This is an odd little story that almost sounds like some sort of urban legend. However this didn't happen to the 'friend of a friend', but instead it's a true story involving my mother. I remember pieces of it, but I was very young when it actually happened.

My grandmother was very sick at the time, and my mother was trying to take of her (it was her mother-in-law). She also was trying to raise me, take care of the house, and other such things. She became ill, with many unusual symptoms. She lost weight, became very pale, had sores appear on her face, and would fall asleep suddenly. After falling asleep while driving, with me in the car, and nearly having an accident - she decided to go to the daughter.

The heart of her problems, according to the doctor, was exhaustion, and he told her to get some rest. She explained that she couldn't rest at home, so he decided to hospitalize her. However, the average hospital room is not particularly quiet, so they gave her a private room on the psych ward. I'm not sure how the doctor managed to do that. Maybe it was because she had had a nervous breakdown a few years prior, but that's not really important.

The nurses on duty knew the situation and we very nice to my mother. A young woman showed mom to her room and asked if she needed anything. Mom said that she wanted to sleep, but the room was a bit cold. The nurse bought her an extra blanket and turned on the heater in front of the window. Turning off the light, the nurse left and Mom soon fell asleep.

Mom awoke some time later hearing a strange popping noise. She looked down and there were flames shooting out of the heater and the curtains (actual curtains instead of blinds for whatever reason) were catching on fire. She was disoriented and in a strange room that was now on fire, but Mom managed to make her way into the hall. "Fire! Fire!" she yelled running to the nurses' station.

There had been a shift change, and these nurses didn't know that Mom was there for exhaustion. "That's okay," one of them said, "Just go back to your room and sleep."

"Didn't you hear me? I said my room is on fire!"

The nurses continued to say everything was okay, and Mom realized they didn't believe her. Annoyed, she agreed to go back to her room if the nurse would go with her. They get back to the room and opened the door.

"It is on fire! It is on fire!" the nurse yelled, "What do I do?"

Some of the other patients were now awake, and one of them suggested a fire extinguisher as one of the other nurses called the fire department. The nurse got the fire extinguisher, but was too upset to figure out how to use it, so another patient took and put out the fire as the firemen rushed onto the floor.

Mom said later that she never knew why a fire alarm had never gone off or why there were no sprinklers in the room. Maybe it was because it happened so long ago - but it happened at King Daughter's Hospital in Ashland, Kentucky.