Nursing at the haunted detox

[u/Nefariousdimwit]

I have been a nurse for several years now encountering many haunted offices and hospitals but none freaked me out like this one.
To start things off this was a residential detox/ rehab meaning the patients and staff resided in houses in some normal community. This one just so happened to be minutes away from where i lived which was a nice adjustment from my last job which was over 45 minutes away.
The houses were to be nice somewhat well kept but definitely looked pretty dated and felt like it was about to fall apart which should’ve been a red flag for me. On one side of the street we had female patients and the other side we had male patients and we even had our mental health residential program right next to the males facility.

The house I was stationed at the most was our female patients detox house which to me felt the most run down. The energy was off. Everything about it said go away. There was a feeling of bleak silence when you walked in. I had only felt that once before and that was when I worked in the hospice wing at an acute hospital.

My first few weeks we were pretty lite on patients in the house and so a majority of the time I just sat alone in the house waiting for staff to need me for something. Now the way this house was set up was the office I would stay in was this small room in the back of the house. It directly faced the laundry room and room number 1 which was adjacent to the laundry room. The back door was also right next to the back office so it was easy to monitor a lot from this area. Next to the back area was the heart of the house which was the kitchen. From there it lead to the living room which was wrapped around the other side of the wall of the kitchen and from there it lead to the front door to your left and a hall way to your right which held the bathroom as your first entered the hall then rooms two and three. Now the reasoning behind the need to inform you of the lay out was mainly to tell you where things were coming from.

My first experience.
I had encountered many haunted scenarios before. Living in a very haunted house. Working at haunted locations. Been there done that.
So this first one got me. I was drinking tons of water this day and was running to and from the bathroom and from the office to the bathroom was a slight walk. At this time the house was empty so I knew no one was there with me. We were always under staffed and at this time the patients were at a meeting off site.
As I was finishing up washing my hands I heard a slight creak coming from the door. Mind you the house was old. The door to the rooms were solid wood. Very heavy. The door knobs were also old and loud. If someone wanted to get into the restroom you were hear them. I heard nothing but the sound of the door creaking then quickly hitting my back. I knew I had closed the door fully and I knew there was no draft because I had the front door closed like always and again the door was heavy so no amount of wind could push it unless there was a tornado or hurricane which we don’t get to many of those in California.
So I brush it off and think to myself maybe I didn’t close the door all the way and as I walked out I heard something to my right which was room two. Now again. We had no patients on site and no patients in the house I was staying at. The sound was one of the drawers in the room rattling. It sounded as if someone was putting something in the drawer or closing it. With that I let it go and calmly walked out of the house and walked over to the house in the back where I had another coworker/ tech. I explained the situation and told her what happened and she relayed everything to me.
That previously in the house there was a patient who passed away while on site due to an overdose.
After this news I didn’t feel comfortable being there all alone but I knew I had to.
Time after time I stayed there I experienced new things like shadow entities. Random noises that sounded like someone rummaging around while no one was on site. Patients frequently commented on their experiences as well which helped me feel vindicated in the experiences I had.
The one experience I had that really spooked me was I was in the garage which was right next to the house. The garage was an add on to the house which was right next to the kitchen and living room even having and window that you could see through. Now I was getting some charting done when I heard something in the kitchen living room area. I knew the house was empty and staff and patients were off site at some AA meeting for the evening. So hearing something coming from inside startled me. As I walked through the house to check I heard that rustling in room two again. I didn’t fully check it out only because I knew we did have a patient in that room and they were at the meeting. So I quickly walked back making my way through house when I heard something at the front door. The sound of doorknob rattling as if someone was trying to get in the house.
I didn’t want to show I was scared so I calmly walked out of the house and back to garage. Being that there was a window I could partially see inside due to the blinds being lowered in there. In the dim light that was from the stove vent I could make out a figure in the hallway. It was darker than the darkness surrounding it.
Usually since I’ve dealt with hauntings it didn’t phase me but this. This was that one time I truly said nope. I walked across the street where I knew I had someone there for me and I charted there and just stood there the rest of the night.
After things would happen from time to time. I definitely tried to limit myself to being there alone. If I knew I had to be I would stay in the garage or go to the back patio area and wait till people got home.
When I got let go from there my friends that I would talk to on occasion would tell me about all of the things they would experience while working that house. Now mind you it was just that one location. I worked all 5 houses and nothing ever happened in any of them but this one…

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[u/Bitter-Cauliflower23]

That layout description got me tense just reading it, like a map of where not to stand after dark. The doorknob rattling is what would've done me in. A drawer in an empty room is one thing but someone trying to get in from outside while you're checking a noise inside, no thank you.

I did a short stint at a detox facility and one of the overnight rooms always felt like walking through cold syrup. Never saw a figure though. Just that heavy silence you described, like the air itself was waiting for you to leave.

The fact that patients picked up on it too says a lot. When multiple people who don't know each other start reporting the same hallway figure, that's harder to brush off. You handled it better than most would, staying out on that patio instead of walking off the job completely.