My Favorite Ghost Story

Ghosts, ghouls, poltergeists or spooks.  Whatever you call them, their existence,

Or lack thereof, has sparked a debate that has raged on for all recorded history.  I don’t

Think that even the best informed of us can conclusively and without doubt prove or disprove their existence, but I think we’re all in agreement as to what society has determined ghosts to be.  The energy that remains once a human being’s physical form has expired. 

Ghastly tales have been told about ‘hauntings’, unidentified entities – tormenting the living – and driving them to lunacy.  Most of these tales are no doubt sinister, portraying the dead as a spiteful bunch, hell bent on dragging the unsuspecting living to their awful deaths.  I offer no argument as to their nature, existence or abilities.  I offer a different, warmer perspective related to me by the most credible of witnesses – my mother. 

My mother is a nurse by profession.  Somewhere during her early career, she worked in a really small hospital.  Those days, the medical profession was not as flooded as it is these days with qualified personnel, so every professional made a large contribution towards the number of lives saved. 

 As was customary those days, two night duty nurses would accompany a night-shift doctor to do the rounds.  Rounds were done so that a doctor could relate to the nursing staff on duty what medication to administer to each patient when they (the doctors) were

Not present.  In most cases, the information imparted during these rounds was pivotal in saving a life.  The night-shift paid better and so my mom opted to work at this time.  In so doing, my mother became well acquainted with one of the primary doctors who worked the nightshift.

 As things go, this particular doctor passed away tragically in a car accident.  Tears and moments of silence later, the hospital staff bounced back and carried on - work as usual.

The small hospital began to buckle under the pressure of a constant influx of ill patients accompanied by a large workload stretched over a depleted staff list. It was during this time that much of the staff of the small overloaded hospital began to act unprofessionally in the face of immense stress.  Many of the nurses and doctors would simply not show for their shifts. 

 It was on one such a night, that my mother was on duty that the assigned doctor on duty failed to show.  My mother and the other nurse on duty sat in the nurse’s station, contemplating what to do.  It was just then that the deceased doctor showed and announced that he would be taking the rounds that evening as, he had done a thousand times before.  Although greatly perturbed, the nurses assisted the dead doctor in his rounds afraid of what the spectre would do if they did not comply.  The ghost doctor’s hospital visits continued night after night.  As luck would have it, the hospital was granted additional state funds with which they were to hire additional doctors, serving to ease the current strain on staff.  It was on that same night that the ghoul doctor announced to the nursing staff on duty that he would no longer be coming to do the rounds as his services would no longer be needed.  After making his final rounds, the dead doctor vanished – never to be seen again.

I have never known what to make of this story - though I do believe it to be true.  I would just like to put it on the large and extensive menu that is ghost stories, for further consumption.  For anyone that may one day be in the mood for a good ghost story, you might find this one more to your taste.