What's Your Best Nursing Ghost Story?

Nurses General Nursing Nursing Q/A

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...

ok, i've read every story on here over the past couple of weeks (so good!), so i figure i owe the one i have. i am a middle school teacher- not a nurse. however, i am applying to nursing school next year for a career change. i've been lurking on here for weeks to get a feel of the nursing "culture". anyway, my mom is an er physician. she is not religious, although i know she believes in a higher power/god. she called me one morning before school (she works nights), with a "you won't believe what happened to me last night" story:

one night, a 21-month-old boy came in with his father at about 2am. he had been vomiting non-stop since 10pm, and was pale and lethargic. my mom said he just lay there kind of staring at her, not moving. she asked if he talked a lot and the dad said no- so he wouldn’t be able to describe himself what was going on. later, from the boy’s mom she found out he talks all the time, but that’s a dad for you!

anyway, he threw up several times while he was there and made no attempt to roll over, and let it just kind of gurgle out. so- very sick. he was given iv fluids and zofran for the vomiting. my mom noticed a big bruise that took up half his forehead. the dad said the boy had hit his head on a tricycle 2 days earlier. subdural hematoma? so she sent him to get a ct scan. nothing. normal brain. after exhausting all the possibilities and usual tests, it was determined that he simply had the stomach flu. dad said he hadn’t eaten anything unusual, he hadn’t choked, etc. the fluids and the zofran had caused him to perk up a little, and he was sitting in his dad’s lap. she noticed he moved very little though. since i have 2 little boys, she knows how active healthy boys are.

as she was walking back to the nurses’ station, she heard something whisper, “he swallowed a quarter”. after some time had passed (weeks-months) she became less certain as to whether it was an actual voice from outside herself, an actual voice she heard internally, or whether or not it was just a feeling so intense that it felt like someone had said it. at first she was certain it was external, but that certainty faded with time. nothing like that has ever happened to her. she relies on gut instinct a lot, and has weird moments of intuition that come with experience, but never has she actually had something like that happen. she was completely spooked and said she literally thought, “a quarter? why not a nickel?” i mean how specific is that?

so she walked back to the room, actually told the dad, “i know this is weird, but something just told me to ask. is there any way he swallowed a quarter?” the dad’s eyes got really big and he said that earlier that evening, a woman had come up to them at the store and given both his boys 2 quarters each. when he got to the car, the littlest one only had 1 left, but he assumed he had dropped it.

mom sent the kid for a chest scan, and sure enough, there was a quarter- not a dime or a ring or anything else- lodged at the base of his trachea near his lungs. it was stuck and would never have actually made it into his lungs, but the boy would have stayed very sick for days until someone figured out this random cause. the other fear is that it could have easily eroded his trachea and punctured it, which would have been fatal. (i'm sure nurses reading this could have guessed that, but i didn't know and had asked about the worst-case scenario).

by now the boy's mom had arrived- she was not happy with dad. but the boy went up with an ent surgeon for surgery and the quarter was scoped and removed. she was very spooked by the experience, but also grateful. we kind of discussed it because i thought it was almost unbelievable too. was it her guardian angel? the boy’s?

her deceased sister (died in her 30s from sudden cardiac death) was a physician also. was it a tip from her? why doesn't it happen more often? my mom's in her 60s, and nothing like this has ever happened.

on a side note for er nurses, i told her about this thread and asked her if anything else "spooky" had ever happened. she laughed and said in a level 1 trauma center- at night- a ghost would literally have to be naked and blocking their way for anyone to notice. ;)

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

What a neat experience. I believe a guardian angel was protecting that boy, and was guiding you.

Specializes in L&D; GI; Fam Med; Home H; Case mgmt.

It was "stuck in his trachea"? How could that be? He would have choked to death wouldn't he? Are you sure it wasn't stuck in his esophagus? I'm confused by this. Cool story though.

It was "stuck in his trachea"? How could that be? He would have choked to death wouldn't he? Are you sure it wasn't stuck in his esophagus? I'm confused by this. Cool story though.

That's what she said. I've taken anatomy and was an EMT I/D in my early 20's, and I know the most common place to aspirate an object is in the right lung to due the fairly straight passage of the trachea into the right main stem, as opposed to the more lateral movement of the left side. I didn't ask, but I imagine what would make the most sense based on the fact that there is no way she would make it up, and I know I'm not, then it probably came to rest at the base of the trachea at the top of the right main stem bronchus. It wouldn't have fit any farther. That would allow him to pass air through the left side. As to whether or not he was passing air on the right side, I don't know. I imagine at some point someone listened to his breath sounds, but I didn't get into the details. I'm sure stranger things happen all the time in the ER. I've heard plenty of stories about things that get stuck in the other end of people that are hard for me to believe or comprehend, but apparently they do. :idea:

Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.
ok, i've read every story on here over the past couple of weeks (so good!), so i figure i owe the one i have. i am a middle school teacher- not a nurse. however, i am applying to nursing school next year for a career change. i've been lurking on here for weeks to get a feel of the nursing "culture". anyway, my mom is an er physician. she is not religious, although i know she believes in a higher power/god. she called me one morning before school (she works nights), with a "you won't believe what happened to me last night" story:

one night, a 21-month-old boy came in with his father at about 2am. he had been vomiting non-stop since 10pm, and was pale and lethargic. my mom said he just lay there kind of staring at her, not moving. she asked if he talked a lot and the dad said no- so he wouldn't be able to describe himself what was going on. later, from the boy's mom she found out he talks all the time, but that's a dad for you!

anyway, he threw up several times while he was there and made no attempt to roll over, and let it just kind of gurgle out. so- very sick. he was given iv fluids and zofran for the vomiting. my mom noticed a big bruise that took up half his forehead. the dad said the boy had hit his head on a tricycle 2 days earlier. subdural hematoma? so she sent him to get a ct scan. nothing. normal brain. after exhausting all the possibilities and usual tests, it was determined that he simply had the stomach flu. dad said he hadn't eaten anything unusual, he hadn't choked, etc. the fluids and the zofran had caused him to perk up a little, and he was sitting in his dad's lap. she noticed he moved very little though. since i have 2 little boys, she knows how active healthy boys are.

as she was walking back to the nurses' station, she heard something whisper, "he swallowed a quarter". after some time had passed (weeks-months) she became less certain as to whether it was an actual voice from outside herself, an actual voice she heard internally, or whether or not it was just a feeling so intense that it felt like someone had said it. at first she was certain it was external, but that certainty faded with time. nothing like that has ever happened to her. she relies on gut instinct a lot, and has weird moments of intuition that come with experience, but never has she actually had something like that happen. she was completely spooked and said she literally thought, "a quarter? why not a nickel?" i mean how specific is that?

so she walked back to the room, actually told the dad, "i know this is weird, but something just told me to ask. is there any way he swallowed a quarter?" the dad's eyes got really big and he said that earlier that evening, a woman had come up to them at the store and given both his boys 2 quarters each. when he got to the car, the littlest one only had 1 left, but he assumed he had dropped it.

mom sent the kid for a chest scan, and sure enough, there was a quarter- not a dime or a ring or anything else- lodged at the base of his trachea near his lungs. it was stuck and would never have actually made it into his lungs, but the boy would have stayed very sick for days until someone figured out this random cause. the other fear is that it could have easily eroded his trachea and punctured it, which would have been fatal. (i'm sure nurses reading this could have guessed that, but i didn't know and had asked about the worst-case scenario).

by now the boy's mom had arrived- she was not happy with dad. but the boy went up with an ent surgeon for surgery and the quarter was scoped and removed. she was very spooked by the experience, but also grateful. we kind of discussed it because i thought it was almost unbelievable too. was it her guardian angel? the boy's?

her deceased sister (died in her 30s from sudden cardiac death) was a physician also. was it a tip from her? why doesn't it happen more often? my mom's in her 60s, and nothing like this has ever happened.

on a side note for er nurses, i told her about this thread and asked her if anything else "spooky" had ever happened. she laughed and said in a level 1 trauma center- at night- a ghost would literally have to be naked and blocking their way for anyone to notice. ;)

what a great story! i'm just wondering though, why no-one though of this before? i mean i worked with a director of er/ed (years ago now), and he said they have a checklist/protocol they go through with kids to diagnose them and one of them was swallowing a foreign object. it's one of the first things they used to check out in the ed down here. not criticising, just wondered if the docs had a protocol they follow?

I do not have a nursing ghost story as I am still in school to become a nurse; however I do have a couple of regular ghost stores. I'll share one for now and if anyone would like to hear the others I will share those as well.

Two weeks before my daughter turned one year old my MIL passed away; she had been sick for years prior so it was not a surprise when she passed but it did happen very suddenly. She required regular blood transfusions due to the fact she had survived bladder cancer and the poor thing bled (as if she always had her period) for many many years -- even though she was over 80 when she passed. One day on the return trip from the hospital back to the nursing home where she resided she had a stroke and was pronounced dead minutes later.

A few days after the funeral I started noticing my daughter looking up at the ceiling and giggling and smiling at absolutely nothing. I did not think much of it at the time at all. Well, one day I put my daughter down for her afternoon nap -- there was no one in the house except the two of us. About 20 minutes after I put her down, I heard music playing coming from her room (she had one of those toys that played music attached to the side of her crib). So, thinking she had woken up and started playing I walked into her room to try to get her back to sleep -- only to find her sound asleep. So, I turned the musical toy off and turned to leave the room. No sooner did I turn around than the music started playing again. So, once again I turned it off. This happened 2 more times until I took the BATTERIES OUT THE TOY as I figured it was just malfunctioning. Well, I went to leave the room again and sure enough -- it turned back on!!! At that point I was a little freaked out so I stood in the middle of the room and announced "If this music turns on one more time, I am taking the baby and leaving this house immediately! Enough!". It did not turn on again and thankfully my daughter slept through the whole thing. (Never wake a sleeping baby :) ) After the fact, I started to think about my MIL and wondered if it was her. She was so happy/sad when my daughter was born as she knew her failing health would probably take her from this world before she would ever get to see her granddaughter grow. I'd like to think that she watches over my daughter but also feel a little bad as -- I kinda scared her away when I got upset! Hopefully, she still stops in although my daughter has never mentioned anything.

Specializes in Psychiatric..

I was in my 3rd year in college and was working with a nursing agency as a carer to pay my bills etc. They sent me out a monastery owned by the Carmelites for a night shift. The night shift passed without incident. In the morning I met the head nurse on the way out and asked her if they could call me in future instead of the agency as I would work nights there Fri-Sun every week if they wanted. She agreed and so I began working there.

There was only about 10 priests in the whole place. Only 2 of them needed assistance in the mornings so most of the night was spent studying for exams or wandering around the monastery. It was a fantastic building with long marble corridors, windows of stained glass 40ft high and a huge spiral brass staircase at one end and a huge marble one at the other. Looking out the windows there was a lake and the ruins of a centuries old church.

My time there began relatively easy. Id go in at 22:00 and finish at 07:00. They had a huge kitchen downstairs with the absolute best of food. As only religious institutions do !! So about 03:00 I'd make my way down there to root through the walk in fridges and feed myself.

The first thing that happened to me was that I'd begin to smell flowers (Im not sure what kind they were, but it was always the same smell) completely out of the blue. The smell would only last for a split second almost as if when I noticed it it would disappear. I even went so far as to check my office for those plug in deodourisers but there was none.

One night I was a little late arriving for work. Instead of getting changed first, I instead went to the nurses office to quickly read the hand-over book so I could be up to speed in case I met anyone on their way out. As I went into the office, which was complately black as it had no windows, there was an intense bright flash just at the far corner of my eye. I turned to look and a breeze blew past me with that same smell of flowers I was used to smelling by now.... WOW, , I thought and then saw a tiny little spot of light just vanish in front of me. I turned on the desk lamp and sat down thinking this was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

As the weeks went by Id occasionally smell the flowers again and again but no more lights.

So, those kitchens Id mentioned earlier........ well one night I was down there on my own scrounging for food! I never turned the lights on in the kitchen as it was fairly illuminated by those neon insect lights. As I was stnding inside the fridge I heard the sound of what I can only describe as cutlery being moved about on the metal food preparation tables. I was a little spooked but reassured myself that it was late, I was tired and not to be afraid as it was probaly the same thing that made the flowers smell and lights...... I left quickly none the less...

After that I always put the lights on when I went in there. Another night, I put the lights on as I walked into the big kitchen and noticed a huge gust of air fly by me as I walked in. . . again I thought "its late, Im tired, dont freak myself out"..........so there I was, , in the back of the walk in fridge putting some ham on a plate when I heard the loudest bang.... I almost s.h.i.t myself on the spot as I turned to investigate the fridge door slammed shut on me and the lights went out.... I dropped everything, pushed the open bar on the door and ran upstairs to my office.... My heart was about to jump from my chest.... In the morning I went back down to clean up my mess. I checked the door, and as I expected it was one of those safety doors on walk in fridges/freezers that cannot swing closed, only swing open....... So it had to have something push it closed. I pushed it a few times to see how much force was nessescery to close it and I found I had to give it quite a hard push....

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

Neat story. Have you had any other experiences?

I really don't mean to digress, but this thread has led me to my own question on death and the spiritual after life. My father died recently from cancer. We experienced a lot of spiritual stuff--virtually his family members would pray for something, the answer would come from other family members that were unaware of original prayer, my 4 year old would see "angels"/floating objects that followed family members. My father was very angry with God and had been since he was a teenager. He was a wonderful man, but you could almost see the anger in his eyes if a hospital pastor offered prayer. Anyway, all this strange stuff seemed relevant to my father's preparation for death and eventually seemed to pave the way to acceptance/forgiveness of some sort. He even accepted prayer.

Where do nurses think these ghosts come from? Lost souls that didn't go to the light, or didn't even get the light? Demons waiting to take us away? And does any pariticular religion seem crucial to having a positive death experience? Why are their so many ghost stories in this thread?

It seems that hospice nurses often see patients of all faiths experience similar positive visions. What seems to make one death spiritual comforting, while others die in fear?

I know these are loaded questions, but I'm asking as many nurses as I can. ANY thoughts are helpful! Trying to understand my dad's death seems to be a major part of my healing process. I'm going crazy with these thoughts. URGGGH! If I discuss it with church members, I virtually hear : the good things are from God, all bad things (what's considered bad by their theology is from the devil). So if a Christian had a positive death and saw relatives than they went to heaven, but if an "unsaved person" had the same experience it is because the devil is tricking us.) Thus, I want to go to the people that witness death first hand.

Thanks so much.

i currently work in a small long term care facility that was built in the 1970s. one night we were working the 11-7 shift when we received a call at the nurses station from our hospice room. on the end was a rather desperate sounding patient saying "help me, help me! im in room 110." the only problem was, our hospice room was empty at the time. on other occasions, fellow CNAs and nurses have seen a woman in a white gown walk out of one room at the end of the hall and into the other. the call lights in those rooms go off frequently when they are empty. the faucets have also been known to shut off without being touched, toilets flushing on their own in vacant rooms... to say in the least, 11-7 is not my favorite shift. :eek:

I am sorry for the loss of your dad.

I know we all would like the answers to your questions.

Fact is we do not know for sure. We can only guess.

I believe whatever your dad was mad at God about. Was

cleared up when he, crossed over. :)

And, I believe your dad will be watching over you, as he can.

Perhaps you can talk to a counselor about missing your dad.

Better way to go than in this, thread xoxo

================

I really don't mean to digress, but this thread has led me to my own question on death and the spiritual after life. My father died recently from cancer. We experienced a lot of spiritual stuff--virtually his family members would pray for something, the answer would come from other family members that were unaware of original prayer, my 4 year old would see "angels"/floating objects that followed family members. My father was very angry with God and had been since he was a teenager. He was a wonderful man, but you could almost see the anger in his eyes if a hospital pastor offered prayer. Anyway, all this strange stuff seemed relevant to my father's preparation for death and eventually seemed to pave the way to acceptance/forgiveness of some sort. He even accepted prayer.

Where do nurses think these ghosts come from? Lost souls that didn't go to the light, or didn't even get the light? Demons waiting to take us away? And does any pariticular religion seem crucial to having a positive death experience? Why are their so many ghost stories in this thread?

It seems that hospice nurses often see patients of all faiths experience similar positive visions. What seems to make one death spiritual comforting, while others die in fear?

I know these are loaded questions, but I'm asking as many nurses as I can. ANY thoughts are helpful! Trying to understand my dad's death seems to be a major part of my healing process. I'm going crazy with these thoughts. URGGGH! If I discuss it with church members, I virtually hear : the good things are from God, all bad things (what's considered bad by their theology is from the devil). So if a Christian had a positive death and saw relatives than they went to heaven, but if an "unsaved person" had the same experience it is because the devil is tricking us.) Thus, I want to go to the people that witness death first hand.

Thanks so much.

I personally believe that every slightly seasoned nurse has a ghost story (especially if they've ever worked a night shift)! I worked in a hospital that hadn't changed rooms since the 70s.. right before our transition into new and upgraded rooms I had a patient that was admitted for cellulitis of the LLE, he had experienced polio in his earlier life and obviously high-risk for amputation. Apparently he had a new-onset peanut allergy and was given "ants on a boat" with his supper meal. Needless to say, he went into an anaphylactic reaction... being a small hospital (in the middle of the night, without ancillary staff, RT for instance, being there) this was a big deal. After the CRNA finally arrived, it took at least 5 minutes to intubate him... his last words before intubation were... "Ask the girl in the white cap to do, she's telling me I'm going to be ok". Literally, a man that had virtually no airway said those words. Needless to say, there were no "girls" in white caps. So this man actually lived, without permanent damage. I took care of him for pneumonia a few months after that and asked him about the girl in the white cap. He said, "That's why I lived, because she said I would".

Inspiring...but creepy.

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