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...

[conim2002]

I don't share this very often because it is more "Sacred" to me then scarey. My last full time job was with Hospice. I really enjoyed the one on one with my patients. You get to know the family quit well, working with them on a daily basis. We did become quit close.

On this particular assignment, I was caring for an elderly lady who had been on Hospice for over a year. Usually they don't keep you as a Hospice patient for much longer then that, but this little lady kept beating the odds. We called in the family on several occassions during that year, because we thought she was going to die....but she kept on bouncing back. It became kind of a light hearted joke.

My story: Toward the end of her life, this sweet lady lost her oldest son in an auto accidient. The family chose not to tell their mother about her son's death. They figured it would serve no positive purpose....so we never spoke of it to her.

Continueing on: The day before this woman expired she called me into her room and asked me if I saw "Michael"? "Michael, your son?", I asked. "Yes", she said...."He was with me all night". "We had a wonderful visit..he wants me to get ready, because he is going to come and get me in the morning" All I said was, "How wonderful it must have been to see your son". My first impression was that she was just having illussions.

The next morning upon reporting to work at 6am, I said goodbye to the family as they left for work, as I had done for over a year...I went about my usual routine. I walked down the old familiar hall to my patient's room and down the hall, ahead of me, I saw a man all dressed in white walking away from my patient's room. I went into my patient's room and she indeed had expired. I mentioned nothing of this to the family, but I did speak of it to the Hospice RN. "Thank goodness!", she said to me. "I thought maybe I was losing it". Apparently she had seen the same gentleman the day before standing in the corner of this sweet little ladie's room". This is not my only experience of this type. Like I said....some things you are reluctant to share. It is a great testimonial to me that we do go on. I must mention that there was such an enormous feeling of peace that morning when my patient left this world.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

That is such a wonderful story. I can see why you hold that experience so sacred. Thank you so much for sharing it.

[CFitzRN, ADN]

@Irishpsychnurse - You're Irish so there's a fair chance you know about this, but when our Blessed Mother appears anywhere, there is almost always a strong fragrance of flowers (many times roses but not always). And sometimes one only smells the fragrance and doesn't see an apparition. Being that you were in an old monastery (cool!) I'd say there is a fair chance there was a lot of Marian devotion there, so it's not out of the realm of possibilities that you experienced a visit from our Mother.

[boojum]

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.

:eek::eek:

I haven't read them all yet, but this is by far the scariest so far! This one sent me over the edge. I am officially spooked!

[Siss]

This lady has tried to assist me on late night rounds every now and then.

Looks like this nurse would finally give up and quit nursing:lol2:

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

No. 1927

from boojum

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Yesterday, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by schroeders_piano

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.

I haven't read them all yet, but this is by far the scariest so far! This one sent me over the edge. I am officially spooked!

Me too! In fact, I believe it is the scariest one of all of them.

[tiredstudentmom]

:eek::eek:

I haven't read them all yet, but this is by far the scariest so far! This one sent me over the edge. I am officially spooked!

I have to agree w/ you on this one... The fact that there are several witnesses is quite disturbing. Don't know if I could go back to that room if I worked at that particular facility!

[14togo]

Whist browsing through the site I came upon this thread for the first time. I have a "ghost" story I would like to share although it is not particularly scary. I worked in a veteran's hospital in Australia in the mid '90s. It had been built in 1942 to accommodate the Australian and Allied soldiers who were injured in the Pacific theater of war. (It later served for veterans of WW I, II, Korea and Vietnam)

The buiding was an old style barracks type with an 'L' shape. There were 8 beds in the open ward separated by a low wall with 8 more beds. At the 'L' was another nurses station, as the female section of the ward started there, around the corner, separate from the men.

Over the years many vets had passed away on this particular ward and there was definitely a military aura to the whole place. Every so often a figure would appear, dressed in the regalia of the Australian Infantry Force (AIF) of the Second World war. He would stand at attention beside the last bed of the men's section before the "L". The appartion has been seen by many of the nurses I worked with (not me however) There was no feeling of threat emanating from him and he would disappear if approached, but not usually until the nurse or whomever reached the foot of his bed. He would then salute very slowly and just fade away.

I have heard the story many times from many different nurses and there is no doubt there was a certain degree of embellishment that accrued over the years. Two things though, were consistent through all the stories I was told. He always was dressed in full regalia and always saluted before he faded away. I would have liked to have seen him. What a thrill that would have been to have my own ghost story. Not many people take such stories seriously though. I often thought that the non-observer/believer of such phenomena would think the nurses were into the narc cupboard.

I have since learned that the old building has been demolished and a new-age building with all the modern amenities has been erected in its place. I wonder (and secretly hope, I think) if the old AIF digger (as they were called) will show up again standing his post. I hope so

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

What a great story. I too hope he reappears in the new building. What a wonderful addition that would be. Thank you for posting your story.:)

[nursejoy1, ASN, RN]

Just recently I've had two experiences. The first, I was standing outside of a room on our hospice hall talking with a cna. The resident in the room was sleeping in the bed and we could see the entire room. Suddenly we heard a small crashing noise and saw a picture frame from the dresser at the foot of the bed lying facedown about a foot from the dresser. There was no one else in the room, no open Windows or anything that could have knocked it over. Especially that far from where it was. The next one happened on nights. In our specialty unit we have a resident with MR who loves to play in the water. Sometimes the staff will put a dresser in front of the bathroom door to keep her out.well I was called to this residents room the other night and the staff was all upset. A cna has taken this resident into the bathroom and cleaned hee up and when she opened the door, the roommates dresser had been moved in front of the door and when she opened the door it hit the dresser and the tv fell off in the floor. Well all of our ambulatory residents were with other staff members and the roommate was actually watching the tv when it happened. She said she did not see anyone move the tv. Staff was spooked for quite a while after this.

[nola1202]

I worked nite shift at a rehab hospital that used to be a nursing home. Out of the corner of my eye I would catch a glimpse of an elderly man with a happy expression wearing a bright plaid golf cap, wire frame glasses and a yellow shirt. He was always kind of leaning comfortably against the code cart.

I asked if anyone else ever had their eyes play tricks on them and someone else gave a similar description. I like to think he dropped in to visit what used to be a happy place for him. At home I've heard dogs tonails clicking on the hardwood floor when all of mine are present and snoring on the bed. I always say hi to the dog(s) that have died and tell them thanks for the visit and come snuggle!

Seriously I have no idea what to make of this. I'm not particularly religious or spiritual. I've never felt threatened or fearful, just content and yes a bit spacy and sleepy..so I could be microdreaming?

[nola1202]

Trekfan, I was just reading a book entitled "Just a Nurse," one of the nurses featured in this book is blind: she got her master's degree and works counseling seriously ill children and their families. She may have been an RN before her blindness, I am not sure, but, she makes use of her faculties other than sight in the work she does now, and says that her dog plays a role in her work with families, putting them at ease. She worked at CHOP in Philadelphia, I believe.

I know a nurse with diabetic retinopathy. She used to work in NICU but now has such low vision she is working in Nursing Ed (orientation of new employees)

She is good at her job and made our orientation much more interesting because she had a sense of humor and was flexible. Follow your heart, if you want to work in Nursing, you will.