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 Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.

Had a patient wake up FURIOUS a couple monthes ago. She said the bus had been there to get her, but "that damn fat woman took up two seats" and I was told that there was no more room for me. The next day, she was a bit more subdued, a veteran was waiting and she let him go first. The next morning, she died.

Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

freaky. When my grandfather was in his last days, he resided at a nursing home. He would point up at the ceiling and say there's Uncle Richard....I have an uncle named Richard who lives in texas and my dad's uncle was named Richard also. He died about 25 years before while cleaning his gun. I think my grandfather saw him.

Specializes in Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.
freaky. When my grandfather was in his last days, he resided at a nursing home. He would point up at the ceiling and say there's Uncle Richard....I have an uncle named Richard who lives in texas and my dad's uncle was named Richard also. He died about 25 years before while cleaning his gun. I think my grandfather saw him.

Working inpt Hospice, I see this all the time. Some may call it hallucinations but it is ALWAYS someone who is dead. It isn't like grandpa sees John who is at home with his kids. Grandpa sees his brothers and sisters who are dead. They are sometimes able to tell us when they are going to die. Oh, my favorite? The guy who had a "healthy" brother die while he was a patient with us. His family told us we weren't allowed to tell him his brother died because then he would just "give up." He said to his nurse " I know what your not telling me, do you think you can hide that from me? He already came and told me he was dead and I know that I am next. So if you cannot be honest, get out of my room." We told his family that if they wouldn't tell him his brother died, we would because it was breaking down his trust in us, because HE ALREADY KNEW!:rolleyes:

Creepy

thanks for sharing your stories

Specializes in Med-Surg, Rehab,Acute LTC ,PCU.

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:

Specializes in PACU, ED.

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 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

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