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...

Specializes in ortho/neuro/general surgery.

Nursing home cat can sense death?

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN2531239020070726?feedType=RSS

CHICAGO (Reuters) - When Oscar the Cat visits residents of the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, the staff jumps into action -- Oscar can sense within hours when someone is about to die.

In his two years living in Steere's end-stage dementia unit, Oscar has been at the bedside of more than 25 residents shortly before they died, according to Dr. David Dosa of Brown University in Providence.

He wrote about Oscar in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"It's not that the cat is consistently there first," Dr. Joan Teno, a professor of community health at Brown University, who sees patients in the unit. "But the cat always does manage to make an appearance, and it always seems to be in the last two hours."

Raised at the nursing home since he was a kitten, Oscar often checks in on residents, but when he curls up for a visit, physicians and nursing home staff know it's time to call the family.

"I don't think this is a psychic cat," said Teno. "I think there's probably a biochemical explanation," she said in a telephone interview.

While pets are often used to bring comfort to the elderly in nursing home settings, Oscar's talent is special, though not unexpected.

"That is such a cat thing to do," said Thomas Graves, a feline expert and chief of small animal medicine at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.

Graves said there is no evidence to suggest cats can sense death, but he doesn't discount it for a minute.

Those things are hard to study. I think probably dogs and cats can sense things we can't," he said.

On a particular day detailed by Dr. Dosa, Oscar settled onto the bed of a patient in room 313.

His presence sent staff off to make calls and set up vigil.

When a grandson asked why the cat was there, his mother explained: "He is here to help Grandma get to heaven," according to Dosa's account.

She died a half an hour later.

We were having a little family gathering in my Mom's living room. While the large floor fan, and air conditioner were running in an attempt to stifle the Iowa heat.

Six of us sat in the living room sharing remembrances of our lives together. At one point more than a couple of people were chatting, when I heard a short clip of a conversation that was blended into the conversation, sort of in the background of the conversation.

It was similar to other voices I've heard that have generated from the large floor fan we were using. Yet different too! Different because they didn't sound like they were coming from the fan, but from the middle of the group of people that were talking.

Immediately the color blue flashed into my thoughts as I heard these other voices. As usual I couldn't make out what the voices were saying. I tried to re-adjust my posture as I lost the connection to the voices. As I shifted positions in my chair, I caught a glimmer of the voices and lost it just as fast.

But the overwhelming impression that I had from these voices was the thought of the color Blue ( kind of an iridescent blue ).

And no I don't think it was an attempt of any Indigo Kids trying to contact me. I'm not an Indigo Person.

I was wondering if anyone else has ever experienced anything similar to this event. Or if anyone knows if there is such a thing as Blue Noise?

Nursing home cat can sense death?

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN2531239020070726?feedType=RSS

CHICAGO (Reuters) - When Oscar the Cat visits residents of the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, the staff jumps into action -- Oscar can sense within hours when someone is about to die.

In his two years living in Steere's end-stage dementia unit, Oscar has been at the bedside of more than 25 residents shortly before they died, according to Dr. David Dosa of Brown University in Providence.

He wrote about Oscar in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"It's not that the cat is consistently there first," Dr. Joan Teno, a professor of community health at Brown University, who sees patients in the unit. "But the cat always does manage to make an appearance, and it always seems to be in the last two hours."

Raised at the nursing home since he was a kitten, Oscar often checks in on residents, but when he curls up for a visit, physicians and nursing home staff know it's time to call the family.

"I don't think this is a psychic cat," said Teno. "I think there's probably a biochemical explanation," she said in a telephone interview.

While pets are often used to bring comfort to the elderly in nursing home settings, Oscar's talent is special, though not unexpected.

"That is such a cat thing to do," said Thomas Graves, a feline expert and chief of small animal medicine at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.

Graves said there is no evidence to suggest cats can sense death, but he doesn't discount it for a minute.

Those things are hard to study. I think probably dogs and cats can sense things we can't," he said.

On a particular day detailed by Dr. Dosa, Oscar settled onto the bed of a patient in room 313.

His presence sent staff off to make calls and set up vigil.

When a grandson asked why the cat was there, his mother explained: "He is here to help Grandma get to heaven," according to Dosa's account.

She died a half an hour later.

I read this the other day on yahoo. It's really interesting. Wonder if my cat would ever do something like that? I doubt it though, he's too crazy.

Thanks and Goodbye!

I'm done being a Ghost Hunter. It's time to retire. It's been fun, and I have always enjoyed posting stories on various websites about my Ghostly Encounters. But it's time for me to embrace a quieter lifestyle.

Best of luck to you all in your Paranormal Quests!

You needn't respond to this Thread, as I will be deleting this site from my favorites list, along with all the other Paranormal sites I contribute to.

No hard feelings.

I'm just a tired old man. Looking for a couch with my name on it. LOL!

AKA Dinky Dave, Table Tipper, TT

Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.

I have seen a good many things in the hospital during my 6 years as a nurse. Most memorable was one night in the ICU when I was working by myself, with one patient and his wife in bed 6. Bed 3's call light would come on, i would turn it off, the light in the room would turn on, I would turn it off, the the TV came on and would keep coming on until I put the remote at the foot of the bed where i could see it from the desk. Finally, I had had it and walked into room 3 and said, "Look, it's been fun, but i have work to do. Please leave me alone." I got back around the desk and looked up just in time to see someTHING claw its way up the inside of the bed curtain. I screamed, the patient's wife screamed (she had come out to see who i was talking to), and the security guard nearly tore the door down trying to get to us. My dh was never a believer, until one night I woke up right before he smacked the bed. i thought I was dreaming at first, but something literally picked him up and slammed him back down. He has never since poo-poohed my being a believer.

Specializes in geriatrics,med/surg,vents.

I found Cherokee's good bye scary.I wonder what happened to make him quit like that,deleting all paranormal sites and all that.

Thanks and Goodbye!

I'm done being a Ghost Hunter. It's time to retire. It's been fun, and I have always enjoyed posting stories on various websites about my Ghostly Encounters. But it's time for me to embrace a quieter lifestyle.

Best of luck to you all in your Paranormal Quests!

You needn't respond to this Thread, as I will be deleting this site from my favorites list, along with all the other Paranormal sites I contribute to.

No hard feelings.

I'm just a tired old man. Looking for a couch with my name on it. LOL!

AKA Dinky Dave, Table Tipper, TT

I hope you are ok???

Sorry you do not want to read this thread anymore. The rest of us will enjoy reading added posts.

Come back and let us know on a new thread how ya are!!! xoxox

Specializes in ortho/neuro/general surgery.

Earlier this week on the surg/neuro/ortho floor the code lights outside an immobile pt's room suddenly started flashing, the operator called the code over the intercom, and everyone started racing into the pt's room, to find that she was fine and there was no other staff in the room. There is no way the pt could have pushed the code button herself, it was up on the wall way out of her reach, and no other staff had been in the room at the time.

A pt was in a room on the same floor for nearly a month with various comorbid medical problems and intestinal problems. She recently coded and died. Since then the room has had call light problems. The call light will all of a sudden show "cord out" on the call light computer control system at the desk, and when we go into fight with it, it stays on for several minutes no matter how many times we check connections. This particular room is a bit active since it's right by the desk so we often put seniors who come in, so we can keep an eye on 'em, that are admitted with something emergent but have many medical problems and do or don't have surgery but sometimes don't survive until discharge.

Specializes in Occ health, Med/surg, ER.

I finally have something to add to this thread....here it goes....

I was doing my leadership rotation at a long term care facility. One of the 1st semester students had a patient with dementia. I was very familiar with this 80 year old woman because she was my patient when I was in semester one.

She was easily confused and often talked nonsense. I humored her stories. However this gave me chills up my spine....I was making rounds on all the patients my semester one students had. When I checked on this particular patient, she was sleeping. I went to pull up the covers on her, you know, just to tuck her in and make her feel more comfortable....As I was pulling the covers up, she sat up slightly and said...."watch the little girls for me..." I said "What little girls, Mrs X?" She said, "You hear them, the little girls." I started to rule it out as confusion, but then she said..."Watch out for the little girls....I dont want that man over there to get them..." I immediately asked her "What man?" She repied..."That bad man over there." I quickly tucked her in and reassured her that she was ok... and then I got my butt out of there!!! A week or so later, one of my semester four classmates told me that she had passed away... Was she seeing ghosts??? :chair::eek:.

These are great!!

We should STICKY this thread and keep it going!!

I personally have not seen anything in my LTC facility, but we have a resident cat that walks the halls at night that does.

He will be strolling down a quiet, empty hall, stop, hunch up, jump up 3 ft in the air and take off like he is being chased by a ghost.

It's spooky to see !

I decided to become a nurse because of my grandmother, who was the light of my life. She died of lung cancer (treatment) just a few months after my daughter was born.

I was pretty much camping out with her in the hospital for the 7 days she spent there before she died, with my newborn in tow.

I told her so many times during those days that she could make it. I wasn't a nurse then, but I coached her through the anxiety, etc, etc, -- always adamant that she would make it.

She finally said to me on day 6 that "it's just my time." I fought that until day 7.

When she was struggling for breath on day 7, I said/asked "they can give you medicine to make you comfortable, but you will be out of it--you may not wake up--do you want the medicine?" Only a slight nod (yes) from my grandmother, and I gave the go-ahead to give morphine/ativan/whatever they could to ease her suffering.

They gave the medicine but my grandmother held on. She was barely breathing, but she held on for hours and hours.

I asked other family members to leave the room and I told her: "I understand that it is your time. I will miss you so much, but I know that you have to go. I'll be alright, grandma. I'll miss you, but I'll be alright. I love you. Go peacefully. I'll always remember and love you."

She died within minutes. It was totally peaceful. I would say it was a good death, if such a thing is possible.

Here's the really spooky portion of this story: my daughter, 3 months old, was on the bed when she died. My daughter started screaming when my grandmother died. She was inconsolable. I'm talking about at least 20 minutes of weird crying, like the world was coming to an end.

I thought: did my grandmother's spirit pass through my infant? Why did my normally happy, quiet infant start screaming at exactly that moment?

After that night, and for several nights, I wondered if my grandmother's spirit was inhabiting my infant. I felt my grandma's presence for days. I felt her presence at my bedside while I was sleeping--my daughter also sleeping in her bassinet at my bedside.

It was odd.

The feeling faded over a few days.

My daughter, now 4 years old, asks me about my grandmother often. If I miss her, if I'm sad that she's gone. She is so much like her. Odd.

+ Join the Discussion