A young author by the name of
Michael in search of a good story found an unusual ghost story while
researching England’s mysterious Hellfire Clubs.
Hellfire Clubs were early
gentleman’s clubs in England. The members’ names were kept secret along with
what these clubs did.
Both upper class men and
women could join. What is known is they started on the premise that the members
were free--in other words they shred the traditional rules--and members could
do as they pleased--including drinking all day and mocking the church. This
also included sexual freedom.
Rumors spread the members of
these clubs were “devil-worshipers” * catching the attention of King George l
who outlawed them in 1721.
Despite this, more clubs
formed. Sir Francis Dashwood started one of these clubs in 1751. His members
called themselves the Monks of Medmenham--one
member was Benjamin Franklin.
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| Sir Francis Dashwood |
Dashwood’s group originally
met in an abandoned monastery. Dashwood had this inscription placed in stained
glass above the entrance:
“Fais ce que tu voudras” or “Do what thou wilt.”
By 1752 Dashwood’s group of
“monks and nuns” were meeting in a series of caves he had fixed up outside of
the small village of Wycombe.
* In reality, the Hillfire
clubs were not Satanists but they did follow the Pagan Mysteries.
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| George and Dragon Inn |
Michael discovering these
caves were open to the public traveled to the small hamlet of West Wycombe. He
made reservations at the historic George and Dragon Inn located between High
Wycombe and Oxford in Buckinghamshire.
He went to bed early wanting
to be fresh for the next day’s excursion to the caves. Around 3:00 a.m. he
awoke to a feeling he was being watched. There was enough moonlight streaming
into the room that he had a clear view.
He spotted a feminine figure
sitting at the rooms’ small vanity. This girl, who appeared to be a teen, was
staring into a mirror.
Michael bolted upright when
he realized she was watching him. She then turned around to face him. She was
dressed in a simple white frock, cut in an old-fashioned style. A cloth was
wrapped around her head.
In the moonlight it appeared
to be pink. Michael froze wondering how he was going to explain the presence of
this female in his room.
She then walked to the bed
all the time staring at him and placed the back of her right hand against his
cheek. Michael flinched for her hand was ice cold.
Studying her face closely
Michael noticed the girl was quite beautiful but her face seemed to be twisted
in consternation. She looked at him seeming to plead for help.
Still frozen in place he
watched as she turned toward the window. She wistfully smiled and then slowly
faded.
The next morning Michael
wondered if he had just dreamed the girl the night before. As he paid for a
ticket at the caves he asked the attendant how long he could stay.
This man told him that most
did not stay long for several of the caves
were small cramped spaces and many visitors became claustrophobic. He then told
Michael others left quickly because of the ghosts.
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| Banquet Hall in caves. |
The caves according to him had
three ghosts. The first was a man dressed as a monk, the second ghost had been identified as Paul
Whitehouse a good friend of Sir Francis Dashwood and a member of his Hellfire
Club. When he died Whitehouse had his heart put in an urn and had it placed in
the cave. The urn, minus the heart was still there.
The third ghost was of a
young girl, a serving maid by the name of Suki who had worked at the George and
Dragon. Michael realized it was her ghost he had seen the night before at the
inn.
Through his research Michael
discovered that Suki had worked at the inn in the early part of the 18th
century.
A handsome nobleman,
presumably a member of the Wycombe Hellfire Club had struck up a flirtation
with her. Every time he passed through the village he would stop in to see
Suki.
Several local boys became
jealous finding Suki was “putting on airs and acting above her station” so they
decided to play a prank on the naïve maid.
They wrote her a letter
pretending to be her gentleman and in it they wrote he wanted to elope with
her.
Suki left work one evening
feigning an illness. She put on her best dress and headed for the caves. She
went inside with a lantern and waited for hours.
But her lover did not appear
instead she spotted three jeering faces. It was the three village youths who
had played the trick on her.
Realizing she had been duped
Suki flew into a rage and yelled and argued with the boys. In the heat of the
moment a rock was hurled and it hit Suki in the head. She fell unconscious and
bleeding to the ground.
The boys now afraid abandoned
her. She was found dead the next morning.
Before Michael left the inn
he interviewed the proprietor. This man was amazed that Michael had not known
that Suki haunted the inn. He told him that most people visited the George and
Dragon in hopes of seeing her ghost.
Suki’s ghost is
seen in the inn’s upstairs bedrooms and on the staircase. She is seen wearing a
bandage wrapped around her head soaked in blood.
Michael realized that was why
the scarf around her head looked pink.
Suki is also seen walking out
of one of the large supply closets in the kitchen. Her ghost is blamed for lost
items and unexplainable cold spots felt around the inn.
The story goes she is waiting
for her lost love. Michael waited for her ghost to appear the second night he stayed
at the George and Dragon but she never did.
* Excerpts from Haunted Hotels retold by Tom Ogden
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