It was quiet on the night shift. The midnight rounds had just been completed and the nurses’ aides had come back to the nurses’ station . They started to chart and take care of other chores required on that shift. The nurses’ station was situated so you could see both halls at the same time.
It was the week before Halloween. The facility had been decorated with the usual ghost, witches and bats. Someone had added o few to the plastic covering the large hole in the wall the carpenters had opened as part of the remodeling project. The opening went deep into the ground below the building and there was also an opening above that allowed a little air to come in and the plastic would bow out at the same time the wind would whistle. Even knowing what it was, didn’t sooth the chill up my spine or the hair that stood up on the back of my neck.
As we were sitting there. Two call lights came on at the same time at the end of the hall. That’s not unusually in nursing home except the three patients in each of the two rooms were not able to move. There was no way they could turn on a call light and all the staff was a the nurses station. I went down the hall with nurse’s aide to answer the light because it was strange for either of these lights to come on unless a staff member needed assistance turning a patient
We both entered the room and all three patients were sound asleep. The aide went over to each patient and checked to see if they in need of any personal care. I went across the hall and checked those patients. We turned off both lights. while we were in the rooms. We were standing in front of the door talking and both lights came on again. Once again we check the patients and once again there was no indication of who could have turned on the light
The first conclusion was that perhaps something had happened during the remodeling work that day and perhaps that was why the light had come on.
One of the older nurses casually mentioned that there was an old Indian burial ground somewhere on the land the where the building was situated. Someone else mentioned patients in the past asking the staff to “Tell those children to be quiet I am trying to sleep” It was always on night shift and there were no children in the building.
I learned there had been a flu epidemic that killed several of the residents in the area long before the hospital was built and most of those who died were children. Someone said “Well maybe the hole in the wall let them come out and play, maybe they were buried under the building’ We finished the shift without further incident.
The next night at exactly the same time the lights came on again. Same situation..all the patients were asleep, no visible sign of who could have turned on the lights. I turned off the light and stood there a few minutes and the light came on again while I was watching it.
I checked and mantance log and they had checked the call light system the same morning I had sent the request. I left another request and explained the situation and suggested they ask an electrician to check the call light system and explained in detail what had happened.
When I came to work the next night I had a note from maintance telling me they could not find anything wrong.
Once a gain for the third night in a row the lights came on. Once again I left a note for maintenance, this time I requested the lights be checked by an electrician and/or exorcist. Preferable someone who was both.
The next night a note from maintenance said “Problem solve” I never knew who fixed the lights? Was it the electrician or the exorcist?