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...

[RN4Nascar]

I've been to Eastern State. I couldn't stay long, I got way too nauseated and I felt like I had been in an ice bath... I've always be sensitive to these kind of things though. I considered the possibility of a EMF, but since the prison was so old, I highly doubt it.

I can imagine..esp being sensitive!! There is so much residual energy there too. Also people subconciously remember the stories of horror from ESP. So you can help but feeling the boo boo jeebies! lol

But if your sensitive it makes it 100% worse.

There is a floor in our hospital..when it was not used at nites...an orderly told me the call lights would go on all by themselves...He said he never ran so fast lol!!!

He was down there @ 3am. Getting dirty sheets from the next ward over.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

Greetings and Salutations to All! :)

Being an RN since 1980 has given me many an interesting experience. However, the most 'moving' one is actually a personal paranormal one involving my father.

My father became seriously ill for over a year before dying September 18th, 1997. Dad's admitting DX was one of a severe stroke leaving him unable to speak. I was the only adult child living in the same town as Dad and his second wife (my Mom died when I was 27; Dad remarried a widow on September 17th, 1988). My sister (Patty) came to visit with my Dad as I had called her to let her know that I "sensed" he would die soon (his VS were most transient in addition to recent onset of "Doll's eye" syndrome). Patty went to the hospital with my youngest son (Michael) to visit our Dad (I took a much needed night off from visiting Dad that night and instead gave my attention to my husband and other family matters).

Patty and Michael returned from their visit very peaceful yet sad as they too "felt" Dad would soon be passing away. My father's wife was not feeling well and thus she didn't visit Dad that day either. As I was talking with my sister that night I noticed a red streak on her naturally blond hair---> it (the red streak) wasn't readily apparent **until** she brushed through her hair as she was talking. I asked Patty if she somehow had lipstick within her hair and she was perplexed as to why I was asking such a seemingly absurd question! When she went to the bathroom to see for herself what I was talking about she didn't have a logical explanation either. The red streak was dominant on the left side of her head/hair looking at her from the front. Despite attempting to wash the 'streak' out of her hair it simply wouldn't go away.... Again, we both attempted to bring logical explanations to this 'phenomena'; to no avail! :stone

The following day Patty returned to Florida with peace in her heart that she had been fortunate enough to spend time with Dad; although she too felt "sad" to leave. On September 17th, 1997 the family celebrated Dad's 9th wedding anniversary with his wife despite both of them not being in the best of health (to say the least). They loved one another and all of us "kids" so much; what a tribute to life they gave to us!!! :Melody:

During the night (early morning hours of September 18th) the hospital called me and said that my father had taken a "turn for the worse, please come in ASAP". When we arrived at the hospital it turned out that my father had a brain anuerysm ("bleed") that couldn't be stopped. This diagnosis seems to have been "picked up" via Patty's visit (remember the unexplained 'red streak') only hours before Dad's physical death. My father's PCP had started a MS drip to bring comfort and this was also consistent with his living will (no heroics, DNR status). Dad's wife accompanied my family to the hospital and she was able to help him pass into the next world with her soothing voice and loving touch.

I believe that the "red streak" discovered on Patty's hair was the way my Dad communicated with us that he was dying (he was asymptomatic at the time of this DX (cerebral bleed). Dad was also able to 'communicate' nonverbally to Lee (his wife) that he was so fortunate to have had 9 years of a truly beautiful marriage with a woman he loved dearly. You see, Dad died the day **following** his 9 year anniversary to Lee....it seems his inner will wanted to complete 9 years of marriage. :) :balloons:

I realize that this 'story' is not apparently a spooky one yet it definitely is one that makes me think how much in life we cannot explain....

Lee died almost one year after Dad died at the young age of 66 from lung cancer yet she had never smoked a cigarettte in her life! I know that statistically 15% of all lung cancers are not tobacco related but nevertheless it remains "odd" to me that she would have this kind of DX and a rapid death as a result.

I have had many a perplexing situation over my 25 year career yet the one with my Dad still is so fresh in my mind. I hope this 'story' gives one comfort and hope that our loved ones continue to communicate despite seemingly horrible DX's and resulting consequences....

Dad lived his life with the motto that one should live passionately and with the knowledge that anything is possible; one has to visualize their dream and "make things happen." I remain grateful for this experience and again I trust this touches your heart as you go out and give care to those so in need of our loving and skilled nursing care!!!

~*Noko*~

Very poignant story.. Thank you for sharing.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

how wonderful that must have been for you!!!!! i had a resident who always told me to say hi to her family (from heavan) and she always said her husband was right by the door under a light that is on the ceiling i always looked and said hi and she always squeezed my hand.........not to long ago she joined her husband and the first time i worked after when i walked in the room the light blinked several times.........thinking it was a bad light i kept working..and it stopped on my way out...the light blinked again so i looked up and said hello the light stopped i had such a peaceful feeling then and now whenever i think of her...................

This is what nursing is all aabout. Wonderful post.

[grace90, LPN, LVN]

I have another non nursing story and since everyone seems interested in all things involving ghosts and spooky occurences, I will go ahead and post it.

You know it! Bring it on! :balloons:

[nursejojo]

ok here is my story....became quite close to one of our patients who was terminal as he had been in the ward for a few months. he was the nicest guy you could ever meet. anyway, finished working on that ward and over the next week would often think about said patient and wonder if he was still with us. anyway, one night i went to bed and kept having this dream that jim[not real name] was standing at the bottom of my bed trying to tell me something but i couldnt make out what he was saying. this kept waking me up over the course of the night and each time i went back to sleep i would dream that jim was at the bottom of my bed. in the morning i told husband of dreams and that even although i was kinda spooked i wasnt frightened by it. a couple of hours later i got a call saying that jim had passed away at 2am. a shiver went down my spine i kid you not. do you think it was him trying to say goodbye?

[nursesherry]

This story didn't involve a ghost but still scared the pants off of me. One night while working LTC I was leaving my station to go down to the break room for a drink. The front doors of the facility had two long windows on each side of the doors. As I passed by the front doors I saw someone looking in one of the windows. It looked like Beetlejuice! Black around the eyes, red lips with blood running down the sides and freaky hair that stood up on the sides. Have you ever seen the cartoons where the character gets scared and tries to take off running but just can't seem to get traction and take off. Well that was me. I was trying to take off running but wasnt going anywhere for what felt like minutes but was a few seconds. Finally I took off and ran to the next nurses station. I had anohter nurse go with me and we peeked around the corner. He was still there. She said it does look like Beetlejuice! We called the police and they were there almost immediately. Ends up it was a drunk man who had been in a bar fight. His eyes were blacked and mouth busted. He was looking for the emergency room next door to our facility but was too drunk to figure out which building was which.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

Hi, This is my 1st post on this board. :) I just had to reply. Although my most significant experiences did not happen as a "nursing ghost story" per se. Although some have.

In 1984, I was preparing to be a bridesmaid in a friends wedding and I was expecting at the time. My friend was having another friend alter our dresses. Well, my dress came back and it was about 3 sizes too big and too long, so my Gram, whom I was very close to, as I was her 1st Grandchild, said, "I'll do the alterations for you honey". During my many fittings, we would always talk about my having her 1st Great Grandchild and how she was also making the netting for the bassinet too. She swore it would be a girl, and made a pink one. As we were getting close to my last fitting, she told me to stand up on the chair with my heels on carefully, as she could not bend over and wanted to check the length. She was 74 yrs young at the time. God I loved her. Well, I put my heel right through the back of the gown, tearing a huge hole in it at the bottom! She calmly told me, "Get down off the chair now Emilee and please go home, I will fix it". I couldn't apologize enough as I walked out the door, she had worked so hard on it for me and I know she was a bit perturbed about it and just didn't want me to see her frustration.

A few nights later, I was sound asleep in bed, when I felt the hair on my forehead being brushed aside and felt a very distinct kiss on it and a very warm embrace. I sat straight up and looked over at my husband at the time, thinking it was him, and he was over on the other side of the bed snoring away. I sat there with an odd feeling I couldn't understand and looked at the clock, it said 10:02pm. I just couldn't shake what I know I felt and had not dreamt.

I got up to get a water and sat on my couch for about 45 mins trying to rationalize what I felt, when my phone rang. It was my Mom and she said, "Em, can you come to the house, Gram passed away about 45 mins ago. She was sitting in her rocking chair around 10pm, said to my Grampa, "Al, I love you, please hold my hand, I'm leaving now", he took her hand confused, and she closed her eyes and passed away". OMG! She came to me while I slept, her final goodbye and kissed me before she moved on. I told my Dad and my Grampa and they both started to cry, as I was her favorite and it comforted them very much. For me, I'll be honest, I was afraid to look in the mirror and see her looking back at me for days. Really. I think I would have had a heart attack myself!

Later on, I took the rocking chair she died in, for when I had my baby. Everyone was too freaked out to sit in it or touch it, but I wasn't. When I had my Son, it was not a girl like she thought, I would rock him in that chair and I felt her there with me. Many times when I was sooo tired doing night feedings, I felt my hair being stroked and such a sense of calm. A few times, I'd see that chair rocking on its own while my son slept. I knew she was there watching over her 1st Great Grandchild and I would see it and say, "Hi Gram, he's beautiful isn't he"? I still when in distress or stressed out, talk to her. I feel her there always. I'll sit in her rocking chair and talk to her. I always feel better afterward and somehow the troubles I had, I found a way to work through them after my "session" with Gram.

Now my Grampa, he didn't do well after she passed. She was his life, being married well over 50 yrs. He would cry every night for her. He replaced every name in his bible with her name, painstakenly handwritting it in! I don't know why, but he did. It gave him comfort. He had developed Alzheimer's and would call only *ME* by my Grams name everytime he saw me, he said, "I see you there". Later on, he developed pneumonia, and lapsed into a coma, and was not given long to live. We would visit him and I can't explain how he looked. It was just not him anymore. He was a shell of a person, who did not come out of his coma. My Dad and I were with him one night, I was talking to him, hoping he heard me when I looked upward and saw a flash of light. I asked my Dad if he saw it and he just looked at me stunned. I knew my Gram had come to take him home. We both took his hand and I said, "Grampa, its okay, take Grams hand now, she's here waiting" and my Dad said, "Its okay Dad, go to Mom now, let go, we love you". No lie, in a coma, unresponsive, he sat straight up in the bed(scared me, I didn't expect that, he was in a coma after all), extended his right arm and hand upward towards the ceiling as if reaching for something, lied back down and he was gone. He took her hand.

I have many more experiences I could post about, even from family pets that have gone to other experiences I have witnessed, but didn't want my 1st post to be too long, as it is already! :wink2: Sorry. Just sharing.

Emilee

Emilee, do come back and post some more of your stories. Yours are definitely not too long, and we welcome you to Allnurses.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

Also, you should consider contacting serious researchers in haunting/parapsychology about that incident. You have multiple witnesses seeing something that cannot be explained by any conceivable rational explanation (a guy floats, speaks demonically, dies, and comes back to life). Were it properly documented and recorded for posterity this would probably go down as one of the most dramatic incidents in parapsychology in American history.

Don't you think that ugly black thing with the scream was a demon? I do.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

I'm too tired to continue, but before I go, I just want to mention a recent incident with my only full brother who was my playmate when we were children. About a week ago, after moving back to NYS from Richmond, VA, he suddenly gasped, "I can't breathe!!!! I'm very well acquainted with the ability to not be able to breathe. I am a COPDer. Anyway, when they got him to the hospital, they had to defibrillate him twice. Now he wears a pacemaker with an automatic defibrillator in his chest, but it was faulty due to some clogged coronary arteries. He was airflighted to Good Samaritan and they did the procedure, after he was on a vent for 2 days, and was stabilized. Then he was released.

He had one very expensive cab ride home last noc $165. Anyway, I phoned him, and thankfully he answered. He talked about his shocking experience, and told me when the defibrillator in his chest went wacky, it shocked him twice. He said he never wants to experience that again. I told him that was because his heart was ready to stop beating twice, and they defibrillated him.

Also, we had a resident who died in this house (I live in a hospice house) not too many months ago. Anyway he had been a wet breather with cheynes-stokes respirations for 2 days. On the third day, he began to breathe normally, so he got out of bed, got dressed in his good clothing, since the house had already called his family to tell them he was dying, They arrived around mid morning, and he sat up and visited with them that entire day. He died early the next morning.

I have had several experiences with unusual activity here and while living in my apt prior to coming here.

Just yesterday, while viewing a favorite televangelist, my TV went mute 3 x while she was talking. Sometimes the TV changes channels all by itself, and sometimes my ceiling lite or the ceiling fan starts when nobody is touching anything.

More another time.

[Becca608]

On the tape you can distinctly hear the one Paramedic talking to the patient, along with at least one First Responder (they did go in with the crew), and also the other Paramedic on the phone in the next room talking to Medical Control at a hospital in the next county. What you CAN NOT hear, not even the hint of a whisper, was the voice of the patient. I've talked with both medics (one since deceased as well as others present, and all swear he was speaking in a conversational volume but with a wierd, unearthly, deep voice. He identified himself as some sort of demon as I recall, and said his intent was to cross over to the "other side."

This kid was about 16, and of course was taken in for a psych eval such as it was worth. Within a year he was found in a local cemetary - quite deceased of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The tape was perfect, the blank spots where he should have been speaking - you could hear the crew responding to his reponses - had only the background noise you'd expect to be washed over by his closer voice. I would never have believed the tale if the tape had not been saved and I listened to it on two seperate occasions.

Ayrman

I used to do paranormal investigations and EVPs is a hobby.

This is by far the creepiest yet! I'd love to hear that tape (darn HIPAA)!!!:sofahider

[Becca608]

I work in LTC also. I had heard many reports of the patients claiming to see children in there rooms, making noise, rocking in a rocking chair or running around getting into trouble. Usually when the patients start seeing the children, someone passes away shortly after. One evening I went into a patients room to re-check a PT/INR. I told her I was sorry that I had to wake her up to do this. She said she had not been able to get to sleep anyway until she got the little girl calmed down to sleep. She patted the bed saying the little girl was sleeing right there in the bed with her. The next morning, the patient accross the hall passed away.:uhoh21:

Ifind it interesting that there are all of these trouble-making children in LTC facilities...maybe they are projections from the residents themselves? There is so little we really know about the human mind....

[Becca608]

I found the most amazing and scary ghost video EVER! iam always looking for evidence of ghosts and paranormal well anyway i found this.

happy halloween!

Well thanks Trendy. I had just made myself a cup of tea and drowsily perusing this thread and thinking of going to bed early before starting a new week of clinicals. Thank you for the adrenaline rush and reminder that I should be staying up late to work on my term paper that's due in 2 weeks.:trout:

lol