My own little (true!) Ghost story! AKA: "The things a nurse is obliged to do!"

My own little (true!) Ghost story!
AKA:  "The things a nurse is obliged to do!"


Before I became inactive in the medical field, I worked as a nurse for a very well known local (St. Louis, MO area) home health care / private services provider.  If I would go back into the medical field, I would  not be interested in facility (hospital / nursing home) care, and I would only accept a private duty case.  Private duty is not without it's own share of problems, but they can pale in comparison to the antics that facility nurses have to deal with.


Anywho - back to the spooks.


If an employee of a private duty nursing service loses a patient, whether it is due to the patient's death, or the family decides to remove their relative from private duty care, that particular nurse or nurse's aide can be 'between cases' for a length of time.  In order to work enough hours to sustain his or her livelihood, that employee often goes to emergency cases, such as if another employee of the agency quits without notice, or a family has a nursing emergency (the patient need care for a couple days before they can get into a nursing facility, etc). 


In this particular instance, I was 'between cases', and I was called in to help with a quadriplegic man, aged 74.  This man was a functional lawyer up to the incident that caused his paralysis.  When he was 14, he was playing with a gun with his childhood friend, and the friend accidentally shot his right arm off! 


In the area they lived in, there were no large hospitals, and in those days, many people went to the corner pharmacist when a doctor wasn't available.  The boys ran to the corner pharmacist, and he skillfully closed the boy's stub in the back room of the pharmacy. 


There was one thing the pharmacist (and most surgeons of the day) was not aware of at that time.  If the nerve(s) are not cut back much farther than the actual stump, the patient will experience phantom pain and phantom sensations.  This was the case with my patient.  He was 72 yrs. old, and still having severe chronic phantom pain in his stub.  He went to a young surgeon (in 1997!) that promised a quick surgery to remove those painful nerves, and that surgery would require only an overnight stay in the hospital.  To make a long story longer: 


The surgery to end his pain was a little TOO successful.  Even though this procedure was a simple operation, and today would definitely be an outpatient surgery, the man had a stroke on the operating table, and became quadriplegic!  Needless to say, his career as a prominent lawyer was over. 


This man and his wife lived in a 1970's reproduction of a huge English Tudor-style mansion in a wealthy area between the suburbs of Ladue and Chesterfield, MO.  Technically, his house was right behind the huge Mormon Temple that is visible from I-40.


My shift was 7:00 PM - 7:00 AM.  I will never work nights again as long as I live, but I digress.  The first night I was sitting in front a huge walk-in fireplace with this man's wife.  We were having casual conversation, and watching the fire.  Please keep in mind that any time during this story, the  only people in the house were myself, and this elderly couple.  It was about 10:00 PM, and I heard VERY **LOUD** music coming from an old radio, laughter and lots of conversation coming from the adjacent kitchen.  There was nobody in the kitchen, and there was no radio in that kitchen.  My eyes must have grown to the size of silver dollars, but I tried to maintain a professional decorum.  I didn't even flinch, and I kept the conversation with the wife going.  She wouldn't even look at me.  She had an obviously frightened look on her face, and  avoided eye contact with me.  Eventually, the noise in the kitchen got so loud that I leaned around and looked her dead in the eye and said, "Am I the only one in this house that is aware of a loud party happening in the kitchen, and we weren't invited???"  She answered me, "I don't care what they do in there, as long as they don't hurt us!"  That was my first clue!


One of the haunts in this house didn't like me, in particular. When we worked an overnight shift, depending on the particular case, we were allowed to slumber, or sleep, depending on the patient's wishes and needs.  The 'gentleman' (GHOST!) that was causing the problem would have been in his mid-30's, I would say. He had a great radio announcer voice.  He had a particular issue with me when I was  in the music parlor. I would lay on a love seat next to the piano, and this ghost would torture the Hell out of me until I left the room!


I was on the case for two weeks. I usually arrived at the house 15 minutes before my shift started - at 6:45 PM. This is a semi-gated community, and I wasn't aware that they locked one gate of the neighborhood at 7:00 PM, leaving only one entrance / exit open.  One night, I was running a bit late, and I would have arrived at the house at 6:55 PM, just 5 minutes before my shift was scheduled to start.  This time period was before GPS was available, and the management had already locked the only entrance that I had used up until this point, and I didn't know the location of the alternate entrance.   I had to use the Mapquest print out that I still had in my truck to try to find the other entrance.  This area of St. Louis County is very heavily wooded, with no street lights.  It is VERY dark at night, and it was almost impossible to see street signs.  Nobody would have said anything to me if I was a minute or two late, but I am known for being prompt.  I arrived at the house at 6:59 PM.  I was standing in the foyer by the grand (carpeted) stair case, with my back to the front door, facing the rest of the house, getting report from the young man that worked the previous shift.  This man was in his early 20's, and was as much of a testosterone-filled, straight man with a lot to prove to the world as he could be.  We were standing next to the banister of the winding stair case.  Our report was interrupted by the stairs squeaking.  We both glanced down at the steps at the same time.  With every squeak from the steps, we could see foot steps being formed in the carpet, going up the steps. Remember that on this particular occasion, I was facing the balcony - the rest of the house, with the front door to my back.  As he was giving report, I could see a dark grey figure going from room to room up on the balcony.  I didn't say a word to the other employee.  After he saw the foot prints forming in the carpet, this manly young man looked at me with complete and utter fear in his eyes.  Again, I didn't flinch.  He quickly left the house, and went home for the night.  I don't think he got out of the driveway when a huge voice boomed from the balcony above me.  With childish, mocking laughter, he (the GHOST!) said, "Ha Ha Ha HA HA! You were almost late!"  The foot prints that we saw forming, and that we heard on the steps belonged to the grey ghostly figure that I saw upstairs that, a few minutes later:  He was mocking me!


That night, I decided to avoid the parlor like the plague, and I rested on the sofa in front of that huge smoke stained fireplace.  As always, I was laying face-down on the sofa.  I can never sleep well on my back.  I was awakened by a firm hand - and I mean FIRM on my upper thigh (OK, he almost grabbed my butt!)  I woke up, rather startled.  I tried to reach my harm behind me and pry the bony fingers off that were stuck firmly on my ass!  When I discoveredt that I wasn't strong enough to remove the hand that held me, I slid my foot down the bony leg that was sitting on the end of the sofa.  My bare foot got caught in the cuff of "his" pants.  I eventually wiggled my toe out of the cuff, and continued to slide my foot down 'his' bony shin.  I found a crumpled-up sock gathered around a bony ankle before I hit what felt like a well polished, firm dress shoe.  My big toe finally reached the floor. Suddenly, I felt the firm grip release from my behind, and I could finally raise myself up off the sofa.  I looked over my left shoulder, and into the bedroom that was located some distance down the hallway. I could see the quadriplegic man exactly where I left him a couple hours earlier (of course!), and his wife was sound asleep beside him.


The following evening, when I was receiving report from the same young man, I was the one facing the door, and he was facing the balcony and the rest of the house.  Once again, we heard the steps creaking... and we both looked down at the same time.  I am here to tell you that Casper the Friendly Ghost didn't have crap on the color of this kid!   He was **WHITE**!  He gulped loudly.  The young man tried to continue his report. He stammered a bit, then stopped talking completely.  His eyes were huge with fear, and they were darting back and forth.  He was watching the same grey ghostly figure that I saw the night before, walking back and forth on the balcony above.


Early the next day, I got a call from my nurse manager.  She told me that this particular agency had dropped this case!!  Playing dumb, I asked  her why they dropped a $12,000 / month case.  I said, "Are they going to put the patient in a nursing home, or did they hire a private individual that might have been a bit cheaper?"  I knew very well why they were pulling our services, but I didn't say a word to her about it.  She finally gave in and told me, "I have had many reports from my staff of things happening in that home, and the reason you (ME!) are working on that case is that several nurses have called me and told me that they won't go back to that house!"  Playing even dumber, I asked her, "Why?  What's the problem?"  She said, "There have been a lot of unexplained things happen in that house, and it has gotten to the point where I can no longer guarantee the safety of our staff!"  I finally admitted to her that I knew very well what she was talking about, but I didn't want to be the first one that said anything about it.  She said, "I wish you would have!  I would have believed you before I believed the other staff members that called me!"


Imagine this:  A company turning down $12,000 a month because the staff was threatened by ghosts!  I can vouch that their choice to pull the staff from that house was a good choice!


- Michael