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...

[HuggyPuglet]

I work in a hospital. We have a room on our floor where at least two patients who later died talked about a pretty little girl who came in to visit. Same room. Different patients with different backgrounds and experiences. Strange!

[bubblymom373]

I worked in a LTC that had a strange haunting. The room in which in happened was occupied by a 65 year old comatose male. He had no roommate. The man's TV was often on, per family request. The volume on the TV would go up and down without anyone touching the volume button. I, myself had been in the room when this had happened. Maintaince had checked the TV several times and could find nothing wrong.

Once on night shift a friend and a CNA went in the room to do a tx on the gentleman. The volume on the TV went up, my friend turned the volume down. Out of no where a man's voice said "Leave it alone!". My friend and the CNA got out of there real fast!! She was still in shock the next day when she was telling me about it.

[Ike Arumba]

Well, I have just finished reading all 69 pages of this, and I'm loving it!!! Even though I am very creeped out, and I scare easily too:uhoh3: ....I still think it is great!! Keep these stories coming, I'd love to hear more.

I also have a few stories about weird things happening but they are not nursing related....so I guess I will save them for another time.

Don't lose too much sleep everybody.....Happy Reading!!! :chair: :sofahider

[christymwinn]

OK, I am back and have updated my bookmark!

The story with the girl with the red bracelet just made my eyes water and gave me goosebumps--AAAHH!!

I love these stories though, I can't get enough!!

[moonbean]

We had a patient, chronic CHFer, always on the call button, hated being on fluid restrictions. you know the type: the nurses have to take turns during the shift answering the call button so the primary can actually do other work.

And this was a frequent flier cause he was very chronic, very borderline, and the hospital was the only place he wouldn't fluid overload.

I work 7p-7a. He died about 8pm. Oh the look on his face, like, "how could you let me die!" - Like it was our fault.

Anyway, family came and gone by 9pm, funeral home gone at 930pm.

About 10pm, the call button starts going off. I was there - call button going off every 5 minutes.

One of the nurses was a very spiritual girl. At about 2am, after like 4 HOURS OF THIS, nurse Mary snaps, 'Enough!'

She walks down to the room, and, practically screams into the empty room, "Mr X, you have died. You can't be in here bothering us anymore. Move along. In the name of Jesus, I'm exorcising you from this plane of existence. Go to the light and be happy!"

And I kid you not, the call button stopped going off then and there.

~faith,

Timothy.

Ooooohhh! That's the BEST! Thanks for sharing!!!!!!!

[XYRNMN]

I work Med/Surg, and about 3-4 years ago I had a pt in her 50's that came in with abd pn and constipation, went for an exlap.

Well, the case was open & shut, once they got in there they saw so much cancer they just closed the incision. Nothing was resectable.

Anyway, I got her straight from PACU into room 26, she was still stuporous and the surgeon had not yet informed her of the situation. No family was around, and no visitors came during my shift.

I got her at about 8pm, the strange incident took place about 2-3 am.

I entered the room to do VS rounds, and she was sobbing.

I asked her if she was in pain, she denied pain but said that "the other nurse just told me my surgery didn't go very well and I don't have long to live".

I just about blew my top, I was livid, I wanted to find out whointhehell had told my patient about the surgery, that is the surgeon's responsibility, not nrsg.

After calming my pt somewhat, I asked her what the 'nurse' looked like that had told her of the prognosis.

She described a nurse with a white hat, the white uniform with white stockings and everything down to hair color and height.

Well, on my floor there were only 5-6 of us working that night, and none fit the description even remotely. (And the only nurse I know of that still wears that sort of uniform works days in a different unit.)

My pt went on to tell me that this nurse in white sat at the edge of her bed, and sure enough, the foot of the bed and the sheets looked exactly like someone had been sitting there moments before.

This pt's room is also at the end of the hall, with no door at the end, so the only way anyone could have gone to that room was to pass the nurses station and be seen. Noone had gone by.

Fast forward to a year ago, and another pt in 26 told one of the other night RN's that a nurse in white kept coming in to check the IV's.

I had not told that RN my story, and that RN was hired after my experience.

Then, about a month ago, one of the RN's came down to the nurses station and asked who had room 26. The nurse that had that room spoke up and wondered what's up? The first nurse said there was a lady sobbing in there and she heard it from the hall, but did not look in. Instead she came to ask 26's nurse if she knew what the deal was. Well, 26's nurse said that there was an elderly MAN in that room, not a woman. At that point we all went down and went into 26. The man was sleeping quietly, the TV and radio were off, and when we awoke the man, he denied pain, so I doubt he was whimpering in his sleep, certainly not sobbing as the first nurse heard.

So, this is three seperate wierd happenings in one room, all experienced by three seperate nurses that were previously unaware of the other instances.

Kinda prickles the hair on the back of my neck just thinking back on it all.

-K

[SaraO'Hara]

That's so very creepy O_o.

[supernurse65]

Couple of things have happened to me.

I worked in a LTC for severe and profound mentally retarded children. one night after one of our long term residents passed away suddenly the night shift girls told me the ceiling tiles were moving.. of course I was a new nurse and only 19 at the time and had NO experience with nursing prior so i was very skeptical. I laughed and went about my business. Later the girls wouldnt go anywhere by themselves so I went with one of them to take the trash out when we came back in the ceiling tiles fluttered...needless to say none of us went anywhere alone the rest of the night. This never happened again and we all worked nights for 3 years together.

We also used to see a man in the play yard usually smoking in jeans and a flannel even in the summer. We called the police many times but they never found anything so after several months we stopped calling and the "man" never harmed anything and never tried to come in so we just let him watch us.

One night I got a call from the geriatric LTC across the road. The nurse asked me who was watering out lawn at 3am. I of course looked out to find NO ONE in the lawn. I called her back to be sure where she saw him. I walke outside with the maintance man with the cordless phone talking to her all the time. We walked down the road toward the way she said she saw him she said she could see him and he was directly to our left. THERE WAS NO ONE THERE. I thought I would pee my pants right there. My maintance man had to throw an arm around me to get me back to the building.

When my son was very young my sister and I were bathing him in the bathroom. His nursery room light went off (switch down) we were alone. my husband was at work and we lived in the country. This light would go off by itself all of the time after a few dozen times I stopped worrying about it. We also would hear what sounded like a man groaning in the basement several times per week. We just referred to it as the man who lives in the basement. We didn't see any thing but heard lots of footsteps and such during the night.

When we built on to our house I stained all of the the wood work for the new addition in the room that had been the nursery. When my new bathroom door was hung there was a very large hand print (in the stain) that wasn't noticed when I sealed the door after stain, on the bottom of the door. (I wear a size 5 ring so I'm pretty sure it isn't mine) Just the man who lives in the basement trying to help I guess. pretty weird huh

[supernurse65]

Forgot one: My husband's great grandmother had had a MI and wasnt expected to live very long. The children,grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren were filing in to see her (about 40 of us all together took our turns). We got there close to 9pm. She was waving and smiling at us when we walked in the room and told my husband "good bye" and she would see him in the "Sweet by and by" she passed shortly there after. I do believe people know when it's time.

[Elisheva]

When I worked med-surg a few years ago, we had an elderly female patient who was dying. She was on a morphine drip (I keep telling myself this explains everything). Each time she was awake she would point to the same corner of the room and say, "Can't you see him? He's waiting for me! Can't you see him?" Every time we asked her who was waiting for her, she would shout, "Satan!". Creeped us all out. My charge nurse was a pastor's wife and she didn't even want to go in the room.

As an even crazier aside, that room always felt creepy to me, even before she was a patient.

[supernurse65]

Hi,

My friend told me when she was delivering her son she went into cardiac arrest and was hovering over her body and saw her grandmom and was told to go back, cause it was not her time yet. While she was hovering over her body she saw the medical staff doing cpr and one of the med students was so upset he threw up on the floor. After she was back in her body she asked the student how he felt, and everyone was freaked out that she knew he got sick since she was in cardiac arrest when it happen.

my friend also "coded" during delivery she too told the staff everything they did for her while reviving her as she was hovering above the bed.

[supernurse65]

bump