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.

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.

Specializes in med-surg.
Yes! I read that book in the fifth grade ~ way too young to be reading that stuff ~ and since then I freak when I wake up at that time, which happens quite frequently. I blame that book on my insomnia.

The Amityville Horror was a fake. Kathy Lutz supposedly admitted it at one point and it is widely accepted as having been made up. Apparently she and George Lutz got into deep over thier heads financially and hatched a plan to get out from thier financial obligations. It was easy to do because of the murders in the home the year before.

since we're all stuck in retrogression, why not share some extraordinary stories..

i'll start.. when I was still working in a hospital one of the nurses shared her story, she told us that her patient was due for a blood extraction early in the morning.. then the med tech goes to the pt. room for blood extraction but the pt. refused because it was already done and showed her arm.. and indeed somebody already took some extractions..

but..

the med tech said that it could not happen since she was the only one on duty that time.. and that gives us goosebumps..

until now no one knew who did that.. :uhoh21:

Specializes in cardiac, ortho, med-surg.

oooh i have a couple! (i can't resist this topic!) back home in florida, i was passing an area of the hall that had no patients because they moved ortho to a different floor. i was walking with a cna and when we passed an empty room, we both distinctly heard an older female's voice ask us for a blanket. since she heard it at the same time as i did, i knew i wasn't imagining things. she was ready to peel out of there, but of course i went in to look in case there was actually someone in there lost. they were lost all right....

at another hospital in tennessee which shall remain nameless except that is a portal to h*ll, had more than one patient on more than one occasion say their feet were getting really hot, but no s/s were apparent except subjectively. then the legs, chest, so on, then a look of panic, and then they were gone. another kind of "don't let them take me!" panic. there are also resident ghosts that i saw myself, before i heard the stories. i was looking into a patient's room and saw him clearly in the reflection in the window. (night shift). then a black figure went across his side of the curtain, reflection unseen. it was so tangible i had to look to make sure no one was in there, because it was 1 am. they also mess with the iv pumps, which only register 3 numbers were found with 4, or with letters. when i mentioned the shadow to my co-workers, they had names for these people and acted like it was old info. this is okay?!

Working the 3-11 shift in a nursing home, I was doing my med pass when I was summoned by a CNA to a room. Upon entering, the CNA states, "I think she just died, while I was changing her!" I checked for breathin, circulation and the patient's orders. She was a DNR (Do Not Resucitate) then attempted to get a B/P. NOTHING..... so, I called to notify the Pt's son, who requested for Mom to be sent to the ER to be Pronounced, and they would go straight to the hospital. I contacted 911 (our protocol for transferring for pronouncal) and summoned the ambulance. Approximately 20 minutes passed before the ambulance arrived. The Paramedic and EMT followed thier protocol, and followed the same steps I had (breathing, circulation, and BP) and got NOTHING. By the time they loaded my patient, covered her, and set on the way to the hospital, 30-40 mins had passed. In transport to our local hospital the ambulance had to cross a Railroad track. When the ambulance crossed the tracks, the patient sat up, pulled the sheet from her head, and proceeded to point and shake her hand at the Paramedic screaming, "TAKE ME BACK, TAKE ME BACK RIGHT NOW! I MEAN IT, TAKE ME BACK RIGHT NOW!!!" The EMT driving pulled over to check out the commotion, the Paramedic exited the Ambulance and proceeded to Vomit. The paramedic then continued to the hospital, and phoned the nursing home to tell me what had happened. Approximately an hour later, the son phoned stating "I was SUPRISED to arrive at the ER and my mom GREET me! Did you perform CPR after talking to me, you know she was a DNR, right?" When the family was told of this incident, they simply said...."It just wasn't her time."

The only thing that I can come up with (even to this day) is......... the bumps caused by the railroad crossing, "jolted" her heart to start beating again!

Any other thoughts or ideas about this?????

BTW, the paramedic resigned when his shift was over the next morning!

i can't move!!! gosh.. if it was me.. i might die at that moment... goosebumps everywhere..

Specializes in Hospice, Med Surg, Long Term.

Having worked in Hospice for awhile, I know how common it is for people to talk to family members who have already passed on, prior to their own death.

I've been reading these many posts where the same thing occurs over and over.

I've never really been afraid of death. But I realized through these posts, that I don't have anyone to meet me on the other side. It has deeply saddened me. I have a daughter who God willing, will go after me. But other than that, I don't have anyone. My mother will go to hell, she is very evil, and I never knew my father. Maybe I'll have pets who will meet me, if they can care for humans. However pets do seem to prefer the company of men, sh**, guess I'm out of luck.

Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

Look over in the general discussion thread, there's a very long one about ghost stories.

:)

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