Can you handle these horrifying nursing stories?

For the last couple weeks, in honor of Halloween, we've been collecting your scariest nursing stories through The Handoff newsletter and The Modern Nurse Facebook group. Here are the scariest stories you shared with us...

The One-Liner —

"I was working a 26-bed ED with only a new grad RN (and no APP) when the only physician on... coded." Read more
- Matt T, RN

Winter Nights —

My very first travel assignment was during the winter at a hospital in a little town in North Dakota. They started me off on nights. One night, I’m waiting at the nurse’s station to get report. The person I’m taking over for is busy in a room. I answer a call from the tele room that a patient’s heart rate is in the 30s. It’s someone I’ll be taking from the nurse that is busy, so I go down there expecting that a lead came off or the box is unplugged or something like that..." Read more
- Madison J, RN

Modern-Day Exorcism —

So, parents brought in this 4 or 5 year-old girl because she would have these 'episodes,' and they 'didn’t feel safe,' but they wouldn’t explain what she would do during them. They just told me that she will do it again in a minute... Then she lifts her head a little and all of a sudden has this deep manly voice, almost raspy and definitely sounded like it was from an older man, and says to me: 'don’t hurt her, don’t hurt her... take that knife away.'" Read more
- Anonymous

Mystery at the Nurses Station —

"It was a late one night, and I was alone charting. I was by myself at a nurses station in an old nursing home. Suddenly, all of the charts just fall off the shelf..." Read more
- Jamie N, RN

Open the Window, Colleen Wants Out —

"I worked as a nurse manager at a local nursing home at one point in my career. It was my week of call, and the overnight supervisor called off sick. It was around 0250 when the buzzers for the doors started all going off... The doors were going off for about 20 minutes when a seasoned GNA came back from her break. She looked at what was going on, me standing in front of the alarm box and said, 'Open the window, Colleen wants out...'" Read more
- Brian M, RN

Night-Shift Whispers —

"One evening my colleague, Jeannie, and I were working OB. We had no pts, so we were stocking and doing all our checks... I was in the very back of the nursery in special care, and I heard someone softly say my name. Jeannie has a soft voice. I came out to the desk area, but she wasn’t there..." Read more
- Dora C, RN

Unidentified Foreign Object —

"Whenever I am about to receive a patient for “foreign body extraction” in the OR, I have to wonder...How did Lumière get stuck in the rectum? I thought it was only Casper who can go in and out of someone’s body." Read more
- Kay M, RN

Mysterious Call Lights —

A resident put her light on, so my aid went in to answer it, but right after she went in that room another call light came on. And not even 30 seconds after THAT light came on, the one across from it also came on. So I went to answer those two lights. The first one was a resident who wanted a pain pill, and the second light was the empty quad room across the hall from him. The light in the room was on, too, so I peeked inside to see if we had any confused Dementia patients wandering in there... but there was no one..." Read more
- Mimi R, LPN

Upcoming Events

11/4, 3pm PST: Keeping Joy in the Journey! —

We are all aware that nursing care and most of our personal world is incredibly different since March 2020. However, what hasn't changed is your ever-present spark of joy you can use to support you during this time. Join Debbie Harbinson, Integrative Health Nurse Consultant and Certified Laughter Leader, for this one-hour chat to discuss the benefits of joy and how to seek joyful opportunities. You will leave this event with a greater awareness of joyful practices, along with ideas on how to integrate them into the moments of your day. All nurses are welcome to this event, just make sure you RSVP!