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...

keep them coming please please!!:thankya:

Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.

More stories, more stories!

There MUST be more out there. I'll pay you to post them on here!

I'm going into withdrawal cos there's no more ghost stories.....!

Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.

Actually I have a story that I can relate when I was studying for my Ba of Nursing.

I was doing the dishes, cleaning up you know, and had finished in the kitchen. Our kitchen and lounge are one big room basically, with an archway you walk through. Anyway I was still near the kitchen window, when I heard my Mum's broad, Scottish accented voice say VERY CLEARLY: 'Carol can you come out here and help me?' (or words to that effect). She didn't sound distressed or anything, it was just a statement. So I remember saying: 'What's wrong' sort of thing, and there was no answer. There is a door in the kitchen leading out to the back, and there is another one you access by walking through the lounge room, down the hallway and to the laundry, that goes out to the back yard. Well the outside kitchen door had heaps of recycling rubbish that had to be taken out, and as I was too lazy to move it and wondering what Mum wanted me for, I walked around through the house to the other door. Outside no-one was there. I thought: Mum must be at the side of the house. Nope, not there. Checked the whole front and back yard and the house. Nobody there. Well I went back into the lounge room, and a bit later my Mum came in having been out at the shops getting her magazines and newspapers for the day. I asked if she'd asked anyone for help and she said no. She hadn't even been OUT the back door when I heard her voice. And yet I could hear her voice SO clearly coming in through the kitchen window that day. And no-one else we know has a female Scottish voice like that - no-one else was even out there.

How weird is that? Maybe it was astral projection or something.

This isn't really a ghost story but something that happened that's a bit supernatural. I had a patient in the hospital that had a liver transplant with lots of complications but things were turning around in her favor. She had an elderly mother in her 80's and it was hard to see what this devoted mother was going through with all her daughter's complications.

I had the patient that night and made my final rounds before the next shift came out of report. This patient was doing fine, she had an NG amoung other things and everything was fine there. I went to sit at the desk and the phone rang at 11:30 pm the minute I sat down. It was the patient's mother and I thought it was very strange for her to be calling at that hour. She asked "is my daughter doing ok? I just woke up and thought I'd call. I'm sorry to bother you nurses this time of night." I had just been in the room and assured her that her daughter was doing well. However I went to check on her daughter because I had a weird hunch something was wrong. I walked in the room and saw immediately her NG bottle was full of bright red blood.

If the mother hadn't called I would not have gone in the room one more time and the next nurse might have rounded on her last since she was at the end of the hall. This patient ended up pulling through that and eventually went home in good shape.

One more..... 15 years ago my precious baby boy died at the age of 5 years old. He was severely mentally handicapped and multiple medical issues from birth. (he is the reason why I am a nurse) He passed away Oct 15th 1995 after another bout of pneumonia. Basically his neuro doc told me that the only part of his brain that was working was the brain stem, and he was on borrowed time prior to his passing. After he died, I would beg God to let me see my baby boy one more time. God never answered my prayers and begging him until 13 years later............. I had a dream that I was holding my son and were in our old house in the living room ( I used to hold my baby for hours and hours) I could feel the warmth of his skin, the softness of his hair, and his scent. This dream was so real and vivid, and I swear to you that I actually was holding my baby boy. I woke up crying and thanking God for the greatest gift. This dream was on my 40th birthday. You need to understand, that prior to that wonder experience, I had NEVER had a dream of my baby boy. Just that one time only, I havent dreamed of him since...... A few weeks after my sons funeral, I did have a dream in which my grandpa and I were walking in a field (he was a farmer) he was holding my hand and told me "Your son is safe and I am watching him and taking care of him. You dont need to worry anymore". I havent dreamed of my grandpa since either........... God is great and he answers prayers and requests, you just need a little patience sometimes.

Wendy LPN

This was so touching I have tears running down my face. Thank you for sharing this wonderful experience.

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....

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