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...

[friendlysmile]

So this has nothing to do with nursing...

I was attending UT Austin as a pre-nursing student when i found out i was expecting my first child. I was going to class with one of my best friends and we had to go up these escalators stairs. For some reason that I haven't figured out, I was really focused on taking a glance to the left side of the stairs with my head lead over the side. I hadn't been paying attention to anything and for some strange reason I swayed to my right. I had no intention of moving. As i did this, i realised that the 2nd floor was coming up like 5 seconds and I would have hit the concrete ledge.

I don't like talking about it but I can honestly say if I hadn't "swayed" to my right, I would have most likely died. I thank whatever, or whoever was looking out for me that day.

[Poochiewoochie]

My Grandparents lived outside of Pinckneyville. My cousins RuthAnne (age 11) and Frankie (age unknown at the time) were brother and sister who spent most of their childhood at our Grandparents house. One night in 1969 they were coming home from town and my cousin RuthAnne was struck by a drunk driver - she was thrown from her bicycle and died instantly. My family was in California when we received the sad news of her death.

In 1971 my Dad retired from the Navy and he got a job in the Chicago area. This was great because his family in Southern Illinois were much closer and as a result we spent a lot of weekends visiting them. We spent the night at his parents' house and here is where the ghost story begins.

During one of those visits in the middle of the night my Mom heard a child calling for their "Mommy". Thinking it was one of her 5 children she got up to see if we were okay. We were all sound asleep so she went back to bed.

The next time we visited she woke up with the feeling that something was not right. She looked out into the living room where my two sisters were sleeping and saw a young girl standing there looking down at my younger sister with her arms outstretched. Mom got spooked and hid her head under the blanket. She then realized it was my dead cousin standing out there and peeked her head out from the blanket. RuthAnne was still there. All of a sudden she started to evaporate and went out of the room through the living room wall.

The next morning Mom tells my Dad that we are leaving. Dad, as expected, was mad and asked why. Mom said she saw RuthAnne and was never going to spend another night in this house. And she never did. When we visited again her, my dad and my youngest sister always stayed in a motel. We had other relatives but she refused to stay at their house too. She later told me that she felt uneasy at my Aunt's house. I think that's because she sensed that it was haunted too.

My Aunt lived in Nashville, Ill. Her house had 4 ghosts - her dead husband, the original owner and her little dog, and a little blonde haired girl.

The original owner didn't like anyone sleeping in her room. If you did she would pull the blankets off in the middle of the night. Her little dog was seen by my cousin and her friend. One day while doing homework in the kitchen, in walked a little black dog who went under the table. My cousin and her friend were stunned and when they looked the dog was not there.

My Uncle died in 1976 when a piece of steel fell on him at the steel mill where he worked. In 1979 my Grandpa died and while staying at my Aunt's house my Dad had two ghostly encounters. He had the privilege of having his blankets pulled off of him one night while sleeping in the original owner's room. While sitting at the kitchen table one evening my Aunt told him that every night at a certain time (the same time her dead husband came home from work when he was alive) the back door would open by itself. And sure enough it did at the time she said it would.

My Aunt would later tell me that she could never get anyone to spend the night at her house. She told me that my cousin Cathy, who was very little when her Grandpa died, had made it clear she wouldn't. Seems she had woken up one night and saw a man in overalls standing in the doorway. My Aunt told me she had woken up on several occasions and saw her dead husband standing next to the bed. She told me she wasn't scared and always asked him what he wanted.

No one knows who the little blonde haired girl is. She likes to cry. One night my Aunt woke up to this crying and when she went out to the hallway she saw this very pretty little blonde haired girl standing there just crying. My Aunt asked her if she needed help and when she did she just evaporated. Later when she told my cousin Tina about this ghost Tina said she always used to see her when she was little. My Aunt has passed away and one wonders if she too is now a ghost in her house.

Getting back to my cousin RuthAnne, when my Mom told my Dad that she saw RuthAnne that night his parents said nothing - they just smiled. Everyone thought she was "crazy" but my cousin Steve had an experience that convinced him something wasn't right in that house. He told my Mom that while standing in one part of the living room it got real cold all of a sudden. My sister also thought she was nuts but after hearing some of the stories about "that house" as she put it, she realized that Mom wasn't so nutty. She's never told me the stories though.

As for me, I never thought Mom was crazy because I believe in ghosts and had my own encounter with RuthAnne I believe. During the latter '70s when Grandpa was ill from cancer he and Grandma moved into Nashville. During one of our visits he, Tina and I went to the old house to retrieve some things. It was a hot day. I was standing right in front of the door and when he opened it the BIGGEST burst of cold air shot out of that door as if it was greeting us. The cold air was just not "normal" because the house had been shut up for so long and it was a hot day. I believe it was RuthAnne.

[bluemushroom]

I've heard all kinds of ghost stories from co-workers. Now, I don't believe in ghosts, but when strange things happen, I still find it a little creepy. These are two things that have happened to me:

1. I arrived at work very early one morning, and as soon as I stepped off the elevator a call bell was ringing. I answered it, and it was a resident asking if someone could come into his room and turn the light on. I went into the room and asked what he needed, and he said, "There's a man on my ceiling! Do you see him? Get him out of here!" The resident had the most terrified look on his face. I assured the resident that no one was there. I even pulled the curtain back to show him. He looked frightened and said, "He's right there! Turn the light on! He keeps looking at me!" After I was able to calm the resident down, I notified the night nurse about what had just happened. This resident never shows any signs of confusion and never hallucinates, to my knowledge. It scared me a little, and I did not want to go back into that room.

2. This one is more funny than scary. Our call bells had been malfunctioning one day. I was at the desk when one of them started ringing. I looked at the screen and it showed "209". Room 209 was empty, and had been empty for weeks. I still answered just in case someone had gone into the room and needed help, but I got no response. I hung up and continued working. I thought nothing of it because the call bells weren't working properly and we were waiting for them to be fixed. A few minutes later, the call bell started ringing again. This time the screen showed "209-bathroom." I found that a little weird, but I answered again, and I got no response for the second time. I had to go into the room to turn off the call bell, because the cancel button has to be pressed from inside the bathroom to make it stop ringing when someone calls from the bathroom. The room was empty. Before opening the bathroom door, I knocked to be sure no one was in there. I got no answer, so I slowly turned the knob. As soon as I opened the door, I heard, "Hey!" I gasped and jumped back. I looked up and saw... a resident on the toilet. That was my ghost. He said he had gone in there to use the bathroom and he pressed the call light to let someone know he needed help. He said he pressed it again after he got into the bathroom and no one had arrived. I asked why he didn't respond when I answered the call bell. He said he probably hadn't heard me.

[brigaily2000]

I, too, love dogs and hope that when my 14 yr old golden retriever goes, that we will be reunited one day. I am envious of the fact that you felt your dog in the car with you and hope it will happen to me. How are you now?

[nursewreched]

I just spent an entire evening reading these stories. Great thread. I don't know if I'm particularly sensitive to things or what, but I thought I'd share a couple incidents I have experienced.

I am convinced that all dogs really do go to Heaven and sometimes they come visit us. I had a yorkie who died after 13 years. She had a funny habit of taking pieces of her food and carrying it around the house. After she died, I kept finding pieces of her food in weird places. My husband said she'd carried it there before and it somehow just suddenly appeared. The weird thing was, we moved about a year later and I would still find the food in the new house. Now, I *know* it couldn't have been there all along. Also, at times, she would sleep curled up next to my back and after she was gone, I'd wake up sometimes with a very warm spot on my back as if she'd been laying against me. This continued until we got a new dog. I guess she just thought I needed a dog around to keep me happy.

When I was first in ICU, I was working one night and went to take some meds to a patient down the hall. As I passed an empty room, I noticed the light was on and water was running in the sink. I just figured someone had ducked in there to wash their hands and forgot to turn the water off, so I went in, turned it off and shut the light off on my way out of the room. After I gave the medication, I was returning to the nurses station and when I went past the room, the light was on and the water was running again. A little exasperated, I turned it off again. When I got to the nurses station, I told the other nurses that whoever washed their hands in that room needed to be sure to shut the water off, as it was very wasteful. Everyone laughed and said, oh that's just our ghost, he does that occassionally. No one knew who the ghost was, just that every now and then the lights in that room would go on repeatedly and the sink would turn on or the toilet would flush. Then it would stop for several months. When I went down the hall later, the light was on again. I went in the room and said, "I don't know your name, so I'm going to call you George. And I'd appreciate it if you left the light off". It didn't turn back on again that night.

Another time, I had a patient in that room. One night, she was awake every time I went into her room. I kept asking if she needed anything or was in pain and she'd say no. Finally at about 0100, I said, "Mrs. Patient, it's really late. Are you in pain? Do you need me to get you something to help you sleep?". She said, "Just make that man stop talking to me". I asked, "What man? Who is talking to you?". She said, "I don't know, he's sitting right there!" and pointed to an empty chair. I looked at the chair and said, "George, it's 1 in the morning! Mrs. Patient needs to sleep. Stop bothering her!". She had no more issues and was asleep by 0130.

I am no longer at that ICU, but I experienced episodes in that room during the 3 years I worked there. Usually it would stop if I asked "George" to behave himself. lol I guess he just needed a little attention every so often.

[brigaily2000]

your story about your yorkie gave me a lot of comfort. Thank you.

[gonzo1224]

What you think are hallucinations are, in fact, angels gathering to assist the almost-dead to cross over. It's quite a party -- the trip of a lifetime! Read the book, "Many Lives, Many Masters" by Brian Weiss, M.D. YOU WILL FLY THROUGH THE BOOK IN MAXIMUM TWO DAYS! You will look at life and death differently by the time you read the last page.

[horrorxgirl]

About a year ago while working midnight shift I was standing at my med cart charting on the computer. My back was to the nurse's station. From the corner of my left eye I started to see someone dressed in all white coming down the hallway toward me and the nurses station. I have a supervisor who has white hair and always wears white so I didn't even think anything of it and didn't turn to really look. They got closer and I could see them go behind me into the nurse's station. Well I had something I needed to tell my supervisor, so I turned around to face the nurse's station to talk to her and there was nobody there. It scared the hell out of me! Straight unexpected chills. I was absolutely 100% sure that she was there and she wasn't and there was nowhere she could have gone in the 2 seconds it took for me to turn around. I had even started talking to her before I was completely turned around, that's how sure I was.

Not sure if I shared this one on here before since it happened a few years ago. I had a patient who had died the day before. I was working 3-11 shift and was pushing my med cart down the hall to pass meds. I stopped the cart just outside of her room to give her roomate meds. When I walked out a bed alarm or something came on down the hall so I locked my cart and went to answer it. When I was walking back up the hallway toward my med cart I saw my narcotic book appear to jump from my medcart onto the floor. It didn't slide off or anything, it lifted into the air and landed on the floor. So weird.

[annlewis]

I had an experience that literally changed the way I think about our souls and afterlife. I saw my residents deceased husband standing beside her as she lay on the floor crying from her fall. No one else saw him, not my unit coordinator, my aides, nor my charge nurse. I heard him speak and I thought he was real, I watched him walk past me and leave the room. I was so concerned about his sadness that I tried to locate him after to comfort him and that is when I found out no one saw him but me. I never forgot what he looked like, later I identified him as the grandfather of a fellow nurse by the fact that the daughter of my resident looked just like him. I found out then that my resident was the grandmother to one of the nurses. The deceased husband looked as real as us, and spoke too. I will never forget this, and now to this day when I encounter a family group around a resident, I wonder which if them is a deceased spirit. I now believe our soul lives on.

[gonzo1224]

"I had an experience that literally changed the way I think about our souls and afterlife. I saw my residents deceased husband standing beside her as she lay on the floor crying from her fall. No one else saw him, not my unit coordinator, my aides, nor my charge nurse. I heard him speak and I thought he was real, I watched him walk past me and leave the room. I was so concerned about his sadness that I tried to locate him after to comfort him and that is when I found out no one saw him but me. I never forgot what he looked like, later I identified him as the grandfather of a fellow nurse by the fact that the daughter of my resident looked just like him. I found out then that my resident was the grandmother to one of the nurses. The deceased husband looked as real as us, and spoke too. I will never forget this, and now to this day when I encounter a family group around a resident, I wonder which if them is a deceased spirit. I now believe our soul lives on. "

You MUST read "Many Lives Many Masters" by Brian Weiss. You can find it on Amazon or any other book site. IT IS AMAZING! It changed the way I look at death and dying. You will for sure finish it in two days. Keep these stories coming!

[Raven Sierra, BSN, RN]

But the best ghost I ever heard of haunted the house a friend lived in. One night she and her husband were just exceptionally tired (I don't remember why, maybe it was a new baby) and they debated about doing the dishes, but decided they'd go to bed and do them the next day. When she came down to the kitchen the next day, all the dishes were done. She swears that it is not at all likely that her husband would have gotten up in the middle of the night and done them, even if he didn't swear he'd done no such thing. Unfortunately, the ghost has not repeated the favor. :)

I need a ghost like that at my house!!

[StrwbryblndRN]

I have not posted on allnurses in awhile but figured this was a good place to start.

I have never really had an encounter at work before, just a few stories I heard.

But the last few weeks at home, small strange things have been happening.

A few years ago I think I posted that my son's room had smelled like cigarette smoke. Well I said out loud to stop smoking in his room and it stopped. So nothing for few years. Here is an account of recent events.

Lately I have been getting into the habit of closing my children's bedroom doors while they are at school. They are 10 and 8, and do not feel like looking at their messes while I'm home and refuse to clean their rooms. Even my daughter will keep her room door closed out of habit now.

Well one day while we were eating dinner my daughter says "I just heard my door open". I blow it off and told her the windows are open, etc. Or it could be something else. My husband agreed with my daughter that is was the bedroom door and he heard it too.

She replies back, "No, my door was completely closed, clicked shut". She swears she closed it but chalked it up to just that she did not close it all the way. Well that night my son's room smelled like cigarette smoke again.

Fast forward to a couple of days ago and I was off again during the day and went to put my daughter's shoes away. Which only consists of me opening her door and tossing her shoes on the floor. I put my hand out to grab her door knob and realize the door is open. Now I would just say she forgot, but 15-30min earlier I had closed my son's door and looked to my daughter's door to see if it was closed and it was.

Fast forward again to yesterday morning and evening. I had worked Saturday night and came home to my happy son awake and greeting me at the door. I relax for a few minutes and talk to him and when I go to sit down I notice a half eaten granola bar on the desk table. I asked my son to please finish it as not to waste it. He said it was not his. (my kids are not good liars and seldom do so) There would be no reason for him to deny since it was not taboo to eat it in the morning. Needless to say I left it there so whoever left it can clean it up from last night. Both my husband and my daughter deny it. Again no reason to lie.

Well I end up feeding it to the dogs and start preparing for bed. There were brownies on the counter and I asked my husband to please make sure to save them for the kids. The kids wanted them for school on Monday (today).

Well when I go up that afternoon, I noticed that the brownies were eaten except for a small piece. I do not care but was concerned that my hubby ate them. He again denies this and so do the kids. It was their brownie and could have eaten them already anyhow. I spent a good part of the day trying to get it out of them and they swear up and down. My husband does not sleep walk but he was going to say that was what happened since we could not figure it out.

Ok, so here is the final thing. I was supposed to work but got canceled and ended up staying awake all night. But at

0300 I turned to tv off and tried to climb into bed for a few hours. It lasted about 30minutes. I got up and went into the living room and the tv was on. Now I know I turned it off because my dog runs to the bedroom when I turn it off because she wants to go the bedroom with me. She did her typical routine and I placed the remote control on the couch cushion with a kindle fire next to it. One of my dog likes to get on the sofa but he won't if anything is on it. So when I noticed that the tv was on I peaked over the couch arm and there was the remote just as I left it. I smelled cigarette smoke for a split second also, no doubt about it. Made me want one too for a moment.

I have been awake since.

Not one event seems significant but put it all together and it is just weird.