This Secret Underwater Victorian Ballroom Once Waltzed With Scandal

People always say that truth is stranger than fiction, and that’s exactly the case here. Yes, this article features a stunning underwater ballroom straight from a magic-filled fairytale, but it’s also the story of the man who dreamed it into existence. The story of a scandalous Victorian con man. And ultimately, if you’ll pardon my alliteration, the story of a suicidal cyanide-swilling swindler whose lust for silver sent him astray!

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Wright’s stately mansion.

South of London, England is a place now known as Witley Park. It was once a sprawling estate with over 9,000 acres purchased in the late 1800s by a scandal-ridden fraudster named Whitaker Wright.

The swindler, Whitaker Wright.

Whitaker Wright had already made and lost a lifetime of fortunes decades earlier in America. He invested in silver mines that paid him handsomely, yet somehow left his financial backers with empty pockets.

A now dilapidated boardwalk leads to an on-the-lake conservatory in Witley Park.

When Wright returned to England, nearly ruined again, he offered his services as an “expert” in mining ventures. And thanks to his slick patter and self-promotion, he managed to raise £250,000 — roughly £21.5 million ($26.5 million USD) in today’s money — from investors who believed a tall tale about a mining company in Australia.

A statue of Neptune stands above the ballroom, which glows beneath the black waters. 

Flush with cash once again, Wright bought Witley Park and quickly began building his fantastical estate. The mansion featured 32 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens. The property also boasted horse stables, a theater, an observatory, a private hospital, a velodrome (an indoor bicycle track), and of course, the infamous underwater ballroom.