Did I see a ghost? Or am I going mad?

[SnotRags]

This happened on Monday. It’s been playing on my mind since.

I work in a largely unused community hospital. Some days, I’m the only person working there other than reception and a security guard. I run a clinic and my room is down the end of a corridor - remember there is nobody else in the entire building, all other rooms unused. Just mine at the end with its little light on.

So anyway, I don’t believe in ghosts, never have. However this corridor is bloody spooky sometimes and on a number of occasions I’ve thought I’ve seen someone walking around a corner only for there to be nobody there. I’ve heard the sound of a Zimmer frame walking towards my room, gone out to greet my patient and nobody is there. My cupboard door in my room has had a random rattling handle on a few occasion. A pair of scissors weirdly left my trolley and ended up on the floor (I didn’t see how, just heard the clatter on the floor and saw them lying there). Now, not saying those incidents are ghosts but it was unnerving so I asked security if we could put the waiting room TV on a music channel or something just to make the corridor less silent.

Anyway, on Monday I asked reception where I could find something I needed. She said “that sort of stuff is upstairs”. I asked how I got up there (didn’t even know there was a second floor!) and she said “you can’t, it’s locked”. So I asked security to let me up. He laughed and said “you going up there on your own? Because I’m not coming with you!” … long story short he unlocked the door to the stairs, I went up - was sorting through the stuff I needed and saw a nurse walk past the room I was in (not a shadow or Victorian dressed character, just an actual nurse). Thought nothing of it. Went back downstairs and as security was locking the door again I said “you know there is a nurse up there? Does she have a key for this door?” He said “nobody is up there” and locked the door. I said “I literally saw her! You can’t just lock her in!” He maintained nobody was up there and we walked back to reception where he told receptionist I’d seen “Julie”. Lots of dramatic faces and gasps, they tell me Julie is a ghost - had an aneurysm at work and died years ago.

As I said I don’t believe in ghosts but I can’t stop thinking about it! I definitely saw someone, they even described her and it was the same person I saw. Only thing I can think of is it’s an in joke and there is a nurse who works up there?? (But no patients go up there so what is she doing exactly?)

YABU - it’s clearly an in joke and the nurse works up there, the others say she’s a ghost to freak people out
YANBU - it’s a ghost, why would a uniformed nurse be working on an unused floor on her own?

It sounds ridiculous even to me as I’m writing this but I just can’t stop going over it in my head.

I can only read this in the daytime, but it's fascinating

Love a good ghost thread

I'm another who can only read spooky threads during daylight hours

Pathetic, shivering wimp that I am!

It's understandable that someone who's never seen one says they don't believe in them. But if that was me I'd be saying ,"I didn't used to believe in ghosts but now I'm not so sure" 😃

Update
I had a spare 40 minutes so asked security for the stairs key so I could go up and “organise stuff a bit better up there” (didn’t want to make out that I was ghost hunting!). Went up, recorded everything (nothing happened unsurprisingly). I went into the room that I saw the nurse turn into to see what was actually in there. It was completely empty, nothing in there at all so she had no reason to go on there if it was indeed an actual nurse. I walked around all the corridors, one other staircase at the other side of the building but was separated off and locked. (The keys I had didn’t fit this door).
Went back down, asked security if there was another way to get upstairs so that I didn’t have to keep bothering him for the keys but he said no, only that one staircase. They don’t even have the keys for the other staircase, it hasn’t been used for years.

Asked one of my patients (who has used the hospital for years and was an impatient there at one point) if she remembered a nurse called Julie. She said “oh yes, the one that died? She was only in her 40s”. I asked her what she looked like and she described the person I saw.

So … make of that what you will!

I’ve just messaged another nurse who has worked there a lot (she’s the one I took over and still works there on the days that I’m off) to ask her if she ever experienced anything weird! Will let you all know what she says

My dad had a very woo experience years ago, however not woo at the actual time of having it. We live (all still live in the same village) in a large long village but everyone knew everyone back then. He took our dog out for a walk one summers evening and the dog stopped for a sniff around, on the pavement, outside the walls of the village Methodist Church. This place was used for many functions, play schools, tea and cake, performances, rehearsals etc. It’s still used for similar things today. Anyway, the curtains were completely open and he stood for a while watching what he assumed was a play rehearsal taking place in the end room (glass from floor to ceiling so completely clear to see inside). He thought it must be a play as everyone was dressed in old draped clothes, tatty rag clothes, that sort of attire. The main thing he noticed, though, was an older man with a long white beard bending down wagging his finger in a “telling off” sort of way to a young child who was crying. Said child was dressed in quite ragged white clothes and had a dirty face. Anyway, with a niggling nagging doubt feeling, he contacted the lady in the village who held the keys to the chapel to ask her about it. She was completely unaware that any person or any event was taking place on this evening. Basically there wasn’t, as she had the keys and knew the schedule. My poor dad then felt quite spooked. Wanting to solve the mystery of what he’d seen, he got speaking to our then elderly neighbour who had a book about the history of the village, with portrait photos of some of the main people who were around then. There on one of the pages was a photo of the man he had seen. He was absolutely adamant it was him. He was around in the late 1800’s early 1900’s - can’t quite remember. He, to this day, describes it as witnessing a moment in time.
My sister and I also saw the “ghost” of our dog who was scratching at our large living room garden window when it was raining one day- she always did this to be let in. Anyway, when she was scratching at the window, I said “you let her in” and she replied “no you let her in” (we were both Children and watching tv at the time). We then looked at each other and realised that for that moment, we had both forgotten she had died a few weeks earlier and we both gasped. It was weird.
Have had lots of other experiences too. I’m not a total “ghost” believer. I have a very logical mind. There are things that sometimes can’t be explained. Obviously many can.

Thanks for the update OP. This is fascinating!

any idea how the scissors removed themselves from the flat trolley and placed themselves on the floor a couple of foot away? It’s a steady metal trolley. Flat. Made a right racket when they hit the floor, proper shit mysen as the same day the handle started rattling on the cupboard door (walk in cupboard)

Nowhere in towns, or anywhere with people and traffic, is actually that quiet. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries when people were building physics laboratories with sensitive measuring equipment they found this out. They had to be really careful to make sure they were measuring the objects of their experiment, not the effect of every passing cart. It actually takes a lot to isolate measuring equipment so it isn't picking up on the level of background vibration.

You'll notice how in general with ghost stories things fall down to the floor. If your ghost had picked the scissors up and put the back on the tray I'd be surprised. I'm not surprised that they fell downwards.

Oh and we tend to ignore or filter out this background vibration. I can't use a CD player in one room in my house because it continually skips. It's nothing ghostly I'm just in an old house with floorboards that give and when large farm vehicles pass outside the whole lot shakes and the CDs skip but I don't really notice the vibrations myself.

Thanks for the update OP!
From what you've said it does seem like you've had an unexplainable encounter especially as the person you spoke to described her as you saw her, I'm presuming you didn't do the describing and she agreed? Poor Julie.

I don't know what I believe really when it comes to ghosts but so many stories do get you thinking

I'll be interested to know what the other nurse says
I wouldn't go up there a lot though, Julie probably enjoys being undisturbed.

I've been listening to the "Uncanny" podcasts on BBC Sounds - they're very good. Might be worth a listening - during daylight hours or with someone else around......

Asked one of my patients (who has used the hospital for years and was an impatient there at one point) if she remembered a nurse called Julie. She said “oh yes, the one that died? She was only in her 40s”. I asked her what she looked like and she described the person I saw.

Unless Julie had an eyepatch or a Mohawk, facial tattoos, was extremely tall or short, or was of a different ethnicity to the former patient describing her, any description you're going to get from most people is probably pretty generic, though. Like the person you briefly saw or 'saw', who didn't strike you as in any way remarkable at the time.

I'm amused by the ghost stories in which the apparition magically turns out to be a perfect visual match for the long-departed Great-Uncle So and So as described by Auntie Maureen, or the tragic murder victim as photographed by the local paper.

I think you did see a ghost OP, but I also think that if you did, it's not actually Julie we are living the same life over and over again, it's something like a memory or an imprint, rather than the ghost being sentient in someway.

@DPotter

I've been listening to the "Uncanny" podcasts on BBC Sounds - they're very good. Might be worth a listening - during daylight hours or with someone else around......

Yes, I listened to a couple of episodes last thing at night. Not recommended!

Somehow when an experienced ward sister tells you they've seen something you tend to believe them. Some of the stories I've heard are more touching than scary. Still best to read them in daylight !

@tinkywinkyshandbag

I think you did see a ghost OP, but I also think that if you did, it's not actually Julie we are living the same life over and over again, it's something like a memory or an imprint, rather than the ghost being sentient in someway.

Yes, I know what you mean I just think of them as presences I guess

[quote DaisyChains3]www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0010x7c[/quote]
Yes OP, you need to listen to this. Its bloody brilliant. A couple of them sound very much like your scissor incident.

Abandoned hospitals are such a well used horror trope I am totally invested. This has better be real!

Audio ghosts are a bit rubbish tho no?

My son is addicted to YouTube ghost footage from channels like Slapped Ham. He watches them at night to ‘put the wind up himself’ he says.

I'm invested

OP will have the gradual realisation that actually the reason that there are so few people in the building is because it really WAS completely shut down 2 years earlier. And that not only Julie, but the receptionist, the security guard, the patients and OP herself are ALL ghosts.......

OP's role is like Gene Hunt/s in the end of Ashes To Ashes. She is taking over from Ghost Receptionist who has done her stint at helping people to pass over and is ready to cross over herself. OP has to come to the conclusion on her own that she herself is in fact a ghost, so that she will be happy to stay for a few years to help the poor lost souls pass on who've died suddenly in various hospitals so don't realise they're dead.

I'm so sorry you had to learn this way, OP. As you still have the channel to us in this world, we will support you all the way while you get over your shock. You have been chosen because you are a caring soul. Soul, geddit?^

WoooooooooOOOOHHHOOHOHOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH..........

@TatianaBis

Audio ghosts are a bit rubbish tho no?

My son is addicted to YouTube ghost footage from channels like Slapped Ham. He watches them at night to ‘put the wind up himself’ he says.

I must look that up...but what a weird name for the topic!

Curly that's fab! I would watch that.

@CurlyhairedAssassin

OP will have the gradual realisation that actually the reason that there are so few people in the building is because it really WAS completely shut down 2 years earlier. And that not only Julie, but the receptionist, the security guard, the patients and OP herself are ALL ghosts.......

OP's role is like Gene Hunt/s in the end of Ashes To Ashes. She is taking over from Ghost Receptionist who has done her stint at helping people to pass over and is ready to cross over herself. OP has to come to the conclusion on her own that she herself is in fact a ghost, so that she will be happy to stay for a few years to help the poor lost souls pass on who've died suddenly in various hospitals so don't realise they're dead.

I'm so sorry you had to learn this way, OP. As you still have the channel to us in this world, we will support you all the way while you get over your shock. You have been chosen because you are a caring soul. Soul, geddit?^

WoooooooooOOOOHHHOOHOHOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH..........

Jesus! I think you must be right!

Sorry Op.. but it’s quite a cool way to go. Hopefully you will have quite a lot of power as the spectral receptionist and you can put people in limbo (aka the second floor) where Julie can ignore them. At some point you must do that Nicole Kidman in the Others trick with flying medical records.

Or alternatively - and because I am dull I am going for this - it was a trick of the light and your brain. I’m guessing the patient’s description of Julie was she was a bit fat w a blonde bob or something similarly generic.

Oooh I believe you

@CurlyhairedAssassin

OP will have the gradual realisation that actually the reason that there are so few people in the building is because it really WAS completely shut down 2 years earlier. And that not only Julie, but the receptionist, the security guard, the patients and OP herself are ALL ghosts.......

OP's role is like Gene Hunt/s in the end of Ashes To Ashes. She is taking over from Ghost Receptionist who has done her stint at helping people to pass over and is ready to cross over herself. OP has to come to the conclusion on her own that she herself is in fact a ghost, so that she will be happy to stay for a few years to help the poor lost souls pass on who've died suddenly in various hospitals so don't realise they're dead.

I'm so sorry you had to learn this way, OP. As you still have the channel to us in this world, we will support you all the way while you get over your shock. You have been chosen because you are a caring soul. Soul, geddit?^

WoooooooooOOOOHHHOOHOHOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH..........

This is much the best explanation. I am entirely convinced and I feel someone should time travel and write it up as a spooky story for Misty girls’ comic, which featured a lot of heroines trapped for all eternity inside paintings and the like. 😀

(Actually, in parts of Ireland folklore about graveyards states that the last person buried has to serve the rest of the dead until a new inhabitant comes along — the OP will soon see Ghost Security Guard and Ghost Receptionist float off up the stairs to their eternity, while the OP welcomes their replacements with gentle tales of the apparitions of Carol and Stanley, who were too young to go… )