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...

Ok, so my post is more of a dream that I had than an actual incident, but here it is...

Last summer I found out that a friend of mine from high school was shot and killed while waiting in his car for his girlfriend to get off of work. I found out about his death while I was at work (a restuarant) a couple of days after it happened from another friend of mine. I just remembered feeling sick to my stomach. My friend, Tyreek, was just one of those kids that you knew would be a success and you knew was bound to make it out of the 'hood and do grand things with his life. I think that may be why it bothered me the most, because I knew that he had such an amazing future ahead of him and was robbed of it. Well, anyway for the next week or so I could think of nothing but him! I would go to bed thinking about him and wake up thinking about him. Obsessing over his senseless death... I mean, it just had me so upset. I couldn't believe it, and I couldn't let him go.

Well, one night I had a dream that I was back at work (standing in the same exact spot that I was in when I found out that he had died!) when Tyreek walked into the store. He stood on the other side of the counter and just stared at me. I went around the counter to talk to him, but he didn't say a word. He just looked at me, smiled, and took me into his arms for a hug. When he released, he again smiled, kissed me on the cheek and walked right out of the store. I woke up feeling so relieved! I genuinely felt like that was God's way of telling me that he was ok and for me to let him go. And I am eternally grateful for Tyreek coming to see me before he went on his final journey home!

Specializes in Med/Surg, Surgery.

I have several stories to tell but will start with one my husband told me. Several years ago before we were together, he was working as a radiology technologist in a hospital. It was a busy night in the trauma center and a gang member was brought in for treatment and subsequently died. Since the room he was in was needed for treating other patients, the trauma nurse asked my husband if there was an empty room in the radiology department (which was adjacent to the trauma center) that they could place the deceased patient in for family members to view when they arrived. My husband said there was a room at the end of the hallway they did not use very often and so they took the patient down there. The light was turned on low setting and the door was left open in preparation for the family.

After the family came to view the body and the funeral home removed the body, my husband turned off the light, closed the door and locked it (radiology staff kept any rooms in the department locked during the night if they were not being used).

About 30 minutes later, my husband was at the other end of the hallway talking to one of the trauma nurses and noticed a light at the end of the hallway where the deceased patient had been. He walked down to investigate and found the door to that room was open and the light was turned on exactly the way it was when the patient was in there. He said he turned off the light, closed the door and locked it again. He said he swore he had previously turned off the light, closed and locked the door.

A little while later, the same thing happened. He asked one of his radiology coworkers if he had been in that room and the coworker said he had not. My husband turned off the light, closed the door and locked it one more time while his coworker was standing nearby. By this time, he was beginning to think he was losing it because he swore he turned off the light, closed and locked the door to the room.

This happened a third time and my husband and his coworker were really starting to get a bit concerned. They decided to call security, thinking that security (the only other department that would have a key to the radiology room) might have gone in there for something. Security came down to the department after my husband called them to come check things out. Security denied having been down in the department and unlocking the door. My husband turned off the light, closed the door and locked it while his coworker and the security guy stood by.

The light never came back on and the door remained closed for the rest of his shift.

Specializes in Med surg, Critical Care, LTC.

Dottie78: I'm sorry I've upset you. Check out a local paranormal investigative team. Perhaps they can help. If nothing else, perhaps they can do an investigation and put your mind at ease. I've had two different teams come to my home, but we know ours is haunted, and by which previous owner - they were very professional. I've never experienced anything like devil dreams or sightings - so I have nothing to compare it to. But since the paranormal has followed me and my daughter all our lives, I've researched it seriously. I believe my son experiences things, be he won't talk about it. When he was two, he told his father and I about "When I use to be a grown up, there was a hole in my plane and I got sucked out the hole". This is a 2 year old!! He also told us he was married and lived in New Jersey "When he was a grown up before". So, was he talking about a past life?? I don't know. He's 21 now, and remembers this, but won't discuss it further. I suggested he research it, I doubt he has.

What worried me wasn't so much the devil dream you spoke of, but his bed shaking. Demonic entities want to take control of a person, and they usually become violent - loud noises, objects moving, objects being thrown, they get pretty obvious in order to scare and frighten. Sometimes they attack their host - marks will appear on their host, scratches, behavioral changes, etc... Generally there is an escalation of activity over time.

All is not lost, there are people who can help if that is the problem. I'm sorry I mentioned it. I should have waited to see how if your posts showed anything further.

Try to relax, look at it this way, you've been living with these things for years now, and nothing terrible has happened, wait and see, I just wanted you to wait with your eyes open.

Blessings

Specializes in end of life, LTC.

there was this one woman who was severly bed ridden and suffering from multiple neuro muscular problems- very very thin and often would cry- out of pain or dementia I could not tell- however- she would cry on my shift- i did not see her much- i move around as an agency nurse- when I would see her and she would cry I would always give her her PRN Morphine- I thought why not? Could help- who knows? Or I'd stroke her hair, rub her arms, tell her it was OK- just try to be nice to ease the suffering- well one night I was sitting at home watching TV when all of a sudden I started thinking of her- one patient from out of at least 500 I see from facility to facililty- all floors and a base of four to five facilities- i don;t know why she came into my mind just then. I started thinking about quality of life and if death would be a blessing for this one patient- I just thinking about this- well- that weekend in the paper I found out that she had passed away the night I had been thinking of her! Out of the blue! And I was kinda wowed- cause maybe she was saying goodbye- to someone who was nice to her - ya know. Kinda of a friendly goodbye. For some reason this coinencidence resonated through me in a meaningful way- how strange. I've seen suffering and death many times now but I usually don't think about once I'm not at work. I think agency nurses get to go to the deaths more often because thats when reg. staff need a break maybe? I've seen alot of death anyway. Of course all I ever work is care homes and palitive. Hmmmm.

Specializes in end of life, LTC.

wow- nurses from all over the unit? just....wow

Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
I want everyone to feel sorry for me :wink2:

I have no nursing ghost stories. All my colleagues have them, but not me - *sigh*

Peri, no, you only think you want everyone to feel sorry for you. Given time, and experience, believe me, you will have experiences. I have had many, but always said the Lord's Prayer or rebuked the name of whoever or whatever was the annoyance In the name of Jesus. That paranormal stuff is not holy, but is of another world trying to frighten us. May you always be protected from that that is evil.
Specializes in paediatric and trauma.

an unoccupied room on peadiatrics is very spooky indeed The other night I was working on nights The call light in

that room would carry on ringing every 5 seconds it was kinda creepy no one for 9 years i have heard have been in that room apparently because pts who had been there before complained of spooky noises and apparitions this kinda freaked me out I avoid that room now

Specializes in paediatric and trauma.

I have another story for you yesterday night I was changing feeding tube formulas and I kept feeling this cold air and ghostly whisper brush past my ear it was kinda creepy and freaked me out a little but I haven't let it get to me 1 hour later a girl called lauren who was in that bay where I was when it happend went into respiratory distress and was taken to ICU she was intubated and a few hours later we got a call from ICU saying that she had gone into cardiac arrest and died she was only six years old bless her the thing that didn't add up was the fact she had no problems with her respiratory system so it must have been something to do with that ghostly happening im freaked out now

Specializes in Home Care,Psych, Long Term Care.

In the early-mid 80's, my first nursing job was working on night shift on an inpatient psychiatric unit for adolescents in Pittsburgh.

The unit was set up as a long hallway, with the nursing station in the middle and a day room on each of the two ends of the hallway.

The two dayrooms were fairly far from the nursing station, and we had a staffperson sitting in the east dayroom and another sitting in the west dayroom at all times. Sitting by ourselves for the most part, watching the graveyard shift hours click by.

Several night shift folk, including our unflappable charge nurse, told me that there was a ghost at the west wing of the hall.

This supposedly started happening after a patient hung himself in that room.

Some of the staff who were there at night would hear the door of a particular room rattle pretty loudly at times. The story was that a few of the patients who stayed in the room complained from time to time about the rattling of the door.

Much creepier than that.... were the stories from several staff describing that when they were sitting at night in the dayroom, they would feel hands gently circling the back of their neck.

Being young and adventerous and interested in ghosts, I often volunteered to sit watch at night in the west dayroom.

My thinking was, it would be kind of neat to see the door rattle, or maybe even see an apparition, as long as it wasnt right up in my face, and didnt look too scary.

Nothing happened when I was there. That may have been a good thing, because if that ghost had touched me with "gentle hands on the neck", I probably would have jumped up out of my chair, yelled the F word at the top of my lungs, and ran to the nurses station screaming the name of the charge nurse.

That would look good on the evaluation of a new nurse fresh out of school. :bugeyes:

Specializes in LTC, Subacute Rehab.
My best ghost story doesn't involve a ghost but rather myself. I was working my usual wing on a graveyard shift. I was the only staff on the wing. I went to do rounds on a resident when i saw my own shadow on her door. My hart jumped about en feet in the air before i realized it was just my shadow.

When I was about thirteen, I was sleeping over at a friend's house. I came back from the bathroom about 0300... only to see somebody walking toward me from the other end of the hallway...

I just about died of fright before I remembered the full-length mirror...

Specializes in Home Care,Psych, Long Term Care.

I am resurrecting an old, very popular thread that started in the year 2000 and continues to get posts. The thread is 147 pages long and is too big to reload to the top of the homepage, so I am starting a fresh thread.

The url below is for the older thread. If you like ghost stories, scroll past the first few entries and enjoy some spooky reading!

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/whats-your-best-108202.html

Here is my story:

In the early-mid 80's, my first nursing job was working on night shift on an inpatient psychiatric unit for adolescents in Pittsburgh.

The unit was set up as a long hallway, with the nursing station in the middle and a day room on each of the two ends of the hallway.

The two dayrooms were fairly far from the nursing station, and we had a staffperson sitting in the east dayroom and another sitting in the west dayroom at all times. Sitting by ourselves for the most part, watching the graveyard shift hours click by.

Several night shift folk, including our unflappable charge nurse, told me that there was a ghost at the west wing of the hall.

This supposedly started happening after a patient hung himself in that room.

Some of the staff who were there at night would hear the door of a particular room rattle pretty loudly at times. The story was that a few of the patients who stayed in the room complained from time to time about the rattling of the door.

Much creepier than that.... were the stories from several staff describing that when they were sitting at night in the dayroom, they would feel hands gently circling the back of their neck.

Being young and adventerous and interested in ghosts, I often volunteered to sit watch at night in the west dayroom.

My thinking was, it would be kind of neat to see the door rattle, or maybe even see an apparition, as long as it wasnt right up in my face, and didn't look too scary.

Nothing happened when I was there. That may have been a good thing, because if that ghost had touched me with "gentle hands on the neck", I probably would have jumped up out of my chair, yelled the F word at the top of my lungs, and ran to the nurses station screaming the name of the charge nurse.

That would look good on the evaluation of a new nurse fresh out of school. :bugeyes:

Specializes in Home Care,Psych, Long Term Care.

There must be a ghost in my computer LOL. The older thread would not show up for me on the Nursing Discussion page until after I posted thread #2. :idea:

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