Graveyard Shift

The graveyard shift is the overnight watch — hospitals, warehouses, front desks, gas stations — named, folk etymology insists, for night watchmen guarding against premature burial. The name is probably just Victorian gallows humour, but the shift earns it: circadian lows produce hallucination-friendly brains at exactly the hours buildings are emptiest. This archive's richest seam of testimony comes from these workers, because they return to the same corridor tomorrow night, and the night after, and their stories have logbooks.

Related on this site: /night-shift-stories/ /tag/security-guard/ /tag/hospital-night/