Skull and Bones in 1947. With George H. W. Bush just left of the clock
STOP, LOOK & LISTEN
robes. After all, many other orders and clubs were operating on a similar structure and pattern as this one. Today, the caves at West Wycombe, where brotherhood was gathering, is kind of a tourist attraction nowadays, known as the Hellfire Club caves or Sir Francis’s Folly. The cave gives a good sense of the mystical atmosphere that prevailed in those circles. Sir Francis, besides Hellfire, also founded Diletanti Society (Society of dilettante). Entrance to the cave was designed to resemble certain Gothic cathedrals, but also to ridicule the architecture of religious buildings. The interior was lavishly decorated and each room was designed for specific ritual act. It consisted of a long corridor with a number of scattered areas for different purposes. At the end of the hall there was a symbolic river, River Styx, ending the Internal Temple (Inner Temple) exactly at 90 meters below the church (St Lawrence’s Church), which was located on the surface. The inside of the temple was called the vulva of the Great Mother Goddess. Some archaeologists argue that the entire tunnel system is intended to represent its shape - the female reproductive system - in honor of the female principle of nature. Also, masonic symbols were often used in decoration and asigning purpose to objects within the cave, refining them with special mythological motifs. All this suggests that the Hellfire Club extends for tens of meters below the ground and goes hundreds of meters in long underground corridors. Also, one of the corridors of the cave was named after Benjamin Franklin, friend of the club.
Hellfire Club Tunnels At West Wycombe
FRENZY SPARK
A branch of the Hellfire Club in Ireland (in Dublin, 1735) was established by Richard Parsons, the first Earl of Rosse, driven by inspiration of Wharton’s club in England. President of the club bore the title ’The King of Hell’. The Irish team had particularly bad reputation for debauched orgies and massive feasts. Of course, the club met the public condemnation of the Irish people, even greater than the English one in London. One of the locations used for the Irish Hellfire Club was a hunting lodge on Montpelier Hill, near Dublin. After the fire in the hunting lodge, club moved a little lower down the same hill, to Killakee Dower House. Today, there is something similar to what resembles the organisation of Hellfire Club, so called Bohemian Grove in California, U.S. It is primarily known for its annual gathering of its members. Ever since 1872 when it was established, every year in July its members are practicing pagan rituals, far from the public eye and even farther from the camera lens. The symbol of the club is owl, which represents hidden knowledge. The story greatly resembles the one of the Hellfire Club. Club’s motto is Weaving Spiders Come Not Here. There are many senior officials and officers on the member list, primarily from the United States but also from around the world. There are also influential artists, sportsmen and businessmen. Perhaps the best known meeting in Bohemian Grove so far is one in 1967, which was graced by presence of two future U.S. presidents - Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. This place is also known for many projects con-
The map of Hellfire club caves
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