Dave Grohl and co won’t be rushing back to the 1940s mansion in Los Angeles – which he had rented and lived at a decade ago, before returning there to work on their latest album – anytime soon, after they were left spooked by what they believe to be ghosts, with the ‘Walking After You’ rocker claiming to have heard unexplained footsteps and felt a presence next to him.

The 52-year-old frontman told USA Today: “So there was a house down the street from where I live that I actually rented about 10 years ago. It was an old house built in the ’40s, I believe – just the quintessential creepy house. The person that owns the place told me stories like, ‘Oh, Joe Cocker used to party here with the guy that played Grizzly Adams.

When I lived there, I didn’t consider it to be a spooky house. My kids did. My daughter, Harper, would see things and other people in her room at night, but she was three years old at the time. I mean, I did the same thing. But when we came back to record this (album), everybody felt creeped out and you could go one of two ways: You could run screaming out the front door with your tail between your legs or you could put your head down and make nine songs and then get the f*** out of there. That’s basically what we did.”

Asked if he saw any ghosts, he said: “I’ve never been that paranormal experience television show type person. I’ve never wandered around my basement with infrared goggles looking for heat sensors. The worst part is just feeling it. It’s not like you’re seeing floating bedsheets and vomiting pea soup – it’s like you feel somebody next to you or hear footsteps or have reoccurring dreams of an old woman in a muddy sweater barefoot in your living room. Things like that. “

And quizzed on whether it influenced the songs on their first-ever party record, he insisted: “I don’t think it’s a spooky record – I think it’s a party record. Maybe whatever was in that house influenced us to make our first boogie-rock production. So hallelujah! Whatever the f*** it was, it worked.”