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...

[nursejojo]

gymratt33, also have ghost in my house. like to think it my grandpa paying a visit. have wine glasses that were v.expensive and i am very particular about them. my dh brought me some wine into bed and i put the glass on my bedside table, next morning the glass was on my dresser way over the other side of the room. most recent- just the other day i was v upset...stressed at work, rubbish pay, events to organise etc and dh had went to care for his father who has pd, anyway having a wee cry to myself when my fairy lights that were turned off came on

[nursejojo]

I heard this story from a friend of mine, who is also a fellow nursing student but from another university. One night, while they were on a night shift, a 9-year-old female child unfortunately died in the Pedia Ward. My friend was the one assigned to perform post-mortem care to the said patient. So there he was, cleaning the patient's body and all. He placed a red bracelet in the patient's right hand, as it was the policy of the hospital to place a red tag on the right hand of all patients who are pronounced dead. After performing his tasks, he was on his way to the elevator when suddenly, the little girl came running after him! Terrified, he quickly pushed the close button so that the elevator would close right away and bring him to safety down to the lower floor.

While inside the elevator, an old woman in hospital gown asked him why he closed the elevator door right away when a child wanted to board in. Still overwhelmed with fear, he explained to the old lady "That was the child that I just performed post-mortem care a while ago. She is already dead. Did you saw the red tag on her right arm? That is the mark for all dead patients here in this hospital..." The old woman raised her right arm and replied... "Similar to this?"

My friend was found unconcious inside the elevator a few moments later. He never stepped inside the said hospital again. Ever.

OMG........how scared am i???:uhoh21: at work just now and convinced someone is blowing in my ear. could just be the a.c though

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

i get that feeling sometimes. but usually its after reading this thread or watching a ghost movie

Many times. After I finish reading this thread I'll post some personal experiences.

[nursejojo]

at last i have finished all 113 pages. it only took me a week.....lets keep them coming.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

I live just north of Boston. About 3 miles from me in Danvers, MA there is an old state hospital with a very very lengthy history. It was built in the late 1800's as a mental hospital that housed patients with every mental illness you can imagine. Unfortunately alot of the patients were teenagers whose parents dumped them there with "failure to socialize" and silly things like that..most likely they were just teenagers. The began doing lobodomies, shock therapy and water therapy, along with some procedures that were not even remotely acceptable. We all know what mental health was like in the 1900's, non existent. There was a lot of abuse that went on there. If you look at a picture of Danvers State from the air it looks like a bat. The wards that were furthest away form the main building housed the extreme patients. I have heard more creepy stories from nurses who worked there (including my dad who trained there in nursing school in 74). It closed in 86 and remained empty and in disrepair until this year. Kids used to party up there and there was a few incidents of cult worship going on there too. Google it and you will be freaked out! Anyway, two stories related.

Danvers state was heavily patrolled and guarded since the early 90's I can't say how I was able to go up there but I did with 2 other people. It is a sprawling place on many acres of farmland (it was a "self contained city" had its own everything) I had been wanting to see it up close for years, and I finally got the chance. WE parked in front of the main entrance. I got out of the car and walked up to the front door. It was sort of open so we pushed it open all the way. I saw a long corridor with the creepiest wheelchair I have ever seen. I suddenly had the most intense feeling of dread come over me. I felt like I was rooted to the ground. I heard a voice say "get out'. You can bet my butt was back in that car as fast as my legs would carry me. I refused to go in and look around (which I get razzed about all the time because all kids that grew up around here try to get into danvers state). I went to work the day after and was getting sheets out of the linen closet. Its not uncommon to have sheets marked with area hospitals names on them, they come back with the patients. I pull out a sheet and take it in to make a bed. I flip it open and don't you nkow it has "PROPERTY OF DANVERS STATE" printed on it. I put it in a bio bag and threw it out with the hazmat!

I had a patient who was at danvers state until 1986 when they closed. She never left the nursing home I worked at out of fear we would send her back. She would flip if you tried to send her to the doc or for tests or what have you. The only time she went out of the building was the day she died.

When it closed in 86 a lot of patients were just released with no place to go. Courtest of budget cuts, so alot of them just kinda migrated back there and lived together until they were forced out. Theres a lot of info on and it in 2004 a movie was filmed there called "Session 9" if you want the scare of your life rent it! It is seriously one of the best movies ever. David Caruso is in it. Anyway, look it up and read up on it..theres a lot more to the story..oh by the way we tried to save it as it is a historical site but a big wig company bought it and now its being renovated into conds...maybe I'll buy one.

I just looked up "Session 9" and it looks really creepy to me. In fact there is also murder in it. I for one will not be purchasing it, but keep these stories coming.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

I have another one too but, its really not a ghost story, its just kinda weird. We had an aide orientating one night, it was her first night. She was doing really well and seemed to like it. I was sitting at the nursing station doing my charting and the aide takes her lunch she goes into the break room and never comes out. I saw her go into the break room and I would of seen her come out because the break room is right in front of this nursing station, I would have heard her come out too because the doors beep. She didn't leave out of the front or back doors either. The hallway to the back door was beside the break room in front of me and the front door was to the right of me. I worked third shift and all the alarms on the doors were turned on so, I had the pleasure of going to the doors and turning the alarms off manually every time someone went outside and the alarms never went off. She couldn't have gone out of a window because they don't open. I don't know where she went but, we never saw her again. I asked my supervisor about it a couple of weeks later and she said that the aide never came to pick up her check for the half of the night she worked. They called the phone number she gave and it was a wrong number. So, they mailed the check to the address she gave and it came back, "Return to sender, no one by that name at this address." Kinda weird, isn't it? Wonder where she went?

I believe she was a ghost.

[herecomestrouble]

rented "Session Nine" recently,we all enjoyed it,it was creepy!!

[karlita]

I was working in the ED one night as a Tech when we had admitted a man in his 40's for obs there in the unit. His monitor started beeping because his pulseox was reading O2 sats were in the mid 80's. I went into the room to check it out. The pt was fine, and wondering why the machine was beeping. I silenced the alarm and put the pulse ox on a different finger figuring it was not on correctly and reading wrong. As soon as I sat down the monitor started beeping again. The RN checked him and said we could just take the pulseox off so he could sleep since he didn't even need it now. I took the pulse ox off his finger, put it in the basket under the monitor, and it stopped reading and beeping. Again, after I sat down at the nurse's station the monitor started beeping showing the sats were in the low 80's high 70's. His Rn told me I could just disconnect the darn thing. I went back in, the pt by now is kind of frustrated and jokes to me it must be a ghost. I told him I would disconnect it so it wouldn't bug him anymore. As I reached up to disconnect it I stopped cold, and the pt said, "What's wrong?" Without thinking I said, "Um, it's already disconnected." He looked at me like he hoped I was just kidding, but I wasn't. I told him not to worry that we'd keep an eye on him, but he seemed a little uneasy and scared about the whole thing. I didn't blame him it creeped me out too! Good thing it didn't happen again for the rest of the night!

Also, while working as a phlebotomist one night I went into a pt's room to draw his am labs. The CNAs or RNs usually waited for the phlebs to come by so they could follow us into the room to get the pt's vitals. When the pt asked me who was with me I turned expecting to see either the CNA or the RN, but no one was there, I had closed the door behind me, and it was a private room. I told him there wasn't anyone with me to which he smiled and responded that there was an angel behind me. It didn't make me uneasy, it was actually comforting because I was going through some really difficult times. It was nice to think someone was watching over me.

This one is out of the hospital and not really a ghost story, but strange to say the least. When my mom was pregnant with my youngest sister (a very welcome surprise since mom thought she couldn't have more kids) I was 16. Mom had a really difficult pregnancy with her. One day I was in my room with my door closed, radio as loud as it would go, singing my heart out to what ever song was playing when I clearly heard my mom shout my name. I came out of my room really annoyed. She was standing in the kitchen over a cup she had just dropped and asked me to pick it up. Now extremely annoyed, I laughed, rolled my eyes, and (being 16) I told her I couldn't believe she called me all the way from my room just to pick up a cup for her. She told me she hadn't called me, that she had thought about it, but decided not to and right then I had come out of my room. We had several of these 'incidents' through out her pregnancy, but none since.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

I'm living in a hospice house, because when I came here 23 months ago, I was getting extremely ill, and was in a lot of pain. Since then I got myself a doc who believes me, and he has gotten me back a couple times. I no longer am ready to die, even though I'm currently in ESCOPD. I am now stable, and want to move out on my own. This is one of the reasons.

Just this week, we had 3 people on my floor. One was yet very active, and we always ate together. Well a couple who are volunteers would bring a favorite me every Tuesday night, and was something we both looked forward to. My favorite night happened last Tuesday. They brought Lemon (I don't like meringue) pie for dessert, and the main course was sloppy joes. We had not had lemon pie since I have been here, and since I don't like meringue, they brought some whipped cream in a can.

After we ate the sloppy joes, we ate the lemon pie topped with lots of whipped cream. We joked around a lot, and I told the couple I, who own an electric wheelchair now 6 years, and have had it so long I named it Nelly. The other resident had just bought a new standard wheelchair, and I jokingly told them me and Cathy, the other resident's name, were going to go down the street together with my Nellie pushing hers, and Nellie was going to hollar, "Wheeee!", while Cathy yelled, "Eeeeek!" I so wanted Cathy to smile and to laugh. She didn't have very much of that in her life. She had Parkinsons disease, but was far from the advanced stage.

We ate the rest of our special meal the following day, Wednesday, for lunch.

Cathy was given fried rice, but I was given the sloppy joe. When the aide gave us the lemon pie, it was small pieces. I asked her if she was going to eat what was left over. She said no, so when she left the kitchen, I got up and split the rest of the pie between Cathy and I. Then I got the can of whipped cream out of the fridge, and mounded the whipped cream so high on Cathy's piece, you couldn't see the pie anymore.

Then Cathy shoved the fried rice over to me, but I declined it. She then asked me to give her 2 napkins. After I did that, she took the piece of pie, and began to eat it with savor. When she dropped some on the table, I wiped it up, and left the napkin in place on the table. She ate the whole thing and was satisfied, as was I.

We left the table, and I came upstairs to read some more of this thread, while Cathy went in the livingroom downstairs to watch TV.

She was found dead at 9 AM Thursday morning when the aide was passing the meds. I was totally shocked, because we all expected the woman in the room across the hall from mine who had already been dying to hear she had died. But when I heard Cathy's name, I was so shocked, as we all were, I said I wanted to go on my computer, because I needed to process the news of Cathy's death, and felt being on my computer was the best way. Later that day, I accepted it. Her boyfriend visited me last night and told me that they spoke with one another nightly after she went to bed. He in Indiana and she here. He said she felt she was going to die soon, and asked him to pray for her. He said he cried after their last 3 conversations. Then he got the news.

None of the rest of us knew.

The woman in the room across the hall from mine died during the night last night. Now I'm left all alone once again on this floor. Strange thing is, they were both at least 10 years younger than me.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

you all have nothing to worry about, ghosts are entirely made up in the mind. think about it, it almost always happens at night or when you are by yourself, and it goes against every physics law we know. all the people who have seen ghosts, yet there is absolutley no proof, It makes for good entertainment though and i'm not trying to spoil that.... i love ghost stories myself, but some people are mentioning they are frightened while reading these posts, and there just isn't anything to worry about.

Then how come just before our 100 year old farm house burned to the ground, taking my grandfather's and my mother's lives after a friend was sitting at the kitched table on a spring morning, and a hand reached in and closed the door? Kindly explain that. Also my pet beagle yelped after the front door opened, my grandmother was in bed in a room off of the living room and I wasn't even home.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

when i'm not zonked after a night shift i'll have to pass along a true story from gettysburg, pa with a medical bent. that town is truly haunted, and has more than it's share of medical apparitions. i can promise you a hair-raising story. alas, i am not long for the wakeful world as i go back again tonight.

ayrman

especially the battlefield.

[Sabby_NC]

I'm living in a hospice house, because when I came here 23 months ago, I was getting extremely ill, and was in a lot of pain. Since then I got myself a doc who believes me, and he has gotten me back a couple times. I no longer am ready to die, even though I'm currently in ESCOPD. I am now stable, and want to move out on my own. This is one of the reasons.

Just this week, we had 3 people on my floor. One was yet very active, and we always ate together. Well a couple who are volunteers would bring a favorite me every Tuesday night, and was something we both looked forward to. My favorite night happened last Tuesday. They brought Lemon (I don't like meringue) pie for dessert, and the main course was sloppy joes. We had not had lemon pie since I have been here, and since I don't like meringue, they brought some whipped cream in a can.

After we ate the sloppy joes, we ate the lemon pie topped with lots of whipped cream. We joked around a lot, and I told the couple I, who own an electric wheelchair now 6 years, and have had it so long I named it Nelly. The other resident had just bought a new standard wheelchair, and I jokingly told them me and Cathy, the other resident's name, were going to go down the street together with my Nellie pushing hers, and Nellie was going to hollar, "Wheeee!", while Cathy yelled, "Eeeeek!" I so wanted Cathy to smile and to laugh. She didn't have very much of that in her life. She had Parkinsons disease, but was far from the advanced stage.

We ate the rest of our special meal the following day, Wednesday, for lunch.

Cathy was given fried rice, but I was given the sloppy joe. When the aide gave us the lemon pie, it was small pieces. I asked her if she was going to eat what was left over. She said no, so when she left the kitchen, I got up and split the rest of the pie between Cathy and I. Then I got the can of whipped cream out of the fridge, and mounded the whipped cream so high on Cathy's piece, you couldn't see the pie anymore.

Then Cathy shoved the fried rice over to me, but I declined it. She then asked me to give her 2 napkins. After I did that, she took the piece of pie, and began to eat it with savor. When she dropped some on the table, I wiped it up, and left the napkin in place on the table. She ate the whole thing and was satisfied, as was I.

We left the table, and I came upstairs to read some more of this thread, while Cathy went in the livingroom downstairs to watch TV.

She was found dead at 9 AM Thursday morning when the aide was passing the meds. I was totally shocked, because we all expected the woman in the room across the hall from mine who had already been dying to hear she had died. But when I heard Cathy's name, I was so shocked, as we all were, I said I wanted to go on my computer, because I needed to process the news of Cathy's death, and felt being on my computer was the best way. Later that day, I accepted it. Her boyfriend visited me last night and told me that they spoke with one another nightly after she went to bed. He in Indiana and she here. He said she felt she was going to die soon, and asked him to pray for her. He said he cried after their last 3 conversations. Then he got the news.

None of the rest of us knew.

The woman in the room across the hall from mine died during the night last night. Now I'm left all alone once again on this floor. Strange thing is, they were both at least 10 years younger than me.

Just wanted to send you the biggest hon Fran..