Nurses are exposed to death on a weekly basis, in addition to other spooky situations. For anyone superstitious or not, this means they are also possibly exposed to the afterlife. With many people passing in the hospital on any given day, there are bound to be some paranormal activity. Over the years, there have been many reports of ghosts and spirits being seen throughout various hospitals, and laughter heard when the hospital is near empty. 

These scary occurrences are often the case for night shift workers when the hospital is short staffed and much quieter. These stories mostly occur at night as “the witching hour” also known as 3 am to 4 am is said to be a time when strange things are more likely to happen.

From seeing the ghost of a former surgeon, to hearing a (ghost) child’s laughter at 1 am, nurses have all kinds of experience with hauntings. Keep reading for scary stories that were experienced by actual nurses. 

1. Ghost of a Surgeon

“I got called in one night for a bad case in the OR and we were in the middle of it and I saw a guy in surgeon garb walk passed the OR door and continue on towards a dead end, we were at the end of the hall, I walked to the door and couldn’t find anyone, yelled out hello and still no one. I had heard that there was a ghost of a surgeon in the OR.”

– Melinda

2. Who’s Laughing?

“I was eating alone in the cafeteria one night, maybe 1am. I walked out to the hall to get on the elevator and heard a little kid laughing. No one was anywhere around. I asked security to walk around and look, there was only EVS down there with the doors locked, nowhere near that hallway.”

– Kari

3. Angels at their Side

“I worked for a while in a residential hospice facility. Often, before one of our residents would die, many of the staff nurses would see a little child (sometimes a boy, sometimes a girl) playing in the hallway. The timing was never consistent, sometimes it would be minutes before a death, sometimes it would be hours or days, but always a death would follow. Seeing the child never was really scary, except that you knew it was something freaky. The whole place has a peaceful feel, not scary usually. 

Often, patients would speak about angels at their side. Once we had a nun as a patient and when she died we heard singing. We checked all the rooms for a choir on tv and found nothing to explain the sound.”

– Henry

4. Pippin The Cat

“I had a patient who was CMO and quite obviously very close to dying. The week before, my best buddy-cat Pippin had died (and I was pretty broken up about it, still). That being said… I walked into her room, and she said, “Oh, you brought your kitty with you!” I blink at her and say, “What?” Mind you, this was the first time I’d had that patient and I hadn’t discussed my cat with her, having cats or even liking them. Her reply, “Your kitty. It’s right by your foot.” I get that frisson, that momentary shiver in my soul and ask, just for kicks, “Yeah? What color’s the kitty?” She says, “Black with some white.”

Pippin was a black tuxedo cat with white paws and a white bib. And the patient died that night.”

– Anonymous

5. 6pm

“Over the course of my nursing career, I have experienced numerous patient deaths. It always seems there is some circumstance revolving around one that you always remember. Several months back, a terminally ill patient who had been suffering from leukemia for a number of years began declining in health rapidly. One night around supper time, he became very anxious and indicated that he had to get ready because they were coming to get him at 6pm. Several minutes later when checking on his status again he had passed away at nearly 6pm on the dot.” 

– Steve

6. An Empty Room

“I heard an interesting story a few weeks ago. Part of the hospital has been rebuilt and faces on to our unit. A nurse doing something near the window looks across and sees two people moving about in one of the clinic rooms (it’s after hours and clinic is shut). She called a colleague over who also saw these two people. They call security who go over and check out the room; nobody there. A while later the nurses again see these two people moving around so they call security. This time the security guys split up – one stands with the nurses while the other one went over to the clinic to check again.

The scary part of this is that the security guys were talking on the radio. The one in the clinic states that the room is empty, but the other security guard standing in our unit with the two nurses could actually see these two people, standing right beside the security guard while he was talking.” 

– MaryAnn

7. Vivid Hallucinations

“Night nurse for 4 years now at an old folk’s home. Had a palliative who couldn’t sleep because of incredibly vivid hallucinations. She would describe voodoo people around her room that would just stare at her waiting for her to die. I didn’t take it seriously until the lady across the hall (who rarely ever spoke) starting seeing them in her room too. Legitimate shivers.”

– Ryan

Whether you believe in ghost stories are not, these tales are sure to send a chill down your spine. With many healthcare professions, specifically nurses, dealing with death and grief is part of the job. While others are spooked every time they lose a patient. When taking care of someone in their last moments of life, the unbelievable can happen. And even make you doubt your sight. 

Happy Halloween!