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...

gapeach674 said:

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?????

I know this was from a while back, and while this isn't a ghost story, I do agree with your theory.

My mom and dad were on the way to the airport, when my dad started veering over to the other lane and crashed into a church sign. My mom, who is a nurse, looked over at my dad. His face was white and his lips were blue, and he had vomited. She reached to check his pulse and got NOTHING.

Although she had quite a few injuries from the accident, she ran around to the other side of the truck, opened the car down, checked his carotid pulse. Still NOTHING. She reached in to grab him by the shoulders to extricate him from the car. My dad's a big man and he hit the ground with a pretty good "thud." Before my mom had a chance to perform CPR, dad started coming around. Since she had confirmed 3 times that he had no heart rate, we are pretty sure that the jolt to the ground from the truck was enough to restart his heart, thank God!

Yes, my dad did have an MI. I shudder to think if it would have happened an hour later. They would have been in the air on the way to Chicago, and this was before they had AED's installed on aircraft. Dad was very lucky.

Emma-Jane Farmer said:
When I worked in a nursing home we had a resident that was unpleasant to say the least. One day I was on bell duty (it was my responsibility to answer all the bells for 2 hours), and the man rang his bell and told me that there was a black dog under his bed. I looked under the bed, but there was nothing there. I thought that he could have possibly seen a dog because it was a hot day, and the front door to the home was open. I told him that the dog must have gone out of the door before I arrived. He rang the bell again a short time later, insisting that he could see a dog under the bed, again I couldn't see anything. This carried on. He became quite hysterical on one occasion shouting that the black dog under his bed was trying to bite him, and that it had red eyes. He looked terrified, and I couldn't calm him down for ages until the dog had disappeared. I handed over what happened to the nurse in charge, and went home as it was the end of my shift. The next day I was on an afternoon shift, and found out that the man had died not long after I had gone home.

It really freaked me out. He was a very unpleasant man, and I often wondered if the dog was there to take him away to you know where. One i'll never forget

Emma

Sorry for the double.

I guess this gives new meaning to the term "Hound of Hell."

Scary. Keep these stories coming. They are quite fascinating, and from a born-again Christian perspective, I'm trying to reconcile these stories and my beliefs. Very, very fascinating and downright spooky. I'm reading this later at night only because dh is working on another computer next to me. ?

Time for bed, and I do hope for pleasant dreams after reading ALL of this thread.

This just happened today. One of our residents had returned from the hospital with a dx of end stage renal failure about 3 weeks ago. Thought for sure she was going to die right after I left one night.....vitals poor (resp. 6), she's pale, Cheyne Stoke-ing. Well, she kept coming out of it. This morning, she did it again....came out of her decline, looked at the nurse next to her bed, and stated quite clearly, "I am dying now." Put her head down, and died. :cry: Totally creeped the 7-3 shift at first, but then again....

My dad used to be a chef and he made the best homemade gravy!! Well after a long illness he passed away last july and for thanksgiving that year, everybody was quite bummed that he wasn't here to celebrate with us. So I decided to try to make the gravy, and I'm standing at the stove trying to remember how he did it when i just got the overwhelming feeling of someone standing behind me and looking over my shoulder!!. I really think my dad was coaching me on how to make gravy. Also about 4 months ago, I had a dream with my dad standing in front of me at a party and even though i could hear him talking and laughing, his lips were not moving, then he held out his arms and we hugged and i could smell his aftershave and he said it's all right now. I mean my dad was not one for hugging and showing his love but you always knew he did and i believe that he just wanted to finally show it.

We had a resident that was ill and she told the nurse that she would die on July 4th, this has been a few years back, well July 4th came and they got her up for Breakfast then lunch and then finally at supper time she slumped over in her chair and when they checked sure enough she was dead. Freaky!

Specializes in M/S, OB, Ortho, ICU, Diabetes, QA/PI.

awesome thread!!!!! here are a few stories:

Patients in our psych ward frequently complain to staff that they hear babies crying at night and one patient even saw baby footprints on the ceiling of her room one night - well, the OB department used to be in that space decades ago and is now in a totally different building across town (we have 2 different campuses to our hospital)

My best friend's grandfather died unexpectedly when we were in high school and her older sister, Lise, was very sad because she was 7-8 mos pregnant and her child would have been his first great-grandchild. A few weeks after the baby was born, Lise's husband was working 11-7 and she had the baby in a bassinet at the foot of her bed. She woke up suddenly and saw a figure at the end of the bed looking into the bassinet and she called "Randy (her husband) - is that you?" The figure looked up and she saw it was her grandfather, wearing the old plaid cap that he always wore and he said in his Scottish accent "It's ok - it's just me, Granda. I just wanted to see my great-grandchild. He's just beautiful." And then he disappeared. The baby never woke up at all through all of this.

I had a patient die slowly on my shift, surrounded by family. At various times of the day, he would call out names of family members who were already dead and comment on them in some way. For example, he called out "Hey Joe, you still smell! How about that?" and he started laughing. (Apparently, Uncle Joe had arthritis really bad in his shoulders and used to slather himself with some really strong smelling ointment) All day, he did this without opening his eyes. It freaked the family out at first, but they got used to it and I think it helped them let go of him because they knew he was going to be going to where family was.

My mother's father was comatose and dying. My parents were living literally on the other side of the country (in Canada) and they were hauling butt to get home before he died. (On a side note, my grandfather was very fastidious and always made sure his hair was just so and he was clean-shaven his whole life - which wasn't always easy to pull off since he was a logger and worked away from home for weeks a time in logging camps.) Anyway, my parents got to the hospital and my grandmother told him who had come - my mother is the oldest but the only one who didn't live local. He hadn't opened his eyes for days but he opened his eyes to look at my parents and then closed them again. He lived through the night and in the morning, the nurses came in and cleaned him up and he hadn't been shaved in a day or two so they did that too. 5-10 minutes after he was cleaned up, with my grandmother and all 6 kids around him, he opened his eyes, nodded and died. I think he was waiting for my mom and also didn't want to die unshaven.

This isn't hospital related (I just graduated and I hope I don't run into any ghosts too soon...I have enough to worry about already!), but it is a ghost story. Actually, it's a story that happened to my best friend several years ago. About 14 years ago her hubby was worked for the air force and they were stationed at Edwards Air Force Base (where the shuttle lands). Anyway, her Mom had come out to visit and they were driving off of the base pretty late at night. Well, according to her, at Edwards in order to get off the base you have to drive for miles and miles through the desert and it is, of course, very very dark at night. So, they're driving through the desert she and her Mom and her son is in the back of the car when her headlights light up a guy walking on the side of the road way up ahead. He's got on a flight suit and he's carrying his helmet in his hand down next to his body. When they're getting closer to him, her Mom turned to her and suggested that maybe they should pick him up. My friend agreed and when they both brought their eyes back to the road he had vanished. She said it was the weirdest thing that has ever happened to her. They both just kind of looked at each other with shocked faces. The thing about Edwards AFB is that they do a lot of test piloting for planes out there and several planes have gone down in the desert killing men over the years. Anyway, that's just another story to scare you before you go to bed tonight.

Cindy

cloudydrms said:
This isn't hospital related (I just graduated and I hope I don't run into any ghosts too soon...I have enough to worry about already!), but it is a ghost story. Actually, it's a story that happened to my best friend several years ago. About 14 years ago her hubby was worked for the air force and they were stationed at Edwards Air Force Base (where the shuttle lands). Anyway, her Mom had come out to visit and they were driving off of the base pretty late at night. Well, according to her, at Edwards in order to get off the base you have to drive for miles and miles through the desert and it is, of course, very very dark at night. So, they're driving through the desert she and her Mom and her son is in the back of the car when her headlights light up a guy walking on the side of the road way up ahead. He's got on a flight suit and he's carrying his helmet in his hand down next to his body. When they're getting closer to him, her Mom turned to her and suggested that maybe they should pick him up. My friend agreed and when they both brought their eyes back to the road he had vanished. She said it was the weirdest thing that has ever happened to her. They both just kind of looked at each other with shocked faces. The thing about Edwards AFB is that they do a lot of test piloting for planes out there and several planes have gone down in the desert killing men over the years. Anyway, that's just another story to scare you before you go to bed tonight.

Cindy

Consider me scared tonight, but just love these stories.

Chad_KY_SRNA said:
The best I have heard is from a nurse who said that one night she was floated to oncology at the hospital she used to work at. She was given a patient who was passing away and had been unconscious for several days. At one point during the night the nurse went into the room and the patient was at the top of the bed and looked at her and said, "don't let them take me!", the nurse was freaked out and asked her who was going to take her and she said that black thing up there and pointed up in the air. This patient died within minutes.

Come on now share your stories, I know you have seen and heard freaky things.

I worked night shift. One night, it was 1:00 am we just finished our rounds, so we sat in the nurse station, talking about the resident that just die that day. All of the sudden we heard a little girl screaming and it seems she is running. We just look at each other. and we searched each room, maybe we forgot to turn off the TV somewhere. :uhoh21: We found nothing, so we went back to the nurse station. this time we heard it again, but it seems its running toward us. I did not say anything, :uhoh3: I just want to get out of that station. We told that story to other staff, they just laughed. Well, the next 3 nights they experienced it too. :rotfl:

Greetings and Salutations to All! :)

Being an RN since 1980 has given me many an interesting experience. However, the most 'moving' one is actually a personal paranormal one involving my father.

My father became seriously ill for over a year before dying September 18th, 1997. Dad's admitting DX was one of a severe stroke leaving him unable to speak. I was the only adult child living in the same town as Dad and his second wife (my Mom died when I was 27; Dad remarried a widow on September 17th, 1988). My sister (Patty) came to visit with my Dad as I had called her to let her know that I "sensed" he would die soon (his VS were most transient in addition to recent onset of "Doll's eye" syndrome). Patty went to the hospital with my youngest son (Michael) to visit our Dad (I took a much needed night off from visiting Dad that night and instead gave my attention to my husband and other family matters).

Patty and Michael returned from their visit very peaceful yet sad as they too "felt" Dad would soon be passing away. My father's wife was not feeling well and thus she didn't visit Dad that day either. As I was talking with my sister that night I noticed a red streak on her naturally blond hair---> it (the red streak) wasn't readily apparent **until** she brushed through her hair as she was talking. I asked Patty if she somehow had lipstick within her hair and she was perplexed as to why I was asking such a seemingly absurd question! When she went to the bathroom to see for herself what I was talking about she didn't have a logical explanation either. The red streak was dominant on the left side of her head/hair looking at her from the front. Despite attempting to wash the 'streak' out of her hair it simply wouldn't go away.... Again, we both attempted to bring logical explanations to this 'phenomena'; to no avail! :stone

The following day Patty returned to Florida with peace in her heart that she had been fortunate enough to spend time with Dad; although she too felt "sad" to leave. On September 17th, 1997 the family celebrated Dad's 9th wedding anniversary with his wife despite both of them not being in the best of health (to say the least). They loved one another and all of us "kids" so much; what a tribute to life they gave to us!!! :Melody:

During the night (early morning hours of September 18th) the hospital called me and said that my father had taken a "turn for the worse, please come in ASAP". When we arrived at the hospital it turned out that my father had a brain anuerysm ("bleed") that couldn't be stopped. This diagnosis seems to have been "picked up" via Patty's visit (remember the unexplained 'red streak') only hours before Dad's physical death. My father's PCP had started a MS drip to bring comfort and this was also consistent with his living will (no heroics, DNR status). Dad's wife accompanied my family to the hospital and she was able to help him pass into the next world with her soothing voice and loving touch.

I believe that the "red streak" discovered on Patty's hair was the way my Dad communicated with us that he was dying (he was asymptomatic at the time of this DX (cerebral bleed). Dad was also able to 'communicate' nonverbally to Lee (his wife) that he was so fortunate to have had 9 years of a truly beautiful marriage with a woman he loved dearly. You see, Dad died the day **following** his 9 year anniversary to Lee....it seems his inner will wanted to complete 9 years of marriage. :) :balloons:

I realize that this 'story' is not apparently a spooky one yet it definitely is one that makes me think how much in life we cannot explain....

Lee died almost one year after Dad died at the young age of 66 from lung cancer yet she had never smoked a cigarettte in her life! I know that statistically 15% of all lung cancers are not tobacco related but nevertheless it remains "odd" to me that she would have this kind of DX and a rapid death as a result.

I have had many a perplexing situation over my 25 year career yet the one with my Dad still is so fresh in my mind. I hope this 'story' gives one comfort and hope that our loved ones continue to communicate despite seemingly horrible DX's and resulting consequences....

Dad lived his life with the motto that one should live passionately and with the knowledge that anything is possible; one has to visualize their dream and "make things happen." I remain grateful for this experience and again I trust this touches your heart as you go out and give care to those so in need of our loving and skilled nursing care!!!

~*Noko*~

Paleobug said:
What a cool thread. I personally believe that when some patients are in the dying process and they call out names of dead relatives or friends that it is not always dilusional. I do believe that they are seeing someone help them to the other side. Five years ago, when my mother in law was in her last days in the hospital, she would frequently call out to her grandmother who had been deceased for many years. My MIL was mentally sound, but her physical condition became worse after she had heart surgery. She was very close to her grandmother because she had raised her.

I think that a very creepy but fun thing to do is to visit an old mental hospital that has been shut down for years, and see if there is any paranormal activity there, especially at night. :coollook:

Have you visited a old closed mental hospital to check paranormal activity ?

If you decide to do so, please share your story.

Noko said:
Greetings and Salutations to All! ?

Being an RN since 1980 has given me many an interesting experience. However, the most 'moving' one is actually a personal paranormal one involving my father.

My father became seriously ill for over a year before dying September 18th, 1997. Dad's admitting DX was one of a severe stroke leaving him unable to speak. I was the only adult child living in the same town as Dad and his second wife (my Mom died when I was 27; Dad remarried a widow on September 17th, 1988). My sister (Patty) came to visit with my Dad as I had called her to let her know that I "sensed" he would die soon (his VS were most transient in addition to recent onset of "Doll's eye" syndrome). Patty went to the hospital with my youngest son (Michael) to visit our Dad (I took a much needed night off from visiting Dad that night and instead gave my attention to my husband and other family matters).

Patty and Michael returned from their visit very peaceful yet sad as they too "felt" Dad would soon be passing away. My father's wife was not feeling well and thus she didn't visit Dad that day either. As I was talking with my sister that night I noticed a red streak on her naturally blond hair---> it (the red streak) wasn't readily apparent **until** she brushed through her hair as she was talking. I asked Patty if she somehow had lipstick within her hair and she was perplexed as to why I was asking such a seemingly absurd question! When she went to the bathroom to see for herself what I was talking about she didn't have a logical explanation either. The red streak was dominant on the left side of her head/hair looking at her from the front. Despite attempting to wash the 'streak' out of her hair it simply wouldn't go away.... Again, we both attempted to bring logical explanations to this 'phenomena'; to no avail! :stone

The following day Patty returned to Florida with peace in her heart that she had been fortunate enough to spend time with Dad; although she too felt "sad" to leave. On September 17th, 1997 the family celebrated Dad's 9th wedding anniversary with his wife despite both of them not being in the best of health (to say the least). They loved one another and all of us "kids" so much; what a tribute to life they gave to us!!! :Melody:

During the night (early morning hours of September 18th) the hospital called me and said that my father had taken a "turn for the worse, please come in ASAP". When we arrived at the hospital it turned out that my father had a brain anuerysm ("bleed") that couldn't be stopped. This diagnosis seems to have been "picked up" via Patty's visit (remember the unexplained 'red streak') only hours before Dad's physical death. My father's PCP had started a MS drip to bring comfort and this was also consistent with his living will (no heroics, DNR status). Dad's wife accompanied my family to the hospital and she was able to help him pass into the next world with her soothing voice and loving touch.

I believe that the "red streak" discovered on Patty's hair was the way my Dad communicated with us that he was dying (he was asymptomatic at the time of this DX (cerebral bleed). Dad was also able to 'communicate' nonverbally to Lee (his wife) that he was so fortunate to have had 9 years of a truly beautiful marriage with a woman he loved dearly. You see, Dad died the day **following** his 9 year anniversary to Lee....it seems his inner will wanted to complete 9 years of marriage. ? :balloons:

I realize that this 'story' is not apparently a spooky one yet it definitely is one that makes me think how much in life we cannot explain....

Lee died almost one year after Dad died at the young age of 66 from lung cancer yet she had never smoked a cigarettte in her life! I know that statistically 15% of all lung cancers are not tobacco related but nevertheless it remains "odd" to me that she would have this kind of DX and a rapid death as a result.

I have had many a perplexing situation over my 25 year career yet the one with my Dad still is so fresh in my mind. I hope this 'story' gives one comfort and hope that our loved ones continue to communicate despite seemingly horrible DX's and resulting consequences....

Dad lived his life with the motto that one should live passionately and with the knowledge that anything is possible; one has to visualize their dream and "make things happen." I remain grateful for this experience and again I trust this touches your heart as you go out and give care to those so in need of our loving and skilled nursing care!!!

That was a very interesting story Noko. Thank you for sharing it with us.

I"m relieved to know that there are others out there who get the "feelings" before death occurs. Here are a few of my experiences:

My Experiences with "feelings of eminient death" (by Tinkerbell)

These are only a few of the experiences that I have had. It would take alot of time and too much space to recount all of them.

I have, on numerous occasions, had very strong feelings about death.

Usually, I only know who they are about if I am in close proximity of the person when I have them. My step-grandmother slipped into an comatose/

unconscious state and remained there for months. The doctors did not expect any change, so my parents had decided to go on vacation as they had planned. I lived out of town, and went with my mother to visit her at the nursing home one day. My grandmother was unconscious, but I felt a pull, a draw, a connection, and a feeling of communication with my step-grandmother. She made a few noises, like she was trying to communicate verbally, but did not regain consciousness. I felt myself, opening up to her in communication and thinking " It's ok if you want to let go, if you are ready,go now and rest in peace". My mother and I left, and before we did I told my mother that they need to postpone their trip for a few days--that something was going to happen with my stepgrandmother. We had only been home a few hours when my aunt called and said that my step-grandmother had passed away that afternoon.

Recently, my uncle, who was diabetic and had heart surgery within the last year or so, moved from another state to live near his sisters (my mother and the same aunt). I again, was down on a visit and we went by to see him.

I sat down beside him, while my aunt and mother stood talking accross from him. He was conscious and talking. I had the same very strong feeling and

knew that something was going to happen. He was my favorite uncle so I tried to ignore the feelings and hoped that I was wrong. He asked me to stop by and visit him on my way out of town the next day, and I did. I am soo glad that I did. The following monday, after he spoke to his best friend (from the state he had just moved from) he passed away.

I recently went to an assisted living facility for an interview. The interviewer was running behind schedule and I had to wait for about 45 minutes. As I sat there, I got the feeling. It was very overwhelming, almost unbearable.

I almost did not wait for the interview. I was so relieved to get out of there.

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