Hotel Chelsea

New York City’s Hotel Chelsea is one of the most haunted hotels in the world, and it is a storied location as well due to the many artists, writers and musicians who have passed through its doors. From Jimi Hendrix to Eugene O’Neill to Andy Warhol, Janis Joplin and dozens of others, the hotel, originally built in the late 19th century, was long a center for bohemian culture. The hotel has seen its share of deaths as well including the murder of Nancy Spungeon by her boyfriend, Sid Vicious of the punk band the Sex Pistols; the alcohol-induced death of poet Dylan Thomas; and the suicide of writer Charles Jackson.

These former residents are among its most famous ghosts, and visitors report seeing the spirits of Sid and Nancy haunting the corridors and the room where she died. Although Sid died elsewhere several months later, it was said that he never wanted to be separated from his true love.

More gruesome reports include a woman who reported a disembodied head appearing in midair during a sleepless night that included footsteps in the room behind her and being gripped by an almost unbearable sense of fear. On later seeing a photo of Dylan Thomas, she identified the head as his. Some report that spirits mingle in the lobby on their way to another realm, and at least one resident says that the elevator is as likely to deposit its riders in a bygone era as to open on the floor they intended to visit.