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...

Thanks for sharing your wonderful stories!:)

Specializes in ICU & LTAC as RN. FNP.

Around 1998, I was a new LPN in a small hospital. This old lady, probably late 80's or 90 years old was one of the patients whose room was across from the nursing station. I remember her being scared, and very "needy" as in that she just wanted someone to stay with her. I stayed with her and talked, but I had to tend to my other patients as well, but she didn't want to be alone. So I asked the charge nurse if she could sit in a chair at the nurses station and the nurse agreed. The patient hadn't been bed ridden or anything, so we didn't see a problem with it. I placed her in a chair, and covered her with a blanket, and she appeared so happy just to be out of that room. Well, I was down the hall, and sure enough, the patient codes right there in the nurses station. She died soon afterward, but I wondered if she had sensed she would soon die and was frightened by that.

" she appeared so happy just to be out of that room."

I know she was!:redpinkhe

You granted her last wish. Not to be in a tiny room, as she left this plane.......

Hugs**:nurse:

Specializes in ER.
The rose petals just started floating down from the ceiling. It was like someone was just showering the room with them. This has happened several times over the years.

My creepiest and scariest ghost story for me happened about a year ago. It really was more of a posession than a ghost story. I was helping another nurse with a patient that had lived a very hard life. It had numerous things going on with him from cardiac to renal failure. You name it, he had it going on. This man was very much afraid to die. Every time his heart monitor beeped, he would just go into a rage screaming, "Don't let me die! Don't let me die!" The other nurse and I found out why he didn't want to die. About 0200 his cardiac monitor starts alarming V-Tach. We both rush into the room. I am pulling the crash cart behing me. When I get to the room, the other nurse is completely white. This man was sitting about 2 inches above the bed and was laughing. His whole look completely changed. His eyes just had a look of pure evil on them and he had this evil smile on his face. He laughed at us and said, " You stupid b****es aren't going to let me die will you?" and he laughed again. We were kinda frozen. I did reach up and hit the Code Blue button and when I did the man went into V-fib. He crashed back onto the bed. We started coding him, but after 20 minutes it was called. 5 minutes after the code was called several of the code team is in the room cleaning up when this man sits straight up in the bed and says, " You let him die. Too bad." and then begins laughing. The man collapsed back to the bed. We heard a horrible, agonizing scream ( actually every patient in the unit that night commented on the scream), and then you could hear "don't let me die" being whispered throughout the unit. Everyone of the nurses that night was pale and scared. No body went anywhere by themselves. By morning the whispers of "don't let me die" were gone. The night shift nurses had a prayer service in the break room before we left for home and then we all had nightmares for weeks.

that's too bizarre. I think I'd not be going into that room... ever.

Around 1998, I was a new LPN in a small hospital. This old lady, probably late 80's or 90 years old was one of the patients whose room was across from the nursing station. I remember her being scared, and very "needy" as in that she just wanted someone to stay with her. I stayed with her and talked, but I had to tend to my other patients as well, but she didn't want to be alone. So I asked the charge nurse if she could sit in a chair at the nurses station and the nurse agreed. The patient hadn't been bed ridden or anything, so we didn't see a problem with it. I placed her in a chair, and covered her with a blanket, and she appeared so happy just to be out of that room. Well, I was down the hall, and sure enough, the patient codes right there in the nurses station. She died soon afterward, but I wondered if she had sensed she would soon die and was frightened by that.

I wouldn't be surprised if she did know...and I am glad that she wasn't alone. Sad that I know that when I get out of school and start working, I too may be too busy for patients like this. It shouldn't be that way. No one should have to ask for someone to be with them when they are scared and dying.

I am glad you were able to make her last bit of time more comfortable for her.

Before being a nurse I was a tech in the cardiac observation unit in the ER. One night the pt's pulse ox was alarming because it was reading in the high 70's low 80's with good pleth. So, I went into the room and changed it to a different finger on the pt. By the 3rd time the RN said we could just take it off the pt so I went in, removed the sensor from pt's finger and put it on standby. A few minutes later it began to alarm again. I went in to disconnect the probe and reassure the pt, but when I reached up to disconnect the probe I found it was not connected to the monitor at all. This scared me and the poor pt. What the pt didn't know is the night before a man in his early 40's had died in that bed of a massive MI. :eek:

I am now an ER nurse (still on nights) at a new facility. One night a code bell went off in an empty room. The lever that must be pulled down to call the code from the bedside had been pulled down. There was an RN sitting at the nurse's station and two CNAs watching psych pt's in the rooms next to the one where the code bell went off. No one had seen anyone go into or come out of the room. A few minutes later all the lights in the ER flickered and some of the computers lost power and restarted themselves. Coincidence? Maybe. When dayshifters came on they told us they had, had a code in the room prior to the night shift coming on the previous day. This scared me for weeks! That room is known to be "bad luck" to our patients, and I try to only put my most stable pts in it when I am assigned to it. :redlight:

Most recently I had a sweet elderly lady who was going to be turned over to hospice if not admitted from the ER. She had Alzheimer's/Dementia and thought I was doing awful things to her as I performed ordered tasks. She told me I was going to burn in hell and that she would be there to watch. I didn't like hearing that even though I knew I wasn't doing anything wrong. When I was done, I released her from the restraints and tried to make her comfortable. I left the curtain open and closed the sliding glass door so I could see in the room to make sure she didn't try to climb out of bed and fall. When I came back after checking on my other patients she asked me, "Where is momma? She was sitting right there. Where did she go?" as she pointed to the chair. I told her I wasn't sure. This was my first experience with a pt talking about a loved one that had surely passed although I had heard of it before. I hope she someday finds it in her heart to forgive me, and that she understands my only intent was to help. :redpinkhe

That's pretty much it for hospital ghost stories although I could go on and on about crazy things that would happen in my mother's house where I grew up.

she told you you'd burn in hell and she'd be there to watch? That would have creeped me out for sure, what a cold nasty thing to say. My grandmother had dementia, and she could be pretty fiesty, even mean, but never meaner than she had been in real life...and she was a good person, just stubborn and outspoken, so she was always ready for a fight with us and the nurses... But saying something like what your patient said, well, she doesn't sound like she was a nice person at all.

Specializes in ICU & LTAC as RN. FNP.

Thank you Bhavana.

Specializes in Psychiatric and home health Peds..

I have experienced many unexplained things while at work but the one I want to share is of a personal manner. My olderst son who is almost 13 at the age of 3 on the night of December 7, 2001 caught on fire at his father's house. 20% of his body had 2nd and 3rd degree burns. He spent almost a month in an Intensive Care Burn Unit. I was either with him or at a near by Ronald McDonald house. When he came home I had a lot of nursing care to give to my son, I learned more about being a burn nurse than I ever wanted to. When I would try to explain to my son who was four that I knew that what I did hurt and I was sorry I had to do it to help him get better it was a hared thing to do. I once asked him who helped him get better at the hospital and he would say the doctors, nurses, mommy and NiNi. NiNi is what my son called my grandmother. This all seems normal I know but my grandmother had died August 1, 2000, almost 4 months before the fire. I didn't feel creeped out just peaceful knowing that my grandmother is still around and helped my son feel better. The two of them were close and she called him her prince. I was thankful that she was not alive to see this happen to him but I guess she knew anyway and was there with him when he needed her the most. My son who is almost 13 now has no memory of any of the events just the scars. I have memories that are hard to live with but as I write this I think that somehow my grandmother was and is still with me to help throught the tough times in life. Thanks Noni for looking after my boys when I am not able to be there. You are still very much loved and missed. Your princess, the mother of the prince.

I could peruse this thread for hours!

My husband and I used to watch Ghost Hunters, but it seems like they've become ridiculous..we've been hooked on Ghost Adventures for a while now! LOVE them!!

Speaking of, has anyone seen Ghost Lab?! Those guys are so dumb, it cracks me up! I can't stand to watch them because they just plain irritate me with, "Let's get back to the lab!" anytime they may remotely hear something, LOL!

please, please keep these great stories coming. I love them all!!!:)

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

mom has alzheimer's; she's lived in assisted living since dad died two years ago. you'd be surprised how many people give me a hard time about not having her live with me, but this is the decision that mom made back when she was still able to make good decisions. she's lived in the same small town her whole life and she knows everyone in it, their ancestors and their various descendants.

mom is getting to the stage where she can't remember where she is, what's going on or even that dad died. so every time i talk to her it's the same thing. "why do i have to live here?"

"because your memory is too bad for you to live on your own."

"what about your father? he can take care of me."

"he died, mom."

"are you sure? he was just here, and i think he went to work."

so the other night when she insisted that dad had just been to see her and told her not to worry about him because he was just fine, i was sure it was the alzheimer's talking. until i started chatting with the lady who lives across the hall from mom. mom was talking about dad, and the other lady piped up "i thought your father had died, but i saw him walk into your mother's room about an hour ago." that lady has no cognitive issues -- she's in assisted living because she's paraplegic.

Specializes in FNP.

Interesting thread. I don't believe a word of it, but it's been entertaining. ;-) In 20 years, have never seen so much as a shadow, lol.

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