No amount of medical school prepares a person for the bizarre, unnerving experience of working at a hospital. Even if a person gets a doctorate, there are still so many unexplained events that haunt them for decades after. These spine-chilling stories have no rational explanation for why they happened. But each story left a deep, unnerving impact on it's unfortunate victim. This eerie content has been edited for clarity.
Old Hospital, Shadowy Secrets?
“Back story for this old hospital I worked in: Built in the late 1800s, it was the original psychiatric building for this hospital. Now being the late 1800s, not much was truly known about psychiatric disorders. On top of that, this hospital was known for its medical research. With both of those facts combined, you can infer that some terrible acts were done to many of these misunderstood psych patients in this building. A couple of years before I started working there, this building had been converted into offices after the newly built part of the hospital dedicated a section for an updated psych ward.
My story: My rounds for that night happened to include said building. At night, this building was empty. In some of their haste, employees left their office doors unlocked, which is a big no-no due to medical information being located in their offices. It was our duty to go to each floor, and make sure every door was locked, and if it wasn’t, to secure it ourselves.
I did my initial sweep of the building to make sure it was clear (nobody in the building), and proceeded to do my door checks. The hallways were pretty narrow, so I could check both sides of the hallway’s doors at once. At the end of this hallway, there were two sets of doors you had to go through to reach the final office, which was a dead end. Everything was secure. I exited the two sets of doors from the dead end office and stood absolution frozen from what I saw.
Every door ajar. Set perfectly so their own weight wouldn’t cause them to shut again. And one wheelchair, at the end of said hallway, facing towards the steps. I had heard other security officers outright reject that set of rounds due to strange stuff happening there, but I laughed it off until that night happened. Never took those rounds again.
Another night, I heard a call on the radio, in what could only be described as dry throat terror voice, requesting back up. I was close so I responded to his call, letting him know I was on the way.
When I got there, he had his head between his knees, and he was silently crying with a shattered chandelier a couple feet next to him.
Now, before I had experienced the abnormal happenings in this building, I would have written off his testimony off as idiocy. But he claimed that something held him in that spot as the chandelier started swinging wildly until it started to fall. When it started to fall he was ‘let go’ and allowed to move, and scrambled out of the way before it hit him.
I got him up, calmed him down, and took him back to the supervisor. She yelled to one of our other supervisors, ‘Almost lost another one in that same building!’
The other supervisor laughed and said, ‘Why do you think we send the new guys?! Haha, you know I don’t even like going over there!’
That guy is my roommate and hates when I bring up that experience.”
“My Entire Body Broke Out In Goosebumps”
“I started at a hospital doing transport for a couple of years. The transport home base was in the basement of the hospital, where all the laundry is done and supplies are also sorted there. I hated working late nights after this incident.
On this particular night, I was the only one in the basement when I heard whistling at the end of the hallway by the elevator. I poked my head around the corner expecting to see my only coworker on duty that night, but there was absolutely no one there. I shrugged it off, I’m not easily spooked. Nights are slow, so I ate some snacks and hung out in the break room for a bit. Next thing I know, I hear a loud bang.
I walked into the hallway and a bed is rolling down the hall bumping into the sides. At this point I think that my coworker is having fun with me. I radio him and he says he’s upstairs in the cafeteria. Ah, I still don’t believe him and think I’ll catch him in the act. I walk past the laundry room and the machines start. Pop my head in there expecting to find him, but it’s completely empty. Okay. Starting to get a little nervous.
I walk into the laundry room, and the machines completely stop. I freeze, then run out and head towards the elevator when I hear whistling again. At this point, I know I am the only worker in the basement. As I am standing there waiting for the elevator, things start falling off of the shelves down the hall. Boxes of gloves, tissues, packages of tubes. I am literally standing there watching them fall off one by one at the opposite end of the hallway. My entire body broke out in goosebumps, my hair stood on end, and I had this strong gut feeling I was being watched. I was not alone. As I’m getting into the elevator, I feel what feels like someone brushing my arm. I went upstairs and found my coworker in the cafeteria, where I freaked out to him. I got out of there and transferred soon after that. The creepiest feeling ever.”
Standoff With A Mysterious Creature
“I used to work in the city, and our company covered surrounding towns, including a couple of hundred thousand people with suburbs, woods, and a river valley. We had to respond to the fringe of our coverage area in another town one night, and after almost getting there we wound up being cancelled by first responders en-route. It was 4:30 AM on a Wednesday in autumn. The ride back to civilization is only a 20-minute trip, but it’s a long, straight road with dim street lights and thick forest on both sides. I was riding in the passenger seat, mentally preparing to go home after a long night, when my partner asked, ‘Do you see that?’ and began to slow down.
I saw it only one hundred feet or so in front of us. A dog. A large dog. A large dog that’s silver/gray with little tufts atop of the ears, walking away from us ever so slowly. That beast had to be four feet at the shoulders. My partner slows to a crawl thinking it’s hurt and maybe it has a tag or collar. Surely such a magnificent beast has an owner.
As we slowed to a crawl, something happened that I will never unsee. We’re creeping at about 5mph and gaining, I was on the passenger side, and the creature was on my side of the road. The plan was for him to put flashers on and for me to whistle or hoot to see if our new friend would leave in fear. We closed the hundred-foot gap to around 25-30feet.
As we closed our distance, my partner and I simultaneously got a sense of dread. My blood turned cold. The giant dog stood up. The beast’s shoulders would put any football player’s to shame. It was a massive animal. My partner stopped the truck. The beast cocked its head ever so slightly to the left revealing a single yellow eye shine, then turned to my side (right side) of the woods and bolted. It was over as soon as it started.
The thing that has always bothered me though is that little head tilt. I got the sense of dread before he stood up, it was almost telekinetic if that makes any sense. I just got this feeling the dog was trying to say, ‘I know you mean well, move on, and I was never here.’
Then it vanished. We have a few black-bears around here, and they’re like big dumb bulbous puppies who are adorable to view from a safe distance. Whatever this mass of muscle and fur was, it was the wrong color and shape, and it had a lot of weight to be a black bear. My partner in this story doesn’t like to talk about the story much, but insisted ‘It wasn’t any sort of bear.’
World’s freaky man, could have easily been sleep deprivation. But it’s stuck with me.”
“He’s Right Behind You”
“I used to work in a skilled nursing facility. I was usually assigned to the Alzheimer’s ward. One night I’m in the linen room stocking my cart, and I heard someone shuffle up behind me, then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around, and there was no one else in the room. The door was still shut too.
Another lady started to complain that a man was coming into her room at night (again, Alzheimer’s ward, so I didn’t think much of it). In order to reassure her, I told her I’d check on her throughout the night. She complained of this man for every night for 2 more weeks until I asked her to describe him to me.
‘He’s real handsome, and he wears a black suit. Oh. He’s right behind you now, honey.’
That freaked me way out. Of course there was no one behind me. She died the next night in her sleep.”