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...

Specializes in LTC, wound care.

Sufferkate,

You are a natural writer. Your story was riveting. It must have been insanely scary to go through that.:sofahider

LadyJane and StatBlues:

Thank you for the compliments! I try to tell a story so that a reader can make sense of what is, essentially, a sort of confusing series of events. I would LOVE to quit working in law and be a full-time writer, and to that end, I have been working on setting out my experiences with the paranormal. I post everything to my blog, and the url is on my profile.

Thanks again! I'm really happy you enjoyed them, and also that nobody said 'that seems really crazy, lady!'

I was working at the local State Hospital a couple of years ago.

I went onto the unit at the beginning of my shift-around two o'clock in the afternoon.

Upon my arrival, I immediatley noticed that the "energy level" on the unit felt unusualy high. Not anything that I can necessarily put into writing, but a definite indicator that something could be imminently wrong. The patients were all wound up, and overstimulating.

The staff were on edge, and one could literally feel the hair on the back of their neck standing up, much like when all of your children are up, running around, and being loud, obnoxious, and causing high stress levels for the parents(s), yet not particularly doing anything wrong.

After about an hour of this, all of sudden, there was a quick breeze that blew through the unit, and down the hall. This alone, got our attention, as this was a double locked facility, in a 80 year old, very antiquated building. Nowhere the breeze could have come from. The windows were locked tight, and the sally port opened to another hallway.

We all shuddered immediatley-including the patients, who stopped to look around curiously. In one solid motion, the lights flickered, then all of the doors from one end of the hall, to the other slammed shut two by two!

These doors were big, heavy, solid oak, so each door that slammed, sounded like a shotgun blast. It was as if someone had run down the hall with their arms outsretched, pushing all of the doors shut!

EVERYONE, including the patients, stood with a dumbfounded look on their face, afraid to move! The nursing supervisor even came running out of her office to see what the commotion was.

Of course, we never found the cause, and it was kind of an unspoken agreement that the paranormal does in fact exist, in whatever form one believes.

I've honestly never been so afraid in broad daylight, and will never forget that day!

We all have thought we've seen something out of the corner of our eye, whether we are believers, or not, but this, by far was th most blatent display I have EVER experienced!

Hope you all enjoyed it!

Whoever sterted this thread, thanks. I'm really having fun with this one!:D

Specializes in Med/Surg, ER.

Has anyone heard of patients seeing a black dog on the end of their bed or in their room right before they die? This story has been passed around our small hospital, not sure of the origin. Anytime a confused patient starts talking about dogs in their rooms it makes me a little nervous though.:paw:

I've heard of that too.

Same story, lots of patients who are terminal, and confused do talk about a black dog, or dogs.

I never attributed it to much, other than confusion, but now that you mention it...

Specializes in MEDICAL-SURGICAL icu.

nothing really scary but i was in this elevator when it suddenly stopped in an empty dark florr where no lights at all and i see no other person than me...

nothing really scary but i was in this elevator when it suddenly stopped in an empty dark florr where no lights at all and i see no other person than me...

That would be a bit unsettling... sometimes it's the little things!

Specializes in CHPN Hospice & Palliative Nurse.

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

Specializes in ICU- Post Surgical.

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! :eek:

Specializes in ICU- Post Surgical.

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! :cool:

Does anyone watch Ghost Hunters?

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.

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.

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