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...

[leenak]

I'm a super scaredy cat! I'm not even doing my pre-reqs yet, not sure if I can handle nursing if I have to deal with 'the other world' as well as this one :)

I wanted to tell a funny story though. I work in an office, nothing special about it but I was reading a few of these stories. I was feeling a bit creeped out and the feeling kind of stayed with me. Later on, I went to the bathroom, as I was opening the bathroom door, the toilet flushed, there was no one in there, I walked my butt right out of there.

[leenak]

Oh and I figure I'll share a few of my stories although none are really scary.

In terms of death/people knowing they are going, etc. When I was in high school, I had an uncle who was dying of AIDs and living at my grandparents house. Every day after school, I'd go over and help with whatever I could, do my homework and spend time with my uncle. He was sick for about a year but he was able to walk around the house and what not although he'd sometimes get really tired. Anyway, one night he looked at me in the eyes and I knew he had given up fighting and I knew he was going to die. He died early the next morning. I have felt his presence and there is a distinct smell that I associate with him, I don't smell it very often these days but I used to smell it quite a bit a few years after he died.

Also, we used to live in a house that had a room that was always cold, no matter how warm the rest of the house was at the time. My mom refused to use the room as a bedroom because it freaked her out so it was my play room. She said that she would often hear me talking to someone and when she came to ask me who I was talking to, I always told her 'the angels'. I don't remember that though. In the same house, sometimes you'd hear weird things and one day I was looking in the mirror and saw a white bird fly behind my head. When I turned around, there was no bird or anything.

A few years ago there was a strange incident when I was living alone. I had a digital clock with red numbers. I woke up in the middle of the night, looked at the clock when I noticed the numbers kept getting brighter and brighter and brighter until I said "stop it" and then they went back to their normal color/brightness. Of course it could've been a power surge or something but it freaked me out.

I've never outright seen any ghosts though. I hope I never do.

[HollyHobby]

Not really a nursing story; forgive me.

Back story: many years ago, my sister and our parents were in the car; Dad was driving. Dad was a quiet man and he drove on, expressionlessly, while Mom described what it was like to be married for such a long time. Mom and Dad had married young, and had remained very much in love for going on 35 years.

"When you've been married as long as I have," Mom said, "you know exactly what the other person is going to say or do before they can say or do it".

My Dad, who had until then appeared to not even be listening to the conversation, suddenly said, "I bet you don't know what I'm about to do".

Mom said, "Oh, yeah?", disbelievingly.

Without a word, Dad reached into his shirt, pulled out a fabric softener sheet, and handed it to her. We all (except Dad, who resumed appearing unresponsive) laughed until we cried. Bear in mind, now, that the particular type of fabric softener sheet was discontinued shortly thereafter.

A few years later, Dad died from lung CA. Mom was out of her mind with grief; I feared she would commit suicide. Instead, she remarried to a very nice gentleman whom she cared for very much, but who could not replace my Dad in her heart. Mom and my step-dad, Carl, built a new home together.

It was my parents' wedding anniversary and Mom was depressed, missing my Dad. Carl took her out to dinner to try to cheer her up. When they got home, he turned on the stereo to the oldies station they liked, and they danced together. The next song that came on was my Dad's song for my Mom: "I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do".

Mom couldn't help but start to cry. She excused herself and fled to the laundry room and started folding things, trying to distract herself. She pulled a shirt out of the dryer, and a fabric softener sheet fell out of it. Of course it was that same kind that Dad had handed to her in the car that day, the kind that had been discontinued many years before.

I like to think Dad played that song for her, and gave her the fabric softener sheet to assure her, in his own quirky way, that his love was still strong.

[CFitzRN, ADN]

That's a really cool story but I have a question: How can you tell one brand of fabric softener sheet from another? Don't they all look pretty similar (and none have the brand name on them)?

[cookziedough]

I worked on a Bariatrics unit which was previously a Pediatrics unit in one trauma center. This particular night I worked with 2 older patients and that particular night one nurse talked about how that week was an anniversary of a death of a pedia patient long ago. This patient's ghost usually bothers patients at this time of the year. I didn't really mind it at all as we all have heard of ghost stories in hospital. But this night became a very interesting night for me!

It started with my male, 78y.o. patient who called with his call light around 2300. He asked if there was a child on the floor because he's been noisy and he can't really sleep. I explained to him that visiting hours were over and he must have just heard the TV from the other patient in the room. I walked away from the room and was just about to sit down on a chair when the same patient called again. This time when I approached him he said "Please make him stop play with my feet!" I was beginning to think, "Oh, no... a night with one confused patient!" So, I did my nursing care and reoriented him to person, place and time. I was beginning to feel eerie after that but ignored it thinking that I was just playing games in my head. THEN, my other 80y.o. female patient across the hall rang her call light.

When I came into her room I noticed that she was covering her face with her blanket. I turned on the bigger light in the room just to make sure I won't see any "shadows". Then I asked her what she needed. She then slowly lowered the blanket and said this line: "Please make him stop play with my toes!" At this point, I was swept over by a very warm, eerie feeling. I tried to keep my composure and told her it might just be her SCD's bothering her. She said "No, it's the little boy who keeps touching my toes.":eek: The moment she said that I heard a very faint sound like a hum. I immediately told my patient "I'll be right back, okay?" and immediately left the room and went back to the nurses' station. I was so overwhelmed with a very eerie feeling that I had to ask a senior nurse to go check the patient. The two patients eventually went to sleep and didn't call thereafter.

I spent the rest of my shift scared and having to turn on the bright light every time I needed to get inside the patients' rooms! Spooky... it only happened that one night to me, though. I never had another scary incident like it ever again!

[iNurseUK, RN]

My hospital is an old one. Opened in 1902 as a TB hospital and still has its original buildings. This is a tale told by a young doctor and I cannot vouch for the veracity.

As I said the building is old (and very pretty) the doctors have an on-call room right in the heart of the oldest part of the hospital.

In the early hours of the morning the doctor on-call heard a gentle tapping at her door. She called out "Yes?" but got no reply. The tapping came again and she got up to open the door.

Nothing. Empty corridor. She dismissed it. Only a few minutes later her bleep went off Cardiac arrest. As she hurried down the stairs she saw a nurse in an old-fashioned uniform turn into the ward where the arrest was.

The doctor swears blind she saw the nurse. Imagination? Who knows?

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

Last Saturday we had a spooky incident, and I was totally gobsmacked about it!.

Ours is a pretty new facility, just over a year old. Although there have been several deaths on the wards, there have been none in theater, no staff members have passed away, with the sole exception of one nurse who worked in surgical and never worked a day in theater.

I was busy with a patient in PACU and the nurse assisting me suddenly said, "Who's that woman? She just walked into the store room!" So I told her to go and look, and ask what she wanted. There was no-one there....

Whoever or whatever she was, she was small, plump, dark-complexioned and wearing scrubs, and there was no-one on duty who fitted that description!

Apparently this was not the first time strange apparitions have been seen either. One of the cleaners was walking towards the door into CSSD when a woman came through the doorway; being a perfect gentleman, he stood back, half bowed and said, "Come through, lady." He was wearing one of the gowns we put on when we leave the theater complex. This suddenly billowed up as though in a wind, and when he looked up, the woman was gone.

Old hospitals are always haunted-they have seen so much death and strong emotions it would be impossible for them not to be, but I would have thought it was a bit too soon for the ghosts to start appearing in a new one.

I'm now doing some research to find out the history of the site...

[HollyHobby]

That's a really cool story but I have a question: How can you tell one brand of fabric softener sheet from another? Don't they all look pretty similar (and none have the brand name on them)?

In those days, my mom always used the a kind of fabric softener sheet that was a thick, bluish-green sponge. All the dryer sheets I've found now are thin, papery, and white (and like you say, one brand looks just like another). My mom was really ****** when she couldn't find the thick green sponge ones anymore. They were quite distinctive. They may be available somewhere else, but not in our area.

[CFitzRN, ADN]

In those days, my mom always used the a kind of fabric softener sheet that was a thick, bluish-green sponge. All the dryer sheets I've found now are thin, papery, and white (and like you say, one brand looks just like another). My mom was really ****** when she couldn't find the thick green sponge ones anymore. They were quite distinctive. They may be available somewhere else, but not in our area.

Actually, I do think I remember those. Very cool!

[sleepysnr]

First I want to convey that all of the stories previously posted have been unbelievable and truly awesome to read.

My stories do not take place in a hospital but..............

When I was a little girl my bedroom was always very cold no matter what the thermostat for the house was set at. Our house was a new construction, in other words our family was the first to inhabit our home. I recall so clearly as I was growing up that I always felt as though I was not alone. So much so that I began talking to the whatever it was. At times I would feel something brush by my arm, but of course there was nothing/no one there. I never told a soul. I just dealt with it. Well now to fast forward to many many years later my best friend had some friends over her house to hang out. One of the guests claimed to be psychic and said she would do complimentary readings for everyone. Well, when I sat down and did the card thing she required she looked me in the eyes and said, "You must stop speaking to the spirits in your bedroom" I freaked out. I was embarassed and crying and Scared. Like I said, I had never told anyone, including my best friend. The psychic said that they were not necessarily bad spirits but that I should not encourage. SHe advised me to go home and rebuke the spirits from my room or something like that. I did do what she advised. Not long after that I moved out of my parents house and got my own place 2500 miles away. LOL

Next story............I was about 9 years old and was attending my Uncles wake. While sitting there staring at him, I totally saw him get up out of the casket. I screamed. Of course everyone said it was my imagination but I know differently, especially after reading all these awesome posts.

Thanks for the opportunity to share!!!

Karen

Florida RN

i actually have a few stories, they dont have to do with nursing but i would like to share :)

when i was 20 i realized that i was little more sensitive to the deceased than others. my mom and her sisters are as well.

my grandmother died when i was 16. not long after she died i woke up in the middle of the night to someone whispering my name. i said "what?" and i kept hearing it. it sounded like my grandma so i opened my bedroom door because thats where i heard it from. when i turned on the light i saw my dog staring at me. she looked as if she had seen a ghost and ran up the stairs. to this day i sware it was my grandmother trying to tell me something. but i dont know what it was.

another story happened all within a week. i lost a friend in a car accident almost 2 yrs ago. around the one yr anniversary i kept seeing something out of the corner of my eye. like a shadow. i thought it was just my eyelashes and didnt think much of it. one day i was letting my dogs out when i saw something again out of the corner of my eye. i looked real quick and it looked like a hooded figure running along my house and then dissappeared. i dont know if it was my friend brian but he did die 1/4 mile away from my house. i still get chills when i think about. 2 days later i got in my car on my way to school. go to back up and as i look in my rear view mirror i see the shadow again and then it goes out the window. now i am convinced that this is an evil spirit coming to kill me on my way to school. nothing happened that day but it still freaked me out. i dont see the shadows anymore.

my mom is also convinced that my grandmother breaks our appliances. she will see her in a dream and then within the next week an appliance will break. they didnt have the best relationship...

[sleepysnr]

How in the world did he hit them twice?

that is EXACTLY what i was thinking!

[Flying ICU RN]

I'm not going to look through 180 pages to see if this was previously posted. But, this is supposedly a nurse testing a camera in an empty hospital room.

Look closely in the mirror, then sleep well tonight.