Commissioned by Sir Francis Dashwood in the mid 18th century, the Hellfire Caves are a sprawling network of hand carved tunnels extending a quarter mile underground. While ostensibly a public works project to provide employment, the site served a much darker purpose. Dashwood was the founder of the Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe, better known as the Hellfire Club. This elite group of high ranking politicians and socialites used the inner sanctum, located 300 feet below a church, for pagan rituals, heavy drinking, and elaborate mock religious ceremonies. The tunnels were designed with occult symbolism in mind. To reach the Inner Temple, members had to cross an underground river named the Styx in a small boat. The atmosphere was one of calculated blasphemy and political intrigue, far away from the prying eyes of the London public. Legends persist of a resident ghost, Paul Whitehead, the club's steward, who allegedly haunts the caves in search of his lost heart, which was bequeathed to Dashwood and placed in a nearby urn. The caves remain an eerie testament to the secret lives of the Georgian era's most powerful men.