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...

What a cool thread. I personally believe that when some patients are in the dying process and they call out names of dead relatives or friends that it is not always dilusional. I do believe that they are seeing someone help them to the other side. Five years ago, when my mother in law was in her last days in the hospital, she would frequently call out to her grandmother who had been deceased for many years. My MIL was mentally sound, but her physical condition became worse after she had heart surgery. She was very close to her grandmother because she had raised her.

I think that a very creepy but fun thing to do is to visit an old mental hospital that has been shut down for years, and see if there is any paranormal activity there, especially at night. :coollook:

Here's my story,

The ER was swamped this day. Ambulance called in with a chest pain, minute later a second chest pain, a minute after that a third, and a fourth. After all four had been brought in a code was called in the ICU. Our code team responded.

Our 3rd chest pain ended up going over to cath lab he was in bad shape. After he was wheeled past me, I looked back into the room. The pt. stood against the shelves looking at the doors behind my back. I looked behind me to see his wife come through the doors. Looking back in the room, there was no one there.

Two minutes later a code was called in the cath lab. He died.

Specializes in Infectious Disease.
BORI-BSNRN said:
Amazing story....Lovely though. Alexillytom, how is your baby boy? Just curious.....

My baby is fine. He's five years old now and he is such a blessing.

Emma-Jane Farmer said:
When I worked in a nursing home we had a resident that was unpleasant to say the least. One day I was on bell duty (it was my responsibility to answer all the bells for 2 hours), and the man rang his bell and told me that there was a black dog under his bed. I looked under the bed, but there was nothing there. I thought that he could have possibly seen a dog because it was a hot day, and the front door to the home was open. I told him that the dog must have gone out of the door before I arrived. He rang the bell again a short time later, insisting that he could see a dog under the bed, again I couldn't see anything. This carried on. He became quite hysterical on one occasion shouting that the black dog under his bed was trying to bite him, and that it had red eyes. He looked terrified, and I couldn't calm him down for ages until the dog had disappeared. I handed over what happened to the nurse in charge, and went home as it was the end of my shift. The next day I was on an afternoon shift, and found out that the man had died not long after I had gone home.

It really freaked me out. He was a very unpleasant man, and I often wondered if the dog was there to take him away to you know where. One i'll never forget

Emma

Sorry for the double.

I guess this gives new meaning to the term "Hound of Hell."

Scary. Keep these stories coming. They are quite fascinating, and from a born-again Christian perspective, I'm trying to reconcile these stories and my beliefs. Very, very fascinating and downright spooky. I'm reading this later at night only because dh is working on another computer next to me. ?

Time for bed, and I do hope for pleasant dreams after reading ALL of this thread.

This just happened today. One of our residents had returned from the hospital with a dx of end stage renal failure about 3 weeks ago. Thought for sure she was going to die right after I left one night.....vitals poor (resp. 6), she's pale, Cheyne Stoke-ing. Well, she kept coming out of it. This morning, she did it again....came out of her decline, looked at the nurse next to her bed, and stated quite clearly, "I am dying now." Put her head down, and died. :cry: Totally creeped the 7-3 shift at first, but then again....

cloudydrms said:
This isn't hospital related (I just graduated and I hope I don't run into any ghosts too soon...I have enough to worry about already!), but it is a ghost story. Actually, it's a story that happened to my best friend several years ago. About 14 years ago her hubby was worked for the air force and they were stationed at Edwards Air Force Base (where the shuttle lands). Anyway, her Mom had come out to visit and they were driving off of the base pretty late at night. Well, according to her, at Edwards in order to get off the base you have to drive for miles and miles through the desert and it is, of course, very very dark at night. So, they're driving through the desert she and her Mom and her son is in the back of the car when her headlights light up a guy walking on the side of the road way up ahead. He's got on a flight suit and he's carrying his helmet in his hand down next to his body. When they're getting closer to him, her Mom turned to her and suggested that maybe they should pick him up. My friend agreed and when they both brought their eyes back to the road he had vanished. She said it was the weirdest thing that has ever happened to her. They both just kind of looked at each other with shocked faces. The thing about Edwards AFB is that they do a lot of test piloting for planes out there and several planes have gone down in the desert killing men over the years. Anyway, that's just another story to scare you before you go to bed tonight.

Cindy

Consider me scared tonight, but just love these stories.

Greetings and Salutations to All! :)

Being an RN since 1980 has given me many an interesting experience. However, the most 'moving' one is actually a personal paranormal one involving my father.

My father became seriously ill for over a year before dying September 18th, 1997. Dad's admitting DX was one of a severe stroke leaving him unable to speak. I was the only adult child living in the same town as Dad and his second wife (my Mom died when I was 27; Dad remarried a widow on September 17th, 1988). My sister (Patty) came to visit with my Dad as I had called her to let her know that I "sensed" he would die soon (his VS were most transient in addition to recent onset of "Doll's eye" syndrome). Patty went to the hospital with my youngest son (Michael) to visit our Dad (I took a much needed night off from visiting Dad that night and instead gave my attention to my husband and other family matters).

Patty and Michael returned from their visit very peaceful yet sad as they too "felt" Dad would soon be passing away. My father's wife was not feeling well and thus she didn't visit Dad that day either. As I was talking with my sister that night I noticed a red streak on her naturally blond hair---> it (the red streak) wasn't readily apparent **until** she brushed through her hair as she was talking. I asked Patty if she somehow had lipstick within her hair and she was perplexed as to why I was asking such a seemingly absurd question! When she went to the bathroom to see for herself what I was talking about she didn't have a logical explanation either. The red streak was dominant on the left side of her head/hair looking at her from the front. Despite attempting to wash the 'streak' out of her hair it simply wouldn't go away.... Again, we both attempted to bring logical explanations to this 'phenomena'; to no avail! :stone

The following day Patty returned to Florida with peace in her heart that she had been fortunate enough to spend time with Dad; although she too felt "sad" to leave. On September 17th, 1997 the family celebrated Dad's 9th wedding anniversary with his wife despite both of them not being in the best of health (to say the least). They loved one another and all of us "kids" so much; what a tribute to life they gave to us!!! :Melody:

During the night (early morning hours of September 18th) the hospital called me and said that my father had taken a "turn for the worse, please come in ASAP". When we arrived at the hospital it turned out that my father had a brain anuerysm ("bleed") that couldn't be stopped. This diagnosis seems to have been "picked up" via Patty's visit (remember the unexplained 'red streak') only hours before Dad's physical death. My father's PCP had started a MS drip to bring comfort and this was also consistent with his living will (no heroics, DNR status). Dad's wife accompanied my family to the hospital and she was able to help him pass into the next world with her soothing voice and loving touch.

I believe that the "red streak" discovered on Patty's hair was the way my Dad communicated with us that he was dying (he was asymptomatic at the time of this DX (cerebral bleed). Dad was also able to 'communicate' nonverbally to Lee (his wife) that he was so fortunate to have had 9 years of a truly beautiful marriage with a woman he loved dearly. You see, Dad died the day **following** his 9 year anniversary to Lee....it seems his inner will wanted to complete 9 years of marriage. :) :balloons:

I realize that this 'story' is not apparently a spooky one yet it definitely is one that makes me think how much in life we cannot explain....

Lee died almost one year after Dad died at the young age of 66 from lung cancer yet she had never smoked a cigarettte in her life! I know that statistically 15% of all lung cancers are not tobacco related but nevertheless it remains "odd" to me that she would have this kind of DX and a rapid death as a result.

I have had many a perplexing situation over my 25 year career yet the one with my Dad still is so fresh in my mind. I hope this 'story' gives one comfort and hope that our loved ones continue to communicate despite seemingly horrible DX's and resulting consequences....

Dad lived his life with the motto that one should live passionately and with the knowledge that anything is possible; one has to visualize their dream and "make things happen." I remain grateful for this experience and again I trust this touches your heart as you go out and give care to those so in need of our loving and skilled nursing care!!!

~*Noko*~

Paleobug said:
What a cool thread. I personally believe that when some patients are in the dying process and they call out names of dead relatives or friends that it is not always dilusional. I do believe that they are seeing someone help them to the other side. Five years ago, when my mother in law was in her last days in the hospital, she would frequently call out to her grandmother who had been deceased for many years. My MIL was mentally sound, but her physical condition became worse after she had heart surgery. She was very close to her grandmother because she had raised her.

I think that a very creepy but fun thing to do is to visit an old mental hospital that has been shut down for years, and see if there is any paranormal activity there, especially at night. :coollook:

Have you visited a old closed mental hospital to check paranormal activity ?

If you decide to do so, please share your story.

Specializes in Telemetry, OR, Infectious Disease.

I should be going to bed but I am scared now!!!! LOL :uhoh3:

Also giving this thread a good "BUMP" to keep the stories coming.

Kassy : )

This is more of a nurse-ghost story rather than one with patient experiences.

A sanatorium named Fort San was built in 1917 to house people with tuberculosis. one night, a nurse wrapped a bed sheet around her neck and hung herself.

The place was closed down in 1972, and is now a hotspot for school trips and such. Since it was reopened to the public as sort of a museum, there have been stories about "sightings", with a nurse walking the halls of the old sanitorium.

I've included a picture to try and 'up the creep factor'

SissyLyn said:

I found myself in a cafeteria....could not figure out why I was there, I was looking through the crowd and the people and just couldn't figure it out..suddenly I see "him, my pt" waving me over...I walked over and he looked fabulous...all duded up from head to toe, including his favorite cowboy boots...he had three trays of food in front of him...all his favorites...He grinned ear to ear and looked as I imagine he did before he was riddled with disease.....he grinned up at me and said "Howdy Ma'am...I just had to let you know I am okay.....after all these years I am okay...you were my friend and I will never forget if you won't" and he winked and went back to eating....I woke up and was smiling and crying at the same time....It was especially great to see him in clothes, he had to wear these one piece jumpsuits because he had a habbit at one time of getting naked and wondering around..

What a wonderful experience, Tammy! Just beautiful!

Cindy

second building on the left what is that..................part of the sanatoriom i have to wonder....:eek:

DMR1 said:
this is more of a nurse-ghost story rather than one with patient experiences.

a sanatorium named Fort San was built in 1917 to house people with tuberculosis. one night, a nurse wrapped a bedsheet around her neck and hung herself.

The place was closed down in 1972, and is now a hotspot for school trips and such. Since it was reopened to the public as sort of a museum, there have been stories about "sightings", with a nurse walking the halls of the old sanitorium.

I've included a picture to try and 'up the creep factor'

+ Join the Discussion