Saturday night in Denver, those of us who were there had the privilege of hearing London-based Australian journalist Steve Cannane address the crowd at our annual gathering, HowdyCon. He had prepared remarks for his talk, and we obtained his permission to publish those notes here on the blog [...]]]>

Saturday night in Denver, those of us who were there had the privilege of hearing London-based Australian journalist Steve Cannane address the crowd at our annual gathering, HowdyCon. He had prepared remarks for his talk, and we obtained his permission to publish those notes here on the blog today. Here’s what Steve told us that night…

I was one of a number of journalists who got a mention in Marty Rathbun’s surprisingly well shot video diary and I asked Tony if he wanted a response for the Bunker.

I told him I’d wait until Marty finished, because in one of his earlier posts he said he had more to say about Lawrence Wright’s analysis of the Australian inquiry and I thought I better wait and see what else he had to offer.

I didn’t realise at time that Marty’s page by page analysis of Wright’s book Going Clear could end up taking longer to complete than Robert Caro’s five volume biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Because I’m worried I might actually be dead before Marty finishes up his video series, which I have now fallen asleep in front of three times, I’ve decided to issue an interim response, here at Howdycon.

I’m not going to address the rubbish Marty spouts about Tony, about Mike Rinder, about Hubbard curing himself of his non-existent war wounds, or his strange defense of Fletcher Prouty. To start with I wanted to deal with the 90 seconds where he mentions me and the inquiry in Australia.

He says the following:

“Page 91, he talks about the Australian government’s inquiry and I note I went through with him in some detail, Ewen Cameron being involved in this and I’ll talk about the significance of that about the prosecutor Dax and the fact that it was really a Kangaroo Court.”

Marty’s talking about how he was telling Larry Wright about the inquiry into Scientology in Australia in the 1960s. The first of its kind anywhere in the world.

In just four lines Marty says four things that are either inaccurate or lack the evidence to back them up – not a great strike rate for someone who is criticising other people’s work line by line.

1) It was not an Australian government inquiry. It was an inquiry set up by the state government of Victoria in 1963.

2) How was Ewen Cameron involved in this inquiry? And which Ewen Cameron is Marty talking about? Is it the Scottish born psychiatrist and former President of the American Psychiatric Association involved in the MK Ultra program who has featured in Scientology’s Freedom magazine a number of times? If so where’s the evidence he had anything to do with the Australian inquiry? Is he referring to Ewen Cameron who was previously a Minister for Health in Victoria, and was in favour of an inquiry, but his advice was ignored by the Premier Sir Henry Bolte which means he was hardly influential?

3) He talks about “prosecutor Dax” referring to Cunningham Dax, who was a psychiatrist not a prosecutor, which underlines how little Marty knows about the inquiry. The Scientologists believe Dax was the man behind the inquiry – my research suggests there were other far more influential figures. If Marty did give information to Larry Wright about the Australian inquiry, Wright was wise to ignore it.

4) He refers to the inquiry as a “kangaroo court.” It wasn’t. A “kangaroo court” normally refers to a sham set of legal proceedings, where the judge is owned and the verdict is set up in advance, something that tends to happen in dictatorships not democracies. In my book I’m critical of elements of the inquiry – and some of the moralising of Kevin Anderson QC who ran the inquiry – but it was hardly some kind of star chamber as Marty is suggesting.

The fact that Marty has used the term “kangaroo court” is interesting in itself. It’s straight out of the Hubbard playbook. In fact it was the name of book published by the Hubbard College of Scientology in 1967 that was issued as a riposte to the inquiry’s findings. Bound in black and gold featuring a kangaroo resplendent in a judge’s wig on the cover, it took a very patronising attitude to Australia and the state that dared to set up an inquiry about Scientology and issue such a scathing assessment of both the organisation and Hubbard.

Among the pearls of wisdom in Kangaroo Court:

“Only a society founded by criminals, organised by criminals and devoted to making people criminals could come to such a conclusion. A criminal society would applaud brutality, regard leucotomy, lobotomy and other major operations depriving a being of the use of his brain, as necessary to relieve a desperate situation.”

Another of my favourites quotes from is this:

“The Foundation of Victoria consists of the riff-raff of London’s slums – robbers, murderers, prostitutes, fences, thieves – the scourings of Newgate and Bedlam.”

Of course Hubbard was happy to make money off the riff-raff of Victoria when about 100 of them moved to Saint Hill around the same time Kangaroo Court was written.

So it’s very interesting that Marty uses the term “kangaroo court” – straight from the title of Scientology’s rebuttal of the Anderson Inquiry.

After Marty labels the inquiry a “kangaroo court,” he moves onto criticising my book, saying “the guy’s like a terrible writer.”

As he says it, he’s sighing and his eyes are rolling so much, it’s almost as if he’s just popped some of the “pinks and greys” Hubbard was on when he wrote OT III in Tangiers.

Now Marty might be right about this. I may well be a terrible writer, but he provides no context like a good literary critic should. I mean, I’d like to know exactly how bad my book really is.

Is it worse than Battlefield Earth?

As impenetrable as Dianetics?

Even more substandard than some of the book-shaped objects that Marty had released in recent years?

As he continues his rant, Marty accuses me of “piling on” on Scientology:

“As much as the guy Cannane tried to pile on, because he’s playing the pile on game now because it’s easy to go after Scientology and so he’s just regurgitating these things that have been said, even Cannane who is not, who wasn’t trying to come to this conclusion, the description he gave of the Australian inquiry and that whole episode to which he went into some depth because his book is in Australia, describes a kangaroo court and a witch hunt to the tee.”

Where to start? Which one is it Marty? Am I part of a pile on or have I uncovered material which helps you argue there were flaws in the inquiry in Australia? Am I just some regurgitator of old material? Or have I uncovered new material that you now want to regurgitate ––in a way that suits your agenda?

Marty’s line “he wasn’t trying to come to this conclusion” says it all about how distorted his thinking is. I didn’t start my book trying to come to any form of conclusion. I wanted to find out the truth. To get to the bottom of the story of Scientology and how it related to Australia. You only want to come to conclusions after you have weighed up the evidence that you have gathered.

Mark Colvin, a good friend of mine who died recently and was one of the best journalists of his generation, used to liken journalism to looking at a sculpture or painting at an art gallery – walking around it and looking at it from each and every angle. That’s what I tried to do with my book.

I quote Scientologists who thought the inquiry in Australia was unfair, but I also spoke to people who participated in the inquiry and thought it was perfectly reasonable. I outline the key role Scientologists played in exposing psychiatric abuses in a private hospital in Sydney and the heroic efforts of a Scientologist nurse who went in undercover and accessed medical files and gathered evidence of malpractice.

I quote Marty talking about how James Packer benefited from Scientology.

I make the case that the ban on Scientology in three states in Australia was wrong and defend the right of people to believe in whatever they want to believe in.

How is any of this part of a “pile on”? To quote Marty’s own words about Larry Wright back at him, “the facts don’t suit his narrative.”

In his videos, he takes morsels of information, distorts them and shapes them into the narrative that he wants to tell at this point in time.

I don’t know why Marty is saying what he’s saying now. I’m not going to guess at his motivations, like he likes to guess about others. But I will say I am grateful to him for the two interviews he gave to me back when he was speaking out about Scientology, and speaking out about things he had first-hand experience with. When he did, he was an excellent source, and helped me immensely with my chapters relating to Nicole Kidman and Rupert Murdoch.

Unfortunately, Marty is now engaging in the kinds of distortions and over the top language that was a hallmark of Hubbard. This is at its worst when he describes people who oppose Scientology, or who are critical of Scientology, as being in some form of cult.

Marty likes to portray himself as a deep thinker and if you have read his blog posts over the years they often refer to books he’s read and some of the ideas that have emerged from those books. But his capacity for critical thinking seems to have abandoned him of late.

By describing critics and opponents and journalists who cover Scientology as being part of what he calls the “Anti-Scientology Cult” or “ASC,” is some of the laziest thinking and analysis I’ve come across. Marty uses terms in his videos that you learn in first year philosophy like “sophistry” and “straw man arguments” and the Latin term “reductio ad absurdum.”

One fallacy he fails to mention and it applies to his argument about the Anti-Scientology Cult is the concept of false equivalence. Cults control people. They tend to have strong charismatic leaders who use discipline, punishment, mind control and threats of deprivation to their followers as a means of controlling them.

I don’t see any of the people Marty mentions in this so called ASC controlling anybody.

Do they make them wear a preposterous naval uniform?

Make them sign billion-year contracts?

Send them off the the RPF?

Enforce a policy of disconnection so they will never see their family members again?

Engage in human trafficking?

Throw children in a chain locker?

Tell them if they leaving “the ASC” that eternal life will allude them?

Ring them up and hound them for money?

Tell them they have to buy whole new sets of books now that the punctuation has been modified by the cult leader?

Tell them they can’t read negative press about “the ASC” on the internet?

It’s an absurd argument and is deeply offensive.

It diminishes and trivialises the suffering of people who have been exposed to the real trauma of a real cult. People here tonight like Bernie Headley and Phil and Willie Jones who can’t see their children because of Scientology’s policy of disconnection.

It is an outrageous false equivalence and if Marty’s going to try and shoot holes in other people’s arguments he ought to get his own arguments in order first.

The last time I spoke to Marty on the phone was in June 2015. I looked up my notes from that conversation earlier today. I was struck by the section where I was telling him some of the stories I had uncovered and I asked him to keep it to himself until publication and he said no problem.

“I’m not in the gossip circles,” he told me “I’ve been very critical of them [he’s talking about people he considers anti-scientologists] because I think it takes on the trappings of a cult in a way. So don’t worry about that.”

Notice the moderation in his tone. He says, “the trappings of a cult in a way.” That has now morphed into absolutist terms. Critics are now members of a cult.

People he once praised, he now trashes. Long term friends or journalists and film makers he was once happy to work with are now written off as liars or members of “the troll farm”. Something has changed. Only Marty, and perhaps whoever is still close to him, knows what’s driven that change.

 
— Steve Cannane

 
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Chris Shelton from HowdyCon!

Wow, we didn’t know Chris was putting together a video while he was at HowdyCon. We’re humbled by everything in this very appreciated look at our annual gathering.

 
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Aaron Smith-Levin on the claims made by Marty Rathbun

Jeffrey Augustine talks with Aaron about the recent unpleasantness.

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

Sacre bleu! Scientologists marching against les drogues in France…

 
The planned Kansas City Ideal Org sure will be responsible for a lot of territory!

 
Jim Meskimen and Erika Christensen and that favorite necklace of Jim’s that is totally not what you think it is.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 29, 2017 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2016 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2016), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield

  Well, there goes Tampa federal Judge James Whittemore again, telling off Scientology and leaving no doubt where he stands. If you recall, the last time we visited the Luis and Rocio Garcia fraud lawsuit against the church, Scientology had asked Whittemore to clarify his latest court order. Judge Whittemore, clarify? Did he stutter?

  Much of what we know about the highest echelons of the Church of Scientology in recent years comes from a number of former high-ranking executives who left the organization between 2004 and 2010. Those former execs — Marty Rathbun (who left the church in 2004), Marc and Claire Headley (2005), Amy Scobee (2005), [...]]]>

 
Much of what we know about the highest echelons of the Church of Scientology in recent years comes from a number of former high-ranking executives who left the organization between 2004 and 2010. Those former execs — Marty Rathbun (who left the church in 2004), Marc and Claire Headley (2005), Amy Scobee (2005), Tom DeVocht (2005), Jeff Hawkins (2005), Mike Rinder (2007), and John Brousseau (2010) — fueled numerous newspapers series, television shows, and also a feature film documentary (2015’s Going Clear), which gave us our clearest view yet of how Scientology leader David Miscavige ran the church.

We learned about “The Hole,” for example, a prison for top executives that Miscavige created at Scientology’s secretive “Int Base” near Hemet, California in 2004, when the St. Petersburg Times revealed its existence in its 2009 series, “The Truth Rundown.” After that series, Miscavige made some changes to the Hole, something we learned from Brousseau, who came out after the others, in 2010.

But what about since then? Ron Miscavige Sr. left the base in 2012, but he was not a top-ranking executive, and we didn’t get a lot of information about how conditions had changed at the base from his 2016 book, Ruthless. We’ve been hungering for any new information about the conditions at Int Base in more recent years. What little information we had received suggested that since a 2009/2010 FBI investigation of Scientology for human trafficking which was focused on the base, David Miscavige had been placing less emphasis on the compound as its population had shrunk.

Now, we have learned that there have been a series of more recent escapes, and we’ve been receiving new information about Int Base for the first time in several years. Among the details that we’ve been told by our sources…

1. David Miscavige has not visited Int Base — which used to be his primary home — in more than four years.

2. Escape attempts have increased in frequency as conditions at the base continue to deteriorate.

3. Pregnancies are becoming more frequent as Sea Org couples use that method to get sent away from the base. (Previously, the policy was to coerce Sea Org women to have abortions so they remained on post, but after that situation was reported by the press, the church changed the policy, and now merely kicks pregnant couples out of the Sea Org.)

4. Miscavige’s primary residence is now his apartment in Hollywood behind the Author Services Inc. building on Hollywood Boulevard.

When we asked a former Int Base official what it might mean that Miscavige has not been to the base for such a long time, they told us that in fact, “He was threatening to do that for quite a while. And there were long periods when he wasn’t there. He just manages things by conference calls when he’s not at the base. But to be gone for four years? That tells me there’s some fear and avoidance of the base now on his part.”

Is Int Base becoming less important than it used to be? “No question,” our source says. And they point out that for Miscavige the base may represent to him a dark period of church history. “More people from there did more damage in a shorter amount of time than ever in Scientology’s history,” our source says, referring to the years of publicity produced by the wave of high-ranking Int Base executives who emerged between 2004 and 2010.

We pointed out that for some time, we’ve been working on the theory that Miscavige is de-emphasizing the importance of Scientology’s formerly major centers in Southern California and has instead been building up Scientology’s presence in Clearwater, Florida.

“Miscavige had talked about that,” our source says. “He said that he was going to move key projects to Clearwater. And he had even talked about shutting down Int Base entirely.”

Shut down Int Base? Pull back to Clearwater? These may be strange times for the Church of Scientology indeed.

 
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Latest figures from Australia: Only 1,681 Scientologists

This just in from London-based Australian journalist Steve Cannane…

Once again, the actual numbers are right in line with our estimates, which are that there are about 20,000 actual Church of Scientology members around the world, and nothing like the millions that the organization claims.

And yes, Steve is correct to point out that the constant push for buildings like in Western Australia is all about public relations, and not for a need to serve large numbers of parishioners. A $6 million project when there are only 195 members in a state the size of Texas and Alaska combined!

Thank you, Steve.

 
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Our latest message to the Church of Scientology

We thought you might like to see a copy of the email we sent yesterday to Karin Pouw, Scientology’s international spokeswoman…

Karin,

Regarding the series of Marty Rathbun videos which now appear on the church’s website, “leahreminiaftermath.com,” can you confirm that Mr. Rathbun has approved the church placing those videos there?

Is the church compensating him for that placement?

Was the church involved in filming those video segments?

Were the Rathbuns compensated for dismissing Monique Rathbun’s harassment lawsuit against the church in 2016?

Sincerely,

Tony Ortega
Editor
The Underground Bunker

[We’ll let you know if we hear anything back from the church.]

 
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Scientology cruise ship back in Dutch waters despite government interest

After a lengthy stay in St. Lucia, Scientology’s private cruise ship the Freewinds sailed more than 500 miles to Curaçao this week, returning to Dutch waters for the first time since March.

Recently, we told you that a Dutch source of ours had received assurances from a Netherlands official that the government there was interested in gathering evidence for a criminal investigation of the Church of Scientology, which explained why the ship might be avoiding Dutch islands in recent months.

That official indicated in an email that in late 2015, the Dutch government had planned a surprise search of the Freewinds while it was docked at Bonaire, a Caribbean island off the coast of Venezuela which is actually a part of the nation of the Netherlands. The Dutch official admitted that the Freewinds crew got wind of the planned search, and sailed away the day before it was planned. After two visits in July 2016, the Freewinds has not been back to Bonaire since.

Two other members of the Dutch Antilles, Aruba and Curaçao , are nominally independent nations in the “Kingdom of the Netherlands,” and the Freewinds spent a lot of time shuttling between them while avoiding Bonaire after July 2016. But after March, the ship was avoiding Dutch waters altogether.

Now that it’s back, will the Dutch government take notice? Our source is busily notifying Dutch officials that the ship is back. We hope the government takes this opportunity to ask a few questions.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 27, 2017 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2016 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2016), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield

  Our man who keeps an eye on Scientology front groups, Rod Keller, is watching Scientology’s increasing involvement with law enforcement. Here’s his report…

Scientologists received a remarkable request recently from Clearwater member Patrick Clouden. Clouden is a large donor to Scientology, and in particular to the Foundation for a Drug-Free World. The flier [...]]]>

 
Our man who keeps an eye on Scientology front groups, Rod Keller, is watching Scientology’s increasing involvement with law enforcement. Here’s his report…

Scientologists received a remarkable request recently from Clearwater member Patrick Clouden. Clouden is a large donor to Scientology, and in particular to the Foundation for a Drug-Free World. The flier he put out says that the Clearwater Police Department has asked Scientology for help dealing with the increase in the use of synthetic drugs in the city, and volunteers are being asked to come to meet at the storefront headquarters on social reform row on Fort Harrison Ave. (This is the same police department that Scientology protested in 1997, during which they taunted the chief with the chant “Sid Klein, What’s Your Crime?”)

 
The Clearwater police recall the contact with Scientology differently. It was Scientology that approached the police, and not the other way around, the department tells us in a statement:

The Foundation for a Drug-Free World Florida approached the Clearwater Police Department asking what it could do to help address drug problems in the community. We shared with the representatives a concerning trend related to synthetic drugs or “spice.” The foundation created a drug awareness pamphlet on synthetic drugs and distributed it in the community. The Clearwater Police Department welcomes any attempt by any group to try to put a dent in the drug problem. Our officers see the effects of synthetic drugs on a sometimes daily basis on the streets of Clearwater; any effort to warn potential users about the dangers is welcome.

 
The Scientology booklet on synthetic drugs is one of a series produced in the Truth About Drugs series, and describes the dangers of synthetic marijuana, known as K2 or Spice. Clearwater is not alone in seeing an increase in use of the drug, variaties of which are legal in some countries where marijuana is not. The drug is linked to seizures, kidney damage, strokes and is generally seen as an unsafe alternative to marijuana.

 
Seeking the sanction of police officials is a growing trend among branches of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World. Bernard and Meghan Fialkoff recently won Scientology’s Freedom Medal for their work with the Foundation, which bestows significant prestige within the Scientology community.

 
The remarkable aspect of their work is that the Fialkoffs have recruited New York City police officers to distribute the booklets and participate in presentations to school assemblies. The New York branch has branded itself Foundation for a Drug Free World of the Americas, and the staff pose in the photo below with the seven division “org board” of their branch.

 
The Fialkoffs recently hosted the annual Drug Free Hero awards banquet, honoring police officers and others, with speakers including New York State Senator Tony Avella and James J. Hunt (below), Special Agent in Charge of the New York District for the Drug Enforcement Agency. New York is moving up the chain of law enforcement officials from local police to the feds, and Scientologists in other states are taking notice. New York may be providing the blueprint for the leaders of other branches to receive their own Freedom Medals.

 
In Florida, in addition to seeking the sanction of the Clearwater police, Scientology is recruiting county law enforcement. In May, Deputy David Mireles from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office presented Scientology’s drug program at Southeast High School in Bradenton, Florida. He is seen below with Drug Free World Florida’s president Lynn Posyton.

 
In California, the Sacramento branch of the Foundation has long enjoyed the support of the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department. Members of their Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) group participated in an event at the org in 2016, below.

 
This year they are also moving up to higher level officials, and will host DEA Supervising Special Agent Rebecca Caseres tonight at the org to recognize the United Nation’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

 
Scientology has encountered resistance from school officials for their drug education programs. Santa Monica High School recently canceled the program after it became known that the Foundation for a Drug Free World is actually a part of Scientology. Their answer to expand the program in the U.S. may be to recruit law enforcement at the city, county or federal level as allies.

Amy Scobee responds to Marty Rathbun

Amy Scobee put out a self-published book in 2010, Abuse at the Top, about her experiences in the Sea Org and her escape from Scientology. It’s a fine book, but it reached a limited audience.

She also spoke out on the “Truth Rundown,” an epic series in the St. Petersburg Times that also featured former church official Marty Rathbun. Although this was an effective newspaper series, it was a regional newspaper.

Several years later, Amy’s mother Bonny Elliott was dying of cancer. Leah Remini had the foresight to send a camera crew to interview Bonny during her final weeks in order to get on tape her thoughts about being disconnected from Amy, and how the two of them had defied Scientology to defeat this toxic policy.

Last year, Leah took that footage and convinced the A&E Network that it should be the seed for an entire series about how the Church of Scientology rips apart families and harms its members.

Amy and her mother Bonny were featured in the opening episode of the series, which reached more than 2 million viewers nationally. It was the most-watched premiere for an A&E series in two years. And not only was the series a huge success, it literally changed the way Scientology is being talked about in the national media.

Now, Marty Rathbun, as part of his bizarre series of videos attacking Remini and others who speak out about Scientology’s abuses, is saying that Amy Scobee and Leah Remini somehow foisted a sham on the American people. Why? Because, he says, Amy had already told her story in 2010 in her book, and so in 2016 when they presented her story on television, it was somehow manipulative and untrue.

“It begins with episode one, which is literally from beginning to end a manufactured story,” Rathbun said on his most recent video segment. “Amy Scobee told her story in 2009. That’s seven years before that, OK? Amy Scobee wasn’t in need of somebody to do a program — she wrote a book in 2009. But according to episode one, Amy came to her to resolve this problem of being disconnected from her mother, in 2016. Except that Amy’s been connected with her mother since 2010. So in other words they literally manufactured and made up this story.”

Can you follow Rathbun’s logic? Amy reunited with her mother because the two of them were brave enough to defy Scientology. Leah Remini managed to get Bonny on camera to talk about that experience before she died in 2015. But Rathbun says it’s “manufactured and made up” to create a television show and present their story.

We asked Amy about it, and she sent us this response…

“Sad. Marty must have been paid a pretty penny to sell out his soul like this. My mom and I wanted to warn people of Scientology’s disconnection policy which destroys families. And we did.”

To review: Bonny Elliott’s dying wish was to warn the public about how Scientology rips apart families. Thankfully, Leah Remini made that happen. And now, Marty Rathbun calls that a sham.

Meanwhile, at his website, a few diehards who still support him are rooting him on.

Imagine the warped mind that would write this:

“How could Leah do anything for Amy, aside from just air her ‘story’? Disconnection stories are aired all the time and it doesn’t resolve them….Why Amy would want to participate in a sham is something only she could answer. It’s really a shame.”

 
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Rathbun videos now featured on Scientology smear site — what a surprise

And there it is, ladies and gentlemen. Rathbun’s series of videos about Leah Remini is now an official addition to the Church of Scientology’s site that is set up to smear Remini and her show guests. Also included is a brief segment from a home video of Rathbun’s wedding.

Well, we suppose we shouldn’t be too surprised…

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 26, 2017 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2016 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2016), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield

  Our second annual meetup is in the books, and we won’t soon forget it. Kim O’Brien found a charming space for our private party, the Limerick Room at the Irish Rover in Denver, where 75 people gathered last night for HowdyCon 2017.

We had chosen Denver in part because it happens to be [...]]]>

 
Our second annual meetup is in the books, and we won’t soon forget it. Kim O’Brien found a charming space for our private party, the Limerick Room at the Irish Rover in Denver, where 75 people gathered last night for HowdyCon 2017.

We had chosen Denver in part because it happens to be where a large number of familiar former Church of Scientology members happen to live. In particular, we looked forward to the participation of Marc and Claire Headley, and they did not disappoint.

“I was honored to have been invited,” Marc told us after the event. “Since my wife and I escaped from Scientology in 2005 we have received nothing but support from people hearing our story, and this is one of things that helped us along over the years. When you’re on your own and trying to make it in the world and having to start from scratch, you would not believe the power a few hundred people can have when they are pledging their support and cheering you on. I was happy to meet many of these people over the past few days and have conversations with them. I know that there were many people that could not make it this year and I hope that we will meet and get to talk in the coming years! Long live HowdyCon!”

Marc started things off for us last night with a side-splitting account of his involvement in Louis Theroux’s My Scientology Movie. And to illustrate his talk, he brought along a collection of photographs he took while Theroux and director John Dower were filming. Marc shared his slideshow with us…

 
The clip at the end is video Marc shot of what he says was originally intended to be the final scene in the film — a long shot of David Miscavige and Tom Cruise (played by actors), doing some skeet shooting at Scientology’s Int Base. At the beginning of the clip you can hear Dower saying, “If this ends up on bloody Ortega’s site, Headley, you’re banned.”

We were equally as thrilled to have Claire Headley also give a presentation, and it packed a wallop.

“It was truly amazing to meet so many wonderful people over the last few days, and to be able to present tonight was amazing too,” she told us. “This is a special community of people, a wide mix of exes, never-ins, etc. and yet such a great sense of camaraderie and support, that I am truly grateful to have been able to participate in. Special thanks to the awesome Kim O’Brien for organizing! And thank you again for having us Tony.”

Claire had told us that she wanted to do a spoken-word performance about growing up in Scientology. It was a powerful presentation, and she’s given us permission to publish it here at the Bunker.

Several months ago I heard there were TEDx auditions taking place in Denver. I came up with the idea of presenting a talk on growing up in Scientology and submitted an application. I was called for an audition! But with work and family commitments, I decided to opt out. This is the speech I’d prepared for that audition.

My name is Claire Headley.

Today I’d like to talk about being born into Scientology, being raised in Scientology, and the 30 years it took me to escape. I’d also like to talk about life after Scientology, and the freedom and liberation I found in breaking away from the cult I was raised in.

I think it’s safe to say we all know cults are dangerous.

But that’s a broad, sweeping statement, one which most people will agree with and then think that it has nothing more to do with them on a personal level. Of course, they’re not involved in a cult.

So I think a good starting point is: What defines a cult?

From my experiences and my life in a cult, the following points best define a cult:

1. Unquestioning commitment to a domineering leader.
2. Dissent and discussion discouraged.
3. Alteration of personality.
4. Polarization of members.

I’m sure everyone here understands these points, so I will not expand on those. Howeverm let me translate for you how these points characterized themselves to me as a child:

1. Do as you are told or risk losing your family immediately.
2. Don’t ever question Scientology. Ever. Under any circumstances.
3. Never say anything bad about Scientology. Ever. Under any circumstances.
4. Never think anything bad about Scientology.
5. Anyone not in Scientology should not be trusted, family or otherwise.
6. The world outside Scientology is a very dangerous place.

Have you stopped to consider this: If you were born into a cult how would you get out? If you were indoctrinated as a child to believe the only reason anyone ever left was because they were bad, how would you break free?

As a child, would you turn your back on all those you love, your friends, your family members, anyone you’d ever known inside that world? How would you do that with no contacts to the outside world? How would you survive? How would you get a job? With no education, no high school diploma, no college degree, no friends or family to help you, how would you succeed?

Here’s another question to consider: What impact does it have on a child to never know unconditional love? To know that love from one’s parent or parents, is entirely dependent on cooperation and continuation in their cult following? I know that’s a tough question to consider. But I think it’s an important one if you want to understand the lasting trauma of growing up in Scientology.

I’ve studied several books on trauma and abuse, as well as involvement in a cult. One has a pre-cult personality, but in the case of a young child, the cult personality is dominant from earliest memories, which makes it much harder to wake up from. There is simply very little “normal” life frame of reference to fall back on.

I was born into Scientology. Scientology was never my choice. In fact, as a child growing up in Scientology, I often wished for, longed for, a normal life.

Because of Scientology, I never knew my father. My mother disconnected from him when he left Scientology, when I was 2 years old. In fact, one of my earliest memories was that of my father leaving, and thinking that I must have done something wrong to cause that.

My mother joined the highest inner circle of Scientology, the Sea Organization, shortly after my 4th birthday. What does that mean? It means that as a single mother of a four-year-old, she committed herself to a billion years of service to the upper management levels of Scientology.

What did that commitment mean to me at 4 years old? It meant I lost my mother fully and completely to Scientology. Immediately on arrival to the Sea Org at Scientology’s headquarters in England, I was submersed into a world that had absolutely nothing to do with a normal and healthy childhood.

Very few stories have been shared in depth of what it means to grow up in Scientology. Personally, I think the reason for that is the experience is deeply traumatic on many levels. I think it is especially hard to understand the depths of the trauma, personally and for others.

When you ask most people about their childhood and to think of a memorable moment, they’ll think of a family vacation, perhaps a fun Christmas, childhood friends, perhaps time with their family.

Ask me what’s my most memorable childhood moment? I have a few.

From the age of 4 I lived in a girl’s dormitory, with other Sea org children. This is where I first met Valeska and Melissa Paris. Stonelands was the miserable and derelict old mansion we called home, which was a 20 minute drive from where our parents worked.

My most memorable Christmas moment came when I was 6 years old. My mother came to see me in tears. She explained she was being sent on mission to Europe for several months, and would not be able to spend Christmas with me. I was stunned into silence. I was assigned to a family whose task it became to monitor me. There was one adult responsible for the 20-40 children in the cadet org in the years I was there. We had no parents. So instead we were raised by checklists and statistics. I was responsible for eight children who were all around my age. I had to make sure they followed their checklists – made their beds, showered, brushed teeth, ate meals, went to school, did the manual labor tasks we were assigned, studied Scientology. We were assigned statistics driven by how much of the checklist we completed.

There was the time when I was 7 when my mother was sent to the RPF, Rehabilitation Project Force, for having sex with her boyfriend at the time. Why was this memorable? Because I was informed that this assignment meant I was not allowed to talk to her, and I was assigned to a “foster” family who would “keep an eye” on me for the duration of her time on the program.

Several months into the program, my mother was severely injured on a construction site and was rushed to the hospital. She had been hit in the head with a brick.

This incident was a happy one for me. I know that might sound truly bizarre. However because she was injured and needed special care on release from the hospital, I was assigned to take care of her, including delivering “Touch assists” to her, and while I was upset that she was hurt, I was overjoyed that I could once more see and speak to her, despite the scary-to- me circumstances.

Several months later, I fell out of my bunk bed in the dormitory where I lived. I landed on several planks of wood that had been left lying there. The impact broke my collar bone and cut open my head and knocked me unconscious. Somehow the night watch security guard must have heard something and he carried me to my mother’s room. The next day, broken arm and all, I went to school anyway. School was the only normal, and thus most enjoyable part of my life. I craved that normality, and I was not willing to miss out on it for any reason at all.

Needless to say, the teacher noticed my injuries and I found myself with the headmistress within an hour of that, being questioned as to what happened. It did not strike me until many years later that she thought I had been abused. As I was trained to do, even then, I kept my mouth shut and said not one bad thing about Scientology or my living circumstances.

My experiences were by no means extreme. Physical and verbal abuse, sexual abuse, molestation and extreme neglect were very common experiences for cadets. I’ve often found it difficult to share my
experiences, because I resent the idea of being considered a science project.

At age 7, an older male staff member tried to lure my friend and I to his office to molest us. I refused to go with him and urged my friend not to go with him. My friend chose to go with he molested her. This was never reported to the police.

At age 9, my mother escaped the Sea Org in the dead of night and left me behind. She fled to my grandmother’s house. She was pregnant by my step father, and had been under interrogation and on heavy manual labor as part of her process of routing out of the Sea Org. She snapped under those circumstances.

My step father left to recover her and bring her back. So for several days, I was alone in that world, no parents. Lost and confused.

Most of my childhood I remember as a battle – trying to get my mother back. I came to realize it was simply a lost cause.

For example, most Saturdays I would spend 2 hours with my mother during her CSP time – the time she was expected to clean her room and do her laundry.

Afterwards, I would try to go in to work with her. I had to get special and written approval to do so, so I would write a CSW – Completed Staff Work. A CSW is a presentation for approval as to why you want to do something other than what you are supposed to be doing. Situation – I want to spend time with my mother. Data – Please let me go to work with her. Solution – Approve that I go to work with my mother.

My CSWs were always disapproved. One time I sneaked into the van and went to work anyway. For that I was assigned to the DPF, Deck Project Force, a child equivalent to the RPF. I was assigned the nastiest tasks they could dream up, and I was assigned lower conditions.

And even though my mother eventually did leave the Sea Org when I was 10, I was never able to integrate into the real world. My family moved to the US when I was 13, after which I never went back to school. They could not afford Scieentology school so instead I did a quasi “home school” program. My mother had 3 children by my step dad and I raised those children until I rejoined the Sea Org at age 16. I had signed a billion year contract at age 7, and I came to think scientology was the only path open to me.

To this day, I can recite for you KSW #1 points 1 to 10, the 3 barriers to study, the precepts of The Way to Happiness. Why? Because I was learning those from age 5. Even if I wanted to, I doubt I could erase those from my mind. I wish I could. For now, they stay with me as a reminder of the dangers of involving children in cults.

While other kids were learning multiplication tables and manners, I was learning Hubbard precepts. It took me 30 years to break free of Scientology.

When I finally did break free, I am truly grateful that I was able to go on to create a successful business. My husband and I are celebrating 25 years of marriage this year. We have three children. We are proud of what we have accomplished in the 12 years since we escaped from Scientology.

It has not been easy, it has taken hard work, willingness to learn and a commitment to build a life from scratch. Despite my experiences, it is my firm belief that our past doesn’t define us. What we do now defines us.

If there is one thing I would love to contribute to accomplishing in my life, it would be to make it illegal to involve children in cults.

— Claire Headley

If the Headleys were local, we also had some people who traveled a long way to get to HowdyCon. Australian journalist Steve Cannane, who actually lives in London, shared with us some great things he learned while researching his 2016 book, Fair Game.

We also heard from Phil and Willie Jones, who had come a long way by car — from their place in Las Vegas. Here’s what Phil sent to us after last night’s event…

On the drive out to Denver for HowdyCon 2017, Willie and I talked about what we might expect when we got there. We missed last year, so this was a new experience for us. Up to now the Bunker has been an oasis of friends who have softened the landing for us as we exited Scientology and we were looking forward to meeting some of them in person.

Except for a few that we’ve met in person, the majority of the new friends we’ve made through the Bunker are only through online communication. So now we got the opportunity to meet many of our new friends in person for the first time. It was a wonderful experience. And the amazing thing is that those friendships we made through the Bunker carried on as smoothly as a river rounding a bend into new and exciting territory. And for all of those who were unable to make it this year I now know that those friendships we share online are every bit as real as those we’ve shared in person with others.

The first night after we arrived there was a fun meet and greet in a nice restaurant. Name tags were most appreciated as it seemed that most people had 2 names. There was their real name and their online identity. Now I have trouble remembering name, so that’s when a name tag sure is welcome. If many people thought I was nodding in agreement during our conversation it very well might have been me glancing down at their name tag every so often.

On the second night Diana (dibythesea) held a little cocktail party for everyone on the large outdoor balcony at the hotel. There was a fire pit in the center which, as the night cooled, was very comforting. We relaxed and got to know each other better and had some fun with the Jimmy3 trivia game.

The kicker was HowdyCon night, last night. We crowded the venue with more people than probably any Org on the planet has on course at any time. There were probably more people there than Denver has Scientologists.

I was enthralled by Steve Cannane’s talk on Scientology’s history in Australia and how it affected Scientology worldwide for years to come. I could have listened to him talk all night long. Facinating stuff.

Marc Headley provided some incredible back story and photos on Louis Theroux’s movie as well as a few Marty bits. His book was one of the first I’d read when coming out of Scientology and it was literally one of the best personal accounts of abuse in the Sea Org. His talk was every bit as engrossing.

Claire also spoke. Wow! This one was tough. She spoke about growing up in Scientology and it really hit home how this might be a reflection of what our own kids went through. I have to admit I may have choked up a bit during her talk.

We also heard from Bernie Headley [Marc’s father]. I got to speak to him earlier. He is one of the most kind and caring people you ever want to meet. If we all had ‘dads’ like this the world would be a better place for sure.

Chris Shelton always brings it home. He spoke well, as usual, and thanked the never-ins and exes for their support.

Aaron Smith-Levin has one of the most touching stories I’ve heard. Losing someone is difficult but losing a twin, well, I can’t even imagine. Yet here he is fighting the fight in exposing the abuses of Scientology. He said he isn’t comfortable public speaking but he comes across so real and genuine and it was great to hear from him as well.

Tony did bring up our billboards. There are many to thank for making them happen. For starters it would absolutely not have happened without Tony’s help. And Artoo! His artwork was Madison Avenue quality. It was the clarity of his message that gave it viral power. And then there was the support of all the Bunkerites and those who donated to allow us to put the billboard up. In the end we were able to put up three billboards. Two in LA and one in Clearwater. These billboards locally got millions of views, but it didn’t stop there. We also got international press. This message of disconnection we put out with the CallMe billboard was seen worldwide.

And Cathy Schenkelberg! Holy Smokes! She is a fireball. She performed part of her show and dazzled us all. We are going to do whatever we need to in order to see the full show as soon as possible.

And finally we also got to spend some time just sightseeing around Denver with a bunch of our good friends from the Bunker. We visited the Denver Arsenal wildlife preserve and also toured the Botanical Gardens. As nice as it was to see these beautiful attractions, a good bit of the enjoyment was spending time with our ‘mates.’

I hope we get to meet more of you at next year’s HowdyCon.

Love to you all,

Phil & Willie

 
What a night. Thank you to all who came out, and to those who checked in here at the website.

 
UPDATE: Derek Bloch on his Denver experience…

Howdycon means love, companionship, genuine human connection. It represents the best of what people can be. Strangers coming together in support of people who have been damaged in an unfair world. People who recognize the support they’ve received from total strangers and sometimes more support than even their own parents would give them.

Howdycon means memorializing the good in people in the name of one of the most caring individuals who was part of the founding of this group. It means being able to share a meal and drinks with great friends in the spirit of someone who genuinely touched so many people’s lives.

Howdycon means hope for those of us who find ourselves suddenly alone and lost. It started as an online gathering place for wayward souls and those who would foster them. It has become tangible and taken on a life of its own.

Howdycon means that if you have been treated unjustly and ignored even by the fundamental services intended to protect our human rights, there will still be good people out there who care enough about you to help you along.

 
Kim O’Brien weighs in…

Tony asked me to write something about what this weekend has meant to me. I am not really sure how to do that. I usually rage about how wrong I think Scientology is …or flip out when children have been left or kicked out of their homes. Scientology has taken so much from so many.

What HowdyCon means to me is just maybe giving a little bit of that something back. This is a community that comes together, to give people something back.

It should also be mandatory — because you don’t ever want to miss it.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 25, 2017 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2016 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2016), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield

We’re exhausted after another full day here at HowdyCon 2017. So we’re going to post some of the photos taken by Observer and Eivol Ekdal and try to recuperate for the big show tonight.

From Observer:

Kim O’Brien (who organized the event) is [...]]]>

We’re exhausted after another full day here at HowdyCon 2017. So we’re going to post some of the photos taken by Observer and Eivol Ekdal and try to recuperate for the big show tonight.

From Observer:

Kim O’Brien (who organized the event) is reading trivia questions submitted by Jimmy3 about Underground Bunker history. Hey, these questions weren’t easy. Even we didn’t know some of the answers!

 
Kim had us stumped on this one, apparently…

 
Photos by Eivol Ekdal…

Australian journalist Steve Cannane arrived from London.

 
And for dessert, a gift from Johnny Tank, delivered by Pete Griffiths…

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 24, 2017 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2016 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2016), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield

Starting tomorrow, L. Ron Hubbard Way in Los Angeles will be transformed into the Caribbean Sea as the always naval-minded Church of Scientology celebrates one of holy dates on its space-age calendar.

Over the next four weeks, Scientologists around the world are being called down to their local orgs [...]]]>

Starting tomorrow, L. Ron Hubbard Way in Los Angeles will be transformed into the Caribbean Sea as the always naval-minded Church of Scientology celebrates one of holy dates on its space-age calendar.

Over the next four weeks, Scientologists around the world are being called down to their local orgs for a series of videos that were shot recently on the church’s private cruise ship, the Freewinds, which spends its time in Caribbean waters (but as we reported earlier, has fewer places to drop anchor).

In June, Scientology leader David Miscavige invites his most wealthy donors and other bigwigs down to the spiritual barge to preview new initiatives. The fat cats get a special sneak peek, see. But now the rest of the membership gets to see what happened on the ship, watching videos of Miscavige speaking for hours at a time. It’s a gas.

So if you’re a Scientologist in the Los Angeles area, you would have received this robo-call in the last few days. One of our tipsters in the church forwarded it to us. Tell us, would this get you down to L. Ron Hubbard Way for the festivities, which will no doubt include appeals for more donations? Let us know.

 
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HowdyCon 2017 is all about the Bunker community

Wow, what a great time we had last night, with old friends coming together to meet new friends in Downtown Denver for HowdyCon 2017.

Kim O’Brien really set us up well at the Curtis Club, where we imbibed while watching My Scientology Movie and got some great behind-the-scenes anecdotes from one of the movie’s stars, Marc Headley.

Marc even put a slide show together about it, and so we’ve decided to add his presentation to tomorrow night’s big event, along with his wife Claire, journalist Steve Cannane, and actress Cathy Schenkelberg.

As for today, we’ll be scattering around town to get the genuine Denver experience, and then meeting again for happy hour drinks tonight.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 23, 2017 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2016 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2016), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield

  Our thanks once again to Observer, who has worked tirelessly to help us get the word out about our second annual gathering, HowdyCon 2017. We’ve really enjoyed her 70s-themed images of some of the illustrious folks who will be joining us in our little meetup.

Last year, we met for the first time [...]]]>

 
Our thanks once again to Observer, who has worked tirelessly to help us get the word out about our second annual gathering, HowdyCon 2017. We’ve really enjoyed her 70s-themed images of some of the illustrious folks who will be joining us in our little meetup.

Last year, we met for the first time in Cleveland, Ohio. And what a time we had. Carnegie Mellon University professor Dave Touretzky flew out in his private plane, Pete Griffiths and Johnny Tank came all the way from Europe, and the little Fly larvae honored Steve “Captain Howdy” Cox with a shark costume.

Some of the early arrivals are flying and driving to Denver today. The reliable Kim O’Brien has arranged everything, and she wanted us to give out her email address (kimob924 AT gmail DOT com) and she’ll let you know where this evening’s festivities are.

What we can tell you is that we’ll be at a venue where we can imbibe while watching My Scientology Movie, and one of the stars of the film, Marc Headley, will be on hand to answer your questions about it. The show starts early, at 5:30 pm.

Please come on by and get your ASC membership card, er, we mean your official HowdyCon 2017 pin, provided to us by the generous Colin Henderson. This thing is a beauty and will soon be a collector’s item, we have no doubt…

 
OK, the quick recap for those who don’t know what in tarnation we’re talking about. Back in 2015, we were on a barnstorming book tour, visiting cities all over the place in support of our book about Paulette Cooper, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely. At some point, one of our commenters asked why we were stopping in so many places, and we quipped that we needed to see them all before choosing one for holding a convention. That joke took on a life of its own, and soon our readers were voting for where they wanted a convention to take place. Cleveland was chosen, and that’s where we got together last year. About 50 regular readers of the Underground Bunker toured the town and talked and laughed, and on Saturday night we had our big catered dinner, and brief addresses from several invited guests.

We named the gathering “HowdyCon” in remembrance of Steve “Captain Howdy” Cox, a beloved commenter who died in 2015. We also dedicated it to Mary “sugarplumfairy” Marinelli, another favorite commenter who had recently passed away.

This year, we’re in Denver, which is a particularly good city for running into prominent ex-Scientology figures. We look forward to seeing them, and posting photos of them for you. For now, here are a few shots from last year. (And thank you to Aegerprimo for archiving them for us.)

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 22, 2017 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2016 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2016), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield

  One of the reasons that L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, invaded the town of Clearwater, Florida in 1975 to make it Scientology’s “spiritual” headquarters, was that he was running out of ports where he was welcome. Hubbard had set sail in 1967 with a ragtag group of young followers who traveled [...]]]>

 
One of the reasons that L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, invaded the town of Clearwater, Florida in 1975 to make it Scientology’s “spiritual” headquarters, was that he was running out of ports where he was welcome. Hubbard had set sail in 1967 with a ragtag group of young followers who traveled with him on three ships, eventually renamed the Apollo, the Athena, and the Diana. For the next eight years, Hubbard ran the worldwide organization from the Apollo, his flagship, except for several months he spent hiding out in a couple of apartments in Queens, New York in 1972-1973.

One of the reasons why the small armada kept on the move through the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and finally the Caribbean was that it got chased away from numerous ports by governments that eventually figured out what was going on and that the ships were not a floating “school,” as the cover story went. Finally, with very few ports left, in 1975 Hubbard made plans to come back to land, and surreptitiously began buying up properties in Clearwater while hiding out in Daytona.

Today, Scientology carries on its sailing tradition with the Freewinds, a private cruise ship which is the only place where wealthy Scientologists can attain the highest step on the “Bridge to Total Freedom,” the auditing level known as “Operating Thetan Eight.” (For a fun look at OT 8’s wacky early history, see our story about a man named George White.) The Freewinds also hosts other expensive week-long seminars for Scientologists, and it is the site of a very special week of festivities known as “Maiden Voyage,” which takes place in June and commemorates the formal launching of the Freewinds as Scientology’s ultimate destination in 1988.

For many years, the Freewinds for the most part plied a set pattern between three Netherlands-aligned Caribbean islands just off the coast of Venezuela: Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, also known as the ABC Islands. Wealthy Scientologists ready for their OT 8 experience would fly to the islands from Miami by way of Cartagena in Colombia.

 
But now, we have reason to believe that the Freewinds is beginning to learn what it was like for the Apollo before it, which found fewer and fewer ports it could visit.

From time to time, we hear from a tipster in the Netherlands who works extremely hard to make members of the government there aware of the Church of Scientology and its controversies. And one thing he focused on in particular was making the Dutch government aware that the Freewinds was using the lax oversight of the ABC Islands to its advantage.

If you’re one of our veteran readers, you know about the horror stories of the Freewinds. Valeska Paris, for example, says she was a virtual prisoner on the ship for some eleven years in a plot to keep her from her mother, who had sued the church. And Ramana Dienes-Browning told us about the degrading experiences she went through, also as a young Sea Org official on the ship.

There’s also the harrowing story of Don Jason, told so well by the Tampa Bay Times, and his story of escape from the ship. Shouldn’t the Dutch government be interested that a ship that holds the passports of its crew and regulates their lives so closely is using its ports?

Our tipster claims that his hard work eventually paid off. He tells us that the Dutch government planned to board and inspect the ship in Bonaire early last year. (Bonaire is formally a part of the Netherlands itself; the other two ABC Islands, Aruba and Curaçao, are nominally independent nations in “the Kingdom of the Netherlands.”)

“The Freewinds sailed away the day before the search was planned,” our tipster says, and he adds that the Dutch government admitted to him that the church had found out about the plan and were able to sail away before the ship was boarded. A year later, this past March Scientology lawyers visited Bonaire government offices, trying to quash any further plans for inspections, our source tells us.

As evidence, he shared with us an email from a Dutch government official discussing the planned inspection and the subsequent visit by the Scientology attorneys.

In the email, the official indicated that the Dutch government is still interested in pursuing a criminal investigation of the Church of Scientology. Our source says the Scientology lawyers apparently became aware of this, and now the ship is avoiding Dutch waters entirely.

Records of the ship’s sailing history appear to confirm this. We looked at data from the Freewinds going back to 2015, when the ship visited Bonaire more than 60 times that year. But then in early 2016, when the search was supposed to happen, the Freewinds suddenly stopped visiting Bonaire. It eventually made two more visits to Bonaire in July 2016, but it hasn’t been back since then.

From about July 2016 to early March 2017, the Freewinds spent almost all its time at the two other ABC Islands — Aruba and Curaçao. (One exception was a month in dry dock in Cartagena for repairs in September 2016.)

Then, at some point the Scientology attorneys learned that the Dutch government still plans to pursue criminal charges if more evidence showed up.

On March 10 the ship left Curaçao, and it hasn’t been back in Dutch waters since.

“Since then, the Freewinds has been docked almost permanently in St. Lucia,” our tipster tells us. “It has made the occasional day trip to a neighboring island, but hasn’t returned to the Dutch Antilles in months, which is not its usual pattern.”

St. Lucia is a sovereign nation. Do we have any tipsters who can begin informing its government about Scientology’s controversies?

 
UPDATE: Although there are no dates on the email from the Dutch government official, our source says that based on the shipping data, he believes the initial surprise search may have been planned for a few months earlier, back to about September 2015, and not January 2016. Also, we don’t have a date for the visit by the Scientology attorneys in Bonaire. But we do know with certainty that on March 10, 2017, the Freewinds left Curaçao, and hasn’t been back in Dutch waters since then.

 
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Rathbun hits the troika

Yesterday, Marty Rathbun named us as one of the “troika” he’s been hinting about. Rather than make an acceptance speech, we decided to reprint what another member of this exclusive club, Mike Rinder, had to say about it at his website yesterday:

I have declined to comment about Marty Rathbun until now for two reasons:

1. I had no additional information about him than anyone else did, though people assumed otherwise. Therefore, I could only speculate about his actions and why he would do and say the things he did. I try to avoid speculating, I would rather deal in verifiable facts.

2. I considered him a friend and someone who had helped me when I was first leaving Scientology. He was in a unique position as few had similar experiences in the Sea Org and with Miscavige as me, so it was easy for him to understand. I will always be grateful to him for that – he and Jason Beghe dropped everything and flew overnight to Denver when Monique Yingling and Bill Walsh came to try to “handle” me – those sort of acts of friendship I do not forget.

The thing I find most reprehensible is to turn on those who had been friends – from Monique’s lawyers to virtually everyone he had connected with since leaving Scientology. I find this sad and ugly, and I am not inclined to do the same with respect to him.

I said above that I had no additional information – but now that he has made claims about me and Leah and Tony personally he has put me in a position where I DO because I know the details of which he speaks. I will respond simply: Marty is rewriting history (much of which he wrote himself in his earlier versions of events), recounting things that never happened and assigning motives to people that appear to be the fruits of his imagination. And he is laughably trying to create upset between me, Leah and Tony Ortega as if any of us would believe him. Beyond that I am not going to dignify his craziness with specific responses. And I still don’t have any information that sheds light on why he is doing what he is doing.

That being said, I sincerely believe Marty should seek professional help. He has lost touch with reality. He appears delusional and is convinced the spiders he sees all over the walls are real — and that it is his duty to earnestly explain his imaginary spiders to the world. I am saddened to watch it happening, wishing there was something I could do to help him, like he once helped me.

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

Says our tipster, who received this mailing at home: “Looks like they’re doing some direct mailing now! Unfortunately, as you can see, their stamp has seen better days and some poor sap has to hand write the rest of their address.”

 
Having a hard time staffing up that snazzy new joint in San Diego? Shocking.

 
Hey, Dave, it’s the solstice, the first day of summer. Wasn’t Scientology TV supposed to start by today? What gives?

 
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HowdyCon 2017

 
HowdyCon 2017: Denver, June 23-25 at the Residence Inn Denver City Center. Go here for details.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 21, 2017 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2016 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2016), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield

We tried to stay away from Mark “Marty” Rathbun’s sad videos, we really did. We got two whole days away from commenting on his bizarre turnaround, which has him trying to rewrite the historical record in order to smear people he once said glowing things about. But once again, he’s really stepped over [...]]]>

We tried to stay away from Mark “Marty” Rathbun’s sad videos, we really did. We got two whole days away from commenting on his bizarre turnaround, which has him trying to rewrite the historical record in order to smear people he once said glowing things about. But once again, he’s really stepped over a line and we felt compelled to say something.

Rathbun was once the second-highest ranking official in Scientology before he left in 2004, and then resurfaced in 2009 with an important website that, for several years, became a rallying point for former church members who were critical of Scientology leader David Miscavige. Rathbun also became personally involved in numerous cases of litigation, and gave innumerable press interviews. We have previously mapped the curious arc that Rathbun’s website traveled between 2009 and the present, including its strange turn last year as Rathbun began attacking other former church members like Ron Miscavige Sr.

And now, he’s been putting out this new set of videos, rolling them out in short segments of a few minutes, and focused mainly on Lawrence Wright’s 2013 history, Going Clear. In the newest segment, Rathbun is challenging the reported accounts of why the 2009-2010 FBI investigation of Scientology ended, criticizing Lawrence Wright’s view of it. (Rathbun lumps us in with Wright, but actually, we’ve been quite open that we disagree with Wright and the Tampa Bay Times about why the FBI probe ended, and our story about it actually relied on Marty Rathbun’s account, confirmed by Mike Rinder and Marc Headley.)

Anyway, Rathbun has now changed his tune and says the FBI probe ended for quite another reason, and that’s because of the testimony of John Brousseau, who defected from Scientology’s secretive International Base near Hemet, California in 2010. Rathbun says that Brousseau contradicted other witnesses who had come out of the church earlier (Tom DeVocht, Mike Rinder, the Headleys, and Rathbun himself), and it proved to the FBI that it had no case…

John Brousseau told the FBI, “I have seen no violence on behalf of David Miscavige or anybody else at the upper levels of Scientology. I have seen no evidence of anything resembling this thing they called the Hole, for several, for the several years that I’d been there since most of these people left.” None of this stuff, that was the advertised crux of the FBI investigation, existed. The only percipient witness, the only person who was in a position to know, and a position to see, who was speaking on behalf of the complainants, said, “there’s no there there.”

Once again, Rathbun is promoting things that completely contradict what he said earlier and what others did as well.

In fact, here’s what John Brousseau told us about The Hole and talking to the FBI for our story at the Village Voice in 2012…

“It was a group seance, a total mindfuck. They were being told to confess their crimes,” Brousseau says.

“They were up there for about three days. Miscavige was trying to figure out what to do with them. Then, all of a sudden I got called by one of his personal secretaries, Ailon Barram, who told me to meet him at the CMO Int trailers,” he says.

Brousseau was told that Miscavige wanted the trailers made secure. “He wants steel bars put on the three doors. He wants it so no one can blow from this place,” he says.

“So I went down to the big garage. I knew where everything was. I rummaged around and found some real heavy chrome-plated steel tubing. Kind of oval. I went and measured every door, cut the pipe, made holes in the end with a drill press, and then put them on with these big ass nasty screws. I put bars on each of the three doors. In the windows, I put in a block with weird screws that no one would have a bit for in their pocket,” he says.

“The next morning, these people all got marched down to the new ‘Hole’ that I’d built. I’d turned it into a prison.”

When Brousseau left the base six years later, in 2010, there were still 80 to 100 executives being held in the place that came to be known as “The Hole.”

“It was Miscavige at his absolute worst. There were a lot of people in there. I was never in it. I just put the bars on the doors. But the people outside, they talked about it like it was a comedy. You had to be in agreement, too. You didn’t know who was going to turn you in. It was just this fear factor.”

As the Tampa Bay Times reported in its landmark 2009 investigation, “The Truth Rundown,” one of the worst mind games in The Hole occurred in 2004, when Miscavige had his disgraced executives play a game of “musical chairs” to the sound of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” promising that he planned to ship the losers that night to Scientology’s most godforsaken, far-flung locations around the planet.

“Miscavige wanted a bunch of U-Haul trucks parked by the door. He told me, rent three 24-foot U-Haul trucks, park them right by the front door. So when the people in The Hole came out for showers in the morning, they’d see them. It was just to make the ‘musical chairs’ thing more dramatic. Those trucks were there for three weeks,” he says.

“I remember telling the FBI this. I told them, there have to be records to prove what I was saying was true. You could find a receipt at the U-Haul in Hemet for three trucks that only had 18 miles each on them, the distance up to the base and back.”

So let’s review. Not only did John Brousseau personally put the bars on the windows and doors at the beginning of The Hole in 2004, but he told the FBI about the sadistic mind games, and even gave the FBI information that he believed they could use to independently confirm the Hole’s brutality.

Gosh, that’s about as completely opposite from what Marty Rathbun is now saying as you can get.

Last night, we heard from John Brousseau himself. He gave us this statement:

I am not sure why Marty says what he does about me. He puts words in my mouth about what I discussed with the FBI that are not true.

I had many discussions with the FBI. Marty was party to less than half of them.

I have already elaborated in the past on everything I saw, experienced and did while in the church. I don’t need to, nor do I have any desire to refute anything or regurgitate things that are easy to locate if anyone wants to. People are not stupid and can decide for themselves the likely truth.

I bear no ill will towards Marty. I have always considered him a good friend and he helped me in the darkest times when I first left the church. It is a free country. People have a right to their opinions and can say pretty much anything they like. They are free to be who they are and live how they want and choose their beliefs, their friends and acquaintances or not.

I have come a long way since 2010. I am happy. What my personal feelings are about Scientology or the various people on either side of things is really irrelevant. I won’t speak ill as to anyone’s character or actions or beliefs. And I am free to have mine as well. The only exception is when they cross that line and harm the livelihood of others. That is wrong and I will forever speak against such things. And if they stop then I will stop.

 
We know some of you are sick of Marty Rathbun and his train wreck videos. But once again he’s trying to rewrite history, and we wanted to point that out with a couple of memes.

 
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2012 was quite clear: Marc and Claire Headley had been treated appallingly in Scientology’s Sea Org and had plenty of evidence to prove it — but they sued under the wrong law. Somehow, Marty tries to spin that, saying that the Headleys, “factually,” had no case at all…

 
Our recent Rathbun coverage:

June 17: Paul Haggis: Marty Rathbun is using private info I gave him against Lawrence Wright
June 16: Marty Rathbun’s project becomes clear: Someone’s worried about Scientology & the IRS
June 15: Marty Rathbun, Victoria Britton has a question for you about Scientology and judges
June 14: Marty Rathbun tries to rewrite the record on Scientology spying. But we have the dox.
June 9: Thanks for the slick videos, Marty Rathbun. Here’s a not very slick one for you.

 
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Aaron Smith-Levin on surveillance in Clearwater

 
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HowdyCon 2017

 
HowdyCon 2017: Denver, June 23-25 at the Residence Inn Denver City Center. Go here for details.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 20, 2017 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2016 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2016), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield