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...

I was working in ICU before going to CRNA school. We had a male patient come in with an MI, he was admitted to room 15. He ended up having a carotid endartarectomy and eventually a CABG in about a week and a half. His CABG did not go well at all. He ended up with a coagulopathy and ended up bleeding and bleeding and dying...cardiovascular collapse. Anyway. A week later his brother was admitted to the hospital for an MI. He was admitted to room 14. We were able to do bedside EKGs from our monitors. Upon admission to the ICU we did our standard admission EKG...the name on the EKG came up being his dead brothers name, despite the admission information in the computer being accurately entered as the brother's name admitted that night.

Specializes in ICU,ER.

This isn't really a ghost story, but it definitely gave me chills.

I was working in a critical care unit and there was a minister that was a pt. I can't really remember what was wrong with him but I do remember him saying that we better get his family because he would be "going home soon". In the course of the next hour, he was made a DNR.

I promise you, after that man died, he had a GLOW coming from his face and a smile that was so sweet.....I have never seen anything like it. Nurses from all over the unit came to see this man's face and everyone that saw it, cried. To this day, I get tears in my eyes thinking of it. I can not think of any other word to describe it but "heavenly".

My first cousin was a young minister visiting the bedside of a sweet, saintly woman who was terminal with lung cancer. Her bed was cranked up somewhat so she could breathe a little easier. She was in and out, pretty heavily medicated. He was at her bedside holding her hand and praying. She raises herself up, looks at the wall in front of the bed and says. "Oh Jesus, it's so beautiful, so beautiful" lays back down and passes. Sure made an impression on my cousin who went on to have a wonderful ministry.

Specializes in geri, med/surg, neuro critical care.

I work in a LTC facility, and within lies the legend of the little girl...many people have seen her; few have survived to tell about it...quite a few residents have asked me "who's that little girl?" and pointed to her...coincidentally, these people would be dead within 72 hours of seeing her.

Turns out, about 10 years ago, there was a fatal car accident in front of our LTC...the victim? A little girl, about 10 years old :eek:

~Lori

I got called to a code in the hallway. A patient was being transfered from the ER to the floor. She passed away in the hall. According to the tech, they were carrying on a conversation, the lady looked up, said " Oh, here comes God, I think I will go with him." She passed away right then.

Specializes in ICU, CCU, Trauma, neuro, Geriatrics.

Prior to becoming a nurse, I was a paramedic. One patient all the way to the hospital told me about all the spirits in the ambulance and said that it looks like many people have died in here. She sat up, yelped, said OH GOD grabbed her chest and died as we pulled into the ER parking spot. We did CPR on the way in and she was pronounced by the ER doc after doing CPR for at least 10 mins.

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.

I worked my way through nursing school as a housekeeper/security. One time the other man on security got a call from the nurses in the LTC floor of the hospital. They said they needed help because there was a ghost. Like the night housekeeper is going to be able to help you. So he asked her what kind of ghost it was. She wasn't sure what he meant. He asked her if she could see through it. She said yes. He said then it can't grab you, so don't worry about it. Now if you can't see through it, maybe there is something I can do.

The nurses weren't amused, but I think it is funny.

I was on break outside in a gazebo at a LTC facility with a CNA. The CNA pointed out a black cat on the roof of the facility and said, "Everytime that cat shows up on the roof, someone who's bed is near the cat...dies". Sure enough, later that shift, the lady who's room was under the cat did die. I told my teenage daughter about this, and it kind of gave her chills. We were looking out of our window and our own black cat jumped on the pickup truck and from there up to our roof. THAT gave both of us chills.

About twenty years ago, in a different LTC facility (before I was a nurse) I was going to assist the night nurse with vital signs. I told here I saw something white "floating" down the hall. She said it may have been a resident walking, I said "no, it was floating". About the area where I saw this, we had a linen cart covered with white and I assumed maybe that is really what I had seen. The first room we went into, of course, was near the "spot". As I was putting the BP cuff on the resident, the nurse said "never mind". I didn't get it, and continued to put on the cuff when the nurse said "she's dead, and I believe you saw her soul leaving". Well, being easily spooked, that job didn't last much longer.

Specializes in Critical Care.

A couple, retired military captain and his wife, Margaret, sold their house to move to Florida. It so happens that they sold their house to the State - the state was going to use it as a resident home for mentally disabled teens.

After the closing, but before they moved, Margaret died in the house. The Captain had to move cause the house was already sold.

Do you know where I'm going with this??

Residents always referred to 'old lady' that they always saw. Nursing staff just referred to her as 'Maggie'.

Now, late at night, when the residents were asleep, if the staff put the TV on more adult programming, like 'Red Shoe Diaries', etc., the TV would turn off, and when turned back on, would come on on a different channel.

There was this one nurse, it was like the house was out to get her. She'd swear that 'the carpet tripped me'. When cupboards opened, knives would fall out aimed at her. Turns out this nurse was eventually fired for abusing and stealing from the residents.

Maggie takes care of her 'children'.

This was represented to me as a true and ongoing story.

~faith,

Timothy.

Specializes in LTC, med-surg, critial care.

I haven't even taken boards yet and I already have a story!

I work as a CNA in long term care. We had one resident "Betty" who was totally independant, all ADL's were done on her own and she did fine on her own, never had an incident. The only time she wanted help was showers and then she only wanted you around to make sure she didn't slip and fall. Betty came down with pneumonia and had to be hospitalized. When she came back she was too weak to do things on her own but too stubborn to ask for help. The last thing the CNA told her before going to bed was "If you want to get up, hit your call light. I'll come help you." Of course she didn't, got rid of the bed alarm, climed out of bed and fell. Betty died from the fall. No one has been moved into her bed.

The following week the call light for the room went off at night. Thinking it was the resident in bed B I walked down the room to see what she wanted. I walked into the room only to see the call light for bed B and A off, the call light for bed C (Betty's unoccupied bed) was on. My eyes filled up with tears, I backed out of the room and made someone else turn the call light off. :p

It happened a week later. I want to see if it happens this week too.

*shudder

Z

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