As mentioned in my previous post, I used to work as an operating theatre nurse back in my days in Singapore. This is my second story about the strange paranormal incidents I experienced during my very first three night shifts.
During the first few weeks of orientation, we mainly worked office hours. Soon after, however, we were required to trial night shifts. On a normal night shift, there would usually be seven staff members running three operating theatres if things became busy. Since I was still a junior nurse and it was my very first night shift, I became the eighth member of the team.
On my first night, I was attached to a staff nurse from my discipline, though she was not my official mentor. In fact, it was her final night shift before moving on. My actual mentor only started working with me on my second and third nights.
That first night was unusually quiet. There were no emergency cases, which meant we had time to prepare our respective theatres for the following morning. We went from theatre to theatre, setting up instruments, machines, and supplies needed for the first operations of the day.
Our theatre was located right at the very end of a long corridor. It was always cold, dark, and unsettling there. At night, most of the corridor lights were switched off, leaving only the operating room illuminated. The shadows along the hallway somehow made the entire place feel even more eerie.
To give you an idea of the layout, a standard operating theatre was divided into several rooms: the anaesthetic room, scrub room, prep room, operating room, and utility room.
Patients would first enter the anaesthetic room, where the anaesthetist and nurse carried out final checks. The scrub room was where surgeons and nurses washed their hands before surgery. The prep room stored sterile equipment, sutures, trolleys, and linen, and it was also where scrub nurses prepared their instruments for surgery. This room only had one door, serving as both the entrance and exit. The operating room itself contained the surgical table, X-ray screen, clock, and all the essential equipment needed during surgery. Finally, the utility room was where all the dirty instruments and trolleys were sent for cleaning.
My senior nurse and I pushed a trolley into the theatre and began setting up for the first case. Barely five minutes later, the intercom crackled to life. A senior nurse’s voice instructed us to return immediately because they needed us back in the main area.
My senior nurse quickly tidied up and we both hurried back.
But when we arrived, the sister-in-charge looked confused.
“I never called you,” she said.
My senior nurse insisted it was her voice on the intercom. For a brief moment, the two of them argued — but then they suddenly stopped. The atmosphere changed instantly. Neither of them said another word.
Somehow, both of them seemed to realise at the same time that something was very wrong.
We returned to finish setting up another two theatres before finally taking a break. Since the night remained quiet, we were allowed to rest after midnight.
The staff room was located in the middle of the theatre floor. Inside the large room, tucked away in the far-right corner, was the doctors’ resting room. It was surprisingly cosy, with three large reclining chairs for doctors to rest before or after operations. At night, however, doctors rarely used it because they had their own call rooms elsewhere in the hospital.
When I entered the staff room, most of the nurses were sprawled awkwardly across the uncomfortable sofas. The doctors’ room was completely empty.
So the junior anaesthetic nurse and I decided to rest there instead.
I took the chair in the far corner while she chose the one nearest the exit.
I have never been someone who falls asleep easily, especially in an unfamiliar place. It probably took me around fifteen minutes before I finally started to drift off.
Then suddenly, I woke up.
I felt freezing cold.
At first, I realised my blanket had somehow crept upwards, leaving my feet exposed. Then panic hit me. I tried to sit up — but I couldn’t move.
It felt as though someone was sitting on top of my body.
I tried to move my arms.
Nothing.
I tried to wiggle my fingers.
Still nothing.
I felt completely paralysed.
My mind immediately went to the Fu talisman I kept inside my wallet. But no matter how desperately I tried, I simply could not move my body.
Terrified, I shut my eyes and began chanting:
南无阿弥陀佛.
Over and over again.
After what felt like forever, the pressure suddenly lifted. I could move again.
The first thing I did was grab the Fu talisman from my wallet and place it on my chest. Only then did I finally manage to fall asleep again.
Not long after, my shift ended.
On my second night shift, things were once again quiet. This time, I was paired with my actual mentor. She had already fallen asleep when I entered the staff room.
After what had happened the previous night, there was absolutely no way I was sleeping inside the doctors’ room again.
I decided to push the reclining chair out into the main staff room instead.
But just as I was wheeling the chair towards the exit, my mentor suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream and came running out of the room.
I froze in shock.
Not knowing what else to do, I quietly pushed the chair back into the room and spent the rest of the night sleeping on the sofa outside.
I never asked her what happened. I am not a particularly nosy person, and honestly, I did not want to know.
It was only close to 7am, when I went to brush my teeth, that I found her sitting alone in the kitchen area.
The moment she saw me, she marched over and started hitting my arm.
“You pulled the ghost out of the room!” she shouted.
Apparently, when I pushed the chair out, the “ghost” had moved over and sat on top of her instead. She became so terrified that she screamed and ran out.
I was completely dumbstruck.
So, on my third night shift… did I dare to sleep again?
Absolutely not.
This story was later featured on Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories podcast on 1 April 2022. If you understand Mandarin, do check it out. You may also want to read my other posts about Chinese superstitions and the Hungry Ghost Festival.