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...

Ghost stories - when I was a student working on a male medical ward one night with my mate (also a 2nd yr student). The auxillary and staff nurse both left the ward together for their break leaving us two in charge ! (the done thing some years ago). Suddenly a man in one of the beds sat bolt upright and said "Who are all those soldiers?" A guy in the bed opposite awoke and commented that he could not see their feet. My pal and I tried to calm them down, telling them it was probably the side effects of their tablets! When the staff returned, we told them the patients had seen something on the ward, but did not say what. The auxillary then went pale and said it must be their anniversary again.She told us the hospital use to be a millitary hospital during the war, but the floor was 12 inches lower and every year a troup of ghost soldiers walk down the ward with their feet on the orriginal floor so you never see their boots! Exit 2 student nurses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I work in a LTC facilty on night shift and I have a few to share! Several years ago when I was an aide, a gentleman had passed away. Not too long after that we were having a severe thunderstorm one night and a great big clap of thunder was heard. His light starting going off just as the thunder clapped. We all new that it had to be the storm, but it still freaked us out that it was his room light that rang!

Now we have a room that we all think is haunted. During the day or night this room's bathroom call light will go off. The 2 ladies that live in this room are not able to walk, so it's obviously not them. One night the light in their room and in the bathroom had gone off several times. Someone finally mentioned it to day shift and they said it happens to them also. Just the other night I turned off the bathroom light myself and they were both snuggled in bed. I hurried up and got out of there after I shut the light off!

The other strange thing that happened in this room is that one of the ladies like to chant the number 6 over and over. One night the aides had been in the room several times because the other lady had put on her call light. She had done this right before rounds and when the aides went back in the room a short time later to check on them both again, the lady that had been putting on her light was completely turned around in bed. Her head was at the foot of the bed and the covers where just as straight as could be. This lady could barely move so it's interesting how she got herself turned all around in bed and then to not disturb the covers!

Another night when I was working a few weeks ago we were having the same problems with this room with the call lights going off in the bathroom and the room itself. The aides were getting freaked out which also got me giddy too. I was in another part of the nursing home and the aides came running up to me all breathless saying that so and so's bed was levitating off the ground. I told them I wasn't going in there!!! But since I was the one in charge, had to put my anxiety away. We all go to the room and kind of peek around the corner and sure enough the whole front of the bed was off the floor, the wheels and all!! I walk in there and the headboard was hooked on the roommates bedside table. When they had raised the bed up to check the resident and then started to lower it, it must have moved a little bit so that when they were putting the bed down, the headboard caught the table and all they could see was the bed staying where it was and the wheels raising up! We all had a good laugh over that! After that, the light stayed off in that room, thank goodness!!

I work in a LTC facility . Can't say that I've seen ghosts per say but ....

When I first started I worked the 11-7 shift. The facility was being added to,(another wing added on ) During the night shift only we would see flashlights and hear hammering going on in the addition. Needless to say we called the police a couple times and they couldn't find anything. Once the construction was done the flashlights stopped.

I had an elderly female that was passing , she would look toward the foot of her bed and tell me about the angels that she would see. When she started to tell me the names of the angels she would get worse. One time she told me " My sister has come for me " she asked that we say a prayer and we did . She died about 3 minutes after we said the prayer .

When my sister passed away at the age of 53 from cancer the entire family was at her bedside. I have another sister that passed away 35 years ago. My dad said to us " Joanne will be ok , Diane is waiting for her ." Diane is my sister that passed away 35 years ago .

I work in an extended care facility, and a few years ago one of our more 'well known' residents died.( Mrs. W.B.) She was a younger woman (early 60's) with MS. Although at times (ok, most times) she could be a royal pain, she was lively, opinionated, and interesting. She always took an interest in the lives of the nurses who worked with her, and was familiar with our families, etc. When she died, many of us went to her funeral. Her daughter had been in to see us earlier in the week, and asked us each to choose a token piece of jewellery as a remembrance. (none were valuable, mostly stones or charms on cord or ribbon). We all chose a piece, and wore them to the funeral service. After the service, one nurse noted her necklace was all of a sudden missing. We went back into the chapel, and finally found it up near the closed casket. The nurse had never been up to the front of the chapel, but had stayed with the other nurses in the back of the chapel. Another nurse folded up the program from the funeral service and tucked it into her sun visor in her car. On the way home, the visor all of a sudden fell down, knocked her on the head and of course, the program fell out. On my way home, I suddenly realized MY necklace was no longer on my neck. When I got home I found it tangled in my lingerie. (It was a stone on a cord sewn together....how the heck did it come off????) And finally, the night of the service, the night staff at the hospital was freaked when they heard a loud metalic noise and found the chains from a hoyer lift in the middle of the hallway by the resident's old room. (She was the only resident who used this old fashioned lift). We knew it was just W.B. coming back to visit us. To this day, when something 'other worldly' happens, we just say its W.B.!

Specializes in Adult SICU; open heart recovery.

I work in DC; I'm really curious to know where that job site is? So creepy!

TypicalFish said:
ZASHAGALKA said:
In DC in the 50's there was a Media theater; it burned down and some people died, later as it was being demolished, there were freak accidents and yet a few more people died (do you see a trend here?)(all of this has been in the paper)

We had two female patients that were always fighting, one of them became very sick and expired. About two hours later I walked by the other patients room and the lady that had expired was sitting in the chair beside the bed looking at the patient while she slept. I could not believe it!! I looked away and then looked back in the room and she was gone

tvccrn said:
One Last Goodbye

Working as a nurse in a very small rural hospital gives you a chance to get to know your patients. You meet them on the street, in the grocery store, and at school functions. They become more than a number or a disease process, they become neighbors and friends. Members of their family work beside you.

One night as I was the charge nurse and the ER nurse all rolled into one, I recieved a call from the front desk that I had a patient in the car downstairs and I needed to open the ambulance door so I could get him into the ER. As I ran down, I was wondering what what I would encounter. I opened the door and as the car pulled in I saw a man hanging out the passenger side of the car. I went over to the side and saw that he was blue and not breathing. I ran into the ER to call for some assistance in getting him out of the car and into the ER. I also called for the CRNA that was on-site to do an intubation. Normally our CRNA lived about 10 miles away, but he was on vacation and his cover stayed in house.

We got the man into the ER and intubated. The doctor came down and we stablized him for transport to our SCU. Because we were such a small hospital, we had a special care unit that had three beds and some of the best nurses that I have ever worked with. The rest of the evening went by without any more commotion. I left that night feeling good about having saved someone.

The next day, I came in and went into the unit to check on how the man had done overnight. I was told that he had pulled his tube out three times and was mad because we had replaced it. Apparently he had not wanted anything done to prolong his life, but we hadn't been aware of it. Once, he had recovered enough, his doctor sat down with he and his family and discussed their options. He was made a DNR and all the staff was made aware of this. When he saw me I got a royal chewing out for having him intubated in the first place. That was the start of a friendship that went on for a while. I worked with his daughter and grand-daughter, so I was soon his favorite nurse. Every time he came into the ER with trouble breathing and that blue look to him, he always made sure that no one else put a tube down his throat.

Of course, a person can go on like that only so long before the body decides that it has had enough. The time came when he came in and was not responding. We placed him in the room that was directly across from the nurses station and I made the family comfortable to wait for the inevitable. I checked on them periodically, but for the most part they were left alone. Soon, the daughter came out and said that he had passed away. It was my responsiblity to verify this information and get in touch with the proper people. I walked into the room and the harsh sound of his breathing was gone. I did the things I needed to make sure that he was really gone. As I looked at the family, there were tears in all our eyes. His wife hugged me and told me that I had always been his favorite and she thoughts he would be happy that I was there when he left.

After gathering all the information from them that I needed, I left to call the coroner to notify her and to call the place that would handle his interment. He had decided long ago that he wanted to be cremated. As there was only one crematorium in the area, they were already out when I called, but they would be there as soon as they could. I relayed this to the family and told then they were more than welcome to stay if they wished. Some of them did stay. I provided them with privacy, tissues and any comfort they might need. Everytime I went to check on them, although there were tears, there was also laughter at stories about his life. Once, they looked at me and asked me if I was uncomfortable with their laughter. I told them, no, I knew that they had been prepared for this and although it's never pleasant, it was nice to see that they could look back with love at the time they had spent with him.

Soon, the service came and picked him up. The wife and daughter thanked me for the kindness of letting them stay and spending a last couple of hours with their loved one. I have always felt that a family should have as much time as they need to say goodbye. After they left, I had housekeeping come and clean the room. When they were done the door was closed and we all went about the rest of our shift.

Near the end of the shift, the other nurse and I were at the desk charting on the night's event when a buzzer went off. We both looked to which patient was calling for assisstance. It was the call bell from the room across from the nurse's station. As we were both at the desk, we knew that there was no one in there. Neither one of us wanted to go in, so we tried to cancel the bell from the console, but we were unable to. I felt that it was my responsiblity to go in as it had been my patient that had been in there. As I walked into the room and turned on the light, I saw that the cord for the call bell was pulled out of the wall and was across the room. Now, with no one in the room that was eerie to say the least. I hurriedly put it back and left the room.

A few weeks later, I was talking with the daughter of the patient who had passed away in the room and she smiled at me and said that it was probably her father coming back to tell his favorite nurse goodbye one last time.

OMG I almost cried when I read this story.

I resent the implication that I have watched too many scary movies. I have great reverence for death and even the bible talks of spirits, demons, and such. In my long term care facility we work closely with hospice and I provide the best end of life care that is possible for my residents. Come on over, you'll believe.

StatBlues said:
"saw a black figure "

After reading this in a few posts. I wonder if it is the angel of death, or a soul collector for the evil? Or if being dark means evil at all? And, a white mist is not evil....?

I wonder too, why so many hang around, earth. Is not heaven waiting for all who have tried to have a good life? Especially the children....why arent they playing in heaven? Why do some have people to greet them, and some dont.

I have so many questions.

I think a book could be made and published with all these stories and more.

?

There are a couple of excellent books, "Life After Death" and "Life After Death Revisited." They have been out for a while so may need to be ordered but last time I looked were readily available on Amazon.com. I can't remember the author's name but he was originally an unbeliever and set out to disprove the stories of after death experiences. There are som absolutely fascinating stories in the two books and the author outlines the similarities present in most of these occurrences.

Why did I read this thread minutes before bedtime?.....spooky..damn my curiousity!!!

LOVE THE ROSES AND EVEN ROSE PETALS.........WOW WHAT AN EXPERIENCE.....KEEP THE STORIES COMING........

schroeders_piano said:
I used to work in an old catholic hospital. Where the labor and delivery unit is located now, it used to be the convent for the nuns that worked at this hospital. One of the nuns died of natural causes years ago. This nun loved and raised numerous varieties of roses. Ever since the OB department was moved to this area, anytime a mother or baby is having difficulties you can smell the scent of roses throughout the whole unit. The OB nurses know to be prepared when they start smelling the scent of roses. If a mother or baby dies, the room suddenly fills with rose petals. It is one of the creepiest, but also loving things that happens. I was standing in a room one night when the baby died. The room filled with white and pink rose petals. The nurses and family was creeped out.

I worked at another hospital where you would see a nurse in the old white dress and cap walk down the hallway and smile at you. Then she would walk into a patient's room and apply wrist restraints. All the nurses knew her. It was just Mildred who died 60 years ago. You just had to follow her so you can take the wrist restraints off.

I do have other stories that are a lot creepier than these.

Specializes in A&E (ER) and Primary Care.

My Grandma (Meme) was living with us after a stroke and was bed bound and only wore night ware for about 9 months. After she died, the same day I was putting my Three year old to bed, and I was justing saying night night to him when he said "Meme (Grandma) is with the Angels now and she is dressed and stood over there."

This freaked me out cos for nine months he has only seen her laying in bed. :stone

+ Join the Discussion