Some of the most interesting events and inexplicable sightings have come from folks working in hospitals.  It makes sense; many people leave this mortal coil in hospital.  Hospital staff will not part with these tales willingly; there is the potential for job loss, so anonymity is key for them, in addition – like anyone else, they don’t wish to be seen as flakey or plain nuts, so many health care professionals remain “mum”.

This one is from the Royal Vic, a well-known hospital in Montreal.  This is from a nurse who wishes to remain anonymous.

I was working at the R.V. and I had been on this particular floor for several months.  I was pulling a night shift.  Around 1:30 in the morning, a patient required attention; I approached the patient’s bed and she was very agitated.  She asked me why the old man was in the room, walking about.  There were four beds in this room, 3 were occupied and one was open for an admittance; I scanned the room and there was no one out of bed.  The patient insisted that an old man had walked into the room and stood at the end of the bed across from her own.  He turned and looked at my patient, then walked out.  The lady in the bed was very ill and to my knowledge, had not received any visitors in the time that she had been moved to our floor.  It was very sad.

I promised the agitated patient that I would check the floor and ensure the gentleman was directed to leave.  I looked down the hall and did a quick run of the rooms to make sure that the man was found.  No one was out of the bed and there were no visitors.  I called security to report the incident.  The guard came up and did a sweep of the floor – no one.  About an hour later, the patient summoned me again.  I went back to her bedside and sure enough, she reported the man again.  I calmed her down and when I went back to the station, I checked her chart for meds.  Sometimes medication can cause hallucinations; I made notes and intended to discuss the situation with day staff.  Something caused me to look up and sure enough, I saw what looked like the shadow of a man walking into the room where my patient was located.  I called security again and took off down the hall.  I entered the room, no one was there.  The patient who had alerted me was, at this point, extremely upset.  Security arrived and we did a thorough search of the area but the thing is, I saw the man enter the room but never saw him leave the room.  There is no way he could have exited without my seeing him.

We found no one.  The security guard remained on the floor until 4:00 am.  He checked the area thoroughly.  My shift ended and I reported the occurrence to day staff, then went home.  When I arrived for my shift that night, I learned the patient across from my agitated lady had passed away.

I later learned that this gentleman had been seen before and always just before a patient passed away.