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...

I worked in a local nursing home several years ago,and there were two confused ladies in a semi-private room. The lady by the window, we'll call her Mrs.L, had an old fashioned looking black and white photo of an old woman with a shawl on. She would turn on her side all the time and chatter to it. I asked her who it was, she said it was her mother. One day I went into the room to medicate the roommate and the partition curtain was drawn between them. There was just enough of a gap in the curtain to see that Mrs.L had a visitor with a red shawl on . She was talking like she always does. I came back down to the nurses sation and asked one of my coworkers who the visitor was. She said she hadn't seen anyone go in there. So I went back into the room to meet the visitor and no one was there. I asked Mrs. L who she was visiting with and she said, "my mother came in. " I said it could not have been her. I then looked at the picture again at the woman in the picture and asked her what she wears, Mrs. L says " her red shawl today." Scared the hell out of me!! I got out of there. The other nurse said she had seen "mom" before too.:uhoh21:

That is so special.

I hope my mom will stop by to see me, later in life too.

My wife has worked in hospice for 19 years. She told me of a patient who passed in their inpatient unit. No pulse, no breathing, mottled, cold, dead. She asked another nurse to help her prepare him for his family. They went into the room and started cleaning off the bedside table and straightening up. Then both froze as the patient's right arm slowly bent at the elbow, raised his hand to his face and scratched the side of his nose with his index finger. Then it relaxed on his face. They both got out of there and it took awhile for my wife to convince her coworker to go back in with her to finish prepping him. He didn't move again and they worked as quickly as they could.

I hope this poor soul was ck'd by a doctor to see if he had indeed passed away!!

this does not have anything to do with nursing, but i am sure many of you on here can relate.

a friend of mine in towns grandmother had passed away a few years earlier. when i came back to the state we live, i stayed with her for a visit. i got grandma's old room. lovely!

my friend had mentioned that they would hear her call out her sons name ( my friends father ) once in a blue moon. and here i am in granny's room of all 4 bedrooms in the house! it was a new home of 3 years or so...pretty good sized, about 2,500 sq feet. the 3 bedrooms were on the left side, with a large bathroom to share, her parents room way on the other side to the right of the home.

i went to her house, and later on her parents went to go dancing. my friend, whom i will call "l" whom was 21 at the time, i was 24, we watched cable and we decided to fix our dinner. we had the house to ourselves and in the big kitchen at the center island, we got out mac and cheese and hot dogs and "l" started the water for the noodles.

i got out the condiments of ketchup, mustard....a bag od chips, paper plates. i started to cook our hotdogs in the microwave which was in the dining room area off the kitchen on its own big stand. i popped 4 hotdogs ini the microwave and went back to the counter......and said, "hey, "l". do you want anything else like mayonaise on your hotdogs?" "yeah, i suppose so."

i turned behind me and opened the fridge and got the mayo out and set it on the counter and she was standing on the opposite side by the sinks side......and she placed some chips on her paper plate and we both hear, " phillip? phiiiiiiiiiiiiillllp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

we looked up at each other and she said,"oh my god! it's grandma!" i said, " oh crap! you heard that too?!"

"she always calls for my dad!! hurry....let's leave!!! i'm not staying when she is looking for him!"

she went for her purse and i turned the stove off.....the microwave beeped and we were both too scared to even look in the hallway for her coming down the hall with her walker!

we left out the front door, got in her car and she was shaking as i was shaking...and i said,"why are we scared! it's grandma for petes sake!" she said," i don't care! i don't want to see her in ghost! it creeps me out!"

we high tailed it out of there and came back home about an hour later, as her parents would be home then.

her mom then said," why on earth did you both leave food laying around like this in my kitchen??" ( it was the early '80's and we did not have mobile phones then to call them!! )

she said," we were cooking our food and we heard grandma yelling out for dad, we both heard her." she laughed and said," so! what do you expect her to do? she's dead ya'll!! it's not like she would hurt you!"

we were scared out of our wits as we both heard her!

that was something else........im glad i was not the only one whom heard her.....we both felt bad about running out of the house.....but were too afraid thinking we would confront her in the hallway and that would have been so weird.

I have a few of them. Some types we all experience like how healthy old people can tell you the day and almost the time they will die. Had a few of those. But the one that hit home the most for me requires a bit of background.

I was not happy with a guy I had working (LTC) on my midnight shift and I was too afraid to have him work another night. So, I went down to the facility and fired him, then I took his shift. Turns out, I was right to do that, in retaliation for his being fired he set one of our buildings on fire. A building my old people were sleeping in!

You have to experience it to understand but when you are in a burning building and you are pretty sure you aren't getting out and you about to prove to the non physical people that you were right about religion all along (LOL) you quickly form a bond with all the others that aren't going to get out of the building alive either.

We did manage to get out and everyone was safe except one person who did die a few days later.

After that day I was terrified of working the midnight shift. Some of our staff lived on the property such as the groundskeeper. I was forever waking the poor guy up throughout the night swearing I could smell smoke, or I heard crinkling of something burning. I would sit at the nurses station and just shake and cry. (A little PTSD? :rolleyes: )

G was a lady that has a history of a stroke. She didn't have poor short term memory, she had NO short term memory. After 7 years she still couldn't remember who I was or what she was doing in this building.

From the time of her stroke to the time she died G ALWAYS had her days and nights mixed up. She was quite content to walk the halls and quietly hum, sit with me at the nurses station, whatever she wanted. She actually had the entire A building to herself. (We had buildings A-E)

I would bribe G with candy to sit at the nurses station with me while I worked. I never had to say anything, I'd just pull the candy dish out and G would happily munch candy, we'd talk, and I'd do my work. I just needed a human to sit with me. This was our little secret. Actually, it was my little secret! LOL G wouldn't remember by the time she stood up that she even ate any candy.

Shortly after the fire it happens to be that G died and I was all alone again on the few nights I did pull an 11/7.

One night after G's death I was sitting there trembling in fear, tears streaming down my face, ready to have the best ever panic attack SWEARING I could see, hear, and smell fire/smoke again and out walks K. K was a cool old lady, she really was. She was from Germany and she was one of the people trapped in the burning building with us.

I composed myself and asked what I could do for her. She sat down and said she thought it would be nice to chat. LOVING the company and thinking she was probably unable to sleep I said sure, what would you like to chat about? She thought for a moment and finally said that G had just come to wake her up. I realized she had been dreaming. I reminded her that G passed away recently. K said she was aware of that but G woke K and explained that when I work nights I become afraid and needed someone to sit with me so I could do my work. G told K I was having a rough night and it might make me feel better if K came out and spent a little time with me.

I just sat there not knowing what to say, I mean... that was MY secret. I never told anyone about G, the candy, or our talks at night. K stood up, walked behind the nurses station, sat down and pulled out the hidden dish of candy. Then she proceeded to tell me what life was like for her when she was my age living in Germany.

K died about two years later but to this day I dearly love that woman. What a gem. Same with G.

I don't expect anyone to believe it but it's true.

In spite of the person setting a fire, this is one of the most heart warming stories I have ever read. How sweet of "G" to take care of nurse that once took care of her! :loveya: Makes me wonder if "everything" became clear after she passed . . .

:redbeathe

i work for a pediatric home health agency and unfortunately have known many children who have died. one boy stands out in particular. he was 6 years old and had severe cp, with daily seizures. he also had an asd, and some respiratory issues, so that whenever he got a cold, he got really sick and needed lots of suctioning and oxygen. last winter, he had an awful cold, and was sicker than usual, wanting to sleep all the time for two days, so we took him to the pediatician. after consulting with a neurologist, the pediatrician said that the little boys "respiratory center" in his brain was shutting down, and we should call hospice.

hospice came the same afternoon and agreed that he was dying, and proabably only had a few days to live. he only lived about 3 more days, and became less and less concious over those 3 days. he would no longer make eye contact with his mom or me, but would look just above our heads and smile this beautiful joyful smile. he died peacefully in his moms arms.

antother interesting thing with him is the dream that his grandfather had, the day before the pediatrician told us to call hospice. at that time, we knew that this child was sick, but he had been very sick many times before, so we certainly weren't expecting him to die. the night before we saw the pediatrician, the grandfather (who was very close to the little boy) had an dream that was unlike any he had ever had. in reality, this little boy had never walked, talked, or eaten by mouth, but he was a loving little boy who smiled, laughed, and loved his mom and grandfather more than anyone. in the dream, the grandfather was putting his grandson in his wheelchair, and the little boy said " what are you doing grandpa? i don't need this anymore!" , and he went running off to play with some other children.

what a beautiful dream to have about a loved one!!:redpinkhe

Having worked in Hospice for awhile, I know how common it is for people to talk to family members who have already passed on, prior to their own death.

I've been reading these many posts where the same thing occurs over and over.

I've never really been afraid of death. But I realized through these posts, that I don't have anyone to meet me on the other side. It has deeply saddened me. I have a daughter who God willing, will go after me. But other than that, I don't have anyone. My mother will go to hell, she is very evil, and I never knew my father. Maybe I'll have pets who will meet me, if they can care for humans. However pets do seem to prefer the company of men, sh**, guess I'm out of luck.

Who says that it has to be family? Maybe there will be a friend, co-worker or even a patient that you have left an impression on that will greet you on the other side. You never know . . . :twocents:

Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.

I think this belongs in here, because I don't know where else to put it and it continues to creep me out!

A couple of months ago, there was a very frail elderly woman who was in a great deal of pain. She was making a terrible moaning sound, and it actually scared other patients so we gave her a private room. She wasn't my patient, but she was in my district, and to me she sounded like a gol-dern goat.

I don't know if anyone else has heard this, but supposedly the devil walks on goat's feet, and hearing the sound of a goat at night is a sure sign the devil is coming to get someone. Something like that. Well, it was the night shift, and I was pretty freaked out...I actually refused to go into her room. Everyone was teasing me about it.

Fast forward twenty four hours, the same patient is on comfort care, and not making a sound because the Morphine drip was the thing to finally take her pain away. Her nurse is fairly new, and while I was clearing a pump, she stuck her head in the room and asked that I come right away. "I think she doesn't look so good..."

I told the nurse it was okay, that I would take a look at her and handle whatever needed to be handled. I walked into the patient's room...and she immediately drew her last breath. I waited for a few seconds, to see if she was just having an apneic moment...but no...she was dead. I felt for a pulse, listened for heart and lung sounds...nothing.

I walked out and paged the code chief (in our state we can't pronounced inpatient hospice patients, the code chief has to unless the attending comes in to do it). About a minute after I'd spoken to the doctor to make sure he was on his way (and, mind you, only the other nurse and I knew this woman had passed, no one else on staff knew), we heard a horrid, deep sigh that sounded like it was coming from another district on our floor. The other nurse and I looked at each other and agreed that it was kind of weird.

I walked over to the unit clerk's desk and asked for a death packet because our comfort care patient had expired. The charge nurse was standing there and said "OMG, was that horrible sound her last breath?" I told her it wasn't, that she had died before we heard it, and wasn't the sound coming from THAT direction? Oh no, she claimed, it was coming from YOUR direction. I asked around the floor, and no one claimed the person who made that awful noise...everyone agreed it was coming from the direction opposite them! So we never figured it out...and by golly that freaked me out!

This story didn't involve a ghost but still scared the pants off of me. One night while working LTC I was leaving my station to go down to the break room for a drink. The front doors of the facility had two long windows on each side of the doors. As I passed by the front doors I saw someone looking in one of the windows. It looked like Beetlejuice! Black around the eyes, red lips with blood running down the sides and freaky hair that stood up on the sides. Have you ever seen the cartoons where the character gets scared and tries to take off running but just can't seem to get traction and take off. Well that was me. I was trying to take off running but wasnt going anywhere for what felt like minutes but was a few seconds. Finally I took off and ran to the next nurses station. I had anohter nurse go with me and we peeked around the corner. He was still there. She said it does look like Beetlejuice! We called the police and they were there almost immediately. Ends up it was a drunk man who had been in a bar fight. His eyes were blacked and mouth busted. He was looking for the emergency room next door to our facility but was too drunk to figure out which building was which.

This may be the best post yet!!! Hee hee hee . . . :yeah:

i have had a very similar experience to the one described here . . . i'll post about it some time.

i heard this story for a colleague who was working on our floor's four-bedded step-down unit one night. i had been told in the past that people who are about to die can talk to or hear others who have already passed away. this could be hallucinations... but nonethless, this story was just creepy.

it was sometime in the middle of the night, so the lights were either off or dimmed to allow the patients to rest. my colleague had a patient who was actively dying and kept grabbing something in the air that wasn't there.

when she went over to ask if everything was alright, he turned to her and said, "well... aren't you going to talk to him?".

and my colleague kinda grinned and replied, "well.. who would that be?".

and the patient responded, "the man standing next to you...".

my colleague was too afraid to even turn around. of course, she knew nobody was there. whew. that gives me goosebumps.

i have a friend who doesn't believe in spirits/ghosts. she says that once you die, if you are intended for heaven you go straight there. she believes all spirits/shadows/ghosts are the devil. that he wants you on his side so bad that he will disguise himself as a grandson on a tricycle, a young girl, an infant, a beloved family member, etc.

hi, i agree with your friend, i am a devoted christian and have seen too much! here is a verse in the bible that clearly shows those who have passed do not return to speak to us or guide us.

luke 16:19-31. 'and besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' (luke 16:26)

feel free to read this in the bible! in fact i staff church retreats that are specifically to set people free from any oppresive lifestyle and heal their soul,spirit, and physical body! you wouldnt believe the things ive seen at these retreats, god is good and he shows his mercy and glory at every single retreat but oh does the devil show up too! along with his demons. one time we prayed over this women whos husband had commited suicide just 2 months earlier and she was having an extremely hard time healing from this hard time ( he called her and rushed her home because he said he needed to show her something, right when she walked in the door he killed himself in front of her face!) she felt like he was at fault in someway, anyway as we prayed for her she suddenly became unconcious, she was in a locked state of mind (seen this before in oher deliverences) when we demanded the demon let her mind go in jesus christ's name she returned to herself and when we told her to order any demons of depression, anxiety, sadness, and guilt to leave from her she couldnt do it, she would close her mouth and nod no, and scream and say she couldnt because she saw her husband telling her not to, when i heard that i told her theabove verse; luke 16:26, she instantly was able to see it indeed was not her husband and how it was really a demon, she rebuked him in the lord's name and now lives a happy life. this is just one of the many stories i have to tell regarding demons posing as a loved one.

My best ghost story so far was when I was working as a chha and had several hospice clients. And no matter how much or how little time they had. I would know when they had died because when I would be at home in my bed, the client would appear to me(of course scaring me!) as plain a day, then turn and go silently out of my bedroom door and slamming it shut!! my husband and I were the only ones there, and he never saw or heard anything just me. When morning would come, I would get a call from the agency I worked for and before they could tell me I would tell them who died and they would always ask wow how did you know? I would reply I don't know because they would have thought I was nuts to say the client showed up last night in my room!! This happened several times, and to clients that I had a grown attached to, which is hard not to. Anyways that's my ghost story so far!!

My best ghost story so far was when I was working as a chha and had several hospice clients. And no matter how much or how little time they had. I would know when they had died because when I would be at home in my bed, the client would appear to me(of course scaring me!) as plain a day, then turn and go silently out of my bedroom door and slamming it shut!! my husband and I were the only ones there, and he never saw or heard anything just me. When morning would come, I would get a call from the agency I worked for and before they could tell me I would tell them who died and they would always ask wow how did you know? I would reply I don't know because they would have thought I was nuts to say the client showed up last night in my room!! This happened several times, and to clients that I had a grown attached to, which is hard not to. Anyways that's my ghost story so far!:typing
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