Eerie New York: Hotel Chelsea

With a history as rich and diverse as NYC's, it's not surprising that it's widely regarded as the most haunted city in the world. Of all the reports of ghostly happenings in New York, perhaps the most famous – and undoubtedly most interesting – are those of the spirits living within the walls of the Chelsea Hotel.

Built in the late 1800s, Hotel Chelsea was once a kind of “bohemian paradise,” inhabited by such legendary figures as Jack Kerouac, Andy Warhol, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Zappa and Mark Twain. In addition to hosting a wealth of famous faces, the hotel was also a refuge for survivors of the Titanic and World War II.

As is to be expected, several deaths occurred inside the hotel throughout its storied past, the most well known of which is that of poet Dylan Thomas, who drank himself to death in room 206. Rumor has it his soul remains anchored to the place where he last laid his head.

For a beautiful take on the eerie energies of the Chelsea, be sure to watch Ethan Hawke's film Chelsea Walls, in which a handful of people living at the hotel become “possessed” by the spirits of iconic people who've lived (and died) there.

Photo courtesy of wikimedia.org.