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20 True Horror Stories From Hospital Staff That Might Make You Look Twice In The ER
Article created by: Denis Krotovas
With Halloween just around the corner, you will probably see an increasing number of media about ghosts and other kinds of creepy stuff. If you’re a fan of this occasion, then it’s the time of the year when you thrive. If you’re not…well, you probably cannot wait for it to pass, or when the media will become non-spooky again.
Yet, today’s not that day – this article features even more spooky stuff. To be more specific, this time, it’s about ghosts and hospitals only, but it’s creepy nonetheless. So, if you decide to go on (which we urge you to do) – beware – everything just screams Halloween here.
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#1
On one of my old floors I worked on we always had weird occurrences happen at night (It was a Neuro step down unit). This unit had glass walls so you could chart and monitor your patient. We had a patient who had a severe stroke and was non verbal. Feeding tube, restrained, total care,etc. They rarely had family visit too. In the middle of the night, their call light went off. When I answered it, a women said “he is really hurting. He needs his pain medicine.” So I walk into the room to check on him. The room is dark, nobody is in there, and the patient is sleeping. I tell his nurse what happened and I go and sit back down at the CN desk. The call light goes off again. It is his room. Same voice, “please he is really hurting.” I get up and walk back to the room. Same story. I tell his nurse and she gives him pain medicine through his peg and we reposition him in bed. The call light does not go off again. It was really eerie. Strange things happened on that floor.
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#2
I hate when you ask the patient what they need and they say “can you tell the boy/man/ little girl/ old lady to stop crying behind you.
#3
I've worked in Healthcare for over 20 years now and I have a a couple from working in nursing homes of seeing the "figure in black" shooting across the hall and then in the next 24 hours a resident will die and then in less than a week another one will pass as well. But my favorite story is this....
I worked at a very small hospital (maybe 30 beds) it has been around for MANY years. In the basement is of course the old mourge and there is one elevator that goes from the basement to the main floor outside the nurses station. This elevator would come up in the middle of the night randomly and the doors would open and all the staff would get up to go find the patient who just passed away. One night my coworkers and I were sitting at the nurses station and down the short hall to our right we hear this TV come on and the volume is up as loud as it can go. One of my CWs and I walk down said hall to find the TV to turn it down. There is one room down that hall that maintenance has the door closed and Do Not Enter signs on the door. After looking in all the open rooms there is no other room but the closed one to look in, we open the door, there is NOTHING in this room except the TV. I walked in turned the TV and said "Stop that, there is a sick baby next door who needs to sleep, so please be quiet" I walked out and closed the door with no further incidents with the TV.
#4
I started my nursing career at a small and very old urban hospital. So small that they were closing it all up. I worked in labour & delivery and we were the only unit left (there were a bunch of clinics and offices but they weren’t open nights/weekends)
One night, we had to do a reasonably emergent C/S on a patient who was from out of town. Meaning she didn’t have a support person with her. As far as I remember, the C/S was going well (I was scrubbed in). We were in the middle of it when the patient stopped responding to the anaesthetist. Her vitals were all normal but she just stopped talking to her, stopped responding to questions. I could hear the anaesthetist ask her, “Hey, are you ok?” a few times. After a few minutes, the patient started responding again and all was well.
I had her in recovery room (just me and her, the babies were in the NICU) and things were pretty straightforward. But I did mention to her about the strange episode during the C/S. She said, “I saw my grandmother in the OR. I was so scared and I asked her to hold my hand but she told me that she couldn’t touch me.” That sure was something for a 23 yo to hear at 0300 in a room far away from any of my coworkers in a very, very old and empty hospital.
#5
It was my second night with this pt in his late 80s. He was terminally Ill and was leaving for home hospice. In the middle of the night, I go to do vitals and he’s talking out loud in his sleep and fidgeting. Hadn’t done it the night before. I wake him up and ask what he was dreaming. Tells me he was dreaming about being with his friends when he was younger such as going to the bar and partying. Said it was some of his favorite times in his life. I thought that must of have a a great dream and left when I finished care.
A couple hours later, I had left with a coworker to pick up a pt. When I returned, all of my coworkers are freaking out even our senior nurses. My pt was on portable video because he could be forgetful at times. On the camera, they had witnessed multiple orbs shooting through the room that had looked similar to shooting stars. We get that from time to time, but they said that there were a crazy amount to where the room looked like it was glowing. Some coworkers even went in to check. When they did, the video person said they’d disappear then return when staff left.
By the time I returned, the orbs had just stopped. About 15-30 minutes later, my pt wakes up and decides to get up from the bed. I go in there and thought it was weird for him because he didn’t really do that the night prior. I ask him where he’s going. He points to an area behind me and says that his friends are here and want to play cards with him. My coworker who was with me paled. I just said that they should play cards when it was a little later and tucked him into bed. I thought that this whole situation was pretty wholesome. My coworkers thought I was nuts haha. I was like his friends just wanted to stop by and say hi!
#6
It’s so awesome I read your post just this moment. Im currently at the end of a NOC shift (I’m the charge nurse and have 3-4 CNA’s each night) and this is a very old, kind of remote 50 bed LTC. A few moments ago one of my girls opened the front door & said “Yep- the ghosts are choosing the music again tonight!” Because there is a speaker out front, not connected to anything while we’re here, that on certain nights randomly plays quite the selection of music; from rock, salsa, opera, even once the ‘Haunted Mansion’ music from the ride at Disneyland. Other things happen regularly on our shift, shadow figures, lights and tvs that go on & off as they please, even had a door close me in an empty room once (no a/c or open windows to reason it away either!). The day & pm staff refuse to pick up shifts with us because of the ‘ghosts’ but we always reassure them that they aren’t harmful ones, just playful. Thank you for your post!
#7
I worked in an old building psych hospital - parts of it were over 100 years old and had multiple building a on bye property. Some were in use some were in use some not. Then there was unit 12B. 12B was abandoned and parts were flooded.
On night shift between 0200-0300 you would get calls from 12B. You were told on your first night to NEVER answer that extension (think it was 2307 can’t remember).
One night a new nurse answered and that triggered a cascade of calls to the unit until shift change.
#8
I have three. The first is our unit was moved to the old pediatric floor for a renovation. It was like three am and the call bell goes off. This pt is furious because the pt next door has been banging on the walls. We could hear the banging, we apologize tell them we will go talk to them. Walk into the room next door, the banging stops and that pt is sound asleep.
Second story, had a patient for a couple months. I do inpt oncology so our patients get sick very fast. He was on comfort care and passed alone. Take him to the morgue they clean the room new patient gets in there. Poor lady calls in the middle of the night that there is a strange man sitting in her room. We go in she is like i swear he was just here. She describes him, yep exactly like the former patient.
Last one, again another pt that we took care of for a few months, a very sad situation. The room is right next to the nurses station. He had been a very confused active pt in a low bed so constantly setting off alarms. He passes, the room gets cleaned and placed on hold for a new admit. His call bell went off all night long. Finally one of the nurses went in and yelled at "him" that it was time to quiet down and let us get work done. The call bell didn't go off again.
#9
My first nursing job was night shift on a unit that was (slowly) reopening after a renovation. It was on the top floor of the hospital (will be important later). None of us liked going to the supply closet alone because it was so dark and quiet down that hall.
One night, I went to answer a call light. The patient, who was completely A&O, asked me to “tell those kids to quit playing in my bathroom.” I immediately asked one of the senior nurses what was up. She explained the many lives that unit had led: peds, AIDS hospice, then to post-acute LTC.
The elevator would come up to our floor at least once a night with nobody in it. The doors would then open and close rapidly until the elevator was spoken to. We had taken a vote and named our residence ghost “Georgie.” As soon as somebody said, “Hi, Georgie,” the elevator shenanigans stopped.
Patients sometimes reported seeing strange men in their rooms (we had no male staff on the unit). Call lights occasionally went off in empty rooms, even ones that were unplugged. It was eerie but I never got the sense that Georgie and friends meant us harm.
#10
One night in an old psychiatric hospital (as in built in the 1800’s), a tech and I were the only ones up. Every patient seemed to be asleep (we checked every 15 min). Anyway I was sitting outside the office door and she was sitting at the back of the very small office eating her soup. The other office door to our side suddenly opened and closed and then the small restroom door in our office closed. Neither one of us said anything for about a full minute. Then I asked her if that had just happened. She sighed with relief and said yes it had and that she was glad she wasn’t losing her mind. I guess the ghost needed to use the restroom in a hurry. Maybe it was a former nurse or tech that had worked there.
#11
Back when I worked in domiciliary care, I was visiting a patient with full on dementia, AxO0, couldn't communicate at all, just lay in bed. I'll call him Andrew.
Obviously, Andrew required 2 people to help turn him, change him etc. I walked into Andrew's room one morning and out of the corner of my eye saw a man, at least 6 foot tall and dressed in a black trench coat, black boots and a black hat, standing over Andrew and just staring down at him. The moment I looked properly, the apparition had gone. I didn't get a sense of malice or anything, it was just observing him. My colleague, who came through 30 seconds later said I looked white as a sheet.
I don't believe in ghosts, but I can't explain that one besides maybe a bird flying past the window and casting a shadow that my brain misinterpreted or something.
#12
I had a resident in LTC who was forever speaking to herself. She preferred to stay in her room with her curtain around her bed most of the time. She was extremely hard of hearing and had sight issues. She was very sweet to all of us and we just loved her.
One night, one of my CNAs was doing a round and stopped outside of the door. The resident had her curtain completely around her bed, and the lights were off. She was whispering frantically. The CNA heard her say "yes, she has pink on." The CNA who the resident still could not see or hear was outside in the hall had a pink top on. This was her first round at 2200.
When the Aide walked in and announced herself, the resident quickly shushed her. When she asked the resident what was wrong, the resident stared intently at her and pointed to the bathroom. "Be quiet. The man in the bathroom will hear you."
The CNA swears she heard something move in there. I believe it. That area of the facility is called "the hole" for a reason.
We've also had several residents throughout the years complain about children running up the halls in the middle of the night laughing. It's always in the same unit near the same room.
#13
I work in a psych ward and we have a seclusion room that isn’t used often. I was walking by the tv screen that shows all the cameras and I saw a white figure in the room… It was there one moment and gone the next. There was no way anyone could have been in there.
#14
When I was working night shift at a previous job, one of the day shift nurses came in after she went into cardiac arrest and got into an MVC while en route to work. Her name was Ofie. She survived a few days, but eventually passed away in ICU.
Months later, I was taking care of an elderly woman who was clearly sundowning. I did my best to calm her, but with little luck. Out of nowhere, she yells, “OFIE! OOOOOFIE!”
Nobody in her family was named Ofie. We weren’t talking about Ofie that night, either.
#15
I had a 25yr old pt with liver failure go into DIC in the icu (her Hgb was 2.5). She was a frequent flyer who would get esophageal and rectal bands, go home on a bender and come back for more bands…etc
We managed to control the bleeding that day. The next morning she was my pt again and coded a few hrs into the shift. Everyone ran into her room, and the acls protocol began. I was spiking bag after bag of blood products. As I spiked a bag of platelets, I looked straight ahead because I saw movement in the 5th floor windows in front of me. A solid black mass, darker than any earthly black color, like a void was floating there. It had no distinct shape, and the edges where whispy and undulating. I would estimate it was about 4ft, no face, nothing. But when I looked right at it, I felt it knew I saw it. At a very fast speed it zoomed down, at a left angle and out of sight. There were about 12 other people in the room, but nobody else saw it. She did die. I felt it was waiting to take her and it was not a good feeling when I saw it.
#16
I was with a hospice patient; she was very elderly and could barely speak or move at this point. She suddenly reaches for the sky and starts crying “grandma, grandpa” over and over. My back suddenly became very cold and she died later that day.
#17
I’m a retired OB/GYN. One day I was prepping an anesthetized patient for a minor procedure when the circulator realized she had pulled the wrong tubing. She walked behind me into the inner core, leaving just me, the scrub, the anesthesiologist, and the patient.
I finished the prepping and draping and stood facing my patient, my back to the inner core.
After a moment I felt a firm push toward the patient in the small of my back. I stepped forward (as one does) assuming the circulator had returned from the inner core and needed more room to pass. I looked over my shoulder to thank her for getting what we needed….and there was no one there.
#18
Closed, old "locked/psych unit" on the 11th floor is occasionally used for overflow patients and staffed by float pool when needed. Working night shift, had a patient ask during night med pass if I could ask housekeeping to not empty her trash in the middle of the night as it woke her up the night before. I thought, weird, but okay. I called housekeeping, and they said they don't have anyone cleaning on nights on the overflow unit. This patient was fully oriented, walkie talkie, not weird at all. Not a sundowner in any way whatsoever. 3am rolls around, and the patient rings her callbell, and as I'm walking down the hall to her room, the double doors (locked-requires a badge swipe) close. I answered her bell, and she is mad that she asked for housekeeping not to come in, and they did. She said they emptied her trash, and she heard the can open and the trash bag russle. I profusely apologize, and insist it won't happen again. I call housekeeping who again stated they don't have someone covering our floor at night because it's just an overflow unit. So I call security since the doors are badge access only. They pulled the badge swipe logs for the doors and no one had accessed doors after the kitchen staff picked up the dirty trays at 9pm. They pulled footage of the hall corridor and can clearly see the doors open halfway, close, and not a single person in sight!
We still have no explanation to this day and it's just well known that the 11th floor is haunted! Apparently it was making the psych patients go crazier, and they moved the unit to a new wing of the hospital and only use this floor now for short term overflow!
#19
Rehab Nurse here. Took care of a patient who was coughing late on night. I went in the room to check on her and face got her some PRN Tessalon for the cough. A week later or 2 she coded and went to icu where she ended up passing.
A few weeks goes by & One night it was me and my PCAs at the nurses station. And the call light goes off. It’s the room that the patient I took care of was in. Once I picked the phone up I just heard a cheerful voice that said “thank you!” And hung up. I head to the room to cancel the call light &. Everybody was spooked bc there was no one in that room.
#20
Not my personal experience but one of the old-timer MRI techs at a hospital I used to work for told me some wild stories. Apparently the old location of the MRI was very haunted. A woman would look out of a changing area as if to say "are you going to take me back now?" and then just vanish. Everyone in that section of the hospital knew of her. Doors opened on their own, lights went out all the time etc.
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