Episode 4: Haunted Healing

This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary.

Cara Lunsford

Oh, hey, nurses. Welcome to the Nurse Dot podcast. Giving nurses validation, resources and hope. One episode at a time. Oh, Today on Nurse Dot podcast. In today's special Halloween edition of Nurse Stop podcast, I am joined by none other than our very own famous sound magician, Don Lunsford, who also happens to be my lovely wife. Together, we are going to bring to life the scary nurse stories that were submitted to us on social media by our incredible news.com community.

So get comfy. Turn on the lights and grab a drink because your hair is about to stand on end. I'm your host, Kara Lunsford. Registered nurse and VP of community at Mers-Cov. Oh, all righty. We are about to kick off the Scary Nurse Ghost Stories episode in honor of Halloween. And I am here with my wife. And also, she's the behind the scenes music editing sound pretty much like the reason it sounds as good as it does is because of my wife.

Dawn Lunsford

Thanks, honey.

Cara Lunsford

You're welcome. Ms.. Dawn Lunsford.

Dawn Lunsford

Hello.

Hello, Nurse Scott. Podcast Audience.

Cara Lunsford

This is the first time that we have ever done the podcast together. And the reason why I think we decided we wanted to do it together is we're both kind of fans of the Scared to Death podcast. We listen to it with our son. Right?

Dawn Lunsford

That's right. He loves to be scared on the way to school. I think if you listen to the ghost stories, then anything that happens at school is not nearly as scary. That's my theory.

Cara Lunsford

That's fair. I've never thought about it that way. But yeah, a nice little shout out to Scared to Death. Love them. And so in honor of scary stuff, we asked nurses to send us some messages of ghost stories. And we did it on social. And if you haven't had a chance, you can check out the nurse dot com social on Facebook and people wrote in some pretty gnarly stories.

Dawn Lunsford

Did you get some good submissions?

Cara Lunsford

Yeah, we got some good stuff.

Dawn Lunsford

I can't wait to hear them. Wait, now you don't like to be scared? No. So how are you handling this? How you get through it? You're going to be okay.

Cara Lunsford

I mean, I'm going to be okay. Okay. Because I'm hungry. Used to. You worry about.

Dawn Lunsford

Me a little bit because after this is done, you're going to be like.

I can Hold me. Can I? I'm scared. Okay.

Cara Lunsford

Can you leave the light on? Can we sleep with the light on tonight? And so I don't like to be scared, although I do like to scare people. That is.

Dawn Lunsford

Fun.

Cara Lunsford

Which is why we have an annual haunted house at our house every. So that's what annual means Every year. Every year. It's something that we've had to take on that has been a rather large undertaking and every year it's gotten quite a bit bigger.

Dawn Lunsford

Mm hmm.

We scared hundreds of people, which is very satisfying.

Cara Lunsford

We've scared hundreds of people. It is very sad. And they keep coming back. So they must and it's like they must like it. However, to what you were saying, I do not like to be scared. I don't like to get into scary situations. I don't like to go stay at haunted houses.

Dawn Lunsford

You don't like horror films?

Cara Lunsford

I don't like horror films. And so I'll just start actually with my own scary story. Who And then maybe at some point in here you can also give a scary story. Mm hmm. Okay. I mean, I've definitely had a fair amount of scary things happen or what you might consider experiences. But I would say when it comes to work, I'm going to give like a short one.

So one day I was at work, I was sitting at a cow, which we call a computer on wheels, and we had them in certain places on the floor and we didn't necessarily move them around. And then there were some that got moved, but there was like ones that were always in certain places. So I was sitting at this one that was just right outside of the nurse's station and and I could see all of my colleagues, they were all sitting kind of inside the nurse's station.

And I was sitting like outside of it. As I was sitting there, I was pretty focused on my charting. And it was the really the beginning of the shift. And all of a sudden I heard in my right ear Karen and it was almost as though someone had just come up right in my ear.

Dawn Lunsford

Almost like in your head.

Cara Lunsford

Yeah, but in my right ear, I heard my name, but like, whispered loudly in my ear and I kind of perked up. I looked around, I started looking over at my colleagues. Everybody seemed like they were had their heads down, they were working, they were doing stuff. They were either talking to each other, but I couldn't figure out who had just said my name.

And as I was looking around, one of my colleagues said to me, Did you just hear your name? And I said, Yeah. She goes, Yeah, That's why I don't sit in that chair.

Dawn Lunsford

That's creepy.

Cara Lunsford

It was.

Dawn Lunsford

Creepy How?

Cara Lunsford

I mean, so apparently, according to her and maybe like some of the other I don't know. I don't I don't know what kind of spiritual vortex is right there in that one spot. And maybe other people had heard it, too. But they weren't willing to admit it. I don't know.

Dawn Lunsford

Now, it's not really so surprising in that you were a pediatric oncology nurse at the time, and kids are playful and mischievous a little bit. Maybe they wanted to, you know.

Cara Lunsford

Maybe, you.

Dawn Lunsford

Know.

Cara Lunsford

Maybe just getting my attention, I don't know. So that was like that. I'm going to start it off with like my own story.

Dawn Lunsford

That's a good one.

Cara Lunsford

And then I'm going to move into one of the stories that I read. Okay. We have several stories. I know it's very exciting, but I'm going to start with one that I just read and I thought, Oh, this this is good. This is really, really good.

Dawn Lunsford

I can't wait to hear it.

Cara Lunsford

This one kind of creeped me out. Do you have your coffee? Are you ready?

Dawn Lunsford

I'm ready.

Me, me, me, me. Okay.

Dawn Lunsford

Where's my blankie?

Cara Lunsford

You need you need your blankie and your and your coffee. Okay, here we go.

I was caring for a very sick patient and was assigned to her care on and off for about a week and a half. I got to know her very well while caring for her. During that time, she was kind, somewhat small, thin, older lady. I will never forget her striking white hairstyle. In our conversation, she told me that she was a retired nurse.

She also shared with me that she was very upset about being sick as she had planned a vacation and was very sad and disappointed that she wasn't going to be well enough to go. As the days went on during her hospitalization, she did not get better. She ultimately was put on palliative care and passed away on the unit peacefully.

On that day that she passed, I received a post-op patient in that same room. Later that evening, this post op patient told me that she had a very strange dream. This report was nothing new, as I had often had reports of patients having strange dreams when taking certain pain medications. He told me his dream was particular, really strange and very real.

He had dreamed that a skinny lady with white hair was his nurse and that she was strangely right in his face telling him about the vacation she was going on. I was absolutely stunned. I will never forget that as long as I live.

Dawn Lunsford

Oh, ho, ho, ho. Some verification? Yes.

Cara Lunsford

I just got the chills. I totally got the chills. I look at look up. Do you see my chills?

Dawn Lunsford

I see your chills.

Cara Lunsford

Oh, my gosh. My hair's standing.

Dawn Lunsford

Up. That is a good one, I think.

Cara Lunsford

I think what was so amazing about that was that not only did he see this well, he saw this white haired lady, but she was his nurse and she used to be a nurse.

Dawn Lunsford

Crazy. He couldn't have known that.

Cara Lunsford

No, I know. I mean, I can imagine if he was just being admitted.

Dawn Lunsford

And she just passed.

Cara Lunsford

She had just passed in that room. Wow. So her energy was probably still there.

Dawn Lunsford

That's a good one.

Cara Lunsford

I know. Okay. So some of these I have not read yet because I wanted to be surprise. I don't like to overly prepare for these podcasts because I like to be kind of shocked in the moment.

Dawn Lunsford

You want to be scared.

Cara Lunsford

I want to be scared while I'm reading it. I also have to eliminate things that might be any might be identifiers of any kind because we don't want to be violating any HIPA and we don't want to be calling out any specific institutions. So next, one roommate in the E.R. had a bad reputation of patients coding in it.

The cardiac monitor above the bed would also turn on and shut off on its own. It was checked several times by electricians. Monitors also had been changed out, but it would still happen for no reason. We even had a man in his early forties who came in to have his fingers stitched up and coded for no reason. Oh my God.

I do remember years prior we had a frequent alcoholic who visited our E.R. too frequently. He was belligerent and foul. One day before he died, he had said he would come back and haunt our E.R.. Hence, we always claimed it was him doing the bizarre events. Some of us would move our critical patients out of that room for fear of them coding.

One day, one of our male nurses thought we were just superstitious. His relative came in ill and he wouldn't let us move him from room eight. Guess what? He coded. Oh, my God.

Dawn Lunsford

Just close, Roommate.

Cara Lunsford

Should I do things room or something? Well, you can't close it, because obviously we need rooms.

Dawn Lunsford

For people to die in.

Cara Lunsford

Well, no, there's got to be other options. You can't just get rid of a room. Look like you would have to sage it. Yeah, Maybe bring in.

Dawn Lunsford

Exorcism.

Cara Lunsford

Or. Yeah, bring in somebody to help that man go.

Dawn Lunsford

Now, I have a question for you. Do hospitals employ the services of spiritual leaders to come in and bless a room? Save your room.

Cara Lunsford

Do a prayer. That has happened.

Dawn Lunsford

So it could be. And it is a day. Has another one of your.

Cara Lunsford

Yes, I have heard of that happening. So, yes, I think that they do in certain situations. If that has happened at your institution, you should definitely write us and tell us so that you can make it into the next series, next Halloween? Yes.

Dawn Lunsford

What else you got?

Cara Lunsford

So I definitely think roommate is in need of some cleansing, even if it's just sage. I mean, turn the oxygen off, obviously. Make sure there's no, like, oxygen, but maybe that room needs to be staged. I'm just saying.

Dawn Lunsford

Okay, I agree.

Cara Lunsford

All right, all right, let's move. Let's move on. This next one.

I see a lot of names, but I think that these are fake names, so we're going to go with it. All right. I was working in a nursing home many years ago. We had two married couples that were on different wings slash halls, ladies on one men on another. One evening shift while I was passing meds. One of our rational and lucid senior ladies and her roommate said something about talking to another resident.

As I questioned her not paying enough initial attention, she said, We were just talking to Mildred. She came in here looking for Ralph. He was on another hall. We told her the direction of his room and she just left to find him before you came in. Suddenly I was at full attention and in shock. These two ladies were of sound mind.

I became white and jittery. They noticed and asked me what was wrong. I finally regained my composure and asked them again, Who did you say was just in here? And both of you were talking to you. They both resounded, Mildred. Without hesitation I blurted out, Oh my shaking. They said, What's wrong? I said, Miss Mildred died three days ago.

Dawn Lunsford

Oh, talking to her.

They really saw. Oh, no. Oh, oh.

Cara Lunsford

Oh, oh.

Dawn Lunsford

Mildred did not was. She was not ready to go?

Cara Lunsford

Well, no, because Mildred was looking for what was his name? Ralph.

Dawn Lunsford

Well, she was looking for Ralph.

Cara Lunsford

Mildred was looking for a real.

Dawn Lunsford

I wonder if they went to Ralph and said, Hey, did you see Mildred? She stopped by.

I'd be nice to even look at them.

Hey, Ralph, Who's crazy?

Cara Lunsford

So Mildred and Ralph were actually together because they were a married couple, Right? But they just. I think that that's kind of sad, isn't it? Sad if you're a married couple and you have to live on separate floors was really tall.

Dawn Lunsford

Yeah, that seems I can understand if one really has some, like ni real.

Cara Lunsford

Yeah, I guess that's true.

Dawn Lunsford

Person. Yeah, that's definitely true. One has a real memory problems. Yeah, but that would. That makes me sad right at the top of the story where you said, Oh, there to be at different parts of the facility.

Cara Lunsford

I know that breaks my heart. It's sad, but I can understand how that might be the case. What else you got? Okay, what do I. What else do I have? Okay, so these are like some longer ones, the longer ones that I just read. Okay, but let's see. All right. This person just had a few, like, said many spooky encounters, and then just labeled off a few things that would happen.

Okay, so first one wise, I would be in my office with the door shut, trying to complete paperwork. The door would open without the latch being turned and open as if someone were peeking in the room.

Dawn Lunsford

Oh, no.

Cara Lunsford

There's something really creepy about peeking in a room too.

Dawn Lunsford

And a door slowly opening.

Cara Lunsford

As opposed to just like flinging the door open.

Dawn Lunsford

That's scary, too.

Cara Lunsford

I mean, that's also scary. I mean, I don't know.

Dawn Lunsford

Eight. There's no one standing there. It's scary.

Cara Lunsford

Yeah. Just the door opening on its own, I guess is scary, but there is something creepy about peeking or lurking. I think it's lurking.

Dawn Lunsford

Lurking Ghosts really scare you. You're saying? Yeah, they're the worst ones.

Cara Lunsford

Yeah. Just don't. Yeah, don't be a lurker.

Dawn Lunsford

Don't be a lurking ghost.

Cara Lunsford

Yeah. Just be out there. Be cool.

Dawn Lunsford

Just show yourself.

Cara Lunsford

To show yourself. Yeah. Okay. The other thing this person experienced was smell of a pipe. Smoke. Smell of pipe smoke in the founder's office, which was established 1908. So pretty old, you know. So it's a pretty old office. And so you would just smell pipe smoke. Have you ever. I've smelled smoke before.

Dawn Lunsford

I've smelled cigaret smoke. My after my dad passed, my mom would smell cigaret smoke. That's right. Even though he hadn't really smoked it towards the end of his life. But that was part of a big part of his life.

Cara Lunsford

I hear people smell flowers.

Dawn Lunsford

My mom smoked flowers like on her anniversary or birthday, and she always says, I think that's your dad sending me flowers. She doesn't really talk like that, but I had to do a mom voice. I think that's her dad sending me flowers. I'm like, That's probably true, Mom.

Cara Lunsford

Oh, yeah, I know. I have heard that a.

Dawn Lunsford

Lot of perfumes, people with small people's perfumes.

Cara Lunsford

Oh, yeah. Like cologne, perfume, cigaret, smoke. Yes, all of those things. All right. Call bells alerting in empty rooms. Oh, I hear that. That absolutely happens. And I think that we have this tendency to want to normalize things and immediately say it's electrical, there's an electrical short or something. But I think we know that sometimes like that is not the case.

Dawn Lunsford

I mean, nurses work in a place where people pass on a regular basis.

Cara Lunsford

Yes.

Dawn Lunsford

It's true to saying so. This is probably have some of the best stories.

Cara Lunsford

Yes, absolutely. These are some really good stories. Okay. So the other thing that this person said was elevators would take you to floors that were not active.

Dawn Lunsford

Oh, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Cara Lunsford

I hope you didn't get out. That would be. My thing is, like, if it takes you that floor, you just, like, close the door and then you. You pick, you go, No, no, I want to go to floor five and then you hopefully it takes you there.

Dawn Lunsford

The door shuts and takes you.

Cara Lunsford

Yeah, hopefully the door shuts and takes you there and doesn't force you out and make you take the stairs or something.

Dawn Lunsford

There's a Twilight Zone series show about that.

Cara Lunsford

Really?

Dawn Lunsford

Yeah. Oh, it's a good one. It takes this woman to this mannequin floor. That doesn't really. Oh, yeah, I remember that one. I was like, Oh, I want to watch that again.

Cara Lunsford

I feel like Black Mirror is just today's version of The Twilight Zone.

Dawn Lunsford

It's so good. Watch it. Black Mirror.

Cara Lunsford

Oh, yeah. If you like creepy stuff or you just like to be wigged out a little bit Black Mirror and they didn't pay us to say that. Okay, So.

Dawn Lunsford

That's okay, kids. Watch it.

Cara Lunsford

All right. Someone just wrote Ghost Children and call Lights going off on their own. Our unit used to be a pediatric ward a long time ago, and I don't know, is it less creepy if it's like kids or is it more creepy?

Dawn Lunsford

You worked with kids.

Cara Lunsford

But do you think to me it's.

Dawn Lunsford

Just less creepy?

Cara Lunsford

A little, but also just sad. You're going to see like a little kid wandering around on their own. Yeah, that seems unnatural. It is. I feel like it's sad because I think they should not be there by themselves. They should be with others.

Dawn Lunsford

In a way, it almost seems like they're having a good time because they're they're messing with you a little bit like as kids do sometimes.

Cara Lunsford

Sometimes. Yeah, maybe they're bored. We hear that a lot. Yeah. You know, our our son says all the time, I'm bored and I'm bored, so. Yeah, I can only imagine. All right, uh, let's see here. Oh, here's one I worked in the old part of the hospital. I saw an actual black figure across a doorway. Main monitors that were off would go on.

Oh, I'm sorry. Wait a second. Main monitors that were off would go off in rooms. So, like, the sound would go off in rooms that hadn't had anyone in it for a while. I was always the one who had to go talk to the ghost.

Dawn Lunsford

Everyone else was scared. I was always the one that had to go talk to the ghost. Yuko, you go. I like. How do you get that job to me?

Cara Lunsford

That's like, okay, when when we're preparing for or we think that there's going to be a code, a lot of times what we'll do is we will ahead of time, assign roles for the code.

Dawn Lunsford

That makes sense.

Cara Lunsford

Yeah. It's like, Oh, are you the recorder or the runner or, you know, the medication nurse? What what is your role so that you're not all running into a code and trying to decide who's doing what? So sometimes, like at the beginning of the shift, you actually assign those roles and I just find that like somebody here got the role of Ghost Talker.

Dawn Lunsford

Yeah, I'm sure there's always that nurse on the floor that's like, you place the line, you know, you're a good stick or whatever. And yeah, so you're good with ghosts. You go.

Yeah.

Cara Lunsford

I never thought of that as being a role, but apparently at this hospital it is. It is a role. Okay, This one, I don't know, is necessarily supernatural in any kind of way, but scared this person. So. And someone who has done a lot of end of life as someone who's done a lot of end of life. I, I totally know exactly what this person's talking about.

Dawn Lunsford

Let's hear it.

Cara Lunsford

All right. I was doing post mortem care and was almost finished with the bath before family would visit the room. I turn the patient for positioning. When the body released a huge exhale of air scared me to death. Oh.

Dawn Lunsford

See, I hear that happens a lot.

Cara Lunsford

But it dies.

Dawn Lunsford

And it dies. And it's got to be a little scary every time until you become immune to it.

Cara Lunsford

I don't know that you're ever really immune to it.

Dawn Lunsford

Like, do you think morticians and things like that or.

Cara Lunsford

I mean, maybe them. I would say that by the time they get to the morgue, I mean, I don't know.

Dawn Lunsford

There are some good scary morgue stories.

Cara Lunsford

But there are there are good, scary morgue stories.

Dawn Lunsford

But these are nurses stories.

Cara Lunsford

So I feel like when you're doing post mortem care, it is usually right after the person has passed.

Dawn Lunsford

There's still a lot of it going on in the system.

Cara Lunsford

There's still a lot moving around. There's still gases. There's still Oh God.

Dawn Lunsford

I feel like going with you up in what is.

You know, you know, that's what you're talking about.

Cara Lunsford

I actually was not at all what I was talking about. But now that you mention it, I'm trying to actually think if I've ever heard someone Excel or not Excel, give a.

Dawn Lunsford

Little to.

Cara Lunsford

Give a little to. I don't think I've actually heard that. I mostly it's come from the airway. That's been my.

Dawn Lunsford

Airway.

Cara Lunsford

Well, no, it's a gastrointestinal.

Dawn Lunsford

We have a 12 year old son.

Cara Lunsford

Evacuating of gas. I have not. I'm sure there are nurses out there that have heard that.

Dawn Lunsford

Now, if the body turns around and goes, I'm sorry, excuse me. That's something to be afraid of that I would go running out of the room. I'd be like.

A cartoon character to get to get a capsule. Oh, my God.

Cara Lunsford

For those of you who don't know, my wife is a Foley artist and she does sound effects for decades has done side effects. And so you're probably going to get a lot more sound effects in this episode than in any of the previous episodes or the ones that are to come. So every time that's happened to me, it gets me.

Dawn Lunsford

Because it's a real sound that living people do.

Cara Lunsford

Yeah, do that. Yeah.

Dawn Lunsford

Well, it seems very alive because then.

Cara Lunsford

You question, you're like, Oh my God, this person is gone, right? Like so.

Dawn Lunsford

Right? Yeah, I'm doing the right thing, right?

Cara Lunsford

Yeah. I mean, you don't want to be doing the full postmortem care on someone that you are suddenly suspicious that they're not gone because there's the shrouding and everything that's going on. So, Lord, certainly you certainly don't want to be doing that on someone who's actually still alive.

Dawn Lunsford

Oh, okay.

Cara Lunsford

You guys OC What else do we have.

Dawn Lunsford

Here?

Cara Lunsford

People Okay, here's one. Picked up the gurney from the morgue, had the body ready to transfer over, lifted the top off, and it was packed full of blood saturated sheets rolled up as if there was a body in them. We screamed and then almost puked because of the smell.

Dawn Lunsford

Oh, God.

Cara Lunsford

Was this just like a trick? Was this a, like, a practical joke?

Dawn Lunsford

I don't know.

Cara Lunsford

Oh, I mean, it says they picked up the gurney. Oh, I get it. Okay, so they pick up the gurney from the morgue, I guess like they were bringing the gurney up to be able to transfer a body over. And when they lifted off the top, it was packed full of blood saturated sheets.

Dawn Lunsford

Rolled out a nice morgue. Oh, you go. You're welcome. Have a great day.

Cara Lunsford

That's like a biohazard.

Dawn Lunsford

Oh, that's.

Cara Lunsford

Gross. Yeah. Someone needs to do some good housekeeping and like that. It's not clear housekeeping in the morgue. Oh, all right, here. Here we got. We've got another one here. This one says definitely not the spookiest, but I really loved this spooky soul. I worked in a very old nursing home a couple of times a week. I'd stop my med cart at room 113 just saying, there's a 13 in there.

Okay? And every time I'd stop to talk to the wonderful lady in 113, somebody would give me a playful push in the small of my back, right where a wheelchair bound person would be able to reach me. It often made me take an involuntary step forward. Of course, there was never a visible person there never happened to anyone but me.

Obviously I was in the way.

Dawn Lunsford

I love it. There's like a little bit of like a joke at the end. Like, obviously I was in the way they were trying to.

Cara Lunsford

Like, get by in their wheelchairs. Me Oh, that's so funny, because you can just imagine this person just push, push in by in a wheelchair in their ghost wheelchair. I didn't actually, I, I kind of thought that when you died, that you after that you maybe didn't have to have the wheelchair anymore. Well, maybe that's it's an option is optional.

Dawn Lunsford

Would you like to stay there? You like it? Great. You can keep that. Would you like to upgrade to Scooter? Yeah. Could a scooter can they.

Upgrade to a more modern one? If you're really good. Oh, my God. Oh.

Cara Lunsford

What's wrong with us?

Dawn Lunsford

Okay. All right.

What else.

Cara Lunsford

We got? All right. Okay, here we go. Oh, working in a skilled nursing home, and at the end of the hallway is the rehab room. Looked in the glass window and saw the exercise rubber ball bouncing by itself like a same height as if somebody playing on it during a graveyard shift.

Dawn Lunsford

Oh, my. That would send me of this.

Cara Lunsford

Okay. There is no you can't rationalize that. You know how like if a monitor goes off or something like that. Electronics. Yeah, of course.

Dawn Lunsford

A ball does not bounce itself now unless it falls and then it perpetually loses momentum. But if it's just bouncing up and down like someone's bouncing it in place, that's crazy.

Cara Lunsford

Again, people get bored.

Dawn Lunsford

These little ghosts support.

Cara Lunsford

These little spirits get bored. You know, they're like, just want to no one's using this exercise ball.

Dawn Lunsford

Have a good time.

Cara Lunsford

Why shouldn't I be able to use it? That's right. Oh, okay. All right. Let's keep it going here. Going. All right, here we go.

Dawn Lunsford

Haha.

Cara Lunsford

I worked in a nursing home next to the old state hospital and then in parentheses, insane asylum. We don't really call it that anymore, but no, no, we don't call it that anymore. I mean, I guess if you're going to tell a ghost story, it's fun to use the word insane asylum because you know, that just paints a certain picture, I guess.

Yeah, but no. Yeah. Mental health facility doesn't exactly evoke the same feeling. And they are still connected by tunnels and tunnels. Creamy out, totally creepy. I was with a patient that was encephalopathy and we were kind of jokey and he kept being incontinent and getting bed changes. Okay, so he's encephalopathy. Like he kept getting incontinent and getting bed change, so they had to keep changing his bedding.

He asked me, where's the little girl? That was with you? I thought he meant the Sienna because she was very small stature and I'm exceptionally tall. He said, No, she's a kid. Following you around. I thought, Well, he's out of his mind. I went to another alert oriented patient's room and she said, Did you bring your daughter? She saw the girl, too.

Dawn Lunsford

Oh, my God. Follow you around.

Oh, oh.

Cara Lunsford

Oh, oh. Why do you think some people can see them and other people can't?

Dawn Lunsford

I don't. I don't know. I'd love to know the answer to that. I think it has something to do with our brain system and how it works and how meditative people are at the time. If they're just kind of checked out a little bit and zoning out and they just like, Oh, there's kid.

Cara Lunsford

Like if you're just in the same frequency as that kid, I wonder if you're just kind of resonating at the same frequency, you know how like when they pick up, they have those What are those things called those arms? Is that what they're called EMF readers? And they're picking up frequencies and stuff. I wonder if you have to kind of be resonating at a similar frequency in order to see them.

Dawn Lunsford

Maybe. I mean, when you think about how the ocular nerve works and all that, I don't know. But but I would love if any of you out there have any theories on this. Please let us know if you think you know why some people see ghosts and others don't love to hear that.

Cara Lunsford

This was actually really funny and it has nothing to do with being scared at all. It was more about being shocked, they said came to work and we were fully staffed. Okay.

Dawn Lunsford

I'm sorry. Do that to read it because it was just so it was scary.

Cara Lunsford

It's like shocking. I think they were shocked.

Dawn Lunsford

Like what? How did that? But did I step into another universe?

Cara Lunsford

I just like the the person was funny one. I know. I just thought I was like, you know what? I just really appreciate that somebody was and I always really appreciate it. Dot, dot, dot, gasp, dot, dot, dot. Fully staffed.

Dawn Lunsford

So dramatic.

Cara Lunsford

I was like, Let's read it.

Dawn Lunsford

Okay, Love it.

Cara Lunsford

Okay. Okay. Here's one. I had activated a patient and left her to rest. As the remaining sedation wore off, she was curled up in the bed, but I needed to do an assessment and vitals. I said her name and she slowly turned to me with vacant eyes, then lunged and hissed at me like a cat and I swear she took a piece of my soul.

Oh, my.

Dawn Lunsford

God. Is that she doesn't explain why she thinks she took a piece of her soul.

Cara Lunsford

I mean, I think she was that she lunged in his daughter.

Dawn Lunsford

Well.

Cara Lunsford

I mean, she probably felt. Yeah, it felt like a panic or something. I don't know. It felt like elimination.

Dawn Lunsford

Yeah. Oh, no, thank you.

Cara Lunsford

No, thank you. Lunged and hissing. First of all, being in like you can just imagine someone all curled up in a ball. And then first of all, I think it was the vacant eyes thing that was the first giveaway. It's like, Oh, something's missing. Yeah. You know, it's weird. We don't know. I mean, we don't know what happens.

We don't know. It's it's a weird thing when you're coming out of sedation. I mean, okay, I don't want to scare anybody. Not everybody who comes out of sedation has vacant eyes and lunges and hisses at people. I would say that's an anomaly. Yeah, but, you know, sedation is weird. It is weird. Coming out of sedation is weird.

Okay, here we go. Worked in an older hospital on the oncology unit, had multiple patients over several weeks, requests that we ask the man in the red coat to stay out of their room. They all said they did not like him. He scared them. A couple said that he had a big black dog with him and the elevator would come up to our floor multiple times and night all night with no one on it.

We figured maybe he was a bellhop who had died there or something.

Dawn Lunsford

Oh, yeah, They were red coats.

Cara Lunsford

He doesn't seem to be a very nice bellhop. And we do have a dog.

Dawn Lunsford

Why do I picture bellhops with dogs? Do they walk people's dogs? Sometimes in fancy hotels? Oh, this is a hospital.

Cara Lunsford

Well, baby, it used to be a hotel. Maybe. I don't know. I don't know. All right, Well.

Dawn Lunsford

I love that. You know, that all this crazy stuff happens, and we ask, why was there a dog? It's like, this is a dead person. That's the thing. That's weird. He has a dog.

I think about it. Well, okay, that's really weird.

Cara Lunsford

It's so weird if you're thinking he's a bellhop.

Dawn Lunsford

Yes. If you make that assumption. Yes.

Cara Lunsford

Yeah. If you make the assumption he's a bellhop, then you're like, why does he have a dog?

Dawn Lunsford

Yeah, that seems on the dog. On the other side, maybe you get to have dogs on the other side.

Cara Lunsford

I mean, this goes back to can I have a wheelchair or can I not have a wheelchair?

Dawn Lunsford

Do I have to stay in the wheelchair? Can I.

Cara Lunsford

Could I have a pet? Maybe?

Dawn Lunsford

Yeah.

Cara Lunsford

Okay. So last but not least, and it's this person said it's not really spooky, but we nurses smell a sweet scent of flowers. On the third night after the death of our co nurse in the nurses station. She was hospitalized in our unit of cancer. Very nice person. May she rest in peace, but I think it's okay. But it's okay.

All right, let's do it again. All right. It's not really spooky, but we nurses smell a sweet scent of flowers. On the third night after the death of our co nurse in the nurses station, she was hospitalized in our unit of cancer. Very nice person. May she rest in peace.

Dawn Lunsford

Oh, that's beautiful. She was given a little shout out. I think.

Cara Lunsford

She was. Give me a little shout out to her coworkers.

Dawn Lunsford

Yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. See, that's not a scary ghost. That's a nice ghost.

Cara Lunsford

No, it's not scary, but I think. I think we read them all.

Dawn Lunsford

That's great. Now, do you want to wrap up with one of your ghost stories?

Cara Lunsford

Well, I already gave you one of my ghost story. I do. I do have so many, but I actually just want to. I want to leave it with all of the nurses who wrote in because I think we should more of this. I think we should have more stories that we read on the podcast because this was really fun.

Dawn Lunsford

This was so fun. Oh, my gosh.

Cara Lunsford

This was so fun. And Mildred, I just keep thinking about Mildred.

Dawn Lunsford

I'm just going to keep telling you about Mildred.

Cara Lunsford

Oh, Mildred. And I'm really. Yeah. Hoping she found her man. Oh, she got to say her goodbyes to her, man.

Dawn Lunsford

When? When he passed. I hope he found her.

Cara Lunsford

I know. I think they did.

Dawn Lunsford

Yeah, I'm going to say they did.

Cara Lunsford

And they don't have to be on separate. I think like when you cross over, there's not like a women's and men's side think. So I think you get to co-mingle.

Dawn Lunsford

That's nice.

Cara Lunsford

I know. Yeah, that is nice.

Dawn Lunsford

I'm going to go with that. I like that.

Idea.

Cara Lunsford

All right. Well, my lovely co-host.

Dawn Lunsford

Yes, my lovely co-host. That was so fun.

Cara Lunsford

That was so fun. Thank you so much for doing this with me and exclaim are fun to do it with you than to do it by myself.

Dawn Lunsford

I know. Because then you get to kind of bounce off each other and it was really fun.

Cara Lunsford

Yeah, I needed the shock and you.

Dawn Lunsford

Need the audience was.

Cara Lunsford

Yes, exactly.

Dawn Lunsford

I'm a good ghost story audience because I love a good ghost story.

Cara Lunsford

All right, y'all, Hope you enjoyed our Halloween edition of The Nurse Dot podcast. Until next time.

Dawn Lunsford

Bye bye.

Cara Lunsford

If you're a nurse or a nursing student who enjoyed this episode, don't forget to join us on the nurse dot com app where you can find the nurse dot discussion group, a place where we dissect each episode in detail and delve deeper into today's topics. Nurse Dot is a nurse dot com original podcast series, production music and sound editing by Dawn Lunsford, Production Coordination by Rio Wade, Additional editing by John Wells.

Thank you to all the listeners for tuning in to the Nurse Dot podcast. Until next time, keep spreading the love.

Dawn Lunsford

And the care.