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...

[zephyr9]

Hi, frist please forgive the spelling in this post . I found this thread on the net and have been reading it all night and it has helped me so much . My mom just passed away in July she had been sick for years and was in the hospital when she passed .my dad did tell me how sick she was becouse I have been sick for months myself and he did not want me to get upset. So he told me she was geting better the night befor she died.

the next day I went to vist my mom and becouse I am leagly blind I could not read the sign that said to go see the nurse befor going in . I walked in the room and my mom laying on her bed her face was this odd yellow and she was not moving they ran in and told me that 15 min. Befor she had vomited so much that she breathed it in and died becouse her small bowl was blocked.

I sat with my mom for about an hour or two and when I went to leave I kissed her and said I love you ,you know I love don't you ? And right then the tv turned on the remote was on the table next to bed so there is no way I hit it . I now beleave my mom was and maybe still is in that room I am now thinking of doing something in the nursing feld as soon as I find out what I can do being half blind I have never run into a blind nurse

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.

[Bhavana]

I have no answers for you. None of us can really know the truth about death till we experience it ourselves. I would guess that the difference between those who die in peace and those who die in fear may have something to do with their faith, and in the way they have lived their lives....but on the other hand, you have science minded people who explain the "bright light at the end of a tunnel" and voices/visions of loved ones who previously died as nothing more than synapses firing off in the dying brain. Something to do with the peripheral vision being the first to go, which explains the "tunnel" effect with the "bright light" at the end (remember what we learned when studying diseases of the eyes) and the visions of loved ones nothing more than flashback memories from the dying "computer" that is our brain. But who really knows? In spite of all of these stories about ghosts and visions, there is really no proof of what happens to us. I think that people want to believe that death is not the end, after all, life would be pretty meaningless to most if death WAS the end...so therefore, we believe what we want, we believe whatever it is that makes life more bearable.

For sure, we will all find out when we die.

[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.