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...

Specializes in IT Consultant.
hppygr8ful said:

If you think the movie was good read the book. Read The Shining first as Dr. Sleep is a sequel!

I actually had watch 'The Shining' starring Jack Nicholson a long time ago and I also know 'Doctor Sleep' is the sequel.  What puzzled me is why it took almost 20 years for the sequel!  That 'thing' (woman or man ghost) in the bathtub appears to be the same character and may even be played by the same person.  Both movie very well made in my view.

Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
1 hour ago, NotNurse said:

I actually had watch 'The Shining' starring Jack Nicholson a long time ago and I also know 'Doctor Sleep' is the sequel.  What puzzled me is why it took almost 20 years for the sequel!  That 'thing' (woman or man ghost) in the bathtub appears to be the same character and may even be played by the same person.  Both movie very well made in my view.

There are cuts from The Shining that have been cleverly inserted into Dr. Sleep and the lady in the bath tub was one of them. 

Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
donnydilaudid said:

I worked in a sleepy little SNF for a few years and started out on the night shift.  I had a resident on hospice, end stage CHF and CKD, who was confused.  He'd call the nurses station instead of calling his wife by accident.  I'd tell him, "Mr. XYZ, you've reached the nurses station, this is DonnyDilaudid, your nurse.  I'll come in and call your wife for you."  It would happen like clockwork nearly every night around midnight for a few weeks.  He deteriorated, as expected, and eventually, he died.  For three nights after he died, the phone in his room would ring in to the station around midnight - nobody on the other end.  On the third night, my third of three in a row, when the phone rang into the station from his room, I said, "Mr. XYZ, this is DonnyDilaudid.  I'll come let you out."  Went into the room, opened the window for a few seconds and shut it again.  No more phone calls from an empty room after that!  The aides and I were spooked!

By any chance was your patient Irish?

Hppy

Specializes in LTC, med-surg, DD, agency.
hppygr8ful said:

By any chance was your patient Irish?

Hppy

I believe that was his ancestry!

Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
donnydilaudid said:

I believe that was his ancestry!

It is an Irish Custom that all windows in the room of a dying person be opened to prevent a soul from be trapped at the moment of death. 

Specializes in retired LTC.

I just got to shivering!

Mscoolmug said:

I know this is 500 years later, but I just stumbled onto this thread LOL Anyway, my mom had a hemorrhagic stroke at home. My husband found her and called 911. She was not conscious during her stay either. We tried some interventions, but with the seizures and uncontrolled bleeding, there was little hope. We made her a DNR and she moved to hospice where she was gone in less than 24 hours. She moved to hospice the day before my sister's birthday.  My sister was heartbroken that she might pass on her birthday. She is a very emotional person, and she and my mom were very close. My sister, brother, husband and I decided to all spend the night on the pull outs in the room. About 11pm on May 24, we had all started to doze off. Then we heard scratching on the walls, which woke everyone up immediately. The scratching went from one wall to another wall, and after a few minutes stopped. We all laid back down, but then the same thing started up again about 1130pm. This time banging from wall to wall. I told everyone it was probably her telling us it was time. We all got up and gathered around. My sister said she needed to go to the bathroom. It wasn't 30 secs after my sister left the room, my mom took her last breath. It was 12:02 am on May 25. I truly believe she waited until not only it was not my sister's birthday anymore, but until she left the room because she knows she would have had a difficult time watching her last breath. 

Oh, I so understand this; experienced this with my mom's passing 10 years ago.  She was semi-conscious for the 2 weeks before her passing but would sometimes ask, "When is Christmas?”  She passed away at 12:20 a.m. on Christmas morning; I know she was hanging on until Christmas, for some reason.  I had read anecdotes people shared of hearing angel wings when their loved ones passed, and I was so disappointed not to see or hear any signs of her transition to her heavenly home.  ☺️

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

I know this is 500 years later, but I just stumbled onto this thread LOL Anyway, my mom had a hemorrhagic stroke at home. My husband found her and called 911. She was not conscious during her stay either. We tried some interventions, but with the seizures and uncontrolled bleeding, there was little hope. We made her a DNR and she moved to hospice where she was gone in less than 24 hours. She moved to hospice the day before my sister's birthday.  My sister was heartbroken that she might pass on her birthday. She is a very emotional person, and she and my mom were very close. My sister, brother, husband and I decided to all spend the night on the pull outs in the room. About 11pm on May 24, we had all started to doze off. Then we heard scratching on the walls, which woke everyone up immediately. The scratching went from one wall to another wall, and after a few minutes stopped. We all laid back down, but then the same thing started up again about 1130pm. This time banging from wall to wall. I told everyone it was probably her telling us it was time. We all got up and gathered around. My sister said she needed to go to the bathroom. It wasn't 30 secs after my sister left the room, my mom took her last breath. It was 12:02 am on May 25. I truly believe she waited until not only it was not my sister's birthday anymore, but until she left the room because she knows she would have had a difficult time watching her last breath. 

The scratching & banging on the walls is pretty freaky 😳

Chad_KY_SRNA said:

We had a resident that had been hollering staff members names and banging on the wall instead of using her call light the night she passed away I had helped clean her up and then went to empty the soiled linen cart as I was emptying the cart I heard her scream my name and I ran out of the soiled linen room and did not go back in there alone.

While not a ghost story, this is a life-after-life story.  My mom died in 2006.  This was the first major loss for me and it devastated our family, as everyone knows that moms are the heart of the family.  So, about 1 month after she died I, for some reason, decided to nap upstairs where my phone and answering machine were.  Well, the phone kept ringing and ringing.  So I got up and unplugged it.  After that the answering machine kept going off, so I got up and unplugged that, too.  And wouldn't you know it, the phone rang and went immediately to answering machine WHILE I was standing there holding all the power and telephone cords!!  I simply said "neat trick, mom, I love you, too". 

2 days later I got in the car to go to my son's kindergarten graduation.  The radio then proceeded to play a Janis Joplin song (her favourite song) on a station that focused on "80's, 90's and today"; it had never played Joplin before! I knew she was coming with me to graduation.  With a tear in my eye I drove to the school.  I grabbed a seat in the 4th or 5th row, and even though it was crowded in there, the seat beside me remained empty (I shower regularly, LOL).

My dad died in 2020.  None of us kids were there and I was the most upset as dad & I had gotten really close after mom died and talked on the phone frequently (we were across the country from each other).  The very next night, a 9-1-1 call was made from his now-empty apartment.  Police, Fire & Ambulance showed up; my dad got the full meal deal.  It was his way of letting us all know at once that he was okay (and was probably anxious to return to his Welcome Home party on the Other Side).  I believe, as Sylvia Browne used to say, our job here is to "do as much good as you can, help out as much as you can, then shut up and go Home". It's my mantra for life.

As for more sightings/events happening at night, Sylvia explained that this was due to moisture or dew and that we are electrical beings and the moisture helps to manipulate things. Makes sense to me anyways.

Please remember, all of those who are grieving, that even though it may be years and years on earth before you see your loved one again, in God's Time it is but the blink of an eye.

Blessings you beautiful beings!

Oh, and all those accounts of some people dying with a terrified look on their face, oh my, that is terrifying.  Makes me be a bit better of a person, or try to, y'know? Whew.

CFitzRN said:

The scratching & banging on the walls is pretty freaky 😳

I sure didn't care for it 🤣

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