Mailbag: An Alarming Nursing Home Ghost

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By Joel McClain (Texas)

When you think of a ghost as being a human spirit, you are distinguishing it from all other forms of life which exist non-corporeally. It is of God. It may not be a kindly or loving entity, but it needs prayer, regardless. It may be confused and not be aware that it has passed away, physically.+

I worked for 20 years in nursing homes, as a technician and electrician. I used to tell my employer that I didn’t work for him, I worked for the residents. My main concern was keeping them safe and comfortable. And that was especially true of all of the alarms and nurse calls.
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Did you know that the deceased can control electrical circuits?  I certainly didn’t, and wouldn’t have believed it, until I saw it for myself. In this case, it was a nurse call.
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“3-South” was the name of an Alzheimer’s ward. It required extra special care of the alarms and monitors. As I found out, people with dementia can die and not notice it. I believe the same thing may be true of hospital patients on strong meds.
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One of the 3-South residents, an elderly gentleman, passed away, late one night. His body went to the funeral home, but his spirit remained behind. His door was secured with a clamshell lock, until the family could come and take his belongings.
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For the next three nights, the nurse call in his room would ring, at the time of his death. I was called out to work on it, as the loud ringing was disturbing the other residents. I had to get the key to the clamshell lock from the administration office, and reset the alarm.
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By the second night, I disconnected the alarm from the wall, and yet still it rang. This was not physically possible. On the third night, one of the more experienced nurse’s arranged a solution. She left the room window open.
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When the alarm sounded, she shouted, “Mr. Allen!  Stop ringing that bell!  You’re dead so go to the light outside your window and be with your family!” Apparently that worked, because the bell stopped for good.
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