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 know that made your heart sing, Ruby!!

Merry Christmas xoxo

I'm a student nurse. Last week in clinicals there were four of us standing in a corridor (me, another student, an RN, and a transport person). The walls have computers that pull out by a door for quick charting. The doors are difficult to pull open and difficult to push closed by design so they don't slam up or down and hurt someone. They have special hinges similar to what they put on some of the doors at the hospital so they don't slam shut on people.

Well . . we were all standing there and suddenly the computer door slammed open hard and made a loud noise and we jumped. Then it slammed back shut again with another bang. We all started at each other and then me and the transport guy went over and tried to open and shut the door to reproduce what happened, but it was once again moving slowly and resisting us pushing on it too fast. ONe of the nurses mentioned ghosts. A few minutes later I went to the corridor again and the thing was open! And no one was using it or had used it (I asked). I pushed it back up and then tried to pull it down and felt the resistance. Then a CNA lost her diamond earring and it was found in the room right next to this computer cabinet on the floor, the back still closed on it. I then remembered that in this same room, a pt had passed not so peacefully the week before that I had cared for. He was ready to go but his wife would not put him on hospice, and she was quite upset when he passed.

Today another student watched a DNR patient pass peacefully. Right as he passed and his heart stopped, the electronic bed scale (and he was still lying in the bed) gave out the message "The Patient Has Left the Bed." This was witnessed by the RN she was working with as well and they were both creeped out by it.

Specializes in MR/DD.
Working the 3-11 shift in a nursing home, I was doing my med pass when I was summoned by a CNA to a room. Upon entering, the CNA states, "I think she just died, while I was changing her!" I checked for breathin, circulation and the patient's orders. She was a DNR (Do Not Resucitate) then attempted to get a B/P. NOTHING..... so, I called to notify the Pt's son, who requested for Mom to be sent to the ER to be Pronounced, and they would go straight to the hospital. I contacted 911 (our protocol for transferring for pronouncal) and summoned the ambulance. Approximately 20 minutes passed before the ambulance arrived. The Paramedic and EMT followed thier protocol, and followed the same steps I had (breathing, circulation, and BP) and got NOTHING. By the time they loaded my patient, covered her, and set on the way to the hospital, 30-40 mins had passed. In transport to our local hospital the ambulance had to cross a Railroad track. When the ambulance crossed the tracks, the patient sat up, pulled the sheet from her head, and proceeded to point and shake her hand at the Paramedic screaming, "TAKE ME BACK, TAKE ME BACK RIGHT NOW! I MEAN IT, TAKE ME BACK RIGHT NOW!!!" The EMT driving pulled over to check out the commotion, the Paramedic exited the Ambulance and proceeded to Vomit. The paramedic then continued to the hospital, and phoned the nursing home to tell me what had happened. Approximately an hour later, the son phoned stating "I was SUPRISED to arrive at the ER and my mom GREET me! Did you perform CPR after talking to me, you know she was a DNR, right?" When the family was told of this incident, they simply said...."It just wasn't her time."

The only thing that I can come up with (even to this day) is......... the bumps caused by the railroad crossing, "jolted" her heart to start beating again!

Any other thoughts or ideas about this?????

BTW, the paramedic resigned when his shift was over the next morning!

One night the charge nurse was running down the hall to check on a patient whos alarm was going off. The patient was sitting in a chair, unresponsive not breathing and no pulse. The charge nurse called a code while myself and another nurse picked up the patient to put her in bed for CPR. When we put her into the bed we sort of dropped her onto the mattress, at this time the code team was rushing into the room. The lady sat up and was wondering why so many people were around! LOL

Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.
Today another student watched a DNR patient pass peacefully. Right as he passed and his heart stopped, the electronic bed scale (and he was still lying in the bed) gave out the message "The Patient Has Left the Bed." This was witnessed by the RN she was working with as well and they were both creeped out by it.

Does anyone else hear the Twilight Zone theme?

Specializes in Lactation.

Well I am going to share my non nursing story with you guys since I am only a nursing hopeful at this point... also its a dream story.

On June 9th 2005 I woke from a dream where I was in a container of some sort, holding on to my daughter for dear life. The Container was rolling and wrenching and I felt smothered. I was crying to God the whole time to protect my daughter. In the end of the dream my daughter and I were walking towards the hottest white light you could ever imagine. I woke up hyperventalating, crying, sweating, shaking and just so scared. It took me a few seconds to realize that I had been dreaming. I immediatly told my husband who just blew me off and got up and got ready for work. I was still crying and stuff so I called my best friend. Christy (best friend) managed to calm me down and talk to me. The thing that she said to me that really stuck with me was " Carla, maybe God was trying to show you that dying isn't really that bad."

I went about my day and calmed down, but around 3 am the next morning my Best Friends husband called and told me that his wife and daughter died in a car accident that afternoon. It was a very horrible accident, hit at a high rate of speed by a drunk driver and both of them died upon impact.

All these years later her words are all that I need to know that she was ok.

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.

this made me want to cry...happily of course...and I believe it 100 percent! Though I would imagine our loved ones who have died have better things to do than come back here and hang around us, I do believe that when they are needed, and especially by an innocent child that they loved, that they can and do come back. Your baby was still young and open minded enough to see and feel her presence. How awesome that she was there for him to help him get thru what must have been a horrible experience. I am glad you got through it too! I can't even imagine how hard that must of been.

Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
Well I am going to share my non nursing story with you guys since I am only a nursing hopeful at this point... also its a dream story.

On June 9th 2005 I woke from a dream where I was in a container of some sort, holding on to my daughter for dear life. The Container was rolling and wrenching and I felt smothered. I was crying to God the whole time to protect my daughter. In the end of the dream my daughter and I were walking towards the hottest white light you could ever imagine. I woke up hyperventalating, crying, sweating, shaking and just so scared. It took me a few seconds to realize that I had been dreaming. I immediatly told my husband who just blew me off and got up and got ready for work. I was still crying and stuff so I called my best friend. Christy (best friend) managed to calm me down and talk to me. The thing that she said to me that really stuck with me was " Carla, maybe God was trying to show you that dying isn't really that bad."

I went about my day and calmed down, but around 3 am the next morning my Best Friends husband called and told me that his wife and daughter died in a car accident that afternoon. It was a very horrible accident, hit at a high rate of speed by a drunk driver and both of them died upon impact.

All these years later her words are all that I need to know that she was ok.

When she told you that dying isn't really that bad. That was also her gift to you. Isn't that wonderful. Thank you for posting your story.:hug:
Specializes in Lactation.
When she told you that dying isn't really that bad. That was also her gift to you. Isn't that wonderful. Thank you for posting your story.:hug:

I have always looked at it as a gift. I had several dreams about her family in the months following and they always seemed to come true.

Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..

That's wonderful. I love that kind of stuff.

This story is not nursing related but have to tell it. Years ago I dreamed that my mother's best friend called me because she said after numerous attempts my mother would not answer the phone. She said "Tell her I'm going away on a long trip but I love her and I'll see her in heaven." I was not frightened of this and agreed to tell my mom. I never got a chance. In the morning she called me and said that her friend's daughter just called---she had died in her sleep during the night.

I have a fairly recent one! It's pretty mild, but interesting (and to me, touching) nonetheless. Sorry for the novel, I have to include the backstory. :)

I work at a children's home for the developmentally disabled. As such, we have a lot of heartbreaking stories - plenty of kids who were born disabled (which is sad but probably unavoidable), but also plenty of abuse and accident victims, as well. Those are the ones I tend to bond with the most.

In particular, there was one boy I just adored. He was born healthy, but when he was 8 he drowned in a wavepool. He was dead, but they were able to resuscitate him. However, the damage to his brain was profound, and he had to come live in our facility. He had to have a trach, he was tubefed, and he was unable to do much with his body. He couldn't communicate, though he was able to make eye contact. He would often get anxious when being cared for and would start to cough or tense up, though he was perfectly relaxed when a few certain people took care of him.

My first day there, I felt an instant connection to this boy. He was the most beautiful kid you can imagine, and it became my personal mission to help ease some of his anxiety and fear. As such, he was always very serene when I was assigned to his group. His mother even commented on how peaceful he seemed when I was there, and she said she never worried when she knew I was working because it was obvious how I cared for him.:redpinkhe

We started to notice that he was just not right. Despite his tubefeed, he was losing weight and just looking awful, and he wasn't voiding or having bms as normal. They did some cultures and labs, and could find no infections or anything. It took the doctors MONTHS to think to do an xray, and they discovered that somehow, his feed tube had moved down into his intestine - no food was getting to his stomach, and he was essentially slowly starving to death.

That day, they sent him out to have corrective surgery. It seemed to go fine, he stayed there and recovered for nearly a week, and then he returned to our facility on my shift. He was a little pale, but seemed okay. I bathed and dressed him for bed, kissed his cheek, and told him I had missed him. About an hour after I left, he passed away.

I was off work for the next few days. I went to his funeral to pay my respects to his family (imagine losing your little boy twice, almost 5 years apart to the day). I said goodbye to him.

When I returned to work a few days later, I was scheduled to work on another wing. The girl who had been scheduled to be on wing 5 (where the boy who passed had been) started having severe abdominal pains on her way to work. She called off and went to the emergency room, and I got bumped to wing 5. (They never figured out why she had the pains...creepy). The girls told me that wing 5 had felt really heavy since the little boy had passed...nothing too weird had happened, but just a strange feeling.

As soon my nurse said I was going to be on Wing 5 and gave me report, an emergency light started going off. Now, my facility does not have call lights...the residents are not able to understand or use them. There are, however, emergency lights to pull in case of seizures, etc.

We saw that the emergency light was going off in the little boy's room. We ran as fast as we could, wondering who could have pulled it, since the aides from that wing were out giving report to us. When I stepped into the room, we saw that it was the light next to the boy's former bed that had been pulled. I glanced at the bed and could have sworn I saw him in it for a second, laying with his stuffed dog, as usual. I first thought another resident had wandered down and climbed into his bed, but when I turned the light on, nothing was there. We turned off the emergency light, and the heavy feeling seemed to lift. Everything from then on seemed normal.

The nurses said he was probably waiting to say goodbye to his favorite aide.

me too.

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