“All The Other Nurses Turn White”: 26 Unexplainable Things These Night Shift Workers Experienced

Article created by: Indrė Lukošiūtė

As kids, we would associate the night and darkness with monsters, scary things, and the paranormal. As grown-ups, many of us work night shifts. Apparently, nine million Americans are night shift employees, which is only 6% of the workforce, but it is still a lot.

Although night shift workers usually earn lower wages, there are certain unique risks they face. For example, fatigue, sleepiness on the job, and several other health risks.

Some would consider encounters with the paranormal to be risks, too. Recently, one netizen asked night shift workers for their craziest stories while on the job. They wrote: “Night shift workers of Reddit: what was the most paranormal thing to have happened to you?”

Healthcare workers, Halloween store managers, cashiers, undertakers, graveyard groundskeepers, and more folks who work nights shared the risks they’ve faced throughout the years and the scary things they still find hard to explain today.

#1

I worked the opening shift (started at 4am) in a busy coffee shop. While we set up, we kept the overhead lights off because otherwise people would try to get in before we opened the doors at 5. There was enough light from the back room and a few accent lights to work peacefully.

One of my coworkers had been targeted by a mentally ill man who stalked her. She eventually left the area entirely, and he was so distraught that he ended his own life. The week after that, I was setting up a bakery case and through the glass, I saw him sitting in his usually chair, staring toward the counter as he used to. I stood up and he was gone. It happened several times. One day I wasn’t there and a coworker saw him and freaked out! My next shift I walked over to that chair and said kindly but firmly, “Xxxx isn’t here any more, she’s fine but she’s moved on and isn’t coming back, and you should too.” He never appeared again.

Image credits: Useless_Fish1982

#2

This happened well over a decade ago, I used to be a nurse aid in a locked dementia ward. One morning, I was getting ready to do my end of shift bed checks and there was this old woman who was in our unit who was mildly senile but she was nowhere near the advanced stages of dementia.

As I approached her room, I heard her saying very clearly “no stop you are hurting me. Stop doing that. I do not want to play with you.” I thought maybe she was having some sort of dispute with the other lady who lived in her room, so I went to the rear of the room to expect to find her awake, but she was sound asleep in her bed. Before I could turn around and assess what it happened, I heard a little girl giggling.

The man who was my boss at the time came in to help me care for the women in that room. He was very lighthearted in general and had worked in the facility for nearly 10 years. When we walked out of the room, I told him about what happened and what I had heard and before, I could even finish my sentence, he physically pulled me aside and in a very, very serious tone said, “We do not talk about the little girl.”

And that was that .

Image credits: Throwin218

#3

I used to work in an ER as a Tech. One night I had to transport a baby to the pediatric unit. Her room was at the end of the hall. I get the baby and mom all settled in and get to ready to leave. There are these double doors with the windows. As I leave, the doors start shaking. When I look, there is a lady motioning me to let her in. I tell her one minute, I have to get the head nurse. You cannot just let anyone into those units. So I go to the charge nurse and tell her. The charge nurse and all the other nurses turn white. She tells me that no one can get it thru that way anymore. I laugh and tell them nice one. I go back to the ER and tell my charge nurse what happened. My charge nurse get all alarmed and say that is part of the old hospital that has been sealed off, there is absolutely no way no one get enter. I told them then they had a ghost that really wanted in the pediatric department.

Image credits: HotMessMama0307

#4

I used to work night shift in a mortuary. Not a single night went by without something happening 🤣 to the point I got completely unfazed by it and could even figure out which ghost it was. One particularly hilarious one used to close the fridge door behind me but got bored when they figured out there was an emergency release. Another used to turn my embalming machine off and on. The creepiest was when I collected a deceased child with my colleague and we kept seeing her running around and her reflection in windows and mirrors laughing at us. Loved that shift.

Image credits: Lollypop1305

#5

We work in a very spooky hotel at the moment that I had worked in for the previous owner over 30 years ago that we believe is haunted by her. My son and daughter also work there now and my son when he was night porter saw her several times. The reataurant and bar are a completely different layout to as they were when she was alive but my son said he was always aware of her standing staring at him from behind the bar when he was mopping the floors. Occasionally a strong smell of cigarettes, she was a chain smoker and there would be regular foot steps walking over the wooden floors and even tippy taps of her dogs following her. We had two mediums stay once who told us the previous owner was furious with what they had done to her home and more especially her private lounge being made into a small cinema. There are lots of things that go wrong regularly and things breakdown, so we believe its her curse.

Image credits: jlelvidge

#6

Working at a warehouse environment closing one night. This was after the store had closed, around 11 pm. I was bringing in merchandise to pack down with a forklift. I saw a heavy (75 lb or so) box slowly move forward an inch at a time until it fell off the shelf. Forklift was stopped at the time and I was unpacking about 10 feet away and watched it just kinda slowly go off the edge. Coworkers have told me they’ve seen shadows walking around the area, long after everyone that was working out there had left.

Image credits: Quick-Statement-8981

#7

I was the manager at a Spirit Halloween store, and one night, I went to help another store close because they were short-staffed.

After everyone else left, I stayed with the assistant manager to finish closing up and deal with paperwork. While walking to the back of the store to put away the money in the safe, I saw a quick white figure dart across the break room/storage area, where the office was. I thought I was imagining it and decided to ignore it.

When I reached that area to sort the paperwork and money, the door behind me slammed shut. This was unusual since it’s a lightweight door. I called for my coworker, thinking she had done it, but she didn’t answer. I then used my walkie-talkie to contact her. She was at the front by the registers and had also heard the door slam. At that point, the room got colder, and I started to hurry.

Just as I was about to leave, a box of donation stickers for St. Jude’s tipped over and fell to the floor. The box was nowhere near the edge of the table. I thought, “Forget this,” and ran fast to set the alarm. I told my coworker it was time to leave. The scariest part? She said, “You saw it too, huh?”

It was kind of funny that it happened at a Halloween store.

Image credits: That1writer_

#8

Used to work the night shift at an old building, it was just me and my coworker at night. We had the security cameras in our work room so we would known if anybody else was in the building. It was a safety device business so we would be there to answer calls if the device was triggered for night workers.

The building is in an older area of the city. One night around 2 am i looked at the side and saw through the window a shadow man with a hat walking along the corridor. I did a double take and he disappeared. I wasn’t freaked out i don’t know why but I didn’t feel scared. I told my coworker and she had also seen him on a previous occasion.

Then another time an orb started appearing in one of the security cameras and my coworker went to check there and saw nothing.

The building used to be a mill back in the day. I did some research found pictures of dudes wearing the same hats.

Image credits: messkitty

#9

I work at a retail pharmacy and I’m a closer. I had to stay an hour and a half after closing so our pharmacist could finish inventory. So just two of us. We’re known to have two ghosts in our stores. So I’m alone and sitting at the register just waiting. I heard our first ghost, a woman, who always just says “excuse me!” Then I saw on another night an older gentlemen in a blue polo-like shirt and khaki shorts. After I saw him, champagne bottles (I think 5?) opened and sprayed everywhere.

Image credits: blackrayofsunshine

#10

I’ve had a lot of paranormal experiences, but I had one on an evening when I stayed late at work. I work at a hospital & the HR office is in a remodeled space that previously held the morgue. I was there alone & heard continuous tapping on a keyboard in one of the cubicles & the rustling of papers. At one point, I decided to see if someone was there & when I said, “Is anyone here?” a light went on & off in an adjacent office.

Image credits: PersonalLeading4948

#11

This was 20 years ago. I worked at a small movie theater. We were pretty aware the place was haunted, but it was mostly phantom footsteps in the projection booth, & employees’ names being called when no one was there, & a creepy feeling from the shadows by projector #8.

One night, about 11p or 12a, I was alone in the building, closing up. Part of that was partially rethreading the projectors for the morning shift. To this day, I vividly remember, I’d just finished with projector #5 & was walking to projector #4 when I heard whistling right being me. Like someone was whistling a little tune. I froze, then said out loud “I did not hear that” & finished closing up.

It wasn’t until like 15 minutes later, I was in my car & leaving, that it hit me how strange that moment was.

Image credits: MidnightsWaltz

#12

I worked at CVS while I was in college and it was a 24 hour store. I picked up an overnight shift. It was probably around 3am and I was stocking shelves and I see a black hooded figure. I blinked my eyes and it was gone. I thought, “oh maybe it’s late and I’m seeing things.” No one was in the store at the time.

Then I noticed items would fall and move on their own. Again. I chalked it up to late night I’m tired.

The overnighters had mentioned it being haunted. I took it with a grain of salt until that night.

Apparently, the store I worked at was built on an Indian burial ground.

Image credits: Grim-reacher

#13

Earlier this year my factory trialed late shifts for the first time ever. It was basically me and one other person in an 125 year old factory until 10pm. Spooky stuff always happens in the factory; it became more obvious when I was basically alone but the sound of footsteps when no one’s there or a toilet door being locked when I’m the only person in there doesn’t affect me much.

However, one night was very off putting. All the power went off, not completely out of the ordinary but it’ll usually come back on within a second or two, this time it would not come back on. Called the engineer out and he explained the factory was on a time clock and it should have been turning off every night. Couldn’t explain why it had stayed on every other night unless someone had gotten a ladder and changed it within the last day.

Later that night I was in the loading bay which has a massive metal delivery door. I work on a machine down there frequently so I’m very used to being next to the door and know the normal sounds it makes. Out of nowhere there were 2 really loud bangs against the delivery door. It was so loud that boss in her office 100 feet away came running over thinking I’d hurt myself or something. Once I had explained to her that it wasn’t me and we stopped freaking out we went to the window to check if anyone was there and… nothing. Still can’t explain it.

Image credits: jess0241

#14

I remember a vivid dream in which I got off the city bus at one of our malls and going up the stairs in the middle of the night. There was a gentleman there and though I am vision impaired. I knew he was standing to my right and the parking lot was dimly lit. I heard two cars drag racing as fast as they could around the parking lot area which made a loop. The gentleman said someone’s going to get killed if they don’t stop. The racing continued until a fiery crash. I can see enough that I saw the flames. I didn’t know two cars hitting could go up in flames like that. The incident was on the news the next day. Talk about being freaked out. we lost four teenagers tragically that night. Three in one car and one in the other.

Image credits: rockbug59

#15

Years ago I worked graveyard at a group home. One night, I did bed checks at 3am (all clients were asleep) then sat down in the living room and started scrolling on my phone. A few minutes later, I heard the sound of heavy boots (not work boots but more like cowboy boots) coming down the hallway. The steps were slow and heavy. I thought one of the clients was about to AWOL. So I got up but then I heard nothing. I went to the hallway (10 steps away) and didn’t see anyone. I did bed checks again and all clients were still sound asleep.

I was so scared shitless. I got chills and began to pray. I shared my experience with my family and some of them suggested that I was sleep deprived and hallucinating. I was wide awake and I know what I heard. 😬🫣.

Image credits: indyfever22

#16

I used to be a Deputy Sheriff, and the first two years of service were spent working in the Adult Detention Center (jail) The ADC in question is a large facility that houses over a thousand inmates in a very heavily populated Mid Atlantic county.

The ADC has an in-house medical facility generally for inmates with chronic issues, for those who are detoxing, or those who have something contagious. It could be a busy place to work, as someone housed in medical would end up going to the hospital for one reason, or another. The deputy’s post saw a lot of traffic, relative to other posts in the jail, as it had a refrigerator that other deputies would use, and was also the repository for keys used by floating deputies.

One inmate was a long term resident (months) of the medical post, which was unusual. Inmate X was a fat, jolly looking guy who was already sentenced and awaiting space in a state prison that could handle his medical needs. Inmate X was terminally ill, and his crimes were so heinous that his request for compassionate release was denied. Inmate X really laid it on thick being folksy and trying to befriend the nurses and whichever deputy was working. The nurses and my fellow deputies were professional with him, but he wasn’t someone with whom we engaged in banter.

Inmate X finally goes to prison, and life goes on. Several months later, I get assigned to spend the second half of one shift in the medical area. We had a very late rotation, so I didn’t get on post until nearly 2 AM. After checking up on everyone, I went out to where the nurses office to get some coffee. the nurse on duty was one I was friendly with. She says to me “Did they tell you in your roll call that Inmate X finally passed away?” We were not told. Generally, the average deputy isn‘t keeping tabs on inmates once they go off to state prison.

i returned to my post, and go inside the little secure room where I watch over the inmates in medical. I sit down and the room suddenly gets freezing cold. My hair stood up on my neck and arms, like there’s an electric charge in the air. Behind me, one of the two sets of keys for the floating deputies is on a hook on the cinder block wall. There were a bunch of large, heavy jail keys on this key set. The keys started swinging around on their own and made a bunch of noise. My instincts told me to leave, but….you can’t! Relief was still a few hours away. The feeling in the room turned back to normal within a couple of minutes, and the keys stopped swinging on their own. By far, the spookiest experience I had working there.

Image credits: TheOGDJTransit

#17

The toilet in a children’s dollhouse we have kept flushing by itself. It wouldn’t start until after midnight. It would make this giant WOOSH sound. At first I searched all the toys and couldn’t figure out what it was, because nothing would activate while I was looking. Then one night, it happened while I was sitting on the chair in the same room. I said out loud “STOP” because at this point I was over it lol. Then it happened twice back to back, immediately after me saying that. Since it went on longer I was able to follow the sound and figure out what it was and turn off the dollhouse.

Creeped me out.

Image credits: burgersandblow

#18

At the one hospital I worked at had a pt pass prior to our shift… was on hospice.. we came on shift pt was still in the room … bag and tag nurse wheeled pt downstairs… couple hours later room is empty we are sitting in nurses station.. call bell goes off for the room the hospice pt was in .. we all looked at each other like no way.

Another night I was sitting at the same nurses station talking to a girl about paranormal stuff I said I found it to be interesting… I told her about this guy I knew when I was younger said his moms house was haunted and had videos of stuff moving on its own he asked if I wanted to see I said no I’m good lol … I also said how it feels like that guy and his brother were cursed because they both lost people they were close to in accidents they were in with them… she then told
Me a story about a girl she knew who died at a festival and weird stuff was happening at her parents house since … I said wait did she die in an accident trapped inside a vehicle? She said YES… turns out the girl she was talking about was actually the person who died in the accident with the friends younger brother I had mentioned…

Other than that the sinks would randomly go off by that station too…

would also get a spooky feeling if I had to use a certain elevator it would make random stops often with no one there ..

Image credits: anngilj

#19

I used to work at a hotel and on a night shift I was flicking through cameras and basically on one of the second floor cameras all I could see was a shadow sort of thing (bare in mind the lights are on) running back and forth but it wasn’t a human figure and the shadow was inhumane speed so I went to one of my coworkers and as soon as I went on cameras to show them it disappeared…. Idk what this was but ngl it scared the fck outta me.

Image credits: Equivalent_Editor365

#20

Had someone abruptly run up on me and say another persons name, i.e., “Tim?”. In the middle of a field in a locked landfill in the middle of nowhere.

Image credits: The_Foolish_Samurai

#21

Not me, but a ex-coworker before me.

Context: We worked in a power plant, but the terrain is massive and it covers many acres. For that reason, we weren’t at the generators, but in a separated Central area, with its proper kitchen and dining building, a football(soccer) 7-a-side field, and a Control Building. To get to the kitchen from control building, you NEED to cross the field.

Let’s call him Leon. Leon was a very good electrician which sometimes doubled as a handyman who did more jobs. In this case, he was assistant for control room operator (which for night shift, made them and the boss (sometimes) the only 3 people awake in the whole terrain). For his break, he had to go to the kitchen to heat up his food, but all the way there crossing the football field he felt unease from the very beginning. Once in the building, he said he felt a very cold and uncomfortable breeze behind him, as he could hear someone calling for his name, most importantly, not screaming, but almost as if they were in the same building. The first time he called out for who was talking to him but when he heard his name a second time, this time claiming he heard like it was coming closer, he froze because no one could be calling out for him at that time. From his words, he could feel his skin crawling and goosebumps forming, and extremely unease, which is why he bolted out of there back to the control room, telling the operator his experience. The operstor insisted no one could have called out and he was imagining things, but he stiñl would refuse to go back tot he kitchen after that for the rest of the night, opting to rather eat cold food. After the fact he didnt dare go to the kitchen on his own for the next week or 2

That experience was way before I was working there, and he has kept the story so consistent througout the years that at this point none of my coworkers believed it was fake, and since it felt so grounded without like uber extra paranormal “and then all the painting fell down” we didnt have a reason to not believe him either, and even talking to the operator at the time, he not only verified the events but also claimed he also felt like he was watched very regularly.

Image credits: akinian_

#22

This an early morning paranormal experience at work. I was working at a grocery store 20 years ago. I was in the bakery/deli department. My shift started at 6am. I was into my shift, getting set up. I dropping fried chicken into the fryers. To the right of the fryers, there is a storage room. In the back of the storage room was the office. Through the corner of my eye, I saw a person shorter than me wearing a hoodie walk behind me into the office. When I was done dropping chicken, I walked back into the office thinking my boss had walked in there. There was nobody there. I thought I had lost my mind. A week or two later I finally got brave enough to say something. Turns out there is a hoodie wearing ghost that everyone has seen. He just hangs out in that department.

Image credits: Dry-Cherry-3945

#23

I used to work in an office type building alone at night and this incident happened back in 2016. I usually worked in the back of the building but my boss wanted me to help out up front where the offices were one night. I was up there working in an office when I heard a female cough right outside the door. I came out the door and didn’t see anyone. I said “Hello?” several times but no reply. I ended up walking through the entire building and I was the only one there. 😳.

Image credits: gobboling

#24

Used to work the night shift at an adult novelty store. It was in an old house that had been renovated. When I got there, I was warned it was haunted by a spirit called “James.” After a really confusing and traumatic experience with the paranormal as a child, I’ve just tried to ignore/avoid anything that invites it to do anything with me. So I wasn’t out to see if this “James” was real or what his intentions were. For the most part, I didn’t experience anything, other than feeling creeped out sometimes when I was alone. One of my coworkers had a drink knocked out of her hand one night, but I didn’t see it.

But one night, I was straightening and vacuuming the store and a different coworker freaked out and took over those duties. We had cameras, but they were a bit janky and would cut out sometimes – but it was like camera 8 would be out one night but be up another, and same with a few others. But they stayed that way if they cut out. This night was weird, because my coworker said that every room I went into, the camera that should’ve seen me would cut out. After noticing this pattern, she had me switch with her. The cameras didn’t cut out with her while I watched. It freaked me out a little tho.

Nothing else happened that I remember. I don’t like messing with any of that stuff lol.

Image credits: VolatilePeach

#25

Okay I’ve got a few stories about one place I worked at. However I am skeptical because they could possibly be explained. I used to work at a big chain auto parts store. The location I worked at got shut down because the company isnt doing to good right now. However I used to work a lot of closing shifts with one other coworker. There would be nights where you would hear heavy loud prominent foot steps on top of the roof. heavier then any bird that’s for sure. However the roof assess was locked and you would need to bring your own latter to get onto of the roof. There have been times when something really big or heavy sounding would crash/fall in the store. Also if I may add. the store was a small location I could walk from one side to the other in under a minute. that’s the whole store. the actual shopping area was 1 quarter of the whole place. When things that sound heavy and loud fall. You’d be able to easily find it… However we’ve heard a ton of things get ‘thrown’ in a way or just fall. But you can walk the whole store over and over again and not find a single thing misplaced or on the ground. One night my manager heard someone trying to get into the store via the emergency exits on the side of the building. However he couldn’t find anyone when opening the door. The more closer we got to closing day, the building became more and more ‘restless’ in a sense. More things would fall, more unexplained footsteps on the roof or somewhere in the building. I believe that the ground the building sat on was some Indian burial ground as I live in Texas. However the location was feeding off of the negative energy as we become more stressed and more irate customers came in trying to get cheaper parts. My manager (huge believer in the paranormal) claimed that one night he saw a black figure turn the corner as he was walking through the store. Again nothing crazy happened but given the fact that we had no radio. Hearing things at night gave you the creeps. Was it Paranormal? probably not. But who knows.

Image credits: Cornenee

#26

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Image credits: Equivalent_Editor365