Ferrara's Spooky Set

The hotel has long links with the city's artistic community and longterm residents have included Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, Dylan Thomas and Sid Vicious.

Vicious was arrested for murdering his girlfriend Nancy Spungen in the Chelsea in 1978 - he died before he could face trial - and poet Thomas died from alcohol poisoning in his room there in 1953.

The hotel's history inspired Ferrara to capture it on film in Chelsea on the Rocks, which includes archive footage from the 1960s and 70s, and accuses the building's current owners of destroying its rich heritage.

He has spent months in the Manhattan building shooting the documentary and claims he encountered a host of spirits.

Ferrara says, "It's definitely haunted. We were five months making this movie, and we could feel the spirits all the time. They were all over the place."