You are here: Real Ghost Stories :: Haunted Places :: Something At The Nursing Home

Real Ghost Stories

Something At The Nursing Home

 

I used to work 3rd shift at a small 44 bed nursing home. We were supposed to be an assisted living facility for people who were cognizant yet unable to live on their own and a rehabilitation center for those recovering from surgery or stroke. In reality we were mainly taking care of elderly residents with alzheimer's and dementia. Needless to say people passed away there.

My duties were fairly simple: come in, see to any residents who weren't already in bed, check the ones who were in bed and then make rounds every two hours to make sure everyone was clean and still breathing.

It's almost been seven years since I worked there so I don't remember the order in which these events happened so I'm just going to list them by order of 'severity':

Every so often I would come into work super tired from staying up too late, so after each of my rounds I would set my phone alarm for an hour and a half and take a nap in one of the recliners. Next thing I knew there's a loud *WHAP!*, like someone dropping a heavy, hardback book on the floor, but right next to my ear causing me to jump up awake. I would look around and see that no-one was there before rushing down the hall to check to see if my residents were alright, which they were. After that I'd start my round. This happened at least two times that I remember and always woke me up 1-2 minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off.

The second wasn't really an event, per se, it was just something one of the residents said to me that kind of creeped me out:

One night when I put of my residents, a sweet old lady named Mrs. Lindsey, to bed she looked at me with a smile and said "you have the most beautiful angel watching over you (or behind you, I can't really remember exactly)." Mrs. Lindsey did have dementia but she was cognizant enough to recognize people and sometimes circumstances that happen around her, so hearing her say something like that was more than a little creepy.

Lastly is one that still gives me chills and makes me a little paranoid just thinking about it even today:

Most of the rooms were just rectangles with one bed on each end, a wardrobe at the foot of each bed for resident's clothing and a small end table beside the bed for smaller effects and our gloves and wipes. There are windows on the wall opposite the door from the hall. I was in the middle of one of my rounds when I entered one of the rooms to check on the residents and as I was digging through the end table looking for gloves I started to feel the muscles in my neck, shoulders and back start to tense up. It felt like a weight had just settled across my shoulders. What's more it felt like there was something huge directly behind me. By huge I mean *at least* 8' because I'm 6' and whatever this was felt like it was standing over me looking down. I couldn't move, I could hardly blink, all I could do was stare straight ahead at the windows. The only thing I could think was "ohcrapohcrapohcrap". Then, as suddenly as it had started, it was gone and I could move again. When I turned around all that was behind me was a geri-chair and wheelchair. I don't know how long the feeling lasted and didn't think to check the time. It felt like an hour, but couldn't have been more than a few minutes.

I don't remember if there were any sounds or anything like that, just a huge, imposing pressure right behind me. As for my policy on determining what I was thinking about beforehand: I was essentially on "autopilot mode", my body was working while my brain was basically off, so I wasn't thinking about anything. When this happened it snapped me fully alert and aware. This is the reason I never keep my back to any opening for longer than I have to as I don't like the idea of something like that coming up behind me again.

The funny thing is is that the room I was in at the time was Mrs. Lindsey's. For some reason I didn't realize that until just a few months ago, though I'm pretty sure it doesn't correlate with what she said. Nothing about that encounter seemed very 'angelic' to me.

Other hauntings by 8-bitDemigod

Hauntings with similar titles

Find ghost hunters and paranormal investigators from South Carolina

Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, 8-bitDemigod, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

8-bitDemigod (8 stories) (38 posts)
+2
5 years ago (2019-04-14)
Junglecat: It was a little of both I suppose. Kind of like my body responded to the presence by tensing up, sorta the fight or flight response, and it's "will", I suppose I'll call it, kept me from turning around.
Junglecat (2 stories) (56 posts)
+1
5 years ago (2019-04-14)
8 bit,

I think I see it differently now. Are you saying you froze rather than felt restrained from moving? I misunderstood that. In that case, strike my previous remarks. I really don't know what you experienced but appreciate the very creepy feeling that tells you you're not alone when you should be.
8-bitDemigod (8 stories) (38 posts)
+1
5 years ago (2019-04-13)
Hi all, sorry for the late reply. I'm still getting used to checking on here frequently.

Junglecat: I don't know what it was, whether demonic, angelic or just spiritual in general. It didn't really feel hostile, just imposing. Like it was sizing me up or something. My reaction was more of awareness that something much larger than me was there and less of being frightened.

Lady-glow: You may be right about that, they probably thought I was just slacking off 😁. I was just glad that none of my residents were the cause of it or were hurt. As for the tall presence, I'm still not sure what to make of it or why it happened when it did because I had been there for at least a year already and in that room dozens of times before and never felt anything.

Nitrofuel765: Yeah, I don't think there was any ill intent in any of the events, but I still get goosebumps thinking about whatever was in that room.
NitroFuel765 (1 stories) (8 posts)
+2
5 years ago (2019-04-13)
This sounds creepy but whatever it was doesn't seem very hostile. The 3rd event could've just been it making sure you weren't a threat to it or it's peace (as lady-glow said).
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
+2
5 years ago (2019-04-13)
Fascinating experience.

The first event in your narrative makes me wonder if this was a previous caretaker (deceased), reminding you that it was time to make the rounds.

I'm inclined to think that the tall presence was a previous resident still trapped in the frame of mind in which s/he was at the moment of her/his death. Perhaps s/he saw you as a threat or someone coming to put them through an unpleasant situation.

I don't know if Mrs. Lindsey saw your guardian Angel or not, but it's reassuring to think that there're angels watching over us.

Thanks for sharing.
Junglecat (2 stories) (56 posts)
+1
5 years ago (2019-04-12)
8bit,

That is frightening. It is not an angel that attacked you and definitely not a ghost. I actually once saw what appeared to be a satyr-like demon prevent my 83 pound dog from standing or moving. My guess is that you encountered something like that and it was not attached to you. That entity may have been no stranger to your place of work which would also explain the angel. Whether it was protecting you or someone else, it was probably protection from that. Thus, I would have expected Mrs. Lindsey to make the comment about seeing the angel *after* you were attacked.

It may be gone now but I'm glad that you don't work there anymore nevertheless.

To publish a comment or vote, you need to be logged in (use the login form at the top of the page). If you don't have an account, sign up, it's free!

Search this site: