By We’re doing our best to get excited for this year’s Halloween. Even if we can’t go out to a costume party where everyone makes a fool of themselves, we can still have fun online or at work wearing our Halloween scrubs. In many ways, a hospital can feel like a haunted house. Every nurse has at least one shocking, unbelievably creepy scary story, so we decided to ask the subscribers of our Facebook page Funny Nurses if they have any spooky stories to share.
Now, we’re drowning in ghost stories, unsure if we’ll ever be able to visit a hospital again. Who needs the latest Stephen King novel when you work in healthcare? From life-and-death scenarios to strange sounds and unruly patients, here’s another round of creepy stories, courtesy of your colleagues all over the country.
The Man in the Black Hat
Brian J Paulin shared a story that feels right out of a nightmare. He writes:
About 15 years ago, just beginning my nursing career and I spent the night in the facility. I opend the door and walked into a room to administer HS medication to a patient in bed one. As I was administering the medication, the patient in bed two asked me, “Why is there a man standing at the end of my bed?” I looked over toward the patient’s bed and saw no one.
I replied, “There’s no one there.” She stated, “Yes there is, he is standing there in a black hat and wants me to come with him.” I continued to reassure her that no one else was in the room. She became more vocal and upset that I didn’t believe her. She thought I was crazy because I couldn’t see this man in a black hat. A few days later she expired. To this day, that memory still gives me chills.
The Little Boy in the Corner
Many of you have probably tuned out patients from time to time, whether it was a long, rambling story or a patient with dementia asking the same questions over and over again. But this story from Ada Pioquinto-Carinio gave us second thoughts:
When I was a CNA at a nursing home, I was cleaning up a patient. She was talking and talking, I was half listening thinking she was telling me a story. Then I said, “Oh, really?” She did the slowest turn of her head, looked at me, smiled and said, “Oh, honey, I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to the little boy over there.” She points [to] a corner… I slowly walked out and closed the bedroom door.
The Abandoned Delivery Room
Hospitals are always repurposing different departments and wards, and sometimes these rooms contain the spirits of patients that have passed away. That was certainly true for Samantha Alleman.
On Facebook, she writes about how she started working in a makeshift ICU where the labor and delivery room had been. The room in the back where they used to perform c-sections gave her a “creepy” feeling after she heard the door opening and closing.
She goes on to write:
They had a small room labeled ‘Infant Resuscitation’ and it was so cold. Night shift said they could hear babies crying in the middle of the night. I once had a patient on a stretcher in the hall tell me she could see children and bodies everywhere. The family decided to leave a few minutes earlier. They have since moved our ICU, but I still remember how creepy it was.
The Janitor
Working assisted living as a pool nurse. I was walking through the living room, and I spoke to a man in a cardigan sitting on the couch. Later, I asked the staff about the fellow sitting there. They said he was the janitor that passed and likes to stop by and sit sometimes 😳.
Denise
Her First Shadow Person
Amanda Mills, a long-term care nurse, says she wished she’d had her phone on her at work when she claims to have seen her first “shadow person.” It wasn’t her first experience with the paranormal, just the first at this job. It definitely sounds like something out of our favorite horror movies.
She wrote on Facebook:
I’ve done night shifts here before, nothing new. It’s an old building that used to be a Jewish retirement home, now it’s just general population, a typical nursing home. Anyways, I was putting a sharps container into the biohazard room that used to be used as a chapel years ago. I walk in and set it in the bin and realize I’m not alone, there’s a shadow of a person to my left. Instant goosebumps!!
As I look at it directly it disappears, and I high tail it out of there. I went to another unit for a minute just to be present with another nurse who’s worked here forever. She shared some of her experiences in this building as well. I’ve worked in other homes and seen some things, but this was a first here! Lights on in the hallway the rest of this shift! LOL.
Maybe they she should’ve stayed home instead.
We are loving all these amazing creepy stories from nurses who are brave enough to work with ghosts. The nature of a nurse’s job can lead to all kinds of strange incidents. Keep your stories coming and we’ll be sure to share them right here on Scrubs Mag. If you’re missing this year’s party, don’t forget to wear your favorite pair of Halloween scrubs to work. It’s the perfect way to spread some spooky cheer.
