With Halloween So Close

All hospitals have ghost stories and Frick hospital was no exception. It was rumored, although didn’t see it myself, that a pale, white apparition would walk from one side of a patient room to the other in our coronary care unit. The ghostly appearances would occur without any type of regularity, only happening when the room was empty either late on the evening shift or early into the night shift. No lights would be on in the room when the gauzy white form would slowly glide across the floor. At first the nurses would investigate, thinking that someone had strayed into the cubicle, but after several times, no one wanted to go in and would say, “Did you see that?” or “I just saw our friend.”

The next story occurred on one of the medical/surgical areas. I was a witness to this phenomenon. At our nurse’s station, we would hear footsteps at the far end of the hallway. There was no way to gain access to that area without walking past the nursing station or entering through a thick metal fire door that made a loud noise when it was opened or closed. We would have heard if someone came through that door.

The footsteps always started on the right side of the hallway and walked to the opposite side through a short connecting hallway. The sound we heard was the steps of thick soled shoes or boots and not the shuffling sound made by patient in slippers. We would check the hallways and patient rooms at that end of the unit each time we heard the steps, but we never found anyone who was up walking or even awake.

Another ghost story occurred on the same med/surg. floor. It involved the bathroom of a patient room. The call light to summon nurses would turn on. When we checked, everyone in the room would be asleep or the room would be empty. We had maintenance check the switch for a short. They even changed the switch and the light still came on randomly.

Several years later, the administration changed the floor to a pediatric area. When the kids came, the “ghost” left and the call light didn’t come on unless it was actually pulled. I guess the spirit didn’t like kids.