Hell-fire Caves Public Tour

Supposedly of very ancient origin these unique caves were extended in the 1740’s by the infamous Sir Francis Dashwood, founder of the notorious Hellfire Club. His aim was to provide an extraordinary addition to his landscape gardens, no doubt inspired by his grand tours of Europe and the Ottoman Empire.

Sir Francis Dashwood

Many of his fellow dilettantes were building great estates and landscaping gardens and temples above ground but no others dared venture underground in this way. The chalk was used to build the main road from West Wycombe to High Wycombe. This also provided employment to the Villagers of West Wycombe following a succession of harvest failures. The achievement is a true feat of engineering and quite remarkable considering they were all dug by hand. You can still see the individual pick axe marks on the walls.

The Hell-Fire Club

Sir Francis established the infamous Hell-Fire Club which subsequently held chapter meetings in the Caves and whose members included Lord Sandwich, John Wilkes and other senior aristocrats and statesmen. Sir Francis later became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Benjamin Franklin who was a close friend visited West Wycombe often and is rumoured to have taken part in the underworld club.

The caves long winding passages lead deep underground for over 300 feet, through the great Banqueting Hall and past various other chambers. In these areas there are scenes that depict various members of the original Hellfire Club.

Entrance
Tool Store
Whitehead's Cave
Lord Sandwich Circle
Franklins Cave
Children's Cave
Banqueting Hall
Triangle
Miner's Cave
River Styx
Inner Temple

The final destination of the cave system is the Inner Temple which is reached by crossing the River Styx. In this chamber, there are several mannequins that represent the members of the club, along with other props.

The Ghosts of Hell-Fire

Some of the ghosts that are reputed to haunt the caves are members of the Hell-Fire Club, and a women named Sukie. The legend goes that she went to meet her lover dressed in a white wedding gown, but it was a practical joke and she was met by a gang of youths, who stoned her to death. Strange noises, feelings, lights and other phenomena have also been seen and heard by staff, and the public.

There have been several well known paranormal investigations of the site, by TV investigation teams and para-scientists. These teams have all found evidence of some paranormal activity down in various parts of the cave system.

Paul Whitehead, a member of the original Hell-Fire Club, wanted his heart interred into the caves after his death. This was done, but an Australian solider who visited the caves stole the heart and the urn. Paul's spirit is said to haunt the caves as he looks for his heart.

There have been reports by staff and visitors of other spirits like that of a little boy, a hooded monk and some darker entities that have been felt or seen. Numerous stories from staff being told to shush when walking through the caves or when closing up in the evening have also been reported.

G.P.S are no strangers to this intriguing location, and have investigated the caves on several occasions. Each time has yielded very interesting paranormal evidence.

Initial Base Readings: Taken on 11.09.09

Location	Temp	Time	EMF
Outside	16C	21:45	1mG
Entrance to caves	15C	21:45	1mG
Banqueting Hall	12C	21:30	2mG
Inner Temple	11C	21:40	1mG

The Public Investigation

G.P.S had been asked to conduct a paranormal investigation of the caves with members of the public.

Following the candlelit ghost tour earlier in the evening, the remaining public were eagerly anticipating a fantastic night of paranormal investigation and experiments.

As it approached 10:00 p.m. we all gathered at the entrance of the caves and I addressed a group of around 12 guests.

I began by discussing who we were, what our objectives were, our rules, and also the equipment we use to carry out our investigations. To explain many of the techniques used by our team, I played examples of best EVP's captured by G.P.S and also showed a slideshow of photographs taken at the caves on previous investigations. These images displayed some anomalous lights, mists, and apparitions.

I think that the EVP's terrified some of the already nervous members of the public, and heightened the level of anxiety and anticipation amongst the group.

As the group was so large I felt it would be better to split it into two teams. Lead Investigator Phil Measey managed Team A, and was accompanied by several G.P.S trainees, and guests. Phil took 5 of the 12 public members with him down to the Inner Temple of the caves. I led Team B which included the remaining 7 members of the public and the rest of the G.P.S staff to the Triangle area.

Team B

I took the team to a paranormal hotspot located within the triangle area of the cave system. We gathered in single file and crammed ourselves into the narrow tunnels to begin an EVP session.

During the experiment, we could faintly hear Team A establishing themselves in the Inner Temple. It was during our EVP session that we heard a loud scream from a member of the public in Team A. Apparently a loud shuffling sound was head in the room which caused the lady to become hysterical and request to leave.

Here is the audio of that event as it happened!

Shuffling Scream

The first EVP session I conducted was led by members of the public and some of the team and lasted for around 20 mins. Following analysis of the EVP using specialist software we have identified an anomaly. Here is the EVP's that we captured during this initial EVP session:

Who's There?

To be continued >>>>