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...

These stories are great, and reading them has been fun.

This is not nursing related, but I thought I would share it.

I still have a vivid memory of an incident that happened to me when I was quite young.

I am most certain that I was not asleep and dreaming this. One night I was lying in bed with my mother, and brother. My mother was lying in the middle of us two wild kids, but my brother was next to the wall and I was on the outside. They were both sound asleep. I was fully awake when this being, or whatever it was appeared about five feet in front of our bed. The strangest thing about this was it looked like my little brother, from the curly hair on his head to, well let me put it this way, it looked exactly like my brother, except for the menacing or evil look it had on it's face, much like the being was mocking me.

The being never said or tried to do anything to harm me, and it never came any closer to us. I kept looking back at this being and back to my brother (I did this several times), thinking how in the world could this being be standing there in front of the bed, look exactly like my brother, but was not my brother. I was very scared to say the least. I'd tried waking my mother, but she wouldn't wake up, so finally I covered my head in the hope this thing would go away, eventually it did. In conclusion, although every detail is not perfectly clear (this happened about 35 years ago), the one thing that stands out to me, was the evil that emanated from this being.

Specializes in MedSurg.-Tele, Home health, LTC.

i used to work as an aide in this really old hospital. i had two seperate spooky events that happened in my shift. the first one was when i was doing my rounds and i kinda glanced at the other of our hallway, since our nursing station is like in the middle. i saw an old lady in white patient uniform walking barefeet in the hallway, as if she was looking for somebody. i was gonna wait for her to approached me, but she disappeared when she passed on the other side of the hallway... i came to look for her, and i didn't see her pass through me. i then walked around in the hallway to make sure she is ok, my co workers said they didnt see anybody walk in front of them, i said, how could it be? she is not our patient...the nurses just looked at me and didnt say anything..all my patients are accounted for, but, oh well..i didnt say anything anymore, but it gave me a creepy feeling. another occasion was when i was emptying patients foley, etc. i went to my post op patient's room, since she was sleeping, i didnt want to wake her up so i left the light off. i emptied her foley bag and went in the bathroom, before turning on the light switch so i can measure her urine output, a slight brush of wind passed by me, and i heard an faint,muffled whisper in my ears,...i knew it was not my patient, i must have dropped the urinal on the floor, then i ran out of the room, i didnt know how i got in the nursing station and my co workers said i looked really scared, like duh? after that i pray and i hope that none of that will happen again on my nightshift....some patient told me a lot of stuff they saw at night, like they see an old man sitting in the chair, to the old white lady going in their bathroom and not coming back out...i try to ignore it, but honestly? i felt it too:rotfl: :chair:

Specializes in NICU, PICU, MNICU.
The night she died, the outside hospice nurse (an absolute ANGEL!) we'd hired to help mom through this transition told my sister and me to go home and get some much-needed sleep. It was my wedding anniversary (June 19), and I can remember thinking, "Please don't let her die on my anniversary..." The hospice nurse told us she'd call us if she noticed any changes that indicated the end was near.

About 0100 on the morning of June 20, the hospice nurse called us at my sister's house and said she thought we should come back. Mom's extremities were mottled, respirations were shallow and slow...we hurried back to the nursing home, stood on either side of my mom and held her hands, and cried as we told her it was okay to go, that we'd be fine, etc. She passed at 0300, waiting, I'll always beileve, until my actual anniversary date was passed. (Doesn't matter -- five years later, I still cringe as our anniversary approaches.)

Thanks for sharing this. I had a very similar story happen to me with my grandmother. She had been ill for many many years, and we had often thought "this is the end", usually when she was in the hospital. My mother predicted that Mema would die in January, as all of her siblings and her mother had died in January (and her father died on New Year's Eve).

We got a call on January 29, that she had died. I soon began to wonder when exactly she had died, as my son's birthday is January 28, and Papa called about 2-3 am. We later found out that Mema died at 0100, and had been brought to the ER at about 2100 on the 28th. We feel that she held on to avoid dying on my son's birthday.

The sad thing was, that I had expected a call from them, and hadn't received it. I had thought about calling that evening, but thought that they might have been asleep or tired. It turns out that Papa had transposed the birthdays on the calendar, since his sister's birthday was the 29th. At the funeral he told me that he was so sorry Mema had passed on my son's birthday. Then I realized why they hadn't called.

I don't know if this really was her influence, but if anyone would have done this for my son, it would have been my grandmother. I feel her presence fairly often, and sometimes I feel a presence right before something happens, like the other night when I was driving at night and felt the urge to slow down, right before I saw a deer at the side of the road.

Specializes in NICU, PICU, MNICU.

Another story for you, this one work related. I've often seen lights "flicker" after a death. A baby that I had taken care of died on the following shift. I was off work for several days, then assigned to work in a pod where he had apparently been moved as he had gotten sicker. I had noticed the lights outside the room flickering, and later was told the story of the baby's illness and death.

The other night, I was working in the adult ICU. I'm pretty new off orientation (my entire work history has been in PICU and NICU) so I've been trying to take the same patients. One of the patient's I'd taken care of was on comfort care, and the nurse who'd had him the night before was returning. He passed shortly after 2000, and later that night I saw a light flickering outside the door of my other patient.

Going back to the topic of a dying person choosing the time of his/her death or "holding on" for a certain time or event to pass or occur before passing, I'm convinced that this is possible.

My family held a 4-day vigil at his hospital bedside before my dad's death four years ago. My sister had promised him that she wouldn't leave him, and she didn't, even sleeping on the chair in his room (I preferred the bench in the waiting area). Thursday was a busy day of non-stop visitors, relatives, friends, who were aware they were saying good-bye. My dad was never conscious the entire hospitalization, and I'm sure he hated the attention, but I know that it was important support for my mom, who was still living in denial. Friday was quiet; just my mom, sister, and myself. No apparent change in my dad's condition; nothing to indicate imminent death, so my sister and I wandered down to the hospital cafeteria to grab a tray to bring back to the room, leaving my mom at the bedside briefly. Wouldn't you know that's when my dad chose to pass, alone in the room with my mom (which freaked her out, of course). I'm convinced he wanted privacy, to be as alone as possible, with just my mom there and not my sister and me present.

I so totally agree, Polly. I've seen this happen three times in my family alone.

1. My mom waited, I believe, for my wedding anniversary to pass, but also for the arrival of her older sister from 500 miles away.

2. My grandfater, I believe, waited until my sister and I arrived at the hospital to sit with my grandmother. He passed within minutes of our arriving. I'll go to my grave believing that he didn't want my emotionally fragile grandmother to be alone when he passed.

3. My father in law was in an LTC with end-stage Alzheimer's. He'd been in the LTC for years. My mother in law had a trip scheduled with a bunch of her kids to Ireland and England. They went on the trip, but halfway through, the LTC got ahold of her and said it didn't look like my FIL was going to hang in there much longer. She cut her trip short by three days, flew back to the states, and went straight to his LTC from the airport. She sat with him for awhile and he seemed stable, so she went home to take a shower and make a cup of tea. He passed before she was out of the LTC parking lot on her way home. We all agree that he waited so she could see him one last time.

Why do you suppose that is? That we have final say when we're ready to "go?" And what about people who die instantly in tragic accidents, etc.? Why don't they get a "say" in when they actually cross over? Interesting things to think about, no?

A long time ago when I was in my late 20s. I had a dream, it was very vivid. I was at my own wake.

I was watching the various people who came to console my mom. Lots of people I didn't recognize. From the conversation, I gathered I died at age 42 from something sudden.

Okay I woke, up thinking nothing of it. But as the years passed.. I started to meet the people in that dream that I didn't know at that time. There were my mom's new church friends. More and more of them I recognized over the years.

So started to believe I was going to die at age 42. I was literally anxious all the time from my birthday to to the next birthday. Thankfully nothing happen.

It seem a very real premonition that dream. I've come to believe that I did change my life over that time leading to my 41st birthday that my fate changed.

Still it was a very spooky year for me.

Well I'm 51 now .. whew..

Specializes in My husband is a nurse LPN.
On 7/31/2018 at 5:57 PM, DocWorkaday said:

I hope the mods here don't mind if I relate a ghost story that's not directly "nursing related" other than the fact that my girlfriend is a nurse and I talked her into taking one of those paid ghost tours.

Okay, so far?

Back in 2013 when I first started dating her we got onto the subject of her nursing ghost stories before I ever discovered this thread. Of course her confidentiality requirements don't allow her to discuss much that is work-related, but she was able to tell me enough that it stoked my desire to fulfill one of the items on my bucket list: to take a real ghost tour with authentic ghost investigators just like on the TV shows.

So, in this town there is an old hotel that dates from the Old West. It's been a hotel, a bank, a brothel, and other things during its history. It's a historic landmark and a local ghost investigator society is allowed to charge customers to accompany them on a genuine ghost investigation. So I paid the money and we showed up for the "tour".

It's important to note that one of my trademarks is that I wear an Australian slouch hat (looks like the classic movie green safari hat with puggarree). On this particular evening, the sun had gone down and I decided to leave it in the car for the ghost tour. To most people it looks like a "green cowboy hat" if you're not familiar with the old Tarzan movies. I was the only one in the group to wear such a hat to the tour, even though I left it in the car. This will become significant in a while, you'll see.

During the ghost tour, we were invited to silently walk through some of the corridors on the ground floor of the hotel. I was born with a "gift." I can walk into a haunted building and sense if there is an evil presence there. While walking in one of the corridors, I definitely felt the presence of something totally evil that did not want us there. Others in the group noticed it too.

As the evening progressed, the ghost investigators did the usual "parlor trick" of placing a flashlight on a table with the head mostly unscrewed, so that the "spirits" are supposed to answer questions by turning the flashlight on and off. They did this through several questions. At one point, they tried to contact the spirit of a famous local murder victim. The murder was never "officially" solved, although a book was written by a man who claimed to have solved the murder. He claimed that a man who lived with his mother was the killer and the investigators had totally missed it. So at one point during the "contact" session with this murder victim, members of the audience were allowed to ask the spirit of the deceased girl some questions. Most asked about the political intrigue surrounding the murder, etc. When it became my turn to ask, I asked if she had been murdered by the the guy with the two dogs who lived with his mother. The flashlight flashed once for "yes". This is something that probably could not have been faked because unless you've read that author's book you would never believe the murderer was someone other than the people named in the official narrative. Had the ghost hunters somehow been able to fake the answer to that question, they almost certainly would have had the flashlight flash two times for "no."

The investigators also made it a point to tell us that the spirits in that hotel like to mess with electronic devices. Several just wouldn't work right during the tour. This will become significant toward the end of my story.

The ghost investigators contacted the spirit of a little girl who made a toy move. At one point a flashlight left in an adjacent room turned on so brightly that it lit up the adjacent room like a huge spotlight was turned on! We went back into that room and there was the lowly Maglite sitting on the table. No spotlight. When people started asking the child ghost questions like, "What's it like on the other side?", the spirit suddenly shut up and didn't want to talk anymore. Can't reveal there's a Heaven and Hell, kid, is that the deal?

As we went upstairs, no one was left on the ground floor, and yet we saw one of the flashlights turn on and stay on as we ascended the stairs.

On the top floor, the ghost hunters contacted a prostitute that had lived in the hotel. As they asked the spirit questions, several women felt their hair getting brushed by something invisible. The ghost hunters just laughed, and said, "She doesn't like women for some reason." At this point they asked the spirit, "Is there any man in this room you do like?" The spirit answered audibly through one of those spirit boxes, "COW...BOOOOOYYYYYEEEEEEEE." Remember I had left my safari hat in the car, and how I had described it as looking like a green cowboy hat to a lot of people?

There were several more minor things like cold spots and more women getting their hair brushed, but eventually the evening ended and my girlfriend and I went to our separate homes.

Days later, my girlfriend frantically called me one afternoon to ask if I had experienced anything strange at my house. I said, "No, why?" She explained that a radio she left in her daughter's room had turned on spontaneously while her daughter was in school. Upon inspecting the radio, we found that the alarm was turned off, and the switch was set to "manual", meaning you had to move it to the on position with your hand.

A few nights later, as I was lying in bed, I was awakened by the sound of the carbon monoxide alarm going off. Note that this was the time of year when it was still too warm to have the furnace on. There should have been no source of carbon monoxide anywhere in the house. Later that night, I felt the same evil presence above my bed that I had felt in that hallway of the old hotel. I saw what looked like an indistinct black shape moving across the ceiling. Quickly I shouted at it, "In the name of Jesus Christ you were not invited into this house and I command you to leave."

Neither my girlfriend or I have had another incident, but we don't go on ghost tours anymore, either.

I hope you post more of your stories of what you have experienced. I really enjoy reading your post.

Specializes in ICU.

One night I was caring for a dying male patient. He was scared and I spent quite some time with him, trying to calm and reassure him. Eventually he calmed and I left the bedside and went over to the nurses station which was about 15 feet away. As I sat down I glanced over to him and there was a black shape standing over the bed, looking down at the patient. I was terrified, and am sure it was something evil.

CharmCityRN said:
I'd have to say nurse managers. I've heard they exist, but I very rarely see one.

Funny ?

We have a nursing supervisor, who is available for us most of the time. She is also the ER nurse. The only one. So she has two separate and complicated responsibilities.

I am the nursing sup/ER nurse today - I do it part-time since getting my MICN a few years ago. This morning I set up a room for a planned cesarean today. I also check the patient's labs for the nurses. We try to help out - but if there are alot of patients in the ER or a code or something, we are just unavailable. If we try to help when we can, the nurses usually understand.

steph

I used to work in and old labor and delivery unit. It was a small hospital, so often times I was back there by myself. I liked to keep the lights low and things quite back there, so naturally I heard a lot of creeps and groans. There was a whole back hall unused, there was also no access to it accept by passing me. I could hears metal objects clanging, and doors shutting. Sounded like somebody was getting ready for a c section.I could always sense something there with me it seemed. There was also a back room on the med surg floor that was never used. It was a patient room converted to a storage room. That room was strange... Call light always going off, and nobody near it...Whole hospital had a creepy aura...Maybe it was the cemetary next door..If that in itself is not strange.... :p

I work in a LTC facility and we have had numerous reports from pts that they have seen a little boy. This boy comes in their rooms, turns their call lights on and off, throw things on the floor. This facility used to be an orphanage!! Also there are stories of a oldfashioned nurse in the whole white dress and hat, would be seen going down the hall late at night doing her bed check and would go into someones room and stay there for a couple minutes if they were really sick or about to die. Well I guess one aide seen her awhile back and refused to go down that hall for a week, the persons room she went in just came back from the hospital still really sick.

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