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...

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

My sister was a little scared, but not scared enough to not be amused.

She says, in a low creepy sing-song voice (as I'm trying to camp out on the floor) "L***! It's coming to get yooooou....It's slithering across the floor... it's not using it's arms or legs...it's just slithering across the flooooooor....."

This reminds me of a time I was on Decadron. Heh heh, love the stuff. It completely altered my personality. I became very funny and agressive. I would make phone calls to various people then forget to disconnect. One time the phone call was to my daughter, and I told her there was a green monster ready to grab her tootsies, so she better keep them up. How do I know? I'm under the couch. The following evening I phoned the same number and sand Polly Wolly Doodle to my SIL. After he hung up the phone, he went into the bathroom where my daughter was and said; "Laurel, I think they've legalized marijhuana down at that hospital. Do you know what your mom just did? She sang Polly Wolly Doodle to me.

Now, my voice always gets deep when I have to have treatments. This time and one other it was very deep. Anyway, I phoned my friend Andee, and when she answered, I said; "Deep!" she replied; "Come on Fran stop fooling around. What do you want? I again said; "Deep!" She hung up.

But the best two parts were when a bunch of nurses were in the break room and I had my call light on for a whole hour. By that time all three of us in the same room had to use the commode. When two of them walked by the room, I yelled; "Yep, there they go! I had this light on for a whole hour and nobody helped us yet. They just walk right on by! 15 minutes later 3 nurses came into our room and couldn't help us enough. They were sooo nice to us.

I saved the best one for last though. This time it was my old doc who I had batted heads with time and time again, because he didn't believe me. I even confronted him face to face before. But this time was different. Fearlessfanny was on board now. I laid him out good when he told me he was going to send me home on Prednisone. I told him I wasn't going to fill the prescription because it gave me steroid induced myopathy and a PE, and asked him if he wanted to finish me off. He then melted right down like a puppy and asked me what I wanted to go home on. I went home on a Z pack, and I fired him not long after that.

[LanaConga]

i really thought this thread would be bumping around this time of the year.....

[MrsMommaRN]

come on ladies and gents. let's get this thread up and rolling. i love this kind of stuff and so do the readers here.

i will share a story that has been told about our facility.

the hospital i work in is quite old. it was run by nuns back in the day. it used to have its own nursing school. the hospital is small and during the holidays we are known to close a floor and combine floors. during this time a year or so ago my floor was closed. at lunch two of the nurses from our floor came up to the floor to eat their lunch. we have bp cuffs on rollers and they make a distinct noise when you roll them down the hall. as the two nurses were @ the nurses station they heard one of the bp set ups rolling down the hall. they went to look and it was rolling down the hall on its own and went into room 1 @ the end of the hall. two weeks later we had a young man code and die in the same room.

[Hygiene Queen]

While this isn't a ghost story, it is something I'd like to point out.

Working in Psych will, on occasion, almost make one wonder if there isn't truly something in the whole "demonic possession" concept.

When you hear your patient holding a conversation in two distinct voices, you tend to get the willies!

We had one lady who switched between being her "normal" self and her deceased sister.

Her "normal" voice would argue with the "sister's" voice (which was very very deep absolutely evil sounding... a growl).

Watching her and hearing her flip back and forth was a trip!

Now, rationally, you'd remind yourself you are working in Psych, but still, it just gave you the chills.

As one of our devout Catholic nurses said, "Oh myyyyyy... she doesn't need a psychiatrist-- she needs a priest!!"

[yousoldtheworld]

At the nursing home I used to work at, it was a well known fact that VERY often, residents would complain about seeing children in their rooms, and within a few days, they'd pass. I only worked there for about four months, but just in that time, I remember six different people who passed away after complaining about the children.

The one time I was present for the actual death, I remember very clearly. It was actually the first time I'd heard of the children phenomenon. I was working the 5 p.m. - 5 a.m. shift, and one of my patients had mentioned seeing children a couple of times in the previous couple of days, but she was suffering from dementia and I didn't think much of it. I got her ready for bed, she was acting like herself and things had been going pretty smoothly. Around 11:00 or so, her call light was going off. I went in to check on her, and she said "Those children are in here again, and I'm trying to sleep. Can you make them leave?" I reassured her that no one was there, opened her closet and bathroom so she could see, and went back into the hall. About 15 minutes later, her light was on again. I went in and she was a little more stressed. "I really can't sleep with these kids in here talking!!!" I tried to calm her down, and went back out. Not even five minutes later, her call light is going off again and she's calling out for help. I rush down and she's sitting up in bed, looking terrified. "Please help, that man came in here and he won't get his kids out. I'm scared." I was starting to get a little alarmed, but I talked to her for a few minutes, calmed her down, and went back into the hall. Immediately both her call light, the empty bed beside her's call light, and a call light across the hall started going off and she was screaming for us to make the man leave. The nurse came back from her lunch break gave her something for anxiety. I told the nurse about what had been happening, and her face went white. She told me that it was a regular occurring thing at the facility for patients to talk about seeing children in days before they passed away, but none had ever mentioned a man. I was freaked out, and I went in to check on her. She was sleeping comfortably, so I checked in with my nurses and went on my lunch break.

When I returned 45 minutes later, she had passed. Earlier in the night, she'd seemed fine (aside from the anxiety) and her vitals had been good. It was really unexpected.

The same facility also had a closed down wing that was no longer used, except for storage. Every once in a while, one of us would have to run down there to get something like an extra chair or table out of storage, and every person I worked with on nights had at least a story or two about creepy things they'd seen down there. The first time I went down there to get something, I swore I saw a man walking behind me in the reflection of one of those round mirrors that they put in corners so you can see down both halls. Another time, I walked into one of the rooms to get something and a desk just fell over. Most of the people I worked with refused to go down there alone.

[Hygiene Queen]

^^^^^^^

Aaargh!

The "children" are creepy enough, but the "man" apparition... gee whiz... why are male ghosts so gosh-darn wicked? (LOL)

That reminded me of this little event: Last winter or spring, I was going to bed earlier than the rest of my family. I had the TV on quietly so I could listen to music and tucked myself in.

I had just got myself comfy on my side away from the door to the hallway, as usual, when I clearly heard children and giggling.

Now MY children were in the family room with my husband watching sports. They always have the TV blasting and yelling their heads off (along with my husband:icon_roll).

It was NOT my kids. It sounded like a recording or like it came from a tin can (I once heard something call my name in my ear... it, too, had the same "far-away-but-close" quality).

"They" were in my room by the door. I just felt that was where they were.

I was pretty freaked. I sat up and looked by the door where I heard the giggling... nothing, but I did feel weird so I jumped out of bed (of course, I had to jog through the same spot I thought I heard the voices!) and booked my butt to the family room.

I asked my kids if they had been near my room, but they were too engrossed in the game to answer. My husband, however, vouched for them that they had not.

Yikes!

I then announced I wasn't really all that tired and GEE! Hockey sounds GREAT all of a sudden!

That was THE last strange thing that I have experienced, by the way.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i'm about to go "home" for thanksgiving -- probably one of the last thanksgivings my mother will recognize dh and i -- to spend the holiday with my folks in their haunted house. they've sold the farm recently, and part of the sale was the stipulation that they be allowed to stay in the house as long as they are able. the new owner, a friend of theirs, is planning to build a new house after his son graduates from high school in two years. (different school district and all of that.)

when i asked robbie about his plans for the farm, asking if he intended to use the house, he shuddered visibly.

"i'd bulldoze it down," he said, "but i'm afraid it would set the ghosts free to wander. i think i'm going to have to rent it out. or exorcise it first."

robbie is the first person to buy or consider living on the property in the past 150 years who isn't family. it seems that right after he bought the place, he stayed overnight with my folks to get an early start on deer hunting on his new property. my folks made him and his teenaged son comfortable on the hide-a-bed in the living room and everyone retired for the night. during the night, he heard music playing but couldn't find a source. then he heard voices talking -- couldn't distinguish the words, but what alarmed him was that the voices weren't coming from my parents' bedroom, but from the bathroom in the opposite direction. and when he woke the next morning, he found his boots had been moved from the living room into the bathroom.

"i thought it was weird, but you know how your mother is," he said apologetically. (mom has alzheimer's and has been known to put stuff in some strange places.)

the next night, exactly the same thing. music, voices and his boots were moved. only this time, his son's boots were moved, too.

"i know the kid hadn't been out of bed all night," robbie said, "because i was lying next to him listening to him snore." when they went out hunting that day, robbie's son told him "i'm glad we're building a new house, because the ghosts don't want us to live there. they told me we're not family."

i'm not looking forward to sleeping in that living room. i am family, but i doubt my super-religious baptist great-grandmother would appreciate my conversion to catholicism! i haven't slept in that house in years, but this year the cabin my sister built on the property won't be available for us!

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

While this isn't a ghost story, it is something I'd like to point out.

Working in Psych will, on occasion, almost make one wonder if there isn't truly something in the whole "demonic possession" concept.

When you hear your patient holding a conversation in two distinct voices, you tend to get the willies!

We had one lady who switched between being her "normal" self and her deceased sister.

Her "normal" voice would argue with the "sister's" voice (which was very very deep absolutely evil sounding... a growl).

Watching her and hearing her flip back and forth was a trip!

Now, rationally, you'd remind yourself you are working in Psych, but still, it just gave you the chills.

As one of our devout Catholic nurses said, "Oh myyyyyy... she doesn't need a psychiatrist-- she needs a priest!!"

I had a neighbor----a young man who did the same thing where I used to live. I thought it was entertaining. One day my bus driver heard him and asked me who that was arguing, and I pointed him out.

[LanaConga]

i'm about to go "home" for thanksgiving -- probably one of the last thanksgivings my mother will recognize dh and i -- to spend the holiday with my folks in their haunted house. they've sold the farm recently, and part of the sale was the stipulation that they be allowed to stay in the house as long as they are able. the new owner, a friend of theirs, is planning to build a new house after his son graduates from high school in two years. (different school district and all of that.)

when i asked robbie about his plans for the farm, asking if he intended to use the house, he shuddered visibly.

"i'd bulldoze it down," he said, "but i'm afraid it would set the ghosts free to wander. i think i'm going to have to rent it out. or exorcise it first."

robbie is the first person to buy or consider living on the property in the past 150 years who isn't family. it seems that right after he bought the place, he stayed overnight with my folks to get an early start on deer hunting on his new property. my folks made him and his teenaged son comfortable on the hide-a-bed in the living room and everyone retired for the night. during the night, he heard music playing but couldn't find a source. then he heard voices talking -- couldn't distinguish the words, but what alarmed him was that the voices weren't coming from my parents' bedroom, but from the bathroom in the opposite direction. and when he woke the next morning, he found his boots had been moved from the living room into the bathroom.

"i thought it was weird, but you know how your mother is," he said apologetically. (mom has alzheimer's and has been known to put stuff in some strange places.)

the next night, exactly the same thing. music, voices and his boots were moved. only this time, his son's boots were moved, too.

"i know the kid hadn't been out of bed all night," robbie said, "because i was lying next to him listening to him snore." when they went out hunting that day, robbie's son told him "i'm glad we're building a new house, because the ghosts don't want us to live there. they told me we're not family."

i'm not looking forward to sleeping in that living room. i am family, but i doubt my super-religious baptist great-grandmother would appreciate my conversion to catholicism! i haven't slept in that house in years, but this year the cabin my sister built on the property won't be available for us!

my dad owns a house in annapolis, maryland that has been in his family for generations. it was built in 1735 or 1745 and was a farm house originally and also was a retirement home/hotel. anyways, it had underground slave tunnels that connected to the river and the mayor's house but those were paved over like 20 or so years ago. the house has a servants staircase that is hidden between the walls and the basement is filled with broken down furniture from over the generations. my dad and his siblings and his mother would always smell weird perfumes in certain rooms or stale tobacco (no one smokes). the lavender perfume was supposedly my great grandmothers and the tobacco my great grandfathers but the other smells no one knows the connection. my mother was giving a tour of the house and the attic especially with all its antiques to her friend who sells antiques in the middle of august in maryland when you know it is so hot your skin is melting off when her friend was advising her to sell the furniture at such and such price and maybe put the house on the market when the attic turned ice cold all of a sudden. my moms friend freaked out and had to leave the top floor. the neighbors have reported an odd sighting of an old lady in a rocking chair in the window knitting even though the house is supposed to be vacant. not to mention some part of human remains my dad and his sister unearthed in the backyard when they were digging when they were like 10 years old.he is 72 years old now. also at 1:30 am every night people who stay in the master bedroom have reported hearing a gun cocking noise and footsteps pacing the bed(the bed is a four poster super old antique with the house) there is also the story of when i was left in the car when i was like 4 years old in the backyard by the pond strapped into the seat of my moms car when they accidently left me in it (4 kids so im easily forgotten in the mileu of unloading kids) when i was asleep. i woke up at like 3 in the morning from some voices and all the cars lights were on. i started screaming and crying of course until someone found me. the lights were off too by the time someone found me. my cousins had other scary stories of the place that they refused to tell me. i know that inthe early 19th century it was a convalescent/retirement home. in the basement there is still crazy old lady clothing thats just too dirty/moth eaten to sell or give away. oh and there was also a local famous artist that stayed there in the 1930s and went crazy and disappeared. also, my mom says that when my great grandmother died of small pox someone was looking at her oil painting and they swore it turned 3 dimensional at the exact time of her death. anyways, i've stayed at the house and its freaky but i feel safe and so does my family. its mainly outsiders that have terrible experiences. yeah so i dunno if im a believer but life is just weird sometimes

[mondkmondk]

I have posted this occurence in about 3 different forums here on the 'Net, but this is really freaky (and it happened to me!). This just happened a few weeks ago and really really scared me. Our house was built in 2002 and was only owned by this other couple and us...but still, I know very little about the LAND...

Anyway, something woke me up and I looked at the clock: 4:51am. I heard music-y sounds and all of a sudden I realized it was coming from our family room, which is right next to the master bedroom, where I was. My son's toys (he is 16 mos. old) were piled up in a laundry basket and they were all going off except for one. Everyone was in bed and my 2 cats were snoozing at the foot of the bed, with one cat raising her head when I sat up. Our dog is outdoors in a pen. I had to bestill my beating heart and go in there to turn them all off. It couldn't have been the batteries either as we routinely replace the ones that sound like they are going dead. It was highly creepy.

Blessings, Michelle

[Hygiene Queen]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You turned 'em all off, eh?

Are you same type of person who will "go check" on "a noise in the basement" and tell the others, "You stay here"?

LOL!!!!!!

Reminds me of that stupid "Bedtime Ernie", or whatever it was called. It was the Sesame Street Ernie doll that wore striped pajamas and talked and snored.

My son had one and I hated it!!!!!

Here's why:

One night after hubby and I were in bed asleep, my dear cat dragged it into our room like she was carrying a kitten. The stupid doll just snoring and talking away.

Well, being dead tired and not thrilled with Ernie at 3 in the morning, my husband got up, marched to the cat, rudely swiped away Ernie and tossed that dumb thing clear into the next room.

There is a "thud" as Ernie lands and then an EXTREMELY chipper and gay pronouncement from the next room, "I feel GREAT!!!!!!"

Hubby and I look into the room where Ernie was tossed, and there was that thing crumpled into a heap, face down on the floor...

Just enough outside light to see... and this mangled little body declares, yet again, "I feel GREAT!!!!!!"

It would not SHUT UP. It would be quiet and then start again. I tried shutting him off, but Ernie wasn't giving in that easily. He felt GREAT, dang it and you can't beat him down, man! Ya hear????!!!

I joked Ernie was mad at my husband for tossing him. I also said it probably would not be a wise idea to try to mangle his head in the garage... Ernie was channelling "Talking Tina's" evil spirit... he he.

Finally, we just performed a battery-ectomy.

Silly, but there's just something creepy about something that can take so much abuse and still "feel GREAT"!

[NurseBettyICU, ADN, BSN]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You turned 'em all off, eh?

Are you same type of person who will "go check" on "a noise in the basement" and tell the others, "You stay here"?

LOL!!!!!!

Reminds me of that stupid "Bedtime Ernie", or whatever it was called. It was the Sesame Street Ernie doll that wore striped pajamas and talked and snored.

My son had one and I hated it!!!!!

Here's why:

One night after hubby and I were in bed asleep, my dear cat dragged it into our room like she was carrying a kitten. The stupid doll just snoring and talking away.

Well, being dead tired and not thrilled with Ernie at 3 in the morning, my husband got up, marched to the cat, rudely swiped away Ernie and tossed that dumb thing clear into the next room.

There is a "thud" as Ernie lands and then an EXTREMELY chipper and gay pronouncement from the next room, "I feel GREAT!!!!!!"

Hubby and I look into the room where Ernie was tossed, and there was that thing crumpled into a heap, face down on the floor...

Just enough outside light to see... and this mangled little body declares, yet again, "I feel GREAT!!!!!!"

It would not SHUT UP. It would be quiet and then start again. I tried shutting him off, but Ernie wasn't giving in that easily. He felt GREAT, dang it and you can't beat him down, man! Ya hear????!!!

I joked Ernie was mad at my husband for tossing him. I also said it probably would not be a wise idea to try to mangle his head in the garage... Ernie was channelling "Talking Tina's" evil spirit... he he.

Finally, we just performed a battery-ectomy.

Silly, but there's just something creepy about something that can take so much abuse and still "feel GREAT"!

That is too funny!! Reminds me of a talking toy my daughter had years ago. It was that one eyed monster from Monsters Inc. Well I was home alone, it was night and I desided it was the perfect opportunity to clean up daughter's room. So I'm cleaning away and all of the sudden that damn Monster Inc doll says "I've got my eye on you". Scared the crap-ola out of me! You have to pull its arm down for it to talk and here I was on the other side of the room, nowhere near it and it speaks! I'm sure there's a logical explaination - but at that moment I almost pee'd my pants. I ran out of there and called hubby to tell him it was time for him to come home.

Oh and the doll went off to GoodWill the next day... :uhoh21: