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...

[StrwbryblndRN]

I have also heard music while sleeping at night. We use a fan but that actually muffles it for me. The quieter the night the more I can hear it. I mentioned it to my hubby and he thought I was nuts. So I just keep it to myself.

Also have you ever heard your name or anything else being said while you are starting to fall asleep. I never mentioned it to anyone for years and one day my brother in-law said it happened to him one night.

It sounds like it is coming internally from me and not from another part of the house. It is in a sharp tone like a parent scolding a child. It usually occurs when I am down or thinking about something sad.

[Babs0512]

I often hear music at night. I can't never quite make it out, we also use a fan, but it is there none the less. I live in a haunted house, but this music thing is new in the past 6 months or so.

I have heard my name called as I am trying to fall asleep. Only once could I put a name to the voice. About 6 years ago, 2002, I heard my dad call my name. It was just as loud and clear as if he was in the room standing next to my bed. He was estranged from the entire family, long story. I found out 2 weeks later, that was the day he died. So I feel like some part of him was trying to apologize - at least that is the most pleasant thought for me. In his death his mind cleared and he was trying to reach out one last time.

This music thing is really irksome at times, keeps me awake. I can never tell from which direction it is coming, it's almost if I start to really pay attention, it quiets down. Weird.

Blessings

[Dottie78]

I often hear music at night. I can't never quite make it out, we also use a fan, but it is there none the less. I live in a haunted house, but this music thing is new in the past 6 months or so.

I have heard my name called as I am trying to fall asleep. Only once could I put a name to the voice. About 6 years ago, 2002, I heard my dad call my name. It was just as loud and clear as if he was in the room standing next to my bed. He was estranged from the entire family, long story. I found out 2 weeks later, that was the day he died. So I feel like some part of him was trying to apologize - at least that is the most pleasant thought for me. In his death his mind cleared and he was trying to reach out one last time.

This music thing is really irksome at times, keeps me awake. I can never tell from which direction it is coming, it's almost if I start to really pay attention, it quiets down. Weird.

Blessings

My son was always sensitive when it came to strange stuff. When we used to live in our mobile home several years ago, my husband and I always heard a T.V. or music on (it was some kind of noise) whenever the heater/air conditioner was running, but we only heard it at night when we were going to bed. But when the heater/air conditioner would shut off, we wouldn't hear it anymore. It was very strange, along with all the other strange things my son (who was between 2-3 years old at the time) would see. He started one evening, running from his room into the living room where we were at, saying there were people in his room. He seemed a little scared when he told us, so of course, we got up to investigate, but nothing. A few months later, he would talk about the three little boys who lived in his room, and would play with him. He said they would come out of his wall. He even told me their names. Now that was creepy. But over time that stopped, and we moved out of there when he was 5. Several months ago, I asked him if he remembers the little boys and he said yes, but seemed like he didn't want to talk about it, so I left it alone. But he did mention (which he never told me this before) the nightmares he used to have while living there. He said he had a nightmare of seeing the devil outside his bedroom window and came into his room. He also told me that sometimes at night he would feel his bed shake. I was STUNNED!! And also very glad that we're not living there anymore! Sometime I felt strange in the house, but never saw anything. But I also truly believe something was there that was not supposed to be.

Now we're living in a different house, and have been there for over two years. My son is now 10 and hadn't talked about seeing or hearing anything strange until a few months ago. He could have been dreaming this, but he said that one Saturday morning when he was sleeping, he heard a man's voice whisper "wake up", and he said it sounded like it was right in his face. He said as soon as he heard that, he woke up but there was no one there. It wasn't my husband either. That really freaked me out!

[Shenanigans, RN]

Here's another one... and at least I know I'm not the only nut who's seen them. Over Christmas our ward closed and amalgemated with another ward. Anyway, while up on the other ward I realised they didn't have an Antibotic we stocked on our home ward, so at 10.30pm I had to walk down to a closed ward and grab it (which didn't bother me)

So I walked into the ward and I noticed people had left lights on, so I went and turned them off, I went into the drug room, grabbed the ABs and then I heard someone walk passed. I shrugged it off as simple hospital noise and when I walked out of the drug room the lights were back on! But they were on down the end where they hadn't been on when I walked on the ward. Secondly, if someone had come on the ward to turn them on I would have seen them go passed the glass window in the drug room door. So I went and shut the lights off, thinking, well, if it's haunted, then whatever! I turned and started walking back to my ward, and the lights then flicked back on again. I was like grr, waste of power, naughty ghosts or whatever. I went back and turned the lights off, then when I closed the ward doors I saw a dark shadow pass from one room to the other accross teh corridor! I thought, must be a person playing a joke - and we'd have theives steal our milk, so I ran back onto the ward to try and catch them, they were in a patient room and so there were no other way out so I'd see them leave. But there was no one in there!

Anyway, later on my collegue needed to go down there and she asked if I'd go with her, and I said yeah, she addmitted to me she was scared! She told me she'd gone down there and seen the same dark shadow in the same location and the lights had flicked on and off while she was down there, and of course, that freaked her out. When I got down there, ALL the lights were on! Like ALL of them! Even in the exam room and drug room which have code locks on them! And the exam room wouldn't be used because all the exam stuff had been moved up to our host ward!!

[Babs0512]

Dottie78, just FYI, demonic or evil spirits often don't "haunt" a house, they haunt people. So, when a person moves away from the "haunted" house, often it starts again in the new house. I don't want to frighten you, I certainly do not want to say that the being bothering your son was demonic, because I have no idea. Just thought it would be worth your keeping your eyes and ears open, and perhaps he will open up to you more.

Blessings

[Dottie78]

Dottie78, just FYI, demonic or evil spirits often don't "haunt" a house, they haunt people. So, when a person moves away from the "haunted" house, often it starts again in the new house. I don't want to frighten you, I certainly do not want to say that the being bothering your son was demonic, because I have no idea. Just thought it would be worth your keeping your eyes and ears open, and perhaps he will open up to you more.

Blessings

Babs, I know you're not trying to frighten me, but I can't help but be worried, because ever since my son was about 14 months, he's been seeing things...in almost every place we've lived! (I actually have more stories, but will save for another time.) Either that, or he has a very active imagination, but the dreams he described with the devil really scared me. He hasn't mentioned any other dreams with the devil, but he did describe another dream he had several months ago (involving ghosts trying to harm him in the house we live in now), and that was really creepy! But when he had the devil dreams, we lived in that mobile home, which was the only time he had them so I'm not sure what to think. I told him to pray more often, especially after having a nightmare. I don't understand why something evil would want to bother my son?? I also have a four-year-old daughter, but she hasn't said anything about seeing or dreaming anything scary.

[Dottie78]

Sorry...I realized that I got carried away with talking about my son and have gotten off the subject "Nursing Ghost Stories". Unfortunately I'm not a nurse yet, but hopefully I will have some interesting stories to post once I become one!

[ImASuckyCMA87]

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!

[seasonednurse78]

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.

[Babs0512]

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

[cubbycab]

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.

[cubbycab]

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