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...

[WayneStateKatie]

Well this is not nursing related but thought I'd throw it out here anyway (the glut of ouija board stories a couple pages back reminded me of this story).

As it has been pointed out previously the ouija board was a popular pastime in the 1970s. My mother was invited over by a few other couples for a dinner party. They were all having a good time eating and laughing when someone pulled out a ouija board. They decided to give it a try-- my mother and two other women had their hands on the pointer and one of the husbands was recording everything that came through.

The pointed started flying all over the board and spelled out the name of a young man. He gave his name, and said that he had committed suicide. He said he was from a small town in Wisconsin (I forget the name I would have to ask my mother again) and he wanted them to call his mother and let her know that he was ok. He gave a phone number and then the board was quiet after he delivered his message. The ladies on the board were quite shaken up!

They looked at the phone number for quite some time deciding what to do. They pulled out the yellow pages (ah yes, the time before the internet...) and sure enough the area code was for this town in Wisconsin several states away! They finally decided to try calling the phone number but received a recorded message stating that this phone number had been disconnected. Everyone was freaking out at this point and they tossed the board into the fireplace. My mom didn't mention that they did any further follow up with this young man's message, but she will never go near a board again!

[RetRN77]

Well one night we were doing a seance, and we used a glass on a table surrounded by all the letters of the alphabet, and all the numbers from 1-0. My Mum had asked this spirit that was there Who are you? and the glass eventually moved to the letters and spelled out 'devil'! Well we were all shocked, and my Mum was saying something like go away you're not welcome here, and this glass spun around the table ON IT'S OWN multiple times, then shot towards the brick wall and just shattered! Well my older brother and his mates were there, one of his friends was religious (he was not doing the seance), and he always wore a big cross around his neck. He freaked out and held up the cross to the ceiling, and was yelling out: "Begone ye devil!!" (I remember the words he used were really old-fashioned), and he was chanting for Jesus to protect us! Outside just when he was chanting still, there was this MASSIVE crack of thunder and this rain (it had been a still, quiet night) just HURTLED down from the heavens!

After that my Mum either stopped the seances or did them less and less, and my brother's friend rarely came over, but we were all shaken up after that night. I'm sure I didn't sleep that night.

Something similar happened to my friends and I when we were in nursing school. Someone dug up a Ouija board, something I'd never even heard of, and I was asking questions about my fiance and I. It said we would die in a fire on December 7th. Awful. Someone said, "Ask it who it is." So I did, and it spelled out, "Devil." That really spooked me, but at the time I didn't believe in the Devil. I told a friend's mother, and she said, "Of course, didn't you know that? Satan uses those sorts of things to scare and control people who use them." She told me I shouldn't ever use such things, but I thought she was just superstitious. (But it's not superstitious to use them, right? LOL Too ironic.)

Later in life I experimented with Tarot cards, until once again, I was frightened by something they predicted and never touched them again. It wasn't until years later I read scriptures about consulting with mediums and Christian literature complete with stories of others who'd dabbled, which finally convinced me these are not things to be messing about with.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

are you ever right. yes, satan is very active right now. just look the mess our world is in. those tarot cards and ouija boards are evil. i refuse to delve into any of that stuff.

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

are you ever right. yes, satan is very active right now. just look the mess our world is in. those tarot cards and ouija boards are evil. i refuse to delve into any of that stuff.

i agree. i will never participate in one again.

carol

[JoanKayRNBSN]

I saw an earlier post regarding the presence of mgmt on the floor as a ghost story. Made my day to see that I am not the only one who sees these things as frightening!

[Nurse_Candice]

I only have one so fa r:)

We (the 2 floor nurses on my unit, and regional manger who was filling in until new DON started,) responded to a code we had been expecting for weeks on our rehab unit,(end of life care). After about 10 min of CPR, EMT's took over and we returned to the floor. there were several lights on so the the mngr went to answer one as I grabbed the transfer paper work for the EMTs. The Mngr came out of a room beside the nurses station ashen rubbing her arms and told me about the conversation she just had. As she walked in the room the resident,(AOx3 soon to be discharged home) was complaining about whoever was in the hall spraying stuff inquiring what they were spraying as she was worried it would aggravate her allergies. Mind you this was approx 10pm, we assured her no one was in the hall and there was nothing being sprayed. She proceeded to insist there was as she had seen a large plume of white mist go past her room, (from the direction of the expired res' room). We of course new that it had to be the passed on pt......

[hecallsmeDuchess]

Wow!! I miss all of these stories, ashamed to say I stopped reading for a while I stayed home alone at night. I'm back now, please keep them coming.

--Ghost stories fan.:)

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

I miss these stories too. Anyone got anymore??

[phillyladie]

This was pretty funny, while I was in school still externing I was working the night shift with another RN, we were siting talking with the night guard who was making their rounds, the back hall of pt rooms where empty, I thought I had heard a door shut in the back hallway, I said to the RN and guard did you hear that? the guard went over to check it out, while he was walking over we heard the toilet flush, the guard darted into the unoccupied room, and said theres no one here? I was a bit nervous the night RN thought it was funny and said at least he remeberd to flush...our hospital was built around the late 1800s he said he heard things at night all the time..I was still pretty freaked...

[robinbird]

This happened about 8 years ago and was told to me by the nurse who experienced it.

A elderly patient was receiving palliative care on our cardiology floor and was expected to die anytime. To make her more comfortable her family brought her her favorite white night gown to wear and her pillow and blankets from home. Her daughter was staying with her one night and brushed her long gray hair and the patient went to sleep for the night. The nurse did her final rounding on the patient, gave some pain medicine and put the call bell in reach.

At about 3 am the a call bell rang from the room next door. The patient said that someone was standing at the foot of his bead and he didn't know who she was and she wouldn't answer his questions. The nurse walked down the hall to the room and the patient was sitting up in bed. He said, "There was a lady with long hair and wearing a white gown standing right there (pointing to the foot of bed). I was about to get up to help her out into the hall when she just disappeared."

The nurse reassured him that there was no one there now and told the patient to call her if he had any other problem.

The nurse left the room and walked next door to check on her other patient. The daughter of the patient was softly crying and holding her mom's hand. She said that her mom died a few minutes ago.

The nurse was convinced that the patient in the next room had seen the ghost of the women who died next door.

[StatBlues]

"at least he remeberd to flush..."

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

The night RN thought it was funny and said at least he remeberd to flush... .

:yeah:Good one