‘Nooopeee, time to clock out’: Psych ward nurse accidentally summons the spirits of patients when printer starts spewing weird messages

The fact that we humans can frequently come face-to-face with evidence of a world so far beyond the proverbial veil, only to continue on with our lives in this capitalist hellscape with a collective shrug, is perhaps the single most curious aspect that we possess as a species.

Indeed, what’s it going to take for us to accept the supernatural as the natural? When are ghost stories going to become more than internet fodder? No one has any immediate answers, but the ghosts at this unnamed psych ward below are trying pretty dang hard to smarten us up.

Relayed by TikTok‘s @narsratchet, the spirits apparently caught wind of her and her coworkers discussing the people that the spirits once inhabited, because no sooner did the topic of these former patients enter the conversation did one of the ward’s printers start acting up out of nowhere. The results of this unplanned print job? A sheet of paper that had nothing but the word “HELP” written in the top corner of the page.

As if that wasn’t enough, the whole of the packet that that sheet came in was a TCP/IP one, which, according to one of the commenters, means that a “photo sent a message to the printer asking for help.” This, as the same commenter further points out, is not normal, which is the exact territory that ghosts like to operate in, so just as well.

Speaking of territories that ghosts like to operate in, the aforementioned psych ward was probably no more haunted than anywhere else; the fact that they had access to an electronic printer just happened to make communication that much easier. According to Condé Nast Traveler, the most haunted spaces in the United States come in a great many variations, including parks, courthouses, hotels, theatres, airports, zoos, restaurants and more obvious locales like graveyards, historical mansions, and, of course, hospitals.

And yet, according to another commenter, this printing packet could just as easily be read as a standard API request, with “HELP” referring to a printer-specific instruction. In other words, this could have very well just been another completely normal day on the job, and perhaps further proof that the idea of ghosts, the supernatural, or anything that can’t be explained with our standard logic systems, is complete and utter poppycock that should not be taken seriously.

But imagine, dear readers, how boring that would be.