So there I was, pulling the night shift at St. Francis, the old city hospital. It’s one of those places with more history than the local museum and enough ghost stories to fill a book. Honestly, I usually don’t buy into all that spooky stuff. Give me a solid horror movie over an urban legend any day—at least you know someone’s making a buck off those scares. But, working in a hospital, especially at night, you’re in the prime spot for weirdness to find you.
This particular night was quieter than usual. The kind of quiet that makes you think the building’s holding its breath. Around 2 a.m., I’m making rounds on the fourth floor, which is partially shut down for renovations—empty beds, half the lights out, the whole nine yards. It’s supposed to be empty. Supposed to be.
I’m halfway down the hall when I hear it: someone called for a nurse. Not the typical request, but a cold, chilling one that has no place in a dark, deserted hospital wing. I stopped, listened, and convinced myself it’s just my imagination running wild. Hospitals are echo chambers at the best of times. But then, a wheelchair rolled out from one of the rooms, stopping right in the middle of the hall. A wheelchair, in a part of the hospital that hasn’t seen patients for months.
The logical part of my brain is telling me to grab it, wheel it back into the room, and keep going. But then, that voice called out again, closer this time, and every hair on my neck stood up. I called out, asking if anyone’s there, half-hoping no one would answer. Silence. I took a step forward, and that’s when the temperature dropped, like walking into a freezer.
Feeling brave—or maybe just stupid—I peeked into the room where I thought the sound came from. It’s empty, of course. Just an old, disused patient room with peeling paint and the faint, lingering smell of antiseptics. But as I turned to leave, convinced my mind was playing tricks on me, I saw it. A shadow, darting across the far end of the hall. Not the shadow of a late-working nurse or a patient out of bed, but something… off. The way it moved, too quick, too fluid—it didn’t belong.
Now, I’m not easily spooked, but every instinct was screaming that something was very wrong. I followed, because I am in charge of making sure certain areas are secure. Every step felt heavier, every breath louder in my ears. The shadow led me on a chase, always just out of reach, until I found myself in the old wing of the hospital, the part that’s been locked up for years due to a fire.
The air felt thicker here, charged with something I couldn’t explain. A silence so dense it felt like a weight on my chest. I realized then how far I’d come, how isolated I was. That’s when the lights went out.
Pitch black, heart pounding, I fumbled for my phone, its dim light a small comfort. I turned, planning to head back, when I saw it. A shadow-like figure standing in the darkness just beyond my phone’s light. It was tall and thin—just standing there.
I’d like to tell you I stood my ground, faced them down, but I ran. I screamed and ran like the devil himself was on my heels, not stopping until I burst into the well-lit safety of the fully functioning wing, gasping for air, drenched in sweat.
They checked the cameras the next day, after I told my story. They saw the wheelchair, and the initial shadows, but everyone laughed it off, told me everyone has at least one weird experience working nights at the hospital. But I know what I saw, what I heard. And I know there are some things in this world that don’t have an explanation.
I still work there, still pull the night shift. But I steer clear of the fourth floor and the old wing. Some mysteries are better left unsolved, some shadows better left unchased.
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Hey everyone! New to the channel. I just started my own channel on YouTube called Nope.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Mr. Nightmare and Mr.Ballen. Would love to someday have a channel like theirs.
Anyways, it’s new, so I’m still figuring things out. But go check it out, and let me know what you think!
Would love to turn some of your stories into videos on my channel!