What's Your Best Nursing Ghost Story?

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...

[rogramjet]

When my Mom passed away she talked to my Dad who had passed away 5 years earlier. She got this big smile on her face and commented on how young and handsome he was. She also talked about a big rock that was in the room, and that when they moved the rock it would be her turn to go. It is comforting to know that my parents are together again.

I went through an Agnostic phase when I was a teen. But I have seen things I cannot explain, and it has renewed my faith. My parents still visit me in my sleep. Usually when I am conflicted about something. They will come and haunt my dreams until I make the right decision. I guess even in death they are still looking out for me.

[Inkleberry]

Chad_KY_SRNA said:

The best I have heard is from a nurse who said that one night she was floated to oncology at the hospital she used to work at. She was given a patient who was passing away and had been unconscious for several days. At one point during the night the nurse went into the room and the patient was at the top of the bed and looked at her and said, "don't let them take me!", the nurse was freaked out and asked her who was going to take her and she said that black thing up there and pointed up in the air. This patient died within minutes.

Come on now share your stories, I know you have seen and heard freaky things.

I am not a nurse yet, but have worked in health care for a number of years. I worked with mentally and physically disabled people in a residential setting which is privately owned.

Each house had up to 14 residents. The house I worked at lost a resident to heart failure the year prior. I worked the evening shift. Near the end of my shift, Relli (co-worker) and I were cleaning up and getting food out for the meals the next day. All the residents were in bed. I heard knocking on one of the bathroom doors down the west hall, in view of the kitchen. Relli stayed in the kitchen while I went to investigate, no one was near or in the bathroom and as I stood there, there was knocking. Talk about hair raising. Well I ran back to the kitchen and saw RElli pointing with surprise down to the end of the hall I was just in. There, at the fire door stood a man in a plaid shirt, dark rimmed glasses and blue pants. He waved. I knew he was not a resident of this house and called out to him. There was no light on in the hall, but we could tell what this man looked like as there was some light from the kitchen and the exit sign....I reluctantly walked down the hall and flipped on the light...as the light came on, the man disappeared....I thought I was crazy but Relli saw it too...we told the night shift about it and Juanita laughed and said "Come here honey, I wanna show you somethin," she was a bubbly woman. She pulled out a scrap book and pointed out a man, the man I saw in the hall..."Is this the guy?" I said "yes how did you know?" She chuckled and said "That's Henry. He likes to say hi to new people...he isn't harmful, he died last year and his room was down there.."

[tvccrn, ASN, RN]

I used to work in a 6 bed PICU and was there late one night with another nurse and a CNA. The room on the very end was unoccupied and we were fairly quiet that night. As we sat at the nurses station we heard this beeping sound twice in a row. We knew this sound but couldn't recall from where. It happened every few minutes as we hunted for it and kept telling each other that it was a sound we heard daily, but what from?? Then we followed it down the unit into the vacant room. The sound was the double beep our beds made in the mornings when we weighed our patients. Spooky thing was..no patient in the bed. OK, so it's malfunctioning, right...nope the bed was unplugged from the wall and the plug lay on top of the mattress. That could be explained away with the battery was low........except these beds don't have a battery in them. When they are unplugged nothing works on them. That along with the crying baby we heard from that room occasionally really freaked us night shifters out.

[RLS]

Chad_KY_SRNA said:

The best I have heard is from a nurse who said that one night she was floated to oncology at the hospital she used to work at. She was given a patient who was passing away and had been unconscious for several days. At one point during the night the nurse went into the room and the patient was at the top of the bed and looked at her and said, "don't let them take me!", the nurse was freaked out and asked her who was going to take her and she said that black thing up there and pointed up in the air. This patient died within minutes.

Come on now share your stories, I know you have seen and heard freaky things.

While working the night shift in our ICU/CCU we had several patients die in Rm. 11 in the past week. This night, the room was empty, the glass door was closed, and the ICU was quiet. Suddenly the call light for Rm. 11 started going off and then the light came on over the bed. I looked at the Montior Tech , she looked at me, and then we both shivered. Why was the call light :uhoh21: going off in an empty room and how did the light turn on by itself???

Definitely spooky!! After that , we called it the haunted room for several years.

There have been many times over the years when a patient has told me they were going to die, or that a dead family member was there to get them, and then quickly died. This does not seem spooky, it just makes you realize that people often know they are about to die and we should listen to them.Often they are not afraid. These "visitors" seem to be a calming presence.

I had one elderly woman ,who was doing well post AMI, tell me she was not going to make it. I told her she was doing fine at the moment and asked her what made her feel that way. She said that the angels were coming for her and then she immediately went asystole. We were not able to resuscitate her. That is the quickest I have had someone die after telling me they were going to.

[nursing401]

schroeders_piano said:

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.

Now I don't even know why I'm sitting here reading these stories because I am like the scariest person. I have to admit this is the scariest thing I have ever heard. Okay next story :chuckle

[MultipurposeRN]

I used to work recovery room at night. On slow nights, I would often be alone in there several hours since housekeeping didn't come in til after midnight.

I was doing stats and charges at the computer one evening, and heard a woman crying miserably. Since the PACU was in a back hallway not on the main drag, I thought maybe someone who was upset had found their way back there to grieve alone over something. I got up to find this person and see if I could help in some way, but there was no one there. No one outside the doors, no one in the preop holding area, no one in the hallways, no one in the closed pain clinic which was just off the recovery room area. Yet I plainly kept hearing her cry, seemingly just around the corner from me, but loudest near where I'd been sitting. Finally, it stopped.

It wasn't really scary, just sad. But I still went and hung out with the night crew in the OR for the rest of the shift in their lounge.

[lvn2be]

This is a story that my dad tells of when my grandfather was in the hospital. it isn't exactly a nursing story, but took place in a hospital, and is creepy, so I'll share...

My grandfather was one of 4 boys and a girl. While he was in the hospital dying of cancer, family members would alternate nights to stay with him so that someone would be there when he passed. On my dads night, he was asleep in the chair and something woke him up. The door slammed open and he was blinded by a "white" light. The light dimmed and when he looked into the doorway he saw the figures of a man and a woman, 3 little boys and a little girl. They walked over to the bed and my grandfather sat straight up, they began talking to each other, my grandfather layed back down, and as the figures walked towards the door, there were now 4 little boys and a little girl. My grandfather died as he layed back down from talking to the figures...

kris

[BORI-BSNRN, BSN, RN]

kbclary4 said:

I am so easily scared, I would leave and never come back. Seriously. I am actually getting uneasy being in my apt. alone and reading this stuff. I really would have to quit my job if I saw anything like that or have someone go with me everywhere I went. My husband and I were watching The Shining the other night (I had never seen it) and I made him get up and go to the bathroom with me and I wouldn't let him go anywhere unless I followed him because I didn't want to be left alone. He was so aggravated, but I really scare easily.

Hahahahahahah!! :rotfl: ohhhh! you make me laugh! Right now i've been reading all these scary stories, not done yet :uhoh21: it's 9:30pm i suppose to take a bath and i am soooooooo scare that i do not know if i can go( to the bathroom) by myself...my husband is sleeping!! Should I wake him up? :rotfl:

Bori

[student4ever]

I'm with you all who say that ghosts, or the spirits who stay behind after death are not here to harm us. I haven't seen a lot of ghosts, but I have felt the presence of several. In fact, there is a ghost in my house. I haven't ever seen him/her, but this ghost likes my screwdriver for some reason. No matter how many times I put it back in the drawer, it's never where it needs to be when I want it. My boyfriend is not handy be any means, and he never uses it, so I know it's not him. I hear this "ghost" walking around in the house when I'm home alone, but I've never seen him/her. Maybe I will, maybe I won't.

I used to work the late shift at the movie theater, and theater number 9 has a ghost. It's a little girl, around 3 years old, with long curly blonde hair, in this frilly little blue dress from I would say late 1800s kind of period. The story is, she was killed on that site back around the turn of the century, and she was killed (hung I think) by her parents. She's scared to go on to the afterlife because she's afraid her parents will be there. There's no explaination for it and most people don't believe me, but I have seen her. Theater number 9 is always cold, no matter what temp you set the thermostat on, and last night my bf and I went to see Batman in theater 9, and my R hand was cold the whole time. I think she was holding my hand. One of the projection managers who worked with me when I worked there used to talk to this little girl all the time. This little girl likes to hang out by the projector, and the manager was trying to reassure her that if she went on to heaven, Jesus would protect her, and her parents couldn't get her if she went to heaven, but I guess her paranormal psychotherapy wasn't working, 'cause I know I felt the presence of this little girl last night while we were watching Batman. Haven't seen any ghosts or spirits at the hospital yet - still waiting.

I love these stories, keep them coming!

[Tinkerbell2]

student4ever said:

I'm with you all who say that ghosts, or the spirits who stay behind after death are not here to harm us. I haven't seen a lot of ghosts, but I have felt the presence of several. In fact, there is a ghost in my house. I haven't ever seen him/her, but this ghost likes my screwdriver for some reason. No matter how many times I put it back in the drawer, it's never where it needs to be when I want it. My boyfriend is not handy be any means, and he never uses it, so I know it's not him. I hear this "Ghost" walking around in the house when I'm home alone, but I've never seen him/her. Maybe I will, maybe I won't.

I used to work the late shift at the movie theater, and theater number 9 has a ghost. It's a little girl, around 3 years old, with long curly blonde hair, in this frilly little blue dress from I would say late 1800s kind of period. The story is, she was killed on that site back around the turn of the century, and she was killed (hung I think) by her parents. She's scared to go on to the afterlife because she's afraid her parents will be there. There's no explanation for it and most people don't believe me, but I have seen her. Theater number 9 is always cold, no matter what temp you set the thermostat on, and last night my bf and I went to see batman in theater 9, and my r hand was cold the whole time. I think she was holding my hand. One of the projection managers who worked with me when I worked there used to talk to this little girl all the time. This little girl likes to hang out by the projector, and the manager was trying to reassure her that if she went on to heaven, jesus would protect her, and her parents couldn't get her if she went to heaven, but I guess her paranormal psychotherapy wasn't working, 'cause I know I felt the presence of this little girl last night while we were watching batman. Haven't seen any ghosts or spirits at the hospital yet - still waiting.

I love these stories, keep them coming.

Chilling! to my knowledge, I've never seen a ghost and happy not to.

[Tinkerbell2]

BORI-BSNRN said:

Hahahahahahah!! :rotfl: ohhhh! you make me laugh! Right now i've been reading all these scary stories, not done yet :uhoh21: it's 9:30pm i suppose to take a bath and i am soooooooo scare that i do not know if i can go( to the bathroom) by myself...my husband is sleeping!! Should I wake him up? :rotfl:

Bori

?????? Sarcasm ??????

[obeyacts2]

ShirleyR said:

I've been a hospice nurse for 5 years. I have been with hundreds of people at the time of their death & I can tell you first hand that if the patient isalert enough to speak, you'll hear them talking to loved ones that have already passed over. I had a patient last week that kept saying where did the precious baby go? His grown children were at his bedside kept naming off grandchildren's names thinking he wanted to see them one more time. He kept telling them no, that wasn't the baby he was talking about. Finally one of the daughters asked him if it was Randall he was talking about, his face face lit up & he said "Yes, my precious baby. Your Mother brought him here & now I don't see him". Come to find out Randall was a child of his that only lived 6 hours after birth & his wife died 6 years ago. It gives me a kind of peace knowing we are not going to be alone at the time of our "transition".

I had a pateint doing this who was talking to me and said she could see her father and mother, then started talking about packing up "enough diapers and bottles to take with me". It turned out she had given up her son as an infant but kept two daughters when she left the kids Dad for another man. Nobody caring for her knew about the son...he didnt appear in any family photos or anything. Good news is that they tracked him down and she got to say goodbye before she died.

Laura