Ghost sighting at work

[cablecat]

I work in an A&E DEpartment and we have a small observation side ward of 7 beds. There is a single room, a 4 bedded room and a 2 bedded room.

The 2 bedded room is just opposite the nurse's station and has a window and a door onto the corridor.

On this particular occasion, at about 2am, 2 nurses (1 guy, 1 gal) were sat at the nurse's station when the curtain to the 2 bedded room was lifted up from the corner and a little old lady with unkempt long grey hair stared out at them.

As the room had 2 men asleep in it, the nurses assumed that a female patient had wandered in there by mistake (they get confused). The male nurse got up, the curtain was immediately dropped and went straight into the room.

The 2 male patients were asleep in their beds, there was no lady there, the curtain was swaying where it had been dropped and the room was so cold, he could see his breath.

It couldn't possibly have been the 2 old guys in their beds as they were far too unsteady on their feet to have got back into bed that quickly.

The ghost hasn't been seen since but the 2 nurses are level-headed people and I truly believe their story.

What do you all think?

[Althalus]

Sounds like a good old fashioned haunting to me, the cold air indicates that the energy is being used to create the apparition of the ghost. That it can touch something means that it is taking lots of energy out of the heat in the room.

[Cufflink]

Hi Becs, welcome to UM.

There's something very creepy and unsettling about that story. Perhaps it was the ghost of an old lady who had died in that room, and it was replaying her looking for a nurse?

As Althalus says, it must have been quite powerful to actually pick up the curtain. And it is a very credible story, considering there were two level-headed witnesses, both in a familiar environment.

[cablecat]

Hiya Cuff

People don't die in that room......if their condition deteriorates in any way we wheel them round to the recuss rooms and if they are put on the ward to die, they are always in the single bedded room.

It certainly defies any logical explanation I've come across yet. I think the most significant thing is that the 2 nurses didn't even think it was a ghost until they'd gone into the room. They just thought it was another patient.

The whole hospital has quite a few apparent hauntings but we've never had anything in A&E until now. Our department is a new part of the hospital that has only been there 10 years.

The old department had quite a few hauntings associated with it

[Cufflink]

I think the most significant thing is that the 2 nurses didn't even think it was a ghost until they'd gone into the room. They just thought it was another patient.

That's something I've noticed in quite a few cases. The ghost is mistaken for a real person, because of their solid and normal appearance, and because they're in an environment where they should be.

In theory, you could walk past a ghost in contemporary clothes in the high street, and not notice, but if a roman soldier was stood at the foot of your bed, at one in the morning, you'd probably be aware you'd seen a ghost.

Either that, or it meant you had a kinky love life.

[Agent_21]

Great account. I think I agree with all that has been said earlier in this thread. I suppose all possibility of a disorientated elderly woman wandering in and then out -as they do - was discounted. It would seem so. There are frequent cases of disembodied forms in hospitals; more than are reported, I suspect.

The fact that there were 2 witnesses and that they didn't think 'ghost' immediately is a definite point in favour of it being one. I like Althalus' thoughts on power and touch. When I read about the freezing air, the impression I got was of a powerful manifestation. With that amount of power she may return. Most hospital ghosts that I have heard about do not seem to adhere to this pattern. The majority seem to be transient and accompany the death of a patient.

I wonder about the ghost. Could she have died there some time ago when the ward may have had a different function? Otherwise she could have died elsewhere and was wandering or had some purpose in her actions.

Can you say whan this occurred? I don't suppose you can go into more detail of the location?

[cablecat]

It occured about 2 months ago now and in the busiest A&E Department in the county of Lincs.

There has been no recurrence of this event but have quizzed the 2 concerned endlessly and they are filling in witness questionnaires for a friend of mine who wants to put their accounts on his website.

Am very keen to witness this ghost but there has been nothing before or after this sighting.......so am thinking it was a kind of visitation. Perhaps not to be repeated.

[Agent_21]

A lot of these seem to be single appearances, but this one may be an exception. If you are keen to see the ghost you could hardly be in a better position, 'though it must be an incredibly busy environment. If I had that kind of access I would want to have a camera set up.

Your use of the phrase 'a kind of visitation' reminded me of something I thought earlier but didn't mention. The description of the woman bears a resemblance to some cases of banshees I've come across. Neither of the elderly male patients died though, so perhaps not in this case.

[cablecat]

You are right in that neither of the male patients died. I have already checked cctv with security and no camera stares at that window so there is no way of verifying the eye-witness accounts, although these are colleagues of mine and have had to trust them in the most dire of situations.

I would love to set up a sony handy cam but, alas, it is an extremely busy department and such a thing would never be possible. Much as I would like to investigate further, it simply wouldn't be possible.

Will post here if anything else happens

[AliceCoopersGirl]

The whole hospital has quite a few apparent hauntings but we've never had anything in A&E until now. Our department is a new part of the hospital that has only been there 10 years.

The old department had quite a few hauntings associated with it

Hiya Cablecat,welcome to UM.

Just wondered if you knew any of the tales of the other hauntings that you could tell us.

I worked in a hospital and they all have their own tales,its all really interesting.

Cheers Freddy xx

[Guest Lottie]

Thanks for sharing your story Cablecat. I get a real buzz when I come across a story such as this that is very down to earth with normal folks in normal circumstances. Makes the whole thing even more compelling and gets my curiosity up because its much more believable than the dramatic, Hollywood one's that flood the media.

Keep us posted please!

[Kismit]

Cable cat the Lady has she ever been seen before ?

Perhaps she was conected to one of the elderly men in the room and not the hospital.

Did any of the witnesses mention it to the patients who were in the room ?

[cablecat]

Hi Kismit

The lady has never been seen before or since (well been on leave for 2 weeks so not until then). It's been decided not to mention it in front of any of the patients for fear of upsetting them. It makes for a much easier shift if the patients sleep easy

FreddyvJason.......there are lots of ghost stories around the hospital but the only other one I have heard an eye witness account of is this:-

We used to have a female porter called Danny and one night she was returning to A&£ with an empty trolley having just taken a patient to a ward. As she walked along the corridor by the theatres she saw coming towards her a pair of legs from just below the knee wearing little old lady's slippers.

She was pretty freaked out and when she got back to A&E she was pale and visibly shaken.

[Cufflink]

As she walked along the corridor by the theatres she saw coming towards her a pair of legs from just below the knee wearing little old lady's slippers.

She was pretty freaked out and when she got back to A&E she was pale and visibly shaken.

No wonder!

I remember you telling me about that, once, Becs, on another site, and I think it was in the wee small hours! It gave me the creeps, then, and still does now.

If replayed ghosts are like a picture floating around in the ether, ready to be picked up, could the legs have been part of a full image, that the witness was only partially tuned in to?