What's Your Best Nursing Ghost Story?

Nurses General Nursing Nursing Q/A

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...

I was working evenings on a med-surg floor. A youngish woman with small children was transferred to our unit from ICU to die. She had a major anyuerism so this was a sudden and tragic death. She died and her body was sent to the morgue at shift change.

During the evening I needed a pillow so I walked into the room to get one. Something stopped me like I hit a brick wall. I could not go any further into the room and had trouble breathing. Anger resonated throughout the room. You can imagine how quickly I left the room.

I had 5 other people go into the room and all of them had the very same reaction. It was amazing.

The next evening everything was normal again.

Specializes in ICU & ED.

No Joke: I work weekend nights 7p-7a. Last night we terminally weened a Pt. I've taken care of him for several weeks now. I was just awakened from a deep sleep by the pt's voice saying " Cut that out you hurtin' me." It was so vivid I had to call work. Time of death 1238. Same time as my "dream". I can't go back to sleep! :o

Here is one that happened last Thurs at work. A very level headed CNA went to the basement to get something and heard people talking. Mind you she was the only one in the basement at the time. She was a little un-nerved by it. Also that same night the basement bathroom had the sink water on and it was going out into the hallway. It was nice to have her hear the people talking as she works days and doesn't get to see and hear the ghost like we do at night.

Specializes in PACU.
Hey there was a post on here earlier about the Danvers Mental hospital in MA- the one the movie Session Nine was filmed at....

There was just a MASSIVE fire that destroyed several buildings there the whole hill was on fire according to witnesses!

http://wbztv.com/local/local_story_097070525.html

I am sorry about the fire, but I had read that the place was being demolished. I am glad that interesting old building is being used for something. Although, I'm not sure I would want to live there. Most

likely, it is haunted.:lol2:

Specializes in med/surg/ortho.

My own personal experience....in the room where I found my first pt. dead....This happened about a week after she died..At the time I had braces..and had just eaten a salad. I was checking on my pts (I was an aid at the time) and popped into this room where the week before I had spent a lot of time with a pt who was dying and just really not ready to go. No family, etc. I went into the bathroom to look in the mirror...flipped on the light..smiled to check my braces for junk...and OPEN POPPED THE MEDICINE CHEST/MIRROR. I never touched it....eek.

But the best ones I have heard from other nurses on my floor :

A peds nurse had a 12 year old child who came to the floor for comfort measures while dying. The kid was stable on this night....dying but not immediately. She was talking to the nurse....It was time for her pain meds...so the nurse turned on the tv and said "I'll be back in a minute with your meds" As the nurse turned her back and walked out of the room she said she felt a cold breeze go past her, into the room. She didnt think anything of it until she came back and found the child had died. Looking back she said she feels like it was whoever came to take her. Spooky.

Another night we went into a room with a pt who was in for 23 hr observation(gastro related). No pain meds, pt was alert, only in her 40s...no mental history...lol.....We went in to check on her and she's turned away from us,facing the wall. She was awake, but kind of jittery. We asked if she wa ok and she said yes, but the man in her room freaked her out. WHAT??? She said she turned off the tv, clicked off her light and when she turned over, saw a man sitting next to her bed. He spoke to her and was very surprised she could see and hear him. He told her not to be scared, that he just kind of kept an eye on the floor. And he was gone. She never called us, she said we'd think she was crazy.

I work in small hospital on ob we have a little boy that walks around he has been seen by patients and staff We also hear crying in back hallway usually before a fetal demise :monkeydance:

I work in a very haunted Psychiatric Facility here in the Midwest. I've worked here going on 26 yrs., as a Nurse's Aide. I work the Grave Yard Shift, and over the last 1/4 of a century I have experienced several hauntings. This is one of the more spooky events I have ever had.

It was in early March of 1982 and I of course was working the Grave Yard Shift ( 10:45 pm to 6:45 am ). I was returning to the area that I was assigned to work, after having taken my break. I didn't like the Unit where I was assigned so I took an alternately longer route back to my Unit. I was walking down a long hall way in an area filled with Dr.'s offices. Since it was after midnight there were no other Staff in this locked part of the Hospital. Each Exit Door you came to, you had to unlock to go through it, and re-lock it when you left.

I was about half down the long Hallway, when out of a force of habit, I reached into my pants' pocket to retrieve my keys to unlock the upcoming exit door.

Immediately from about 2 feet above my head, I heard a loud guttural male voice say, "You Don't Need Your Keys!".

I stopped dead in my tracks! I was shocked and frightened by what I had just heard, and from where! From the thin air above my head!

In disbelief of what I had heard, I surmised that someone was playing a practical joke on me. So I searched for speaker wires, and speakers. But I couldn't find any. ( Besides no one knew I would be going through this seldom used section of the Hospital, that late at night. ) I figured I just had a wild imagination, and chuckled sheepishly to myself. I continued down the long Hallway. When I was about 15 ft. from the exit I again reached into my pocket to retrieve my keys to unlock the exit door.

Again from 2 ft. above my head I heard the voice again! This time it was even louder, and more fierce as it boomed out it's message, "YOU DON"T NEED YOUR KEYS!"

And with that I shot right through that exit door and half way down the adjacent hallway when I realized I hadn't used my keys to unlock the door!

I cautiously walked back to the door and locked it.

I didn't tell anyone about that experience for at least 3 months afterwards.

As part of our continuing Employee Education Programs that story has resurfaced several times, when Staff ask the Education Instructor if I suffer from Schizophrenia because I admitted hearing a voice.

She said "No! Just because we can't explain things that happen, doesn't mean they didn't occur." She then admonished me for telling everyone about that incident. She says I need to use more restraint in whom I tell that story to.

I agreed; but it's just to dam good of a story, not to share it with others!

CyndieRN2007 said:
Originally Posted by azhiker96

My wife had a creepy experience a few years ago. She and another nurse were on duty at an inpatient hospice facility. One of their patients was dying and the immediate family was in the room with him. Well, he passed away and the family said their goodbyes. The family stepped out of the room and my wife and the other nurse went in to prep him for other family that was coming. This was about 15 minutes after he drew his last breath and his heart stopped. As they straightened his sheets his right arm rose, bending at the elbow, and he itched the side of his nose with his index finger. Then his arm relaxed in the bent position. Both nurses saw this and my wife turned to her coworker and said, "Don't you dare leave without me." They quickly finished their work and left the room together.

Lord help! :chair: :eek: :no: This gave me shivers in my spine!! Keep em comin though!! LOL!

When My mom died, I was with her, as we all were,she had cancer and died while staying at my sisters house with hospice. I helped clean her up with my cousin, who was her CNA. I couldn't help feeling she was still alive. She was declared dead and I left the house before they could come and take her away, I couldn't handle that part. Well of course later I had nightmare that she came to my truck and told me she was still alive and I had to stop my dad and everyone from doing what they were doing, She was very upset and so was I and trying to figure out what to do. I beleive by this time she was already cremated. I hope to never have a dream like that again.

I work in a very haunted Psychiatric Facility here in the Midwest. The Facility is over 100 yrs old, and it has had it share of deaths in those 100 yrs..

In the Pauper's cemetery there are over 840 graves, each marked by a tombstone with a number on it to identify the dead. For confidentiality no names, or dates were ever put on the Tombstones.

Sorry I strayed there for a second. just giving some background info..

Years ago I was working the Grave Yard Shift as a Certified Psychiatric Nurses' Aide, on the Open Co-Ed Adult Ward. On this particular night as I was leaving the men's restroom I met a fellow who was dressed in black shoes, and was wearing a black satin or silk vestment or grown such as worn by the Clergy of the Catholic Church. The gown had intricate stitching on it, which I felt dignifies it's wearer as someone of Priestly stature in the Church.

We nearly collided as I left the bathroom, as my eyes were trained on the floor, as I walked out of the restroom. ( I'm prone to tripping due to an ankle injury. I knew the doorway had a bit of a lip that my left foot needed to clear when I walked through the exit door of the restroom. ) Looking down as I took my first step out of the restroom. I saw the Monsignor's black shoes and gown coming straight at me. In order to avoid the impending collision, I abruptly stopped and took one step backwards. As I did I trained my eyes on the Monsignor's feet. My gaze scanned upward, to identify who I was about to run into. When my eyes reached where the figure's knees would have been, there was nothing to see. There was no body above the knees. When I quickly glanced down to the feet again, there was nothing there either.

The Monsignor had vanished into thin air!

( A "Monsignor" is a member of the Clergy who is higher than a Priest, but lower than a Bishop, or so I understand. I felt the Spirit I met fit into that category. )

( The names have been changed in this story to protect the innocent. )

It's been several years ago but a dear friend and coworker of mine, "Buffy Stumpwater" had an experience worth mentioning.

Back in the good old days when we were allowed to read or play cards on the Grave Yard Shift when our work/rounds were completed my friend Buffy was startled one night.

She was engrossed in some fiery Romance Novel that she was reading, when she heard this wobbling noise coming from the wall across the hall from where she was seated. She looked up, just in time to see a 6 inch plastic wall plaque of a Dutch Boy fly off the wall. The plaque landed about 6 feet from the wall, and rolled out to the center of the hall.

I normally work with Buffy, but I had taken that night off from work. When Buffy would read her romance Novels, I would sit at a table playing cards, with my back to the Dutch Boy plaque. Buffy said had I been to work that night the Plaque would have hit me in the head as it flew off the wall.

The following night I was loaned out to another Unit to work. After hearing about Buffy's experience I quickly took my break and headed over to her Unit to investigate the Plaque and try to figure out what would cause it to fly off the wall.

Upon looking at the Plaque, I discover it has one of those key hole hooks on it. The type that slides over the head of a nail and secures it to the wall. In order to remove it from the wall, you need to deliberately slip it up and off this bracket to remove it. But it came off the wall all by itself, seemingly at least to Buffy.

I couldn't figure out how it could've come off the wall.

Still having time to kill on my break, Buffy and I became engrossed in a card game that another coworker "Trudy Hardluck" had joined in on. We were all engrossed in the card game, when all 3 of us heard the Dutch Boy wobbling on the wall. We all looked up at the plaque just as it flew off the wall. I was seated just to the left of where I normally would sit at that table. The wall Plaque flew off the wall towards me, and landed on the floor near my feet, and then rolled under the Table.

I joked nervously saying, "That's just the way the Ghosts let me know that they missed me when I took the other night off from work." I then went into the Nurses' Station and balled up some masking tape and crammed it into the concave back of the Plaque and resecured it to the wall on the key hole hook. I then exclaimed to the Ghosts, "There let's see you remove that!"

The Plaque remained there, for months until the housekeepers replaced it with another Artsy plaque. I haven't seen the Dutch Boy since!

I don't have a work related ghost story, although I DO work on the grounds of an old mental hospital, but I have had a few weird experiances at home in our masterbathroom.

My first experiance was a few years back and I was drying my hair in our master bathroom in front of the vanity. I had flipped my head over to blow my hair dry underneath when all of the sudden I felt someone touching the back of my right knee, to me if felt just like someone had reached out and put a finger on me. There's was nothing in the room behind me I could of even brushed against. I whipped up, thinking my husband must of came in, poked at me, then ran away. I shut off the blow dryer and went out to our TV and found my hsuand on the couch watching TV. "Very funny" I said. He looked dumbfounded and said "WHAT?" I explained to him what happened, made him swear on a bible he didn't do it and then I got freaked out. He teased me for weeks about it.

Then several weeks after that my husband said I sat up in bed in the middle of the night, let out a blood curdling scream, pointed to our open master bathroom door and yelled "THERE'S A MAN IN AN ORANGE JUMPSUIT IN OUR BATHROOM!!!". My husband jumped up, flipped on the lights and went into the bathroom to look (saw nothing) and said when he came back to the room to tell me I was fast asleep. I don't even remember the incident but my husband told me he laid awake the rest of the night with his heart pounding thinking a deranged escapee from prison was in our house.

About 3 months after that I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a very tall man standing in the doorway of our master bathroom. That one I remember and it scared the buhjeebies out of me. I woke my husband up who did a whole house search before I could get back to sleep.

After those incidents we started shutting the door to our masterbathroom at night.

Specializes in NICU.

Everytime i open this thread I get cold chills!! Literally! It is starting to freak me out!!

I don't have a nursing ghost story but my parents swear the house they used to live in was haunted. They were searching for a house to rent. They found a nice one for an excellent price in a great neighborhood. They were very excited. They had just gotten married and were low on cash. They moved in and at first everything was okay. But after a few weeks, strange things started happening. The front door had a dead bolt and a chain lock. They would lock both at night. Well for 1 week straight they would wake up in the middle of the night freezing. My dad would get up and the front door would be wide open. Not only were they scared but they were fed up. One night my dad locked the door as usual and put a chair in front of the door. When they woke up early that morning, freezing as usual, the chair was back at the table and the door was wide open again. After that however they never had another problem with the door.

A few weeks later my dad was watching the superbowl on TV. He was cleaning his rod and reel. He got up to use the restroom and when he returned his reel was gone. He looked everywhere! A week later he found his reel in a plastic bag under the sink.

A lot of other creepy things happened. The house stayed cold constantly. The power bill was always sky high. My dad called the power company to see if this had been an issue with previous renters. The power company said they didn't have any good records because no one had ever stayed in the house longer than 3 months.

They were scared to death at this point. After a few more things went missing (my mom's kitchen knived ended up behind the fridge) they decided to move out.

They never saw or heard anything.. I guess it was poltergeist???

Now I've gotten my self all scared.... sheesh... i sure hope my roommate hurries home!

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