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...

Bump!

Specializes in ortho/neuro/general surgery.

Got some more to share.....

I was in a patient's room talking to her about an upcoming test when the lights flickered in the room. The two lights above her bed had been really dim and all of a sudden they flickered really bright and then went back to being dim. We both saw it. When I turned them on and off again a few times I couldn't get 'em to go bright again.

An LPN told me about once when she was sitting with a pt in a 1:1 observation. The pt was sleeping and the room was darkened. Our TVs are on a metal 'arm' that bends and moves around, so she had it facing her. It suddenly went up and then down again. She is a believer in ghosts, so she said "do it again" and it happened again.

i was reminded recently of an occurance which happen a long time ago when i first started nursing the aids epidemic was in full swing..at that time is was a death sentence there was no meds to treat we gave lomotil , cough syrup and apap but all we could do was watch them slip away

we had one pt who was deserted by his family, his friends his partner

only one little old lady came to visit him, he called aunt tasha who would come in and read the bible with him, i wasn't there when he died but the nurse who was asked the brother who came if there was any way they could get in touch with aunt tasha because she wasn't listed in chart...she said the brother gave her an icy stare and asked if she was trying to be funny, he said that they had a great aunt tasha but that she had died when they were children

Specializes in Occ health, Med/surg, ER.
i was reminded recently of an occurance which happen a long time ago when i first started nursing the aids epidemic was in full swing..at that time is was a death sentence there was no meds to treat we gave lomotil , cough syrup and apap but all we could do was watch them slip away

we had one pt who was deserted by his family, his friends his partner

only one little old lady came to visit him, he called aunt tasha who would come in and read the bible with him, i wasn't there when he died but the nurse who was asked the brother who came if there was any way they could get in touch with aunt tasha because she wasn't listed in chart...she said the brother gave her an icy stare and asked if she was trying to be funny, he said that they had a great aunt tasha but that she had died when they were children

Scary! :uhoh21:

These posts are great! I have two stories of my own. I worked at a local hospital on a telemetry floor about 10 years ago as a nurses aide while attending RN school. One night our census was very low and I was keeping myself busy with stocking rooms. I walked down a dark hallway to a closet with empty rooms all around me. I was reaching into the closet and i felt a tap on my shoulder. i turned around to find no one. I thought someone was playing a trick on me and ran into the room next to the closet after they tapped on me. I checked and no one in sight. I suddenly realized that my co-workers didn't play a trick on me, it was a ghost. I ran down the hall and sat at the nurses station. I must have had a scared look on my face because the secretary asked me what was wrong. I told her she wouldn't believe me but told her anyways. She said, "oh yeah, thats the ghost on the floor." Hey thanks for telling me that during orientation, I wouldn't have taken the job. Fast forward to 10 years later. I was on the same floor with nursing students and walked down the hall during the day to the same closet. I look across the hall to the empty room and there was an outline of a old women sitting in a w/c next to the window. i didn't freak out, I just stood there and watched her. She just sat there looked at me and then slowly disappeared. Again one of the staff members asked me if I was ok. I told her what I had seen. She said,"oh thank god someone else has seen her besides me." I don't know if that was the same ghost I has seen 10 years before that or a new one.

My second story is my house

Dh and I bought an old farm house about 7 years ago. It was a hole in the ground but we have remodeled it slowly and it is great now. But when we first moved in I was pregnant with our first child. I was on bed rest and therefore here all the time. Mostly alone while dh worked. As soon as we moved in, I felt a presence in the house. dh denied it. We would hear very heavy objects being thrown on the floor upstairs all the time. But there wasn't a single thing upstairs before we remodeled. No furniture, tools or anything. Dh still denied it that we had a ghost. I would see a male figure out of the corner of my eye all the time when I was napping or alone. I was really freaked out. Then I had my daughter and brought her home from the hospital. Well, my male ghost was even more active. I figured he was interested in the new life in the house. I finally could not take it anymore with the noises and sighting. I started talking to the ghost and invited him to be part of the family. i told him he could only stay in our home if he protected us and watched out for the kids. The noises stopped. I would still see him once in a while and feel his presence, but the noises stopped. After having my second child he became active again but I again asked him to stop and stick with our agreement. ( yes, dh thinks I am nuts too) The noises stopped again. But I knew he was still there. Fast forward to 2-3 years later. Our neighbors daughter came over to meet my children to do some babysitting. Her great grandma lived in our home before we bought it and the house had been in the family for 100 years before we bought it. We showed her around so she could see all the work we had done on the house. As she was about to leave, she turned to me and asked, " so, have you seen the male ghost?" I just looked at dh with a look. How could he denied it now?? This is the first time we are meeting her and she mentioned the male ghost. Something I had been saying for years. She told me that it was some uncle that was very protective over the kids. He would walk around upstairs where the kids rooms were during the night to make sure the kids were safe in there beds. So, I felt I had made a good choice to ask him to stay and watch over the kids and our home. I still see him once in awhile but I am no longer afraid. I know he watched out for the kids. A few weeks ago I had a very bad dream, so I walked up stairs to check on the kids. As i was checking in on them in their rooms, it sounded like someone with very heavy feet racing up the stairs. I stopped and waited to see if it was dh. Nope. I looked out into the hall, and no one. I assume he saw it was me upstairs and stopped. But it was a little freaking. The kids have never mentioned seeing him, so I am fine with it. I don't want them to see the ghost. Yes I am sane person. I just have a ghost in my house.

Hope the post keeps going.

Specializes in MR Peds, geris, psych, DON,ADON,SSD.

bump!!!

Specializes in ortho/neuro/general surgery.

I guess I've been using this thread to chronicle the things I see or hear about at work.

Two nights ago I was helping another nurse with an elderly female pt. The other nurse left the room briefly to get supplies. While she was gone the pt started telling me about an old woman who was standing in the room. I felt a goofy feeling to the right of me, kind of like someone was standing by me but I didn't get the feeling she was angry or malevolent. The pt kept saying she felt so sorry for her. That room has been told to be haunted.

Last night on oncology the bathroom call light went on as a pt was walking back to bed from the bathroom. I didn't think much about it at the time and thought she must have turned it on, even though I'd been right outside the door the whole time she was using the bathroom. Later that night, around 4 am maybe, I was checking med sheets and had just done her chart and walked by and the bathroom call light went on again. The pt was in bed. Nobody else pulled it. The nurse aide saw it all, too.

Seems like since I've become more accepting of little things like this at work, I've been seeing more of 'em.

i wasn't there when he died but the nurse who was asked the brother who came if there was any way they could get in touch with aunt tasha because she wasn't listed in chart...she said the brother gave her an icy stare and asked if she was trying to be funny, he said that they had a great aunt tasha but that she had died when they were children

I'm new to the board!!

This is a lovely account!! I was reading these very cool stories...but this touched my heart and it rings very true.

I have a friend who is a hospice nurse and she also worked with Mother Theresa's Missionaries of Charity mission for Aid patients in New York and she had stories like this all the time.

Many Aids patients are totally abandoned. God always sends an angel for them.

~M~

Bump!

I love this thread!

:chair:

Specializes in Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.

OH MY GOSH!!!! The spirits were active at work tonight! We are coming up on our one year anniversary of opening. On Sunday we are having a memorial service for everyone who died from Sept. last year through June this year, over 300 people. Tonight, we heard doors opening, saw shadows down the hallway, heard male voices whispering, lights were going back on when we turned them off. YEESH! I was getting a bit spooked, glad to leave there tonight.:sofahider

Specializes in Med/surg/tele/OR.

Had a patient a month ago that was dying of peritonial cancer. Was very sick and family was disillusioned. A couple of hospice consults but family refused each time. Patient had a tenchoff cathether that was drained periodically to relieve abdominal pressure. On a Friday I was working and the patient was distraught in the morning said he had dreams of the devil taking him the night before. (Patient was very sick but not in immediate distress) Talked to him a bit about dreams and went about my normal day. On Monday when I came back another hospice consult was scheduled but I knew the outcome. Patient started to go into respiratory distress. Lungs with crackles with IVF infusing at 150 cc an hour. Called intern. Lasix given and tenchoff catheter drained for comfort of patient. (Each day could probably take off 3000 cc of fluid btw) After patient started to feel better, administered pain meds as ordered and patient took a nap. About 7pm (shift change of course) family says patient is very anxious and is screaming im going to die. Patient assessed by midnight shift, ativan given pt was just very distessed. Worked Thursday and Friday both horrible days did not take care of patient (different assisgnment) Sunday read the obits at home Patient had died on Saturday. In the meantime patient had been made hospice and comfortable. Probably the dreams the previous week were a clue to the impending death

Specializes in critical care transport.

Over this Summer I did a nursing internship at the hospital (I am a nursing student, and I've read every one of these posts). I did a spin-off in the ER, and a lady came in with hx of renal failure, but she had felt SOB, and so came in.

I heard her daughter say that she sees angels sometimes, and I perked up and asked her (professionally, but inside I am really "on the edge of my seat"), "So, your daughter says you see angels?" She replied, "Oh yes, sometimes. I had a beautiful lady come down." I asked, "A pretty lady?" "Yes, she was really nice." "Did she say anything to you?" "No, but I could tell that she was really nice."

Okay, I have already done my psych rotations through school, she was with it. She told all of us about a friend she had that was dying, and said that her friend's dead husband would come down and visit with her, but told her it wasn't time yet.

My current instructor told us that she's experienced stuff too- call lights going off, other nurses seeing ghosts, etc.

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