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 ICU and caring for a patient with breast Ca who was dying, minimally responsive for days (this was a long time ago when we actually kept dying patients in ICU). Anyway, she suddenly awoke and was very lucid, asking for some water.....I was a little stunned but got her water for her. After she drank she said, "Do you know what Jesus just asked me?" Of course I got a few chill bumps at this point, but answered, "No, what?" She said, "He asked me if I had done everything with love." "And what did you say, I replied. "I told him that I had tried," she said. I told her that most likely that is all any of us are capable of doing. I turned her with some pillows and she fell asleep and died about 10 minutes later. Needless to say, this affected me greatly, I want to be able to give the right answer when Jesus asks.

The second incident, we had an older man with a massive heart attack, lots of other problems and he ended up on the ventilator. He was the meanest old coot ever. His grandaughter worked at the hospital and apologized for his behavior and told us he had always been quite a rounder. He would bite, kick, spit, and had to be restrained to keep him from pulling every line he had out. We coded him three times during his stay. After the third time, his demeanor changed and he became much more cooperative. We explained the change as a bit of ICU psychosis that had resolved. The gentleman became a "frequent flyer" in our ICU, coming in multiple times with CHF and becoming a regular at our outpatient CHF clinic. He became a favorite, always smiling, joking, a dear man. One day he asked me, "Do you remember the first time I was here and how awful I was." I assured him that I did indeed remember. He said, "Do you know why I changed?" I replied that I didn't but just thought that his meaness was related to his illness. He said, "No, it wasn't that....the last time you guys brought me back when my heart stopped....I woke up and remembered being in this very dark place....it was awful......It was totally black and there was this awful smell of sulfur and the heat was terrible. I called out and called out and no one answered. I remembered hearing that when people die and then come back a lot of them see a light and a lot of other "good" stuff. I was scared....I didn't see a light and I knew then I had to change." He lived a couple more years after telling me his story and when he finally died in our ICU, I have a feeling that he saw the "light" and the "good things".......at least I hope so.

Hi! I am a South African Nurse who is currently living and working in California. The weirdest thing happened to me one night when I was working Night Shift back in SA. I had a patient whom I thought was playing with his IV causing me no end of headaches - As we have all experienced. I eventually confronted him after having to open the clamp for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. He got really irate with me and said he had done no such thing but blamed it on a young nurse in a white dress whom he said had fiddled repeatedly with it . I was confused as while we wear specific uniforms in South Africa, they were not white at this specific hospital. Needless to say I was really irritated and I think we both ended the conversation feeling exasperated.

I didn't think about the young nurse for several weeks until one night in a totally different room with a totally different patient. The call light rang and when I went to answer it the patient said he had a problem with one of my staff. Curious, asked what. He said a young nurse in a white uniform was standing quietly in the doorway of the dark bathroom staring at him and it was freaking him out. At this my hair stood on end but I reassured him that he must have been dreaming and checked the bathroom just to be sure. There was nothing there but I will never forget it.

Another instance, there was a patient who was terminally ill with liver cancer in a private room. I was working days but the night shift people said they hated going into the room because something would blow on the back of their necks and shadows would move where shadows shouldn't be. The man was a christian, as was his wife and his wife said she saw this black prescence descend above him and his breathing would become labored. She asked myself and a friend to pray for her which we gladly did being christians ourselves. We annointed and blessed the room and prayed with the family and asked the Lord to seal the room. From that time on the room was filled with peace and love and the man breathed so much more easier. People had no more problems with going in there. This gentle little man eventually passed away, but it was in a place of peace and love.

I think I have a few more stories but I can't remember them right now as I have just gotten home from a crazy night in a wild med/surg unit and I am truly beat!

Take care

gms1976

"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.

:)

Specializes in Critical Care.

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.

Specializes in ER, ALF.

Wow... I did the same thing... reading this right before bed. I have a few stories to share myself. I just started at the hospital in town, so I don't have any from there. I did, however, work at an Independent Living/Assisted Living facility for almost 4 years, and in almost every department, save for nursing and housekeeping. Anyway, this past fall semester, I was working security. My general duties, included answering phones, helping residents, making exterior rounds, shoveling snow(I swear we had one of the snowiest wintersI can remember when I worked this position), and locking up the building at 2100. On one such night, I had just finished locking up the building. I let myself back into the office to record the temps from the coolers in the kitchen and such. As I'm writing, out of the corner of my eye, I see a man, who I thought lived at the East End of the building. He doesn't move too quickly, but not overly slow. Needless to say, if I wanted to I could have caught him going down either hall quite easilly. As soon as I saw the man, I put down my pen and went right out into the hall. Nobody in the east end, nobody on the west end, and nobody on the mezzanine. The only way he could have gotten away is if he ran... that's how quickly I dropped my pen and investigated. I was eagerly anticipating the night janitor clocking on... In another occurance, I had finished up rounds, I'd say it was about 2145, I settled in with one of my text books at the front desk to study some material from my nursing theory lecture. I didn't see any movement out of the corner of my eyes, but I heard the DISTINCT sound of one of those aluminum(I dunno what material, but the little silver ones) going over tile. the only tile in the WHOLE building is right in the front lobby, and in the kitchen. Nobody was around... again, I was eagerly anticipating the night janitor coming on, so I could clock out and get the heck outta there.

I've heard some firsthand accounts from several of my friends from the kitchen, where, oddly enough, I began and ended my employment. Anyway, we had a cook who pretty consistently came in hungover for the saturday morning shift. This was a problem in and of itself, and it has/still does happen to several of our "early morning" cooks. "Chucky" would put the large mixing bowl for eggs, or whatever, on the large stainless steel counter, and go back into the walk in cooler to get whatever neccessary ingredients he needed. He would come back out and the bowl would be spinning down the counter. Several other cooks have told me about how they'll be prepping stuff for lunch and dinner and various items for meals throughout the week, we have a large rack that holds all of our chafing dishes, lids, and on the side we hang all of our ladels... Well, one by one, the ladels come off, as if flicked by somebody. One of the cooks, who I love dearly gave me this advice, should I encounter this spirit myself(I often worked early on the weekends)Just put a cup of regular coffee out in the serving area, and it will stop. Apparently there was a little old man who would throw things until the early morning cook, or server, would get him his coffee. It's a good thing to know that there are things you can do to quell odd goings on!

Hi everyone

Where to start? Well I work for a city hosptial in New York as an LPN. I have just about as many ghostly patients as I do living. It's true the ghostly ones don't ask for much but they tend to scare my co-workers.

I think my favorite two are the Walker and the Watcher.(these are nick names I've given them.) :uhoh21:

The walker is a woman who comes down the hall nightly. She's pushing or pulling an IV pole because I can hear the wheels squeak as she makes her way down the hall. ( this usually happens when I'm alone. Go figure) If I look right at her I can't see her but if I look with the corner of my eye I can just make her out. She's wearing a house gown, not hospital gown.

Now just in front of the Nurse's station is a large pillar. My ghostly visitor walks to the pillar and disappears behind it.

My other ghostly client is the Watcher. This one is a middle age gentlemen. He looks hispanic and has a small mustashe. He is dressed in a hospital gown and I usually see him in room two, but only is its unoccupied. This rrom is located right next to the nurses station. Most of the time he just stands by the doorway watching the nurses. Some of my co-workers have seen him and are scared, but I tell them he can't hurt them. :chuckle

Love these stories..I have a few to share.

I'm doing my final consolidation in a psych hosp, and most nurses on the floor have at least one story that leads them to believe the floor we work on is haunted.

Once, two nurses were on either end of the ward, trying to close windows...They'd close one, go to the next, close it, and the first windows would open again by itself. Finally, they both ran out of the rooms they were in, only to discover the other nurse doing the same.

Two nurses have had their hair flipped when no one was around, when they were sitting seclusion.

One nurse once felt something wet drip onto her hand when sitting seclusion. She looked, was something red, she wiped it off. Looked up, nothing on ceiling..That was it

A nurse (one of the one's the window thing happened to, and had her hair flipped) was doing rounds at the beginning of the shift. The shower room door was closed, but she heard shower running. She went, asked coworkers who was in shower..No one knew, didn't think anyone was. So she went to shower room, went to open door..It was locked, she could still hear shower going. She freaked a bit, thinking pt had been locked in. Unlocked door, opened it..And the shower stopped.

Same nurse, was sitting seclusion, could hear the door handle of the locked solarium rattling like someone was trying to open it..Is a lever type handle, the sound was it going up and down over and over. In the morning, she went in there, she had opened the window of the staff smoking room in there to air it outm, she thought maybe the wind had done it. The window was closed when she checked. No one had closed it.

Last night, same nurse and another went down to solarium, passed my male bathroom. No one in there, all pts were in bed. They got their smokes from the solarium, no more than 10, 15 secs later, walked back past male bathroom, tap was running. She had earlier turned off same tap, thinking someone had left it running.

Same nurse was once doing rounds, heard someone whisper loudly "Fire!" in her ear. No one around.

Last night, another nurse was in staff room alone, heard very distinct 'click click' coming from the bathroom..Few mins later, when she told us, another nurse was testing out sounds, trying to figure out what it was. The nurse who heard it said it sounded most like the door handle going up and down.

That's all I can think of for now...I work again tonight, so if I get more, I'll let you all know.

schroeders_piano said:
The rose petals just started floating down from the ceiling. It was like someone was just showering the room with them. This has happened several times over the years.

My creepiest and scariest ghost story for me happened about a year ago. It really was more of a posession than a ghost story. I was helping another nurse with a patient that had lived a very hard life. It had numerous things going on with him from cardiac to renal failure. You name it, he had it going on. This man was very much afraid to die. Every time his heart monitor beeped, he would just go into a rage screaming, "Don't let me die! Don't let me die!" The other nurse and I found out why he didn't want to die. About 0200 his cardiac monitor starts alarming V-Tach. We both rush into the room. I am pulling the crash cart behing me. When I get to the room, the other nurse is completely white. This man was sitting about 2 inches above the bed and was laughing. His whole look completely changed. His eyes just had a look of pure evil on them and he had this evil smile on his face. He laughed at us and said, " You stupid b****es aren't going to let me die will you?" and he laughed again. We were kinda frozen. I did reach up and hit the Code Blue button and when I did the man went into V-fib. He crashed back onto the bed. We started coding him, but after 20 minutes it was called. 5 minutes after the code was called several of the code team is in the room cleaning up when this man sits straight up in the bed and says, " You let him die. Too bad." and then begins laughing. The man collapsed back to the bed. We heard a horrible, agonizing scream ( actually every patient in the unit that night commented on the scream), and then you could hear "don't let me die" being whispered throughout the unit. Everyone of the nurses that night was pale and scared. No body went anywhere by themselves. By morning the whispers of "don't let me die" were gone. The night shift nurses had a prayer service in the break room before we left for home and then we all had nightmares for weeks.

Now I don't even know why I'm sitting here reading these stories because I am like the scariest person. I have to admit this is the scariest thing I have ever heard. Okay next story :chuckle

I used to work recovery room at night. On slow nights, I would often be alone in there several hours since housekeeping didn't come in til after midnight.

I was doing stats and charges at the computer one evening, and heard a woman crying miserably. Since the PACU was in a back hallway not on the main drag, I thought maybe someone who was upset had found their way back there to grieve alone over something. I got up to find this person and see if I could help in some way, but there was no one there. No one outside the doors, no one in the preop holding area, no one in the hallways, no one in the closed pain clinic which was just off the recovery room area. Yet I plainly kept hearing her cry, seemingly just around the corner from me, but loudest near where I'd been sitting. Finally, it stopped.

It wasn't really scary, just sad. But I still went and hung out with the night crew in the OR for the rest of the shift in their lounge.

This is a story that my dad tells of when my grandfather was in the hospital. it isn't exactly a nursing story, but took place in a hospital, and is creepy, so I'll share...

My grandfather was one of 4 boys and a girl. While he was in the hospital dying of cancer, family members would alternate nights to stay with him so that someone would be there when he passed. On my dads night, he was asleep in the chair and something woke him up. The door slammed open and he was blinded by a "white" light. The light dimmed and when he looked into the doorway he saw the figures of a man and a woman, 3 little boys and a little girl. They walked over to the bed and my grandfather sat straight up, they began talking to each other, my grandfather layed back down, and as the figures walked towards the door, there were now 4 little boys and a little girl. My grandfather died as he layed back down from talking to the figures...

kris

Specializes in ER.

I'm with you all who say that ghosts, or the spirits who stay behind after death are not here to harm us. I haven't seen a lot of ghosts, but I have felt the presence of several. In fact, there is a ghost in my house. I haven't ever seen him/her, but this ghost likes my screwdriver for some reason. No matter how many times I put it back in the drawer, it's never where it needs to be when I want it. My boyfriend is not handy be any means, and he never uses it, so I know it's not him. I hear this "ghost" walking around in the house when I'm home alone, but I've never seen him/her. Maybe I will, maybe I won't.

I used to work the late shift at the movie theater, and theater number 9 has a ghost. It's a little girl, around 3 years old, with long curly blonde hair, in this frilly little blue dress from I would say late 1800s kind of period. The story is, she was killed on that site back around the turn of the century, and she was killed (hung I think) by her parents. She's scared to go on to the afterlife because she's afraid her parents will be there. There's no explaination for it and most people don't believe me, but I have seen her. Theater number 9 is always cold, no matter what temp you set the thermostat on, and last night my bf and I went to see Batman in theater 9, and my R hand was cold the whole time. I think she was holding my hand. One of the projection managers who worked with me when I worked there used to talk to this little girl all the time. This little girl likes to hang out by the projector, and the manager was trying to reassure her that if she went on to heaven, Jesus would protect her, and her parents couldn't get her if she went to heaven, but I guess her paranormal psychotherapy wasn't working, 'cause I know I felt the presence of this little girl last night while we were watching Batman. Haven't seen any ghosts or spirits at the hospital yet - still waiting.

I love these stories, keep them coming!

Specializes in NICU.

Not a hospital story, but told to me by my mum. She used to work at a photographers, when she was in her late teens or early 20's, so this would be around 1924. A young woman came in to have her photos taken, but when they were developed, something had gone wrong, as another woman was in all the pics, standing just behing the girl. When she came in to look at the proofs, they were very apologetic, showed her the photos and told her that they would do a retake.

"Oh no! That's my mum! She died six months ago, and we don't have any photos of her!"

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