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...

[jessica]

Whew! I just got caught up after 2 days of reading. Sufferkate, you're experiences are...well....scary. With that said, I would love to hear more

[neomastiff_RN]

Neo: I have two: One comes from my current place of employment. A woman who had come back from surgery died in room 152 A bed. The next day we admitted a patient to that bed. The patient called us in and asked if there was a woman in dark clothing wondering around. We thought she was crazy because of the drugs we had given her, but she was completely A&O x3 and talked sense to us. Later on she saw the figure again and refused to stay in the room. We had to move her to another room.

The second one comes from an LTAC that I worked at. We a had an older gentleman in our ICU room 8. He died there. I told people jokingly that the room should stay empty for at least three days to "clear the air". We all know how that is impossible. Two more people died in that room back to back. So three deaths in three days in the same room. CREEPY! Even creepier is that I jokingly said three days to clear the air!

[neomastiff_RN]

Neo: This isn't nursing but here it goes

I was staying at friends house one night and at about 0100 I woke up frantically packing my things. My friend kept asking what I was doing and I kept telling her that my dad was calling me. She kept telling me the time and that everything was ok. I was adament about going home. She called my house and let my mom and dad know that I was coming home. When I woke up in the morning, I was confused because I was at home and not at my friend's house. My friend only lived two houses down from me in a small town. When I talked to my friend later that day she told me about the story of the boy who was electrocuted in the bathtub in her room and how sometimes at night she hears a voice calling "dad". I asked her how she stands it and she replied, "How is it going to hurt me?" I asked her why I came home and she told me that I kept saying that "dad is calling me, I have to go home". Totally crept me out! Whenever I stayed at her house we stayed in the lower part and I hardly slept.

I also had a friend that was looking to buy an old farmhouse. The farmhouse had been cleared of everything. My friend went around the house taking pictures so she had an idea of what she wanted to repair and update. When she got the pictures back, you're not going to believe this but I saw them and the house for myself (I went with her), The kitchen had white curtains in the windows, the hallway had a single painted picture of a family (what looked to be Amish) in all black, and the one room had a cradle on the floor in the corner. Needless to say she didn't buy the house. How creepy! She kept the photos as a keepsake. We look at them every now and then for a little scare. When people say there is no such things as ghosts or spirits, they are just wrong!

Does anyone watch Ghost Hunters?

[sufferkate]

LadyJane - Re: Insanely scary

I remember that during the New York experience, my lips went numb, and I could tell the cords in my neck were standing out like I was lifting weights or something. I could barely talk, and I was shaking so hard I felt like I was vibrating.

I honestly don't know whether that was shock, terror, severe distress, or a combination. I was just really happy when it was over, and afterwards, extremely drained, like I had been through a trauma[tic experience?]. Really, awfully lethargic.

[sufferkate]

Here's a small 'tail' from my blog - and it's about a little dog we've had hanging around for a while. The only thing is...well, you'll see. 'Cautioninc' is hubby's handle, for purposes of clarification. Otto and Flomar are our dogs.

Ghost Dog

Years ago, before Otto and Flomar, cautioninc had a dog - a puppy, really - that he got from a co-worker whose ***** whelped a mixed breed litter. He'd promised his daughter that she could have a dog as soon as they moved from an apartment to a house, so when he bought a house, he made good on his word.

I went with him to see the puppies, and their condition was just...pathetic. I couldn't believe that he would consider any of them, although the thought of what might happen to the rest of them was sobering, indeed. The one he chose was a skinny, flea-bitten, mangy little thing, but she was the best of what was essentially a bad lot. The rest of them were in far worse shape.

We took her home, bathed her in a host of parasite-killing puppy shampoos, and settled her in. R. named her 'Munchkin,' and for a little while, she occupied the space behind cautioninc's desk chair. Now there's a bookshelf there, but that was once 'her' spot.

You know what's coming, and it's tragic, so let's just go on and get it the hell out of the way.

There was an accident one morning, and Munchkin was run over in the street at the foot of the driveway. The teenage girl driving the car was going much too fast, and the puppy was following cautioninc down to the curb with the trash, or some other mundane chore. She literally only stumbled a foot or so into the street.

It was not a nice day for any of the participants. I think cautioninc told me the driver of the car was more upset than he was, at the time. He had to bury her (the puppy, not the driver of the car) in the back yard before he went to work.

So, that's where she's buried, at the back of the yard along the fence. On the other side of that fence is a funeral home to the east, and directly behind our house, the crematorium. The weird things I (and others) have seen back there are fodder for another post, though.

For the last three months, I have been catching glimpses of a small dog standing at the back door off the kitchen. When I'm standing at the sink, I will see what I think is our white/black dog, Flomar, but when I turn to let her in, she's not there.

At first, I was sure it was Flomar...but Flomar has grown, and she's now quite a bit larger than this small apparition. Stranger, still...it's not really a white dog; more like a brown-and-black dog, rendered in black-and-white. She's almost transparent, sometimes.

It's right where our two dogs stand when they want back in, and that's not so unusual. I see what I expect to see, right? Yes, and if it happened a time or two, I could just write it off. However, it happens all the time, and not long ago, a visitor saw her, too.

On a recent weekend night, some friends were over while I was watching all my favorite recorded shows. We have the same interests, so everybody was in the living room with the television.

We were all talking over the show, catching up with one another, when *L. went into the kitchen for a drink (non-alcoholic). I heard the back door open, then fall shut. L. smokes, so I assumed she'd gone out onto the patio, but a few seconds later she was back in the living room, with no drink and with a funny look on her face.

"Hey," she said tentatively, "I just tried to let that white dog at the back door in." Then she stopped, looking past me. "Well, I thought it was - it looked like the white dog," she finished.

We all looked around. Both dogs were at the front door, staring out at cautioninc, who was doing something very interesting (to them, of course) in the front yard.

"You saw another dog at the back door?" I asked. "A white one?"

Slowly, she nodded.

"You opened the back door just now?" I continued. Another nod.

"And no dog was there when you did," I guessed.

"Right," L. nodded again, licking her lips. She really looked quite ill by then. "Maybe I should sit down."

We all scooted over on the couch, and she sat. I went into the kitchen to get her that drink, and on my way back, I nudged the wooden door shut with my toe. I have no doubt that L. saw exactly what I've been seeing all these months, but why did it scare her like that?

*Changed 'cause I do not have her permission to identify her.

[amanurse75]

Well, me and a technician where working alone (night shift) in an old SICU converted to cardiac floor. There had always been talk of ghosts down there but both of us had never experienced anything there before. We were talking about ghosts most of the night (we only had one pt). At 3 am the tech put her bucket of lab items on a very stable surface in front of me. She said something about no ghosts being there and then the bucket flew off the counter and all the stuff was thrown over the floor. There was really no way that the bucket slipped off the shelf. It was thrown at least 10 feet off the shelf!!!

We were really freaked out after that but managed to finish the shift. After that the hair on the back of my neck would stand on end sometimes when I was down there and it felt like something was watching me.

[amanurse75]

Very interesting. My post on Dec 5th should interest you. Like your experience mine happened at 3am. I heared somewhere that this is the witching hour. Strange things happen around that time.

[Thundercat]

I don't know if this is really spooky, but a while ago while I was working at a LTC facility on the MN shift, there was a hospice patient that required total care. One night when I finished doing my rounds, I looked down the hallway and I saw this tall white figure come out one of the rooms and walked into another. I knew it wasn't my imagination, so I did not go down the hallway to try to find out who it could have been. At that time, the hospice patient came out of his room via w/c and wheeled to the nursing station and asked me which way did his wife go. I was not really familiar with the patient so I asked one of my CENAs about his wife, because I knew that there were no visitors on the floor and she informed me that his wife a past away a couple of years ago. I then asked the patient when was the last time that he had seen his wife, and he told me that she was in his room a few minutes ago, and told him to follow her. Needless to say he past the following day.

[cardiac~lover]

I was working as an aide in a long term care facility a couple years ago, midnight shift. We turned most of the lights off in the hallways so the residents could sleep. It was always a little creepy walking down the hallways anyway. But one night I was walking down to answer a call light and passed a room and heard someone talking. I went in and asked the only awake resident who she was talking to. Her reply was "Oh that man won't leave me alone and let me sleep. He keeps asking me to come down to the basement with him to read the bible." I smiled and joked with her for a minute before going on my way. Due to her dementia I never paid a second thought to it. She ended up passing a couple weeks later. We had a rehab patient in the bed after the dementia lady passed. The new admit was a 45 year old knee replacement. Her first night she asked for Ativan because she had a night mare about someone luring her to the basement to read a bible. I've had many things happen over the course of my career that still give me chills but for some reason the bible story always sticks out. Weird things remind me of it too often.

[Shenanigans, RN]

With halloween now over, does anyone have any ouija board stories?

I recently stayed at the Myrtles plantation in St. Francisville,la and was too scared to bring a ouija board. Like many, im fascinated about the idea. Please share:uhoh21:

My advice - stay the HELL away from ouija boards. (no pun intended). THis is a non-nursing related one, but to be fair in my waste of bandwidth I'll add a nursing one at the end.

I was in 6th form at school, which is the second to last year in NZL secondary schools (High schools). ANyway, my chums and I went into religion class and the Nun who took the class wasnt' there. We waited about 20 minutes before someone realised we'd probably get in trouble if we didn't go tell someone we were alone and teacher-less.

Next day the nun was back and she told us this story - some boys from a local all boys school had been playing with ouija in the basement of one of their buildings and the result had pocessed one of them so violently that he was screaming in a language he couldn't have known and was convulsing and vomiting black tar like substance. The other boys were equally affected - these boys were actually like 18! Anyway, the school wasn't religious so the principal contacted the nuns at my school and the priests from the all boys' Catholic school near by. Our religion teacher showed up and told us in detail about the exorcism and the mess the ouija board had produced on idiots who thought they were just a silly toy. She also had some photos.

I also happened to know the cousin of one of the boys and she told me her cousin was never the same after that event.

-

I've only been working as a nurse since Sept, and this happened at my new workplace.

I was working the PM shift and we were pretty empty on the ward. The other nurse had gone to the toilet. I had to get a patient an IVAB so I went into the treatment room and started getting it ready - the other nurse had already checked it out with me before she left for the loo. (we have a 2RN check on all paeds, IV drugs and fluids). So I was reconsistitituting the augmentim when I heard someone calling out. I put the drug down and went to see what the noise was about. I went into the room where the yelling was and instead of yelling there was silence, in the bed by the window was a man asleep in the bed. I figured it was just a night mare or screaming in his sleep or something and went back to the IVAB. When I got in the room the IVAB was on the other side of the room. Also, I'd left the syringe connected to the vial so the powder could continue to disolve. I figured the other RN had returned and moved it around. I finished up and administered the drug and as I was comign out of the pt's room the other RN was walking up the hall - she told me she'd had diarrohea and that's why she was so late. She hadn't come back!

And then I found out there wasn't a man in the room I'd gone into where the screams were coming from! No one else had heard any cries, the pt in the room across from the "screaming" room hadn't reported anything!

[Babs0512]

You're right about Ouija boards, they should never be used. They can open a portal that is then difficult to close, and you don't know if what may come through is good or evil. Seriously, don't use them

Blessinsg

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

these ghosties are the mosties.