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...

SnowballDVM said:
A close friend related this to me about a close friend of hers. His widowed mother was in the hospital, at the end stage of some chronic illness I can't recall right now. His brother was at her bedside when he noticed her looking past the foot of the bed very intently. She just stared and stared, there was nothing there, no TV, no paintings on the wall, no window, no nothing.

Finally he asked her, "Mom, what are you looking at?" And she answered in that maternal tone that brooks no argument, "Why, your father, of course, who has come to get me". She died a few minutes later.

Now whether that was a hallucination caused by the last firings of her brain, or her late husband truly had come to get her, I don't know. I hope it was the latter.

My Mom saw my Dad's parents and her Dad before she died.

rynzoRN said:
How is this "interjecting" your beliefs on someone else? Look at the definition of the word first then get back to me. Simply stating what you believe is not forcing you to believe what she does. If you don't believe that ghosts are demonic spirits simply disagree and move on, she's not forcing you to believe that way, absolutely ridiculous logic being displayed here.

Now I will get to my ghost story. I work in a psych ward and there is always good activity in these institutions. There is a doctors office that is haunted and the site was built on Indian grounds (what a great place to build a psych ward.) One of my supervisors told me that he doesn't believe in the paranormal but this strange occurrence happened to him one night when he went up to the doctors office to slip a paper under the door for the doctor to sign in the morning. This was about 2-3 am and as soon as he slipped the paper under the door something from inside kicked the door so hard he almost fell back. His first thought was that a patient had escaped and somehow locked themselves inside of the office. He called security up and they opened the door and no one was inside. He returned a day later and put his ear up to the door and heard a growling and hissing noise. He also told me that other staff have heard knocking, banging, and have seen the door handle jiggle walking by. A security officer told me that he went up there and saw the door kind of "bending" supernaturally. Very creepy stuff, but I cannot get anything to happen for me as I have gone up to the office a few times late at night trying to invoke a response but haven't had any luck yet.

We have also had one patient disappear off the face of the Earth for an hour while a full scale search was going on inside the unit. There is absolutely no where to hide in the unit and this patient was gone for an hour only to just appear out of no where. When questioned, she told staff she walked through a "portal" in the wall and then returned .

Wow, just signs up to tell others off regarding their opinions on someone trying to make this thread about demons and devils.

Specializes in Psych, TRT..
TheGooch said:
Wow, just signs up to tell others off regarding their opinions on someone trying to make this thread about demons and devils.

Actually I've been a member for a while but couldn't remember my previous login information so I just decided to create a new account. I find it humorous when talking about the PARANORMAL, some of you rage on this chick for bringing up angels/demons/devils which are also PARANORMAL. So you don't agree with her belief, who cares? Move on and stop being so miserable in life.

My stories are pretty tame.

Quite a few times, I've had patients complain of "dark figures" standing at the side of their bed in the middle of the night, staring at them.

While some of the other nurses, who've heard similar reports from patients, assume it's ghosts, I've always figured that it's a combination of sundowning and narcotic-related hallucinations, so I document it as such.

Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.

Can we all please just stay on topic? This thread has been around for a long time and gets resurrected every year around halloween. I'd hate to see it get closed down because people can't get along.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
rynzoRN said:
Actually I've been a member for a while but couldn't remember my previous login information so I just decided to create a new account. I find it humorous when talking about the PARANORMAL, some of you rage on this chick for bringing up angels/demons/devils which are also PARANORMAL. So you don't agree with her belief, who cares? Move on and stop being so miserable in life.

I think the thread is about "Your Best Nursing Ghost Story," and not about your beliefs re: the paranormal.

My sister lives in a NH-it's old. It the Union Printers Home in Colorado Springs. Anyway, she says there are 2 ladies in white that roam the building-one on the basement floor and one on the 4th floor.

Not exactly a ghost story, but sort of in the same vein as some of the stories about souls or spirits leaving the body.

An older nurse told me that when she was in the hospital years ago, actually dying from an infection that had been complicated by her hard-to-control diabetes, she realized that she could see herself lying in the bed.

She said that she thought, "Poor Jo. She's had such a hard life, but now she looks so peaceful."

She felt so light & happy, drifting toward the open window; she knew she was about to be free.

Just as she got to the window, she thought to herself, "Is there anything I still need to do?", & she heard the answer "Roseanne (her daughter) still needs you".

Pop!

She was back in her body.

turns out, Roseanne's father, Jo's ex, had abused Roseanne, & Roseanne did indeed need her mother.

Specializes in Psych, TRT..
Ruby Vee said:
I think the thread is about "Your Best Nursing Ghost Story," and not about your beliefs re: the paranormal.

It doesn't matter, ghost stories ARE paranormal, they are outside of the realm of science, they cannot be predicted, measured etc..

You are going to get many different theories on what this stuff is, if someone makes a theory that is against yours, who cares, no one knows for sure what this stuff is, to see you guys hammer this girl because she thinks some of this might be demonic is ridiculous. Like I said, if you disagree with her, ignore her and move on.

Specializes in Psych, TRT..

Had a tech report to me that she was sitting one to one with a patient and she felt like something was watching her. She though the patient was awake. She looked over and the patient was gone and sitting on his bed was a woman with long dark hair dressed in red with no eyes and her mouth open looking at her.

rynzoRN said:
Had a tech report to me that she was sitting one to one with a patient and she felt like something was watching her. She though the patient was awake. She looked over and the patient was gone and sitting on his bed was a woman with long dark hair dressed in red with no eyes and her mouth open looking at her.

I'm a hospice nurse and at work right now. Ok now this scared me. *looks over at my pt to make sure she's alive*

Specializes in Postpartum, Med Surg, Home Health.
rynzoRN said:
Had a tech report to me that she was sitting one to one with a patient and she felt like something was watching her. She though the patient was awake. She looked over and the patient was gone and sitting on his bed was a woman with long dark hair dressed in red with no eyes and her mouth open looking at her.

Argh thank you now I lay here and will not be able to sleep

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