram passed away about 45 mins ago. She was sitting in her rocking chair around 10pm, said to my Grampa, "Al, I love you, please hold my hand, I'm leaving now", he took her hand confused, and she closed her eyes and passed away". :scrying: OMG! She came to me while I slept, her final goodbye and kissed me before she moved on. I told my Dad and my Grampa and they both started to cry, as I was her favorite and it comforted them very much. For me, I'll be honest, I was afraid to look in the mirror and see her looking back at me for days. Really. I think I would have had a heart attack myself!

Later on, I took the rocking chair she died in, for when I had my baby. Everyone was too freaked out to sit in it or touch it, but I wasn't. When I had my Son, it was not a girl like she thought, I would rock him in that chair and I felt her there with me. Many times when I was sooo tired doing night feedings, I felt my hair being stroked and such a sense of calm. A few times, I'd see that chair rocking on its own while my son slept. I knew she was there watching over her 1st Great Grandchild and I would see it and say, "Hi Gram, he's beautiful isn't he"? I still when in distress or stressed out, talk to her. I feel her there always. I'll sit in her rocking chair and talk to her. I always feel better afterward and somehow the troubles I had, I found a way to work through them after my "session" with Gram.

Now my Grampa, he didn't do well after she passed. She was his life, being married well over 50 yrs. He would cry every night for her. He replaced every name in his bible with her name, painstakenly handwritting it in! I don't know why, but he did. It gave him comfort. He had developed Alzheimer's and would call only *ME* by my Grams name everytime he saw me, he said, "I see you there". Later on, he developed pneumonia, and lapsed into a coma, and was not given long to live. We would visit him and I can't explain how he looked. It was just not him anymore. He was a shell of a person, who did not come out of his coma. My Dad and I were with him one night, I was talking to him, hoping he heard me when I looked upward and saw a flash of light. I asked my Dad if he saw it and he just looked at me stunned. I knew my Gram had come to take him home. We both took his hand and I said, "Grampa, its okay, take Grams hand now, she's here waiting" and my Dad said, "Its okay Dad, go to Mom now, let go, we love you". No lie, in a coma, unresponsive, he sat straight up in the bed(scared me, I didn't expect that, he was in a coma after all), extended his right arm and hand upward towards the ceiling as if reaching for something, lied back down and he was gone. :scrying: He took her hand.

I have many more experiences I could post about, even from family pets that have gone to other experiences I have witnessed, but didn't want my 1st post to be too long, as it is already! :wink2: Sorry. Just sharing.

Emilee

Hi, This is my 1st post on this board. :) I just had to reply. Although my most significant experiences did not happen as a "nursing ghost story" per se. Although some have.

In 1984, I was preparing to be a bridesmaid in a friends wedding and I was expecting at the time. My friend was having another friend alter our dresses. Well, my dress came back and it was about 3 sizes too big and too long, so my Gram, whom I was very close to, as I was her 1st Grandchild, said, "I'll do the alterations for you honey". During my many fittings, we would always talk about my having her 1st Great Grandchild and how she was also making the netting for the bassinet too. She swore it would be a girl, and made a pink one. As we were getting close to my last fitting, she told me to stand up on the chair with my heels on carefully, as she could not bend over and wanted to check the length. She was 74 yrs young at the time. God I loved her. :sniff: Well, I put my heel right through the back of the gown, tearing a huge hole in it at the bottom! :eek: She calmly told me, "Get down off the chair now Emilee and please go home, I will fix it". I couldn't apologize enough as I walked out the door, she had worked so hard on it for me and I know she was a bit perturbed about it and just didn't want me to see her frustration.

A few nights later, I was sound asleep in bed, when I felt the hair on my forehead being brushed aside and felt a very distinct kiss on it and a very warm embrace. I sat straight up and looked over at my husband at the time, thinking it was him, and he was over on the other side of the bed snoring away. :confused: I sat there with an odd feeling I couldn't understand and looked at the clock, it said 10:02pm. I just couldn't shake what I know I felt and had not dreamt.

I got up to get a water and sat on my couch for about 45 mins trying to rationalize what I felt, when my phone rang. It was my Mom and she said, "Em, can you come to the house, Gram passed away about 45 mins ago. She was sitting in her rocking chair around 10pm, said to my Grampa, "Al, I love you, please hold my hand, I'm leaving now", he took her hand confused, and she closed her eyes and passed away". :scrying: OMG! She came to me while I slept, her final goodbye and kissed me before she moved on. I told my Dad and my Grampa and they both started to cry, as I was her favorite and it comforted them very much. For me, I'll be honest, I was afraid to look in the mirror and see her looking back at me for days. Really. I think I would have had a heart attack myself!

Later on, I took the rocking chair she died in, for when I had my baby. Everyone was too freaked out to sit in it or touch it, but I wasn't. When I had my Son, it was not a girl like she thought, I would rock him in that chair and I felt her there with me. Many times when I was sooo tired doing night feedings, I felt my hair being stroked and such a sense of calm. A few times, I'd see that chair rocking on its own while my son slept. I knew she was there watching over her 1st Great Grandchild and I would see it and say, "Hi Gram, he's beautiful isn't he"? I still when in distress or stressed out, talk to her. I feel her there always. I'll sit in her rocking chair and talk to her. I always feel better afterward and somehow the troubles I had, I found a way to work through them after my "session" with Gram.

Now my Grampa, he didn't do well after she passed. She was his life, being married well over 50 yrs. He would cry every night for her. He replaced every name in his bible with her name, painstakenly handwritting it in! I don't know why, but he did. It gave him comfort. He had developed Alzheimer's and would call only *ME* by my Grams name everytime he saw me, he said, "I see you there". Later on, he developed pneumonia, and lapsed into a coma, and was not given long to live. We would visit him and I can't explain how he looked. It was just not him anymore. He was a shell of a person, who did not come out of his coma. My Dad and I were with him one night, I was talking to him, hoping he heard me when I looked upward and saw a flash of light. I asked my Dad if he saw it and he just looked at me stunned. I knew my Gram had come to take him home. We both took his hand and I said, "Grampa, its okay, take Grams hand now, she's here waiting" and my Dad said, "Its okay Dad, go to Mom now, let go, we love you". No lie, in a coma, unresponsive, he sat straight up in the bed(scared me, I didn't expect that, he was in a coma after all), extended his right arm and hand upward towards the ceiling as if reaching for something, lied back down and he was gone. :scrying: He took her hand.

I have many more experiences I could post about, even from family pets that have gone to other experiences I have witnessed, but didn't want my 1st post to be too long, as it is already! :wink2: Sorry. Just sharing.

Emilee

Brought tears to my eyes......

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