It’s true that church leader David Miscavige has made a lot of changes to Scientology over the 30-plus years that he’s been in charge. But some things never change. We were struck by that thought when one of our helpers sent over the latest copy of Source magazine, which is intended to get [...]]]>

 
It’s true that church leader David Miscavige has made a lot of changes to Scientology over the 30-plus years that he’s been in charge. But some things never change. We were struck by that thought when one of our helpers sent over the latest copy of Source magazine, which is intended to get Scientologists excited about spending a boatload of money to come to Clearwater, Florida for expensive courses there.

We want to highlight a few things in the magazine — Meghan Fialkoff gets her star turn! — but in particular, we were fascinated by something we usually gloss over that is in every magazine Scientology puts out of whatever type: The obligatory L. Ron Hubbard excerpt.

In the back of every church publication, you’re going to find a slice of Hubbard wisdom taken from some lecture he gave 50 or 60 years ago, and this issue of Source is no different. But this one really struck us, for some reason. Scientology has been under siege like never before, what with Leah Remini having so much success at the A&E network, for example. But you have to credit Scientology with sticking to its guns on this one — even as Scientology is hurting, they’re still promoting Hubbard’s ludicrous notions about space and planets and the universe, and that you, as a thetan, are entirely responsible for the physical universe around you and that Scientology’s “technology” will ultimately allow you to create whole universes on your own.

In 2018, is this still the best way to sell Scientology? We’d like to hear your thoughts on that.

 
From the cover — they are still selling running around a pole as a “powerful rundown.”

New York City school infiltrator Meghan Fialkoff gets the spotlight for her rocking good times solo auditing the OT levels…

 
South African magician Larry Soffer ran around a pole!

“When finishing the Cause Resurgence Rundown [literally just running around a pole for hours], I went back to my room and told my wife how amazing I felt. Then, the radio just switched on. My wife asked me how that happened. I told her it was my energy — and I knew it was exactly that — and we danced to the song that was playing. That was just one of the many amazing experiences on the rundown.”

 
And there’s plenty more fun stuff in the magazine itself, which you can see below. But let’s get to the wisdom of L. Ron Hubbard. The lecture that was excerpted for this issue of Source was a talk Hubbard gave on December 8, 1952 titled “ARC, Force, Be/Do/Have.”

We really can’t get enough of these lectures where Hubbard lets his crackpot flag fly. Sure, we believe those people who tell us they got into Scientology for all the right reasons — they wanted to improve themselves and help mankind. But they also followed an anti-science huckster who claimed that the law of gravity and everything else about the physical universe only existed by the agreement of the thetans who had dreamed it up — which includes you, if you could only regain your godlike powers, and then you can mock up new universes and escape this one and its theta traps.

Maybe the number one question we get on social media about Scientology is one that irritates former church members no end: “How did anyone fall for this stuff?” Well, as annoying as that question may be, when we look at lectures like this by Hubbard, we can’t help wondering that ourselves.

When we talk about this universe we’re talking about energy. The only way an individual can be held in to this universe is by a conviction that he cannot handle energy. Because this is a universe full of energy, and is composed only of energy, which operates in a thing called MEST universe space. If you cannot handle energy in its fullest extent don’t think you can be free of this universe or any other one.

Force begets force, and he who lives by the sword will die by one. But you have to be able to have enough force to use an unlimited quantity of force, before you can pass over into a higher band of ethics. One cannot retreat from and cower back from force, under any pretext whatsoever, and still have a beingness above the level of this universe.

When you stop and think right now, perhaps, of being hit in the face, in the MEST body, with a hundred thousand KW lightning bolt, it possibly is not a comfortable thought. But I assure you that that is a small amount of juice, compared to what you as a thetan can take. You ought to be able to pick your teeth with a million KW lightning bolt, theta wise.

If you have ever seen the mercy of the very strong, compared to the sympathy and fear of the very weak, you will see the mockery of bottom scale trying to echo the top of the scale. A person has to be very, very strong before he can be ethical and completely merciful of his own free will. At the bottom of the scale a person has been forced to be, and everything affects him. He is an effect of this and an effect of that and so on.

He’s still carrying along with him some of his capability; there’s still theta there at the bottom of the scale, but not much. He has crossed over, you might say, crossed over the span of force on the band, successfully. But bluntly, nobody ever crawled out of this universe through the bottom of the hole. That’s a grave. The only way out is through.

You have to be able to conquer the full use and control of any factor of the first dynamic, and having conquered that, the full use, control, of the factor of the second dynamic, and the third and so forth. You have to be willing and capable, and in full control of those dynamics, before you are free of them. Because always lingering in the back of your mind, no matter how esoteric you may think your ambitions may be, always lingering in the back of the mind is something you can’t do. That is always a disability.

The capability of a thetan is not simply force. You take every saint on the calendar as represented as having a big, bright aura. What do you think that aura represents? Something very interesting — raw energy.

Whether or not these boys could wield energy or not, I don’t know. But they certainly represented them that way, and have continued to do so ever since. That tells you something interesting about force. If you want to be able to heal somebody at a distance, you have to have the capability of charring them into charcoal at a distance. Don’t mistake that one, because the ability to produce force is the ability to make a strong postulate. And the ability to make a strong postulate alone is capable of controlling the health and beingness of others.

So all force is, is the shabbiest shadow of what can be done. But unless you can make a postulate strong enough to handle force, it is highly unlikely that you can make a postulate strong enough to pervade all through the beingnesses which you would like to help. Tells you a lot about force.

This is a force universe. And don’t EVER make a mistake about that. And if it was the only universe there was, God help all of us! It’s built on trickery, and it’s built on force.

Every single item that you see in a store is condensed energy, existing in space. Every single brick that you see out on the street is a condensation of energy. Any action you see on the part of a MEST object is some manifestation of force at work in this universe. And don’t think for a moment that a low scale action in this universe will be greeted by anything but force.

You can protest, reason, agree, grovel, beg, it does not matter. Force is there, heavily and solidly, to greet the BEST of intentions to help. This universe does not care anything for brightness, for aesthetics. You could go out and make the prettiest planet that ever existed in this whole universe, solely by your hard work, and application and genius. And the force that is this universe could simply roll it up and blow it away. Without the least tremor.

The strong man who uses force, fort main, as his sole criteria of existence is nothing but a brute. Nevertheless, the strong man who is able to make something in this universe must be able to protect it. Because this universe doesn’t care.

That’s what breaks the heart of Man — it doesn’t care. No matter what he does for anybody, no matter how much he tries to help, in this universe with MEST force on the loose, and relatively uncontrolled, it makes no difference whatsoever. It is that remorselessness, that crushing capability without discernment as to a finer quality, that breaks him at last.

He thinks in this universe there ought to be such things as love, and goodness, and he thinks these things ought to repay. And you find somebody working himself to the bone, trying to be a good guy, trying to be a straight guy. What will you find around him? Pitfalls waiting for his tiniest error. He will go crashing down.

And who will push him? The people he helped the most. It’s a great universe. It is so debased and degraded, really, that the better capabilities of theta, the better capabilities of beingness, almost can’t exist in this universe. They are here in the flimsiest possible form.

Let’s take an aesthetic. What does this universe care for an aesthetic? You’re look at the beautiful sunset. Are you expecting a sensation of aesthetic from this universe? Do you have any idea what composes that beautiful sunset? It is dust hanging in the air from some old volcanic explosion, where the earth convulsed and vomited and shot rock and ash into the air. It’s a sun of such a violent temperature that it is shooting sheets of fire out two hundred and forty thousand miles. If you even vaguely approached it and got a tiniest burn you would thereafter rot. Beauty in this universe.

You go out and look at the butterfly, and you watch him flying around through the grass, and you say: “Isn’t that pretty?” Did you ever follow the fate of a butterfly?

It’s an interesting game. But it really doesn’t have any room in it for the beingness called Man.

You have an unlimited universe, of force and debased force and the solidified results of force. Man and thetans in their small way try to add into it the ingredient of love, beauty, appreciation, fair play. Nothing happens, really — just more force.

So don’t go moaning and moping around and saying, “There is no goal for this universe,” and don’t go saying “Nobody appreciates what I’m doing.” The truth is, this universe is too strong and too forceful and too powerful from the standpoint of MEST force, to permit it to happen.

The only thing which you see out here in this universe that is worth seeing, is what you and people like you have put into it to perceive back. If you have ever counted the number of beautiful cities which have gone by the boards here on this Earth, the hopes with which they were built, the ardures and depths of their fall, and the plight and agony of their final days, you would no longer sit around and worry about “Let’s make this a good universe.”

That’s how you got trapped into it in the first place — trying to make this a good universe. You’ve got lots of universes, and you can make one of your own.

 
Hey, and here’s a bonus. Listen to Hubbard himself deliver this segment of his 1952 lecture. Are you tempted to believe what he’s saying, that he’ll be helping you learn how to transcend the physical universe itself and defy its physical laws? (Please note: Small discrepancies between the article in ‘Source’ and what Hubbard actually says is the responsibility of the magazine. Our own transcript of the lecture is exact.)

 
And here’s the magazine. Let us know what jumps out at you…

Source 249, Part 1 by Tony Ortega on Scribd

Source 249 Part 2 by Tony Ortega on Scribd

 
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Chris Shelton talks to Sunny Pereira!

Says Chris: “As a follow up to the video I did about the ARC triangle recently, here is a new video where Sunny Pereira and I discuss the nature of reality in Scientology and how we both understood what Hubbard was talking about when he said ‘reality is agreement.’ Our conversation ended up going into details about some major contradictions in Scientology’s belief system, further showing that Hubbard’s ideas were ill conceived and poorly thought out and, in the end, crazy making for anyone trying to live by them.”

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 4, 2018 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 can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2017 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2017), 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 | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

  Oh my, what a gem one of our tipsters dug up for us today. It’s video from a December 2004 appearance by Danny Masterson, who was then playing “Hyde” on That ’70s Show, on Conan O’Brien’s late night talk show, and they got into some randy talk.

O’Brien had asked Danny about the [...]]]>

 
Oh my, what a gem one of our tipsters dug up for us today. It’s video from a December 2004 appearance by Danny Masterson, who was then playing “Hyde” on That ’70s Show, on Conan O’Brien’s late night talk show, and they got into some randy talk.

O’Brien had asked Danny about the fact that he had no accent despite growing up on Long Island. Danny explained that after living for 10 years in Los Angeles, his accent was restricted to a few words. To illustrate it, he said that fellow actor (and fellow Scientologist) Bodhi Elfman made fun of Danny by quoting him saying, “Hi, my name is Danny Masterson, would you like to touch my balls” — with a Long Island take on the last word.

O’Brien laughs and asks why Masterson would be asking that question anyway, and Danny matter-of-factly explains that “Ya got ’em,” and “everybody should grab ’em.”

O’Brien chuckles and then says, conspiratorially, “I’ve heard about you. And you’ll be caught, soon.”

“Yes I will,” Masterson replies, and it’s all a funny joke.

But it’s interesting to note that this exchange took place just a few months after Masterson, the Church of Scientology, and Masterson’s attorney pressured the woman we’re calling “Victim B” to sign a non-disclosure agreement, promising never to speak publicly about her allegations that Masterson had raped her in April 2003. In June 2004, she defied the church and reported her allegations to the LAPD, but then the church overwhelmed the police department with affidavits from Scientologists claiming that Victim B was lying. The LAPD then dropped the case, and the church and Danny’s attorney pressured the woman to sign the agreement, for which she was paid in the low six figures.

A few months after that, Masterson made this appearance on Conan’s show.

Today, Victim B is one of four women who have come forward and are cooperating with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office in an investigation of allegations that Masterson violently raped them. (Three of the women were also Scientologists at the time of the alleged attacks.)

In that light, this exchange maybe isn’t so funny-ha-ha.

 
Here’s the full segment of Masterson’s appearance on the show…

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 3, 2018 at 11:15

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 can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2017 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2017), 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 | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

It’s always fun, this time of year, to see the reactions when people unfamiliar with the idea of David Miscavige’s PR aspirations suddenly realize they’ve seen a Scientology ad on their television, and they take to Twitter to have the mother of all freakouts.

It [...]]]>

It’s always fun, this time of year, to see the reactions when people unfamiliar with the idea of David Miscavige’s PR aspirations suddenly realize they’ve seen a Scientology ad on their television, and they take to Twitter to have the mother of all freakouts.

It never fails. Each year, we see viewers go completely nuts over the idea that Scientology has paid to run a short pitch on their TV screens.

You’d think they’d be used to it by now. Five years ago, for 2013’s Super Bowl, Scientology advertised during the game for the first time. Why then? Well, we agreed with Mike Rinder that it was probably a direct result of Debbie Cook asking, in court testimony in 2012, about the money that Scientologists were supposedly paying for publicity campaigns.

Cook was a top former church official and the questions she raised in a famous New Year’s 2012 email led directly to a large exodus of people leaving the church — and no doubt made Miscavige sit up and take notice. She seemed to have a good point: Scientologists are under intense pressure to fork over huge amounts of money that they are told will be used to “disseminate” Scientology to the larger public. But what did they have to show for it? Where were the TV ads or other means of getting the word out? Only a few months after Cook made that complaint, Scientology aired its first ever Super Bowl ad.

And fortunately for us, the result has been five years of hilariously earnest TV ads that result in endless mocking on social media each year.

We’re just starting to hear from some readers that this year’s advertising season has begun — a 1-minute spot about Scientology “Volunteer Ministers” aired during some college bowl games over the weekend, and we suspect you’ll run into it at some point in the next couple of weeks.

It’s a new ad that Scientology posted to its YouTube channel on December 20, and it’s a characteristically slick piece of propaganda…

 
You get no sense of what Scientology is, of course, and no hint that once you dedicate yourself to it utterly, you’ll eventually be paying up to $1,000 an hour to have invisible alien life forms removed from yourself with an electronic Ouija board, and that you may be forced to rip your family apart to squelch dissent.

But we digress. We expect you’ll start seeing this VM ad pop up in the coming days, but the Super Bowl ad itself tends to be kept under wraps until just before the game itself.

And again, for the umpteenth time, we’ll try to help out other journalists who, every year, make the mistake of thinking that Scientology buys a national ad during the game and pays the going rate — which this year has soared to $5 million for a 30-second spot during the February 4 game.

Scientology has never bought a national spot. What Miscavige does is target particular markets, buying local spots during the game. During a three-hour Super Bowl broadcast, a few spots are reserved for local stations to sell on their own — one of those spots occurs right after the end of halftime as the third quarter is about to begin, and that’s when Scientology’s ad has tended to show up. One expert estimated for us that Scientology pays about $1 million to buy those local ads in several markets around the country, a lot less than what they would pay for a national spot.

Anyway, we always enjoy watching the reaction at Twitter as various groups around the nation erupt in surprise when the ad shows up in their markets. They tend to be very similar commercials, with a slick vibe that many people have compared with Apple television advertising. Here are the ads that ran in past Super Bowls. Each of these are the 1-minute versions which get cut down to 30 seconds for airing during the game itself…

 
2013’s ad, “Knowledge”…

 
2014’s ad, “Scientology Spiritual Technology”…

 
2015’s ad, “Age of Answers”…

 
2016’s ad, “Who Am I”…

 
2017’s ad, “Your Full Potential”…

 
You begin to sense a pattern here, don’t you? This is the “mystery sandwich” that L. Ron Hubbard was talking about when he gave instructions for how to sell Scientology to the unsuspecting public. Make it seem mysterious and potent, but don’t reveal any details at all verbally — beginners are told they must purchase Hubbard’s books and then begin to learn his secrets as they move up the “Bridge to Total Freedom.” It can take many years, and anywhere between $500,000 and $2 million to get to the top of that “Bridge” before reaching Scientology’s ultimate secret, the materials of “OT 8,” which we put online last year for the first time, and which you can see for no money at all.

But anyway, keep your eyes out for Scientology advertising in the coming weeks, and as soon as we know something about this year’s Super Bowl ad, we’ll tell you about it.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 3, 2018 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 can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2017 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2017), 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 | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

  We’re so glad to kick off 2018 with a new piece from historian Chris Owen. We think you’re really going to enjoy his look at L. Ron Hubbard’s family dynamics.

Scientology’s practice of disconnection is one of its most controversial and frequently criticized policies. It goes against basic human nature to force people [...]]]>

 
We’re so glad to kick off 2018 with a new piece from historian Chris Owen. We think you’re really going to enjoy his look at L. Ron Hubbard’s family dynamics.

Scientology’s practice of disconnection is one of its most controversial and frequently criticized policies. It goes against basic human nature to force people to break the closest ties in their lives – separating husbands from wives, parents from children, brothers from sisters, friends from each other. Unsurprisingly, it does not endear Scientology to people.

Disconnection originated with L. Ron Hubbard, as with most other things in Scientology. Its basic principle is simple: if someone is critical towards Scientology or Scientologists, then contact with them should be severed. Ostensibly this is intended to reduce the “enturbulation” (Hubbard’s term) that they cause, which could supposedly hinder or set back the spiritual growth of a Scientologist connected to them. In practice, it serves as a mechanism for social control. It draws Scientology’s members closer to the church and pulls them further inside a bubble where only its views can be heard.

Thousands of people are likely to have been affected by disconnection since Hubbard introduced the policy in 1965. This was at a time when Scientology was facing serious challenges from the media and governments. Rather than trying to be conciliatory towards his critics, Hubbard decided to deal with them by attacking them and ordering his followers to break off contact with concerned family members. It was a striking demonstration of Hubbard’s authoritarian tendencies, but it may also have reflected his experiences with his own family.

Hubbard’s relationship with his wives and children was famously troubled. Leah Remini’s show has illustrated how Scientology has literally airbrushed them out of his life. But what of his father, Harry Ross Hubbard, and his mother Ledora May? They are conspicuously absent from Hubbard’s accounts of his life and are rarely mentioned by him. Scientology’s profiles of Hubbard do mention his parents, but they disappear from the scene after his childhood.

In 1986, Bare-Faced Messiah author Russell Miller interviewed Margaret Roberts, who Hubbard knew as his Aunt Marnie. She was by then very elderly but still a vivid and revealing source of information on the lives of the Hubbard family. He was also able to use a number of family letters written in the 1920s. Another source of insight comes from a notebook called “Preview of a Messiah”, written by the journalist James S. Free, who participated as a student in Hubbard’s ill-fated 1932 sailing expedition to the Caribbean.

Hubbard’s father Harry Ross was a naval lieutenant whose work took him, and the family, to various stations in the US and for a time to the Pacific island of Guam. His mother Ledora May was a schoolteacher. Born and brought up in late 19th century Iowa and Nebraska, they appear to have both been entirely conventional, conservative midwesterners. They doted on their son; Free met Hubbard’s parents in Washington, D.C. in 1932 and recorded that May and her husband “plainly adored young Ron and considered him a budding genius”.

Their expectations were clearly visible in a letter that May wrote to Hubbard in September 1929: “[Your father] did it for you so when you feel like slacking, I want you to remember dad gave up his hard earned leave to put you where you are. There is only one way you can pay dad and that is by making good. Your success is our biggest goal in life.” Hubbard’s genius turned out not to be academically inclined and his decision to drop out of George Washington University in 1932 was clearly a great disappointment to his parents.

Relations with his family nonetheless remained good, so much so that Hubbard, his wife Polly and their young children Nibs and Catherine (known then as Katie) moved from Maryland to live near his parents in Washington state in 1936. His father was working at the navy yard in Bremerton near Seattle and his mother and two aunts also lived in the area. Although Polly was happy there, her relationship with Hubbard became strained after she discovered that he was carrying on multiple affairs in New York City during his frequent and increasingly long visits there in connection with his work as a pulp fiction author.

He attempted to patch up his relationship by taking his wife on a sailing trip to Alaska but a broken-down engine stranded them there for nearly two months, away from their young children. This likely did not do the relationship any good, though it is unclear what she thought about their unplanned absence. It is perhaps significant that Scientology’s publication of Hubbard’s sailing diary in Ron: Master Mariner has been edited carefully to remove any mention of her.

The same strains were visible in Hubbard’s relationship with his parents. His father Harry was said to be deeply disappointed in his son’s neglect of Polly and the children, and regarded Hubbard’s lifestyle as deplorable. Harry was Hubbard’s opposite temperamentally: cautious, staid, bound by routine and entirely conventional. He was extremely fond of Polly, Nibs and Katie, and felt that he was actually closer to them than their own father. By the start of World War II, Hubbard was spending most of his time in New York City and had little contact with his parents. He visited Polly on a number of occasions, bringing her down to Portland, Oregon to see his new ship USS PC-815 being built at the shipyards in Astoria in early 1943. After he reported sick following his dismissal from command of the PC-815 a few months later, Polly and a family friend travelled down to Los Angeles to visit him while he was recuperating following treatment for an ulcer.

The relationship with Polly broke down completely in 1945. Hubbard wanted her to move to California but Polly refused, as she did not want to uproot the children from their school in Bremerton. She had by this time moved in with Hubbard’s parents, who were happy to help look after the children. Hubbard later wrote in his private papers that she had abandoned him while he was in hospital, again being treated for ulcers; this would put the date at some time between September–November 1945, when he was attending Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. He described it as “a terrible blow when she left me for I was ill and without prospects.” Hubbard was discharged from the Navy in December 1945, leaving him without any income other than a meager disability pension to support his estranged wife and their children.

In mid-1945, while still a naval officer, Hubbard met Sara “Betty” Northrup. She was an attractive, free-spirited young woman who lived as part of a bohemian commune in a rambling mansion in Pasadena. At the time she was the girlfriend of the commune’s leader, the rocket scientist and black magician Jack Parsons. Hubbard seduced her and persuaded her to “transfer her sexual affection”, as Parsons put it. Hubbard eventually eloped with her and wed her bigamously, as he was still married to his first wife. Polly had had no idea that her husband had remarried and petitioned for divorce on April 14, 1947, on the grounds of desertion and non-support. By this point she had not seen Hubbard for about two years and was receiving no money for her or the children’s maintenance.

Three weeks later, Hubbard drove with Sara from Florida to Bremerton and moved into the empty house that Polly had formerly occupied. Hubbard’s arrival with one of his ‘women’ scandalized the family. His Aunt Marnie described it as “an awful slap in the face for his mother. [Harry] and May deeply disapproved. It was very difficult for them as they had Polly and the children living with them. The family clammed up about it and never mentioned it. When Ron took Sara up to The Hilltop I said to my sister, “Well, we loved him as a child, Midgie, but he’s a perfect stranger to us now.””

It was a difficult experience for Sara as well. She did not understand why everyone seemed to be acting so strangely around her until Hubbard’s son Nibs told her that his parents were still married. She fled for the ferry port, but Hubbard caught up with her. He persuaded her that they were legally married and that a divorce was being finalized. Soon after it was awarded on June 23, Hubbard and Sara left for North Hollywood, where he hoped to make a living as a screenwriter.

The episode seems to have had lasting consequences for Hubbard’s family relationships. It appears likely that Hubbard had a row with his parents, for whom his behavior must have seemed inexplicable and outrageous. It evidently resulted in a breakdown of the relationship with his parents as well as his now-ex-wife. In a document known as the “Affirmations”, which Hubbard most likely wrote a few weeks or months later during his stay in North Hollywood, Hubbard wrote, “I am fortunate in losing Polly and my parents, for they never meant well by me.” There is no record of him ever again contacting his mother or father, though his Aunt Marnie wrote occasionally to pass on family news.

Hubbard’s anger with his parents seems to have curdled into a lasting detestation of his mother. In 1950, one of his girlfriends recorded in her diary that he told her “[g]rotesque tales about his family mostly and his hatred of his mother, who he said was a lesbian and a whore.” He claimed to have once found his mother in bed with another woman and said that he was born as the result of an attempted abortion.

In November 1960, May had a stroke at the age of seventy-four and went into a coma which she was not expected to survive. When Hubbard’s Aunt Toilie called him in England to tell him the news, he replied that he was too busy to visit. She ordered him to come home: “I want you to catch the next flight out. That is orders, Ron. You owe that much to your mother and I pray to God you get here before she’s dead.” He did as he was told and saw his mother for one last time on the day before she died.

His Aunt Marnie later recalled, “Ron didn’t stay for the funeral. He organized the burial, ordered the stone, paid all the expenses and made arrangements for a man from the Church of Scientology to come up and accompany the body with [Harry] and Toilie to the funeral in Helena. Then he flew back to England from Bremerton. I thought he should have stayed for the funeral. I don’t know what could have been so pressing that he had to get back to England.” Most likely, he simply did not want to spend any more time on family obligations that he evidently detested.

Hubbard’s father Harry lived for another fifteen years. Although Hubbard does not appear to have made any effort to seek him out, Harry sought a reconciliation with his estranged son in 1975. He made a surprise visit to Hubbard in the Caribbean island of St Vincent, where the Sea Org ship Apollo was docked at the time. The eighty-eight-year-old Harry was by this time very frail and somewhat confused. Hubbard received him courteously enough, going ashore to meet him and bringing him aboard the Apollo.

The Apollo’s crew had been ordered to hide all evidence of Scientology but Harry did not seem curious about it. Harry and Hubbard sat talking for hours and took a tour of the ship together. He was given a supply of beer and was taken out on a couple of fishing trips before returning home to Bremerton, where he told Hubbard’s Aunt Marnie that he had had “a wonderful trip”. Harry died a few months later. There is no record of Hubbard attending his funeral. Instead, his third wife Mary Sue is said to have ordered a team from the church’s Guardian’s Office to strip Harry’s house bare within 24 hours of his death.

Hubbard’s parents were not the only family members from whom he “disconnected” during his lifetime. He had no further contact with his ex-wives. He evidently had a particular hatred for Sara, even arguing that they had never been legally married (which was true, though she was hardly to blame for his bigamy). His hatred of her extended to his daughter Alexis, who he last saw as a baby in 1951 when he divorced Sara. When Alexis tried to get in touch with her father in 1970, Hubbard ordered a Scientologist posing as an FBI agent to go and read a statement to her. He denied that he was her father, said that her mother was a prostitute and a Nazi spy, and claimed that he had only taken pity on her mother because Sara had turned up on his doorstep “barefoot and destitute”. Hubbard seems to have forgotten part-way through the statement which role he was supposed to be playing as its author, as it was signed, “Your good friend, J. Edgar Hoover”.

Alexis was one of three children who Hubbard disowned. The second was Nibs, who had become involved in Scientology but defected in 1959, renamed himself Ronald DeWolf and eventually became a harsh critic of his father. The last one was Quentin, Hubbard’s first son by his third wife. He had been groomed for a leadership position in Scientology for many years but proved a deep disappointment to his father for his lack of commitment to the organization. He fled Scientology in 1976 after suffering a series of punishments and committed suicide in Las Vegas soon afterwards, at the age of 22. Hubbard’s reaction was one of pure fury; when he learned the news in November 1976, his followers heard him yelling, “That stupid fucking kid! That stupid fucking kid! Look what he’s done to me! Stupid fucking …”

There was no funeral and neither Hubbard nor Mary Sue played any part in the disposal of Quentin’s remains. Instead, his body was cremated and the ashes were thrown out of a light aircraft over the Pacific. His name was thereafter erased from the family history in a kind of damnatio memoriae. A decade later, when Hubbard signed his final will shortly before his death, he took the extraordinary and quite gratuitous step of posthumously disowning and disinheriting Quentin.

The terms of the will stated: “Any of the terms “my children”, “children of mine”, or “my child”, as used in this Will … shall not refer to … RONALD DeWOLF [or] QUENTIN HUBBARD … I have intentionally and with full knowledge omitted to provide herein for any of my heirs who may be living at the time of my death, including but not limited to … RONALD DeWOLF, QUENTIN HUBBARD, and all of the issue of such persons.”

There was no need for Hubbard to do this, as Quentin had been dead for a decade and had no children who could have made claims on the estate. Hubbard’s disavowal of his dead son seems to have been a statement of his continued determination to disavow or separate from anyone – even his closest relatives – who he felt had wronged him or Scientology. And if that was good enough for Hubbard, why should it not have been good enough for anyone else?

 
— Chris Owen

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 2, 2018 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 can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2017 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2017), 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 | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

It’s awfully cold here in New York for the new year, but we want you to start thinking about the summer solstice and consider joining us for our annual meet-up!

In 2016, we held our first “HowdyCon” meeting, and this June we’ll be going for convention number three in one of our favorite cities [...]]]>

It’s awfully cold here in New York for the new year, but we want you to start thinking about the summer solstice and consider joining us for our annual meet-up!

In 2016, we held our first “HowdyCon” meeting, and this June we’ll be going for convention number three in one of our favorite cities on the planet — Chicago!

But let’s back up, for those not sure what we’re talking about. At some point during our book tour for The Unbreakable Miss Lovely in the summer of 2015, one of our readers said she was surprised how many cities we were visiting. We joked that it was the only way we’d figure out where to have our first convention. Readers then ran with the idea, and decided to hold a vote about where such an the event should be held. Cleveland won out, and that was the last time we let readers make that decision. Ha!

In the meantime, the question of naming the thing came up, and we then suggested that it might honor Captain Howdy, a/k/a Steven L. Cox, a singular commenter who used the cover of L. Ron Hubbard’s book The Creation of Human Ability as his avatar, and whose passing we noted in 2015. We suggested that the meeting be called HowdyCon, and now it had a name. (We also dedicated our meet-up to another beloved commenter we lost in 2016, Sugarplumfairy, a/k/a Mary Marinelli.)

Our expert illustrator, Observer, came up with a fun poster for the first HowdyCon as well as last year’s HowdyCon 2017 in Denver. And now we’re starting out 2018 with Observer’s new poster for this year’s gathering in Chicago.

We’re especially happy that it features Chicago Fire star and Underground Bunker loyalist Christian Stolte, who has agreed to emcee our main event on Saturday night, June 23.

“Chicago – Always rewarding to visit in June, never more so than this year,” Christian says. “I’ll be taking a break from fighting fake fires and performing acts of fake heroism, just in time for HowdyCon 2018! Let’s swap some stories, take some pictures, toss back some cocktails, and celebrate the Golden Age of Scientology Criticism! I look forward to meeting you! If I don’t see you at HowdyCon 2018, I will regard your absence as a Suppressive Act!”

 
We couldn’t put on HowdyCon without a lot of help — TexasBroad leaped into the breach for our first convention, and last year Kim O’Brien did an amazing job for us in Denver. This year, the Bunker’s Chee Chalker is our helper in Chicago, and you’ll be hearing a lot more from her in coming weeks.

What we can tell you at this point is that we have a hotel lined up and a great venue for the main event, and we’ll tell you more about that when we can. To get some idea of what a great time we had this past year in Colorado, please check out some of our dispatches from 2017’s party.

Please start thinking about coming to Chicago in June. By then, the Church of Scientology is going to be in all kinds of trouble, and we want to talk about it with you over drinks!

 
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Scientology’s claim about recognition in Mexico now on the record

We had a correspondent at the taping of Scientology’s New Year event, which actually took place on December 16 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Last night, video of that lengthy address by church leader David Miscavige was shown at Scientology facilities around the world and became an official event.

And so now Scientology’s own website is proclaiming what our correspondent leaked a couple of weeks ago, that Miscavige is claiming the nation of Mexico has recognized Scientology as a religion.

Says the church’s official press page this morning…

“This unrelenting wave of expansion generated continuing recognition of the religion in nations around the globe. Indeed, crowning a 2017 of immense achievement, Mr. Miscavige announced to the roaring crowd, an epic accomplishment and one coming in the wake of religious recognitions in the Republics of Macedonia and Colombia. Because, on October 30, 2017, the nation of Mexico awarded the Church of Scientology full religious recognition—a landmark triumph for Scientology and religious freedom.”

And Scientology’s social media accounts are posting this image from the show…

 
We still have no confirmation from the Mexican government on this. Perhaps one of our ink-stained counterparts in Mexico City could make an inquiry.

A few New Year’s shots from the church website…

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 1, 2018 at 00:00

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 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

  Just a few hours remain in this wild year of 2017, and we have a lot to get through today before we welcome in 2018 tonight with the help of Observer and our HowdyCon poster for 2018.

Let’s quickly get through the highlights of November and December to wrap up our annual Scientology [...]]]>

 
Just a few hours remain in this wild year of 2017, and we have a lot to get through today before we welcome in 2018 tonight with the help of Observer and our HowdyCon poster for 2018.

Let’s quickly get through the highlights of November and December to wrap up our annual Scientology year-in-review. We have to say, the Bunker really finished off the year strong in these last two months, so there’s a lot to remember.

We started off November by reporting that major Scientology donors Matt and Kathy Feshbach got their asses handed to them by a bankruptcy judge who did not appreciate these two richies pleading poverty while they were spending money like Croesus on the finer things in life. In fact, their behavior was downright Scientological.

Later that day, we wondered why Netflix was so quick to fire actor Kevin Spacey over 30-year-old allegations of sexual misbehavior, but nothing was being done about Danny Masterson, even months after Netflix knew that The Ranch actor was being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department for multiple violent rapes. Why the double standard, we wondered. The next morning, we had another Masterson-related scoop. We made public a threatening letter that Danny’s attorney Marty Singer sent the husband of one of Masterson’s accusers after she posted some tweets about the actor. And then, on November 3, another bombshell: We broke the news that Leah Remini had filmed an episode of Scientology and the Aftermath that featured three of Masterson’s accusers, but the District Attorney’s office had asked her not to air it while the investigation was going on, and she complied. Will Leah get a chance to air the episode if she gets a third season? We don’t know, but we’re looking forward to finding out.

On November 5, Rod Keller got us some fascinating new intel out of Scientology’s flagship drug rehab facility in Oklahoma, Narconon Arrowhead, when he got a chance to interview a woman who had just left her job there.

Two nights later, Scientology and the Aftermath ended its regular run of episodes from season two with the stunning story of Ramina Nunnelee, who decided to leave Scientology and reunite with her daughter after watching Leah’s show.

We had earlier learned about the remarkable story of Rebecca McKee McCaffrey, who had reunited with her high school sweetheart, some 40 years after they’d been pushed apart by Scientology. And now she had more to tell us about what it was like to be a teenager in Scientology in the 1970s, including her date with Wilt Chamberlain, set up by the church.

Yashar Ali at the Huffington Post revealed that a longtime Trump aide told Leah Remini that the president is interested in taking away Scientology’s tax-exempt status. But Yashar seemed unclear on how the president could make that happen. So we provided a road map — if Trump is serious, he could have his Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, start an IRS investigation.

After one of our stories mentioned the sad current state of Int Base, John Brousseau told us he was feeling melancholy about it. The man who was formerly David Miscavige’s brother-in-law told us he can see that Scientology is dying, and he reflected on what that meant for the base.

Quailynn McDaniel and Fred Oxaal joined your proprietor on a special episode of ‘Aftermath’ that looked at Scientology’s sneaky front groups. Quailynn had fascinating things to say about her “Volunteer Minister” experiences, and Fred literally set up The Way to Happiness Foundation. And two days later the final ‘Aftermath’ special episode of the second season featured Russell Miller and Hana Whitfield as they took apart the myths of L. Ron Hubbard.

Leah’s series may have been ending its season, but we were really surprised when her husband, Angelo Pagan, decided to come forward and help us tell the sad story of Brad Bufanda, a 30-year-old actor who had been telling his friends that Scientology had saved his life — up to just a few days before he chose to end it.

It was also in November that we said a sad goodbye to Sinar Parman, 63, who had cooked for L. Ron Hubbard and David Miscavige, and who was loved by many former Scientologists. We surely do miss this gentle man who was so helpful with information about Scientology’s inner workings.

With the death of Charles Manson, we knew a lot of people would be looking for information about the former cult leader’s connection to Scientology, so we put together what was said about it in a new biography of Manson by Jeff Guinn.

On November 26, we revealed the name of the auditor, Angie LaClaire, who interrogated Danny Masterson and one of his accusers but didn’t notify the LAPD about the rape allegations. We also noted that the auditor’s husband, Greg LaClaire, is the person who hands the LAPD a big check at the end of each year.

We’re grateful to former Sea Org executive Sunny Pereira for helping us decode a 1952 L. Ron Hubbard lecture that contained very disturbing things about the sexual abuse and killing of young boys. A few days later, Sunny and Robyn Capella helped us understand how L. Ron Hubbard’s ideas about past lives referred to in the lecture created an environment that condones child abuse.

At the end of November another stunning court document showed up. It contained powerful testimony from Kim Poff, who accused the state of Oklahoma of suppressing the dangerous conditions at the Narconon Arrowhead drug rehab because the state was too afraid to take on the Church of Scientology.

Early in December, we took one for the team and actually read one of L. Ron Hubbard’s turgid ‘Mission Earth’ novels in order to bring you its truly sick take on sex and young boys.

The next day, historian Chris Owen was back with a two-part series about an attempt by the Greek government to crack down on Scientology in the 1990s, and why it ultimately failed.

After more reporting by Yashar Ali at Huffington Post and a growing public outrage, Netflix finally made a decision and will be writing Danny Masterson’s character out of The Ranch. But what, we wondered, is taking the District Attorney so long to make a decision on charges?

We then asked the question, did Scientology lose its biggest donor of all time? We presented evidence which suggested that Bob Duggan has flown the coop. (But not until he’d set aside a huge amount of money to keep Scientology supplied with revenue into perpetuity.)

Thanks to the industrious R.M. Seibert, we got our hands on the FBI file of Clearwater mayor Gabe Cazares. Here for the first time were new details on the hit-and-run plot Scientology tried to use to destroy his career in 1976, and some indication as to why no one ever went to prison for it.

With the help of a couple of Bunker researchers, we not only tracked down Michael Meisner, Scientology’s “Snow White” operative who became a witness for the FBI and helped put Mary Sue Hubbard in prison, but we looked into the almost unbelievable story that Meisner eventually went on to be the top executive running a nuclear power plant in Maine.

And just in time for the holidays, we finished up our reporting this year with a heartwarming tale of love — how Chris and Nancy Tringali defied Scientology and escaped and are still together.

Wow, that was some two months!

 
MOST-READ STORIES OF NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
1. Hey, Netflix, why does Scientology actor Danny Masterson still have a job?
2. EXCLUSIVE: Scientology interrogated Danny Masterson and accuser, didn’t notify LAPD
3. Read the threatening letter Danny Masterson’s attorney Marty Singer sent a victim’s husband
4. EXCLUSIVE: DA’s office asked Leah Remini not to air episode about Danny Masterson
5. Charles Manson and Scientology: What the church doesn’t want you to know

 
A LOOK BACK AT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016: Scientologist Vivian Kubrick’s plan to raise money for Shelley Duvall falls apart. David Miscavige’s claim that L. Ron Hubbard brought surfing to California is debunked. Scientology tries to derail the premiere of Leah Remini’s new series with a scummy letter. And Leah’s first “special” episode features Paulette Cooper.

A LOOK BACK AT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015: Leah Remini’s memoir, Troublemaker, hit bookstores. The Texas Third Court of Appeals handed Monique Rathbun a huge victory that seemed to pave the way for a world of hurt for Scientology. We began a day-by-day look at the final days of Lisa McPherson, 20 years after her tragic death. Tabatha Fauteux became Narconon’s newest victim. Legoland funded a Scientology front group on behalf of Jenna Elfman. And one of our biggest stories of the year, felony charges for Scientologists who had used students from primarily minority high schools in a suburb of LA to scam state insurance money.

A LOOK BACK AT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014: Leaked plans show that a new $37 million Scientology facility in Australia will serve only 87 people, on average, at any one time. Some great nuggets about L. Ron Hubbard turned up in Robert Heinlein’s letters collection. We learned how Scientology strains to erase Hubbard’s second wife, Sara Northrup, from the historical record, while Hubbard’s first wife, Polly, filed an affidavit that Hubbard was a deadbeat dad. We went long with the surprising saga of Richie Acunto’s rise and fall. And Marty Rathbun gets ambushed again, this time with Louis Theroux.

A LOOK BACK AT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013: Mike Rinder and Mike Bennitt in a helicopter over the Super Power party, our exclusive interview with Jacqueline Olivier, the principal at Will and Jada’s Scientology school, and we marked the actual 60th anniversary of the first ‘Church of Scientology.’

 
Five of our favorites from the most-upvoted comments of November/December 2017

November 7: Princess Poopypants
Richard and Ramina Nunnelee could be viewed as a pair of die-hard bitter enders. A pair that would have stayed through thick and thin. Never in a million years would I ever think they would not only leave Scn, but speak out about it. I’m just saying, it is huge. There have not been very many parents that chose their children (mom? where are you? You have a couple of cute grandchildren here with me, and a few more around too….). I think I can count on both hands the ones that I know that did that. It’s not many. It’s a difficult process, I think, for the parent to come to terms with all of it. The mind control, the manipulation, the coercion. It is hard to accept and process and they just don’t even bother. Someday I may share the first time I met Chantal (around 35 years ago). She was then, and always will be, an angel. What a sweet and caring girl she is. All my love to the entire family.

November 11: Jefferson Hawkins
“Everyone’s incompetent” was a constant refrain at the Int Base, and it usually meant that Miscavige was rejecting anything and everything for usually arbitrary reasons, and therefore nothing ever got done. I think Jeffrey hit the nail on the head – Miscavige doesn’t want [Scientology Media Productions] to actually produce anything. What would they produce? News programs? What, and put a talking head out there who would upstage Dave? No way. Biopics about Hubbard? Been done to death. There’s only so much they can lie about and distort. Dramas about Scientology? No one there competent to write such a thing. Infomercials? Miscavige hates them – “waste of money.” Videos explaining Scientology “basics”? Been done and done and done. Pretty much anything you think of requires actors or Scientologists to get out there and front for the cult, and Dave is petrified that anyone he features will blow or defect. Or upstage him. The studio was just a way to milk the whales after all. Produce anything? Nah. Best to keep rejecting anything they propose and condemn them all for being incompetent.

November 17: Missionary Kid
For some reason, I got hooked on the Veronica Mars series in reruns and, in spite of the almost soap opera characteristic of the show, I became a fan. I do remember Jason Dhoring, and was disappointed to find out that he was a $cientologist. I remember Francis Capra well, but I don’t recall Brad Bufanda as well, but I’m sad to hear of his recent demise. R.I.P. There are too many deaths associated with $cientology. On another note, Today is my 5th Bunkerversary. It has now been 5 years since I stumbled onto this website. I was actually looking for more on Mark Bunker, but somehow, Google brought me here, and it took a little while to understand that the Bunker and Mark Bunker were something different. I didn’t even realize that the Bunker was only a few months old. I had no knowledge of Tony’s editorship of the Village Voice and his articles there, or of the Rodeo or any of the other blogs devoted to criticism of $cientology. Am I an addict? I guess I am. After over 46K comments, I must be, but I do give the excuse that a lot of those were letting people know that their comments made it to some of the different lists I collected. Because of the Bunker, I’ve met hundreds of fantastic, intelligent, caring, warm, funny, and generous people, both online and in person. I have to confess that I am partially “face blind”, and I have a hard time remembering faces, and sometimes when I meet some of you again, I have a hard time placing you. Please forgive me, but all of you have been pleasant about it… I’m looking forward to the time when the Bunker is no longer necessary, because $cientology has finally collapsed, and I’m glad for the time I’ve spent here. Now, I’m going back to bed. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.

December 4: Michael Leonard Tilse
I read most of the Mission Earth series back in the day. My take? That this awful sexually obsessed prose of hubbard was the exact mirror of Hubbard’s mind. It is the true phantasmagorical unremittingly deviant sexual scenarios that filled his mind, always before hidden and kept from his followers. It is the most genuine expression of hubbard. Compared to the effortless projectile vomit composition of mission earth, his specifically scientological writings seem constipated. I really had a hard time reconciling mission earth with the persona of hubbard as scientology’s founder. I passed it off by taking it as the ‘satire’ that he insisted it was. Now I see it was the full expression of his mental illness.

December 15: Andrea ‘i-Betty’ Garner
“…the incident with Louis and myself is being used as a reason for Dave Miscavige not to come back to the Int Base.” David Miscavige is such a baby! By a show of hands, who here is afraid of Mr. Mild-mannered, Louis Theroux and Genial Guy, Marc Headley? Anyone? Waaaaah!

 
The most-read stories of 2017

Here they are, the 25 most-read Underground Bunker stories of the year…

1. This new image of David Miscavige makes years of Scientology Watching all worth it (Oct 6)
2. Hey, Netflix, why does Scientology actor Danny Masterson still have a job? (Nov 1)
3. DOX: L. Ron Hubbard’s son called him a junkie and sex pervert in FBI’s Scientology files (Aug 30)
4. Never before seen: Video of a woman moments after achieving superhuman Scientology powers (Oct 5)
5. Scientology slut-shames Mimi Faust after destroying her family because … it’s a church! (Oct 18)
6. LAPD probing Scientology and Danny Masterson for multiple rapes, cover-up (Mar 3)
7. HURRICANE LEAH: ‘The defenses are crumbling. Scientology in Los Angeles is dying’ (Sep 11)
8. EXCLUSIVE: Scientology interrogated Danny Masterson and accuser, didn’t notify LAPD (Nov 26)
9. Read the threatening letter Danny Masterson’s attorney Marty Singer sent a victim’s husband (Nov 2)
10. Leah Remini’s second season of ‘Scientology and the Aftermath’ — what do you want to see in it? (Mar 15)
11. Here’s how Scientology tried to keep you from seeing tonight’s episode of ‘Leah Remini’ (Oct 10)
12. How to get yourself removed from Scientology’s legendary mailing list: A case study (May 5)
13. EXCLUSIVE: DA’s office asked Leah Remini not to air episode about Danny Masterson (Nov 3)
14. Moss wins Emmy for portraying totalitarian cult victim and doesn’t care what you think about it (Sep 18)
15. She’s back! Leah Remini builds a case for Scientology aggression in tonight’s A&E special (May 29)
16. Tonight on ‘Leah Remini’: Once again, Scientology’s a horror show for the mentally ill (Jan 10)
17. Scientology’s ultimate prize: For the first time online, the current ‘OT 8’ materials laid bare (Sep 6)
18. Scientology leader David Miscavige launches new personal attacks at Leah Remini (Apr 3)
19. Coming to grips with Scientology’s most vile secret, which was hiding in plain sight (Oct 14)
20. Director Paul Haggis pens an open letter to Marty Rathbun after Scientology’s latest smear (Sep 23)
21. As Leah Remini’s second season hammers away, Scientology is losing its mind (Aug 31)
22. REPORT: David Miscavige has not been to Scientology’s secretive ‘Int Base’ in four years (Jun 27)
23. Tara and Nathan — subjects of last night’s ‘Leah Remini’ — respond to Scientology’s smears (Oct 11)
24. Danny Masterson: Victim C gets support from a veteran actress, but will LAPD answer the call? (Mar 8)
25. Celebrity battle lines: Michael Peña’s wife asks Scientologists to ‘Stand with Daniel Masterson’ (Aug 17)

 
Best Shoops 2017

We asked the Bunker’s resident shoop expert, Observer, to choose some of her favorites that showed up in our comments section this year.

From “Mark”…

 
Two from Phil Jones…

 
And two from Douglas D. Douglas…

 
BEST OF THE BUNKER, 2017

We’re grateful that some of our stories got a huge amount of readership this year. But traffic isn’t the only way to measure what goes on here. Like last year, we put together a list of our personal choices for most significant pieces we did in 2017. Some of them were scoops, others were investigative features, and some of them we just really enjoyed writing. (We’ll be adding this list to our favorites of all time.) So here goes.

 
20. ‘God of Pop’ Kuba Ka on meeting Scientology’s David Miscavige: ‘Like an emperor or the Pope’

We could hardly believe our luck when Scientology celebrity Kuba Ka, the “God of Pop,” announced in March that he was leaving the church and his friend and adviser, actress Vikki Lizzi, told us that Kuba planned to sue. Oh, if only. The next day, we published our story about the two-hour Skype interview we did with Kuba and his mother and their entourage. After that conversation, we came away liking Kuba Ka — or rather, Jakub Stepniak, the man behind the god — more than we expected to. Sadly, not long after that interview Stepniak “retired” his pop persona, and Kuba Ka vanished into thin air.

 
19. Before Scientology’s Xenu was a genocidal galactic overlord, he was a … mountain?

In April we had a fun little treat that had confounded our experts — a tipster pointed out to us that L. Ron Hubbard referred to a “Mount Xenu” in an obscure lecture he recorded in 1958, some ten years before Hubbard would use the name “Xenu” in his infamous “OT III” handwritten notes. None of our experts had noticed it before, but Jon Atack pointed out that it was indeed an indication that Hubbard was simply dreaming up nonsense from a limited storehouse of ideas and notions.

 
18. Lawrence Wright goes to Nazareth: how Reza Aslan drove us into the arms of L. Ron Hubbard

Delayed a year by the presidential election, Reza Aslan’s “Believer” CNN series finally aired in 2017, and its March 26 episode about indie Scientology was as annoying as we assumed it would be. Aslan started out his show saying that Scientology “gets a bad rap,” which was pretty terribly timed after the success of Leah Remini’s first season, and then he proceeded to make all sorts of ridiculous claims about how indie Scientology might become a major world religion — without telling viewers that the two groups he interviewed had a total of about 60 and 20 members. It was a dishonest show which, like his other episodes, really only had one goal — to aggrandize Aslan himself. On the other hand, Aslan’s bad television did motivate us to write something fun about Lawrence Wright, Aslan, and L. Ron Hubbard, and Observer gave us one of our favorite illustrations of the year to adorn it, referring to Aslan’s subtle slam that if Larry had been around in Biblical times, he would have prevented Christianity from happening by grilling Jesus. And we absolutely loved Larry’s reaction, at Twitter: “A lot of what Jesus told me was off the record.”

 
17. Yes, L. Ron Hubbard wrote even more about children and sex, and we need to talk about it

In the mid 1980s, while he was in total seclusion hiding not only from process servers and government investigators but also from his own family and the rest of his Scientology movement, L. Ron Hubbard spent his time writing a million-word long science fiction story that the church put out as a ten-volume series. We chose one chapter from the ninth volume of the “Mission Earth” series, Villainy Victorious, to illustrate its truly sick take on sex and young boys. And we asked our readers to decide — what did it mean that near the end of his life, Hubbard was imagining this stuff?

 
16. Never before seen: A woman moments after achieving superhuman Scientology powers

In October, we provided an excerpt from a 1989 home video made aboard Scientology’s private cruise ship, the Freewinds. This rare footage featured the remarkable OT 8 graduation speech of a woman named Margie Zacks, a Scientologist reaching the pinnacle of achievement after years of studying L. Ron Hubbard’s “technology.” But for many of us, seeing her talk about how she got there was simply sad.

 
15. Is Scientology’s notorious prison detail — the ‘RPF’ — a thing of the past?

On October 4, we asked a question that caused a stir: Is Scientology’s “RPF” a thing of the past? Punishing Sea Org members with the “Rehabilitation Project Force” is legendary, and we’ve talked to people who were stuck for years on the prison-like detail. But recent defectors told us that over the past several years, Scientology leader David Miscavige systematically disbanded the RPF in places around the world, complaining that it carried too many Hubbard-era rules and regulations. Sea Org members are still being punished, we’re told, but no longer with trappings of the RPF — and we credited activists like Mike Rinder for exposing the RPF’s legacy of mistreatment.

 
14. DOX: The full FBI file from its 2009-2010 human trafficking investigation of Scientology

In 2011, Lawrence Wright broke the news in his New Yorker story about Paul Haggis that the FBI had investigated the Church of Scientology for human trafficking of its Sea Org workers. The church denied it. We never doubted for a moment that it was true because we spoke with numerous former Sea Org officials who had taken part in the investigation. But it was nice, finally, to get the evidence itself — in August, for the first time, we made the entire FBI file public, proving that indeed, the law enforcement agency gathered reams of evidence about the mistreatment of Scientologists at its secretive bases in California and Florida.

 
13. When a Scientology ‘body-router’ turns out to be the father you haven’t seen in 7 years

In May, we had a sad and surprising story. Earlier, we had posted some photos taken by a contributor outside the new Valley Org in Los Angeles which showed Scientology workers parking cars. One of them, however, turned out to be Irving Sorrentini, the father who had disconnected from his daughter, Jamie Sorrentini Lugli, someone well known to Bunker readers. She hadn’t seen her father in seven years, since he “disconnected” from her because she had left the church. Seeing her father was a punch to the gut. “Honestly, my heart is breaking. I feel like there’s no hope now. His eyes look so sad in that picture. That’s not the guy he was,” she told us.

 
12. Days before jumping to his death, actor Brad Bufanda credited Scientology with saving his life

Thanks to Angelo Pagan coming forward and giving us an interview, we got insights into the life of Brad Bufanda that the rest of the media overlooked. In the months before the Veronica Mars actor killed himself, he was telling friends of his commitment to Scientology, but he was also under heavy pressure because he refused church instructions to quit a movie because Pagan was also in it. His death shocked people who knew him well and who told us he had everything to live for.

 
11. Memories of a Scientology warrior: Marty Rathbun’s curious career as church rebel

In March, we uncorked a lengthy piece we’d put a lot of work into. We put together what we felt was a fair look at Marty Rathbun’s full trajectory, tracing the way his influential blog had changed over the years 2009-2016. Seen from that perspective, it made his evolution, from Scientology rebel to Scientology attack dog, all the more mysterious. This has now become one of the stories we direct people to most often as we are asked, constantly, what the hell happened to Marty Rathbun?

 
10. ‘Leah Remini’ show prompting more ‘ranch kids’ to come forward with agonizing family drama

One of the great results of Leah Remini’s TV series is that it has motivated so many more people to come forward with their stories of escaping Scientology — like Clarissa Adams, who talked to us about how Scientology had ripped her family apart. We were especially stunned when she told us about how her mother had reacted when Clarissa quit the Sea Org at 20: “Her response was, ‘Then why did you pick this body? Why did you pick this family?’ She never asked what I was going to do or where I would go. In fact, she didn’t bring it up again at all” But Clarissa still remembered it as the best day of her life. “I have never felt the same sense of freedom as I did that day. I had no idea what my future held, but I had a couple of hundred bucks to my name and I was no longer a part of the Sea Org. It was a beautiful moment.”

 
9. Scientology’s ultimate prize: For the first time online, the current ‘OT 8’ materials laid bare

Inspired by what Leah Remini had put on the air about the secrets of Scientology OT 8, in September we decided it was time to put the actual materials of New OT 8 online for the first time. (What Wikileaks had put online a decade earlier doesn’t reflect what former Scientologists told us they had experienced on that ultimate OT level.) So there it is, for you to see for yourself, what it can cost a Scientologist half a million to two million dollars to see. And it’s as underwhelming as you’d expect.

 
8. Coming to grips with Scientology’s most vile secret, which was hiding in plain sight

It still stuns us that a passage by L. Ron Hubbard endorsing pedophilia can be found in his most important book, Dianetics, and went unscrutinized for decades. Once again, we brought attention to it and Hubbard’s assertion that a 7-year-old girl should not “shudder” at an adult man’s kiss, “even a passionate one” — and this time, the Church of Scientology itself responded, through an official social media account, saying that the word “passionate” had no sexual connotation. Oh really? In that same book, Dianetics, Hubbard said this about the experience of a fetus in the womb: “Papa becomes passionate and baby has the sensation of being put into a running washing machine.” We’re pretty sure he wasn’t talking about knitting.

 
7. For the first time: The FBI file of Gabe Cazares, the Clearwater mayor targeted by Scientology

Thanks to the industrious R.M. Seibert, we got our hands on the FBI file of former Clearwater mayor and Congressional candidate Gabe Cazares. Here for the first time were new details on the hit-and-run plot Scientology tried to use to destroy his career in 1976, as well as some insight into why no one ever went to prison for it. This is the kind of material that current Clearwater residents and their leaders really ought to make themselves very familiar with.

 
6. Families of rescued patients are sharply divided on Scientologist-run Tennessee hellhole

In May we posted a story that has proved to be one we may have sent out as much as any other this year as we’ve tried to set the record straight on what was easily the most confusing reporting done on Scientology in a long, long time. It involved a facility in Tennessee that we’ve been watching for years, run by a Scientologist named Marc Vallieres, and which had a troubling past as a place where the church, we believed, sent members who had gone “Type III” — were in mental distress — for a medieval treatment known as the “Introspection Rundown.” Now, in 2017, that facility was shut down when sheriff’s deputies discovered a couple of patients being held there in cabins that were padlocked from the outside. But the press handling of the story was terribly mangled, in part because of a confusing statement put out by the local sheriff, and cries of “fake news” were heard across the land. The Underground Bunker was the only news organization that spoke to the families of the two victims and got the full story of what actually happened.

 
5. How Humira, the world’s best selling drug, is helping to finance Scientology into the future

In July we revealed that Jeffrey Augustine had found a document which showed that in the last week of 2015, Bob and Trish Duggan, the world’s richest Scientologists, socked away a million shares of stock from the pharmaceutical firm AbbVie in a foundation under their names. AbbVie is the maker of Humira, the rheumatoid arthritis treatment that is the biggest-selling drug in the world, and its stock was trading for just under $60 a share at that time — so the stock the Duggans set aside was worth about $60 million. (AbbVie also makes depakote, a drug for treating a bipolar diagnosis. So yes, AbbVie makes “psych” drugs.) According to the tax filing made by the Duggan Foundation, that AbbVie stock was expected to bring in revenue of about $3 million a year, and the foundation was very up front that it would only disburse that income in the way of charitable grants to the Church of Scientology or its various charitable entities. So, the upshot: Bob and Trish had socked away a big chunk of money so the Church of Scientology will reliably get a few million bucks a year into perpetuity. Later in the year, we got confirmation that Bob and Trish were splitting up, and we also got word that Bob has a new science-y girlfriend and may be stepping away from the church, so in that light we’re thinking that this gift of Humira-related revenue to Scientology may be Bob’s “leave me alone” money.

 
4. Scientology’s disgusting secret: Young teens used to interrogate adults about their sex lives

In January we posted our first big feature of the year, about Serge Gil, who appeared on ABC’s 20/20. But that television program really sort of missed the point. ABC’s Dan Harris asked Serge about sexual questions he was asked, but all Scientologists go through that. What made Serge’s story unique isn’t the questions he was asked, but what questions he was forced to ask others. We went into depth about Serge who, as a 14-year-old auditor, was tasked with interrogating older men about their sexual habits. Sometimes, he told us, that meant having to hear about the fantasies an older man was having about him. And always Serge would be forced to push for more and more detail. Talking to other former church members, we learned that this is actually a pretty common thing in Scientology, and is most likely still happening.

 
3. When love triumphs over Scientology: A fairy tale of New York for the holidays

After we had brought up the subject of how escaping Scientology Sea Org workers are often talked into coming back to “route out” properly in an Orwellian process that is hard to understand from the outside, we heard from a man named Chris Tringali who wanted us to know about what he and his wife Nancy had been through. The more we questioned him about his situation, the more stunned we were by what this couple had been through and had stayed together through all of it. We were pleased to present their saga as a heartwarming tale of love for the holidays.

 
2. Scientology’s Celebrity Whisperer: An inside account of life in the fame-obsessed church

In February we uncorked one of our longest features of the year, our look at the “celebrity whisperer,” Quailynn McDaniel, who, with her husband Paul, was trusted for years by Scientology to pamper and cater to its famous celebrities, in particular the Elfmans, Jenna and Bodhi. But when the church asked Quailynn, while she was isolated on the Freewinds, to steal from her husband’s 401K in order to donate more, she walked away from the church and all of its perks. It was especially interesting to publish the harsh disconnection letter that Bodhi sent Paul simply because he’d “liked” something Leah Remini had posted on Facebook. What a saga!

 
1. LAPD probing Scientology and Danny Masterson for multiple rapes, cover-up

Without a doubt, March was our biggest month of the year for significant stories, and it started off with the year’s biggest bombshell: We revealed that Scientologist and That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson was being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department on accusations of rape by three different women, who were each Scientologists at the time of their alleged attacks. We referred to them as Victim A, who had written a scathing letter of complaint to LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, Victim B, who was made to do past-life auditing by the church as a bizarre kind of punishment for alleging that Masterson had raped her, and Victim C, who we interviewed, and who told us about the violent attack she went through. Since then, Yashar Ali at the Huffington Post revealed that a fourth victim had also come forward and was part of the investigation. He also reported that the District Attorney’s office had put the case on a “slow roll,” which explains why at the end of the year we were still waiting to see if charges were going to be filed.

Happy New Year, Scientology watchers.

 
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Dee Findlay completes her Scientology bucket list

Says Dee: “I had a bucket list and going in front of the Clearwater Commission to apologize to the citizens was on top of the list… and done! Next… to rid myself of 10K’s worth of Hubbard’s chronological work that I purchased in late 2010, when I was vulnerable and went back to the cult.. However, going back, like a toe left in, and with what I experienced, got me completely out! Happened when I looked on the internet, thanks to Debbie Cook, where I found Tony O, the truth and the nicest, best people ever. Well, I really didn’t know what to do with this stuff. I thought of selling, could use the money, or better, not to contribute to anyone reading this destructive, insane crap, altho did give a few away. Most all had never been unwrapped. I’m happy to share with you the last thing on my bucket list, which is shown in the pictures below. Thanks to a wonderful loving Maxwell family, was able to help me do this. What a relief it is to start out the new year without a single satantology course, congress, book or material, cluttering up my environment. This statement is worth more than money.”

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on December 31, 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 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 continuing to look back at 2017’s most significant stories here at the Underground Bunker and today it’s a flashback to October in our annual Scientology year-in-review.

On October 4, we asked a question that caused a stir: Is Scientology’s “RPF” a thing of the past? Punishing Sea Org members with the “Rehabilitation [...]]]>

 
We’re continuing to look back at 2017’s most significant stories here at the Underground Bunker and today it’s a flashback to October in our annual Scientology year-in-review.

On October 4, we asked a question that caused a stir: Is Scientology’s “RPF” a thing of the past? Punishing Sea Org members with the “Rehabilitation Project Force” is legendary, and we’ve talked to people who were stuck for years on the prison-like detail. But recent defectors tell us that over the past several years, Scientology leader David Miscavige systematically disbanded the RPF in places around the world, complaining that it carried too many Hubbard-era rules and regulations. Sea Org members are still being punished, we’re told, but no longer with trappings of the RPF — and we credited activists like Mike Rinder for exposing the RPF’s legacy of mistreatment.

The next day we provided another excerpt from a 1989 home video made aboard the Freewinds. This time we featured the remarkable OT 8 graduation speech of a woman named Margie Zacks. This is a Scientologist reaching the pinnacle of achievement after years of studying L. Ron Hubbard’s “technology.” But for many of us, seeing her talk about how she got there was simply sad.

It was just a photograph, but on October 5 we posted a shot of David Miscavige (see above) that had showed up in a copy of Freewinds magazine showing the 57-year-old Scientology leader standing in the cruise ship’s engine room, perfectly coiffed while surrounded by greasy marine equipment. The photo proved very popular with our readers. Quipped one of them: “He looks like a perma-tanned Barry Manilow tribute act.”

Rod Keller helped clear up some misunderstandings about a new Scientology facility in Guelph, Ontario. The church is renting some temporary offices for a “CLO” — Continental Liaison Office, something like a glorified accounting office — while a permanent facility is being renovated elsewhere. But even if it’s just temporary, the new Scientology effort there was met with stiff opposition from the locals.

After a brief post-Emmys break, Leah Remini was back with another gut-wrenching episode of ‘Aftermath’ that featured Tara Reile and Nathan Rich, who had been subjected to a Scientologist-run ranch in New Mexico where Scientology parents dumped their kids. Before the episode aired, we talked to Tara about how Scientology had tried to convince her to pull her involvement in it. And the next day, we talked to Nathan and Tara about the predictable smears Scientology posted the night the episode aired. (And later, Marie Bilheimer also addressed Scientology’s smears after her ‘Aftermath’ appearance.)

Paulette Cooper keeps digging into her childhood, and on October 12 we posted some new photos of Miss Lovely as you’ve never seen her. “They are the first photos that I’ve ever seen of myself at such a young age,” she says.

It still stuns us that a passage by L. Ron Hubbard endorsing pedophilia can be found in his most important book, Dianetics, and went unscrutinized for decades. Once again, we brought attention to it and Hubbard’s assertion that a 7-year-old girl should not “shudder” at the kiss of an adult man, “even a passionate one” — but this time, the Church of Scientology itself responded, through an official social media account, saying that the word “passionate” had no sexual connotation. Oh really? Well, get a load at how Hubbard used the same word, passionate, in another place in that very same book, 1950’s Dianetics…

Mama sneezes, baby gets knocked “unconscious.” Mama runs lightly and blithely into a table and baby gets its head stoved in. Mama has constipation and baby, in the anxious effort, gets squashed. Papa becomes passionate and baby has the sensation of being put into a running washing machine. Mama gets hysterical, baby gets an engram. Papa hits Mama, baby gets an engram. Junior bounces on Mama’s lap, baby gets an engram. And so it goes.

So the guy who used the word “passionate” to refer to rough sex between dad and mom — he means something else when he’s talking about a man passionately kissing a 7-year-old girl? Give it up, Hubbard apologists, this one is a lost cause.

On October 16, Erin Hodges Plumb was back, this time following up on her Int Base adventure by crashing a Mace-Kingsley event in Pasadena.

The next night, it was an ‘Aftermath’ episode we’d really been waiting for, with Mimi Faust talking about being abandoned by her Sea Org mother. We first talked to Mimi about her story back in 2012, but once again Leah gets an emotionally hard-hitting account about how Scientology can rip apart a family. And naturally, Scientology then attacked Mimi at its smear website that same night.

Less than two weeks after he was featured on an episode of Leah Remini’s series with allegations that he terrorized Scientology children at Mace-Kingsley ranch, Wally Hanks died at 70. The proximity seemed portentous, but his family told us Hanks had been ill for quite a while.

The next day, we had a very fun eyewitness account of the Ideal Org opening in Birmingham, England from one of our readers, Graham. We really enjoyed his droll take on these events, which David Miscavige apparently lives for.

On the 24th, Leah Remini aired one of her “special episodes,” and Mat Pesch and Jeffrey Augustine got into the business side of Scientology, and the draconian contracts that members are caught up in.

The next day, historian Chris Owen was back, this time to help us make sense of what the Hungarian government is doing in its investigation of Scientology.

And then Mirriam Francis followed up on her devastating ‘Aftermath’ episode after she made a new discovery involving her mother.

We said goodbye to Ray Emmons in October with the help of Robert Peterson, who told us about Ray’s career as a brave police officer who took on Scientology in Clearwater.

And we had yet another excellent piece from Chris Owen, this time questioning the L. Ron Hubbard legend about his time as a police officer in Los Angeles.

Finally, we had one more obituary for October: Garry Scarff was a complex figure to be sure, but we remember his dogged research as he left us at only 60.

 
MOST-READ STORIES OF OCTOBER 2017
1. This new image of David Miscavige makes years of Scientology Watching all worth it
2. Never before seen: Video of a woman moments after achieving superhuman Scientology powers
3. Scientology slut-shames Mimi Faust after destroying her family because … it’s a church!
4. Here’s how Scientology tried to keep you from seeing tonight’s episode of ‘Leah Remini’
5. Coming to grips with Scientology’s most vile secret, which was hiding in plain sight

 
A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2016: Karla Taylor’s lawsuit reminded us of the chances people take when the sue Scientology. We broke the news that Tom Cruise was building a double penthouse in Clearwater. And we ID’d one of the private eyes stalking Leah Remini in Denver.

A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2015: The month began with a lot of Cat White and Jim Carrey and Mark Burton coverage, including the young Hollywood Scientologists she hung out with, and the family in Ireland that had first pointed her toward the church. We went to the London premiere of Louis Theroux’s My Scientology Movie. And thanks to Bryan Seymour and Steve Cannane, our trip to Australia’s cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth was a great success. And our big bombshell: The “Knowledge Reports” about Leah Remini that informed her book.

A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2014: Scientology’s private threat letter to the S.F. Chronicle. A perplexing tale about Bob Duggan, the richest Scientologist in the world. Tom Cruise and his medal in London. Marty Rathbun ambushed at LAX by raving Jenny Linson. L. Ron Hubbard’s amazing 1949 letter to Forrest Ackerman. Mark Ebner finds Gay Ribisi’s plaques.

A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2013: Live-blogging the Garcia mini-trial in Tampa, Scientology denied by the US Supreme Court, interpreting Leah Remini’s epic dance, and live-blogging a dramatic hearing in Laura DeCrescenzo’s lawsuit in Los Angeles.

 
Five of our favorites from the most-upvoted comments of October 2017

October 6: Mat Pesch
An ex Sea Org friend of mine told me that after EVERY event David would spread out pictures of himself from the event and ask which one was the best. He would say things like “Aren’t I good looking?” He was just full of himself. To not cross him she would of course agree and play along. No one wants to say “Dude. You are barely over 5 foot, your face is caved in, your smile is crooked, it looks like arm pit hair was implanted on your head and then styled to make you look like the poster boy for Jail Candy.”

October 8: Pete Griffiths
We counted 44 empty minibuses and many more empty taxis going through the Saint Hill gates to the IAS event. The coaches from Europe were down from 55 a few years ago to 5 last year to just 2 this year. The stream of traffic which usually lasts right up to the 7.00 start time and beyond had trickled off by 6.30. Surely the Scientologists who go year after year have to know that they are dwindling? Oh wait, yes…

October 10: Chee Chalker
Normal aunt/uncle: “I’m so sorry you had to go through that Tara/Rich! I had no idea that was happening……if we had known, we would have pulled you out of that place! I’m so sorry we let you down. Is there anything we can do now?”
Scientology aunt/uncle: “How much were you paid? Aren’t you afraid of all your secrets coming out? How can you do this to your family?!? MILLIONS WILL DIE BECAUSE OF YOU!!!!”

October 11: Observer
After I signed off last night I did a lot of crying. Not because the few seconds of the Wally tape they played dredged up some horrible feelings and memories, but for Tara and Nathan and every innocent child who was ever and is still being subjected to these monstrous adults. They are criminals and should be treated as such. There is no way Hanks did what he did because he was brainwashed and only trying to “save the world.” He did what he did because soulless charlatan Hubbard gave him permission to indulge his sadistic hatred of children without fear of reprisal. THIS IS WHY.

October 26: Douglas D. Douglas
Just to be sure anyone reading this understands, we have a mother abandoning her daughter, who she believes to have been a close male friend in a previous lifetime, to be sexually molested by her husband in this lifetime, in order to save the world by creating a series of paintings depicting incidents in the life of a fabulist’s fictitious lifetime, and when confronted by the daughter then explains to her that the molestation is her own responsibility. And just so I can understand, when dealing with real people and real lives, has Scientology ever made sense?

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on December 30, 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 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

From the “you have to be kidding us” department, we have this last-minute 2017 news. A week ago, Scientology’s attorneys Eric Lieberman and Bert Deixler filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Church of Scientology International in California.

The defendant? Laura DeCrescenzo.

Yes, the church has filed a [...]]]>

From the “you have to be kidding us” department, we have this last-minute 2017 news. A week ago, Scientology’s attorneys Eric Lieberman and Bert Deixler filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Church of Scientology International in California.

The defendant? Laura DeCrescenzo.

Yes, the church has filed a federal lawsuit against the woman who has been suing Scientology for more than eight years in a forced-abortion and abuse case that we’ve been following closely, and which has managed to survive being dismissed once, brought back on appeal, vindicated through two motions for summary judgment, and delayed with appeals all the way to the US Supreme Court.

But now, in maybe the most cynical (and yet completely characteristic) Scientology legal filing we’ve seen in a long time, CSI’s attorneys are telling a federal court that it should erase the last eight years of litigation that have occurred at the state-level Los Angeles Superior Court and toss out Laura’s lawsuit entirely.

The reasoning behind their argument is rather murky, but it goes something like this…

If you’ve followed our reporting on this case, you know that a central issue with it was the timing of Laura first filing it, in 2009. By then, five years had passed since she left her job working for Scientology’s Sea Organization and its billion-year contract, 112-hour work weeks, and pay of pennies an hour. Scientology has always argued that she waited too long, and that by statute any lawsuit regarding her treatment in the Sea Org had to be filed within four years of her leaving it.

Also, when Laura first filed her lawsuit, one of the many claims she made was that her treatment violated human trafficking laws, which is actually a federal issue. So Scientology had the case “removed” to federal court initially, and they successfully argued that it was too late to file a trafficking claim, and that part of her lawsuit was dismissed. The lawsuit then moved back to state court, where Judge Ronald Sohigian dismissed the rest of the lawsuit, also on grounds that Laura had waited too long to file it. But an appeals court agreed with Laura’s attorneys that Scientology’s actions since Laura had left the Sea Org should be taken into account — Laura argued that she had been surveilled and harassed after leaving the Sea Org (but remaining in the church), and it was only later that she realized that she’d been victimized and should take the church to court.

Years have passed since then, and we were in the courtroom as twice the merits of Laura’s lawsuit were judged by the court to be sufficiently solid so that Scientology motions for summary judgment were defeated. LA Superior Court has moved at a glacial pace, however, and it was only recently that the lawsuit was given to yet another new judge and a trial date in August 2018 established, at least for the first of two trials, which will deal once again with the timing issue and whether Laura filed too late or not.

Got all that? Now, with that as background, Scientology’s attorneys have gone back to federal court, and are arguing that when the human trafficking claim was thrown out eight years ago, the rest of the lawsuit should have been as well — in other words, they’re asking a federal court to ignore all of the stuff that’s been going on in LA Superior Court for the last eight years.

If that sounds desperate, it sure reads that way, and we have the document for you, below.

We asked Laura’s attorney, John Blumberg, for a comment, and he indicated that a response on Laura’s behalf would be filed in federal court that will demonstrate why Scientology’s attempt to derail her state case will fail.

We also asked our attorney Scott Pilutik to look at the complaint — Scott has been watching Laura’s case for nearly its entire history and knows it intimately. Here’s what he sent us…

​That’s some convoluted stuff there. It feels like a Hail Mary pass though, because I can’t imagine the federal court accepting their argument on its face. ​Their entire argument is reduced in the Wherefore clause:

“Plaintiff requests that the court issue a declaratory judgment stating that its prior judgment, dismissing LD’s federal human trafficking claim on the ground that the claim was barred by a four year statute of limitations and that equitable estoppel did not bar CSI from raising that defense, precludes LD from raising the issue of equitable estoppel in her claims pending in the state court action because those claims accrued on the same date as did her federal human trafficking claim, those claims also had statutes of limitations of four years or less, and this court’s prior judgment decided that equitable estoppel does not apply to the period running from the date LD’s claims accrued and the date she first filed the state court action.”

They’re essentially saying that because Laura lost on one statute of limitations argument in federal court (the one relating to human trafficking), she should automatically lose any statute of limitation argument where the facts occurred around the same time. So the state court’s scheduled trial on the issue of statute of limitations for the newer claims shouldn’t go forward.

The problem with this argument is that the reasons why a court might set aside statute of limitations are fact-specific and the outcomes can differ depending on the circumstances. I’m not going to speculate on what differences there might be but I think the federal court is going to laugh at Scientology’s bold presumption that one four-year statute of limitation is effectively as good as any other.

There’s also the question of why this issue is only coming before the federal court at the eleventh hour, since the facts necessary to rule on Scientology’s request gelled, oh, seven plus years ago, at the time of Laura’s second amended complaint. This is basically the same argument that failed before the California Court of Appeal and California Supreme Court, except aimed at the federal court, which will likely take a very dim view of the suggestion that it step on a state proceeding concerning the very same issue, scheduled only months away.

Thanks, Scott.

And we want to remind readers, once again, it was Bert Deixler who told the California State Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court that Laura DeCrescenzo should not get her own personal files out of Scientology for this case because of their “religious” content. Both courts ignored him, and when Laura finally got her files, what was in it wasn’t “religious,” it was nasty material showing a “church” using harrowing techniques to control a 12-year-old child who merely wanted to see her mother.

We just hope, someday, that some other news media organization besides the Underground Bunker takes an interest in Bert Deixler’s work in this case. And here’s another gem from him…

Scientology v. DeCrescenzo Federal Complaint by Tony Ortega on Scribd

 
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In September, Paul Haggis called out Marty Rathbun in a big way

We’re continuing to look back at 2017’s most significant stories here at the Underground Bunker and today it’s a flashback to September in our annual Scientology year-in-review.

Our mysterious drone pilot began the month for us with one final treat — a flyover of Sweeney Ranch in Wyoming, where Scientology tried and failed to put in another CST vault for storing L. Ron Hubbard’s works in case of civilization collapse.

Leah Remini’s second season of Scientology and the Aftermath continued with one of our favorite episodes of all, which featured Bruce Hines and Leah’s mother Vicki Marshall talking about the nonsense of Scientology auditing and its “Bridge to Total Freedom.” They even talked about the secrets of OT 8 on national television! Wow.

Rod Keller got a victory lap after a school district in Missouri decided to boot a sneaky Scientology Truth About Drugs front group after Rod’s reporting made the district aware of what was really going on.

The next day, inspired by what Leah Remini had put on the air about the secrets of Scientology OT 8, we decided it was time to put the actual materials of New OT 8 online for the first time. (What Wikileaks had put online a decade earlier doesn’t reflect what former Scientologists told us they had experienced on that ultimate OT level.) So there it is, for you to see for yourself, what it can cost a Scientologist half a million to two million dollars to see. And it’s as underwhelming as you’d expect.

One of the great results of Leah Remini’s TV series is that it has motivated so many more people to come forward with their stories of escaping Scientology. It’s been a tidal wave of material showing up on social media and we gave up trying to keep up with it all. But one story we did decide to dig into further. We talked to Clarissa Adams about how Scientology had ripped her family apart. We were especially stunned when she told us about how her mother had reacted when Clarissa quit the Sea Org at 20: “Her response was, ‘Then why did you pick this body? Why did you pick this family?’ She never asked what I was going to do or where I would go. In fact, she didn’t bring it up again at all. I had no family to go to. No credit. No driver’s license.” Her father was at the Flag Land Base, in Clearwater, Florida, and Clarissa said he was also shocked to hear the news. “It hit him hard.” But she still remembered it as the best day of her life. “I have never felt the same sense of freedom as I did that day. I had no idea what my future held, but I had a couple of hundred bucks to my name and I was no longer a part of the Sea Org. It was a beautiful moment.”

On September 12, we were thrilled as John Brousseau appeared on ‘Aftermath’ to give his first-ever television interview in an episode that also featured Gary “Jackson” Morehead. The episode was all about David Miscavige’s rise to power and his ruthless behavior. You just know he’s watched it a dozen times already.

The appointment of an Ohio state representative kicked up a bit of controversy over his past involvement with Scientology. And it turned out one of our readers was well placed to fill us in on what really went down.

On the 16th, we had another terrible disconnection story, this time about how Brian Sheen had learned about his daughter giving birth to a grandson that he won’t get a chance to see. Disconnected at birth — this is the legacy of Scientology’s claim to be “clearing the planet.”

Leah Remini’s second season was still going strong, and on September 19 there was a highly anticipated episode featuring celebrity recruiter Karen Pressley and Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis, who used far stronger language than he did in ‘Going Clear’ to call out Scientology’s celebs.

The next day, when Jada Smith tried to play down her association with Scientology after being called out by Leah Remini, we checked in with the woman who ran a Scientology school for Jada and Will. Of course Jada was a dedicated Scientologist, she told us.

As Marty Rathbun’s attacks on Lawrence Wright and Leah Remini and Mike Rinder went on (and on), Paul Haggis sent us a message about something mentioned on a Scientology attack website that could only have come from Rathbun. “By blurting out information they could only get by reading our emails, by revealing the names Collero and Lightning, the church itself has announced that Marty is providing them confidential information and actively colluding with the church.” At the end of the letter, Haggis challenged Rathbun directly: “Marty, I don’t know what you are doing or what you hope to gain by it, but I am afraid it is going to explode in your face. At one point you took a courageous stand. It is hard for me to watch what you are doing now, knowing who you were, even for a brief time. If you ever decide to come clean, I will be here for you, as you were for me. And I protect my friends.” Haggis then followed up with us when Rathbun attacked him over it at his website.

On Sept 27, we said goodbye to our friend Bernie Feshbach, a man who hated Scientology but loved his Scientologist grandkids. For several years Bernie had talked to us about his notorious sons, the Feshbach brothers, and about his grandson-in-law, Tommy Davis. And about European cycling. We miss him.

One of 2017’s surprises was the emergence of Erin Hodges Plumb, who became an enthusiastic correspondent in California and generally a hoot as well. In September she first got on our radar when she crashed a party at Scientology’s Int Base and brought along with her a copy of Karen Pressley’s new book, Escaping Scientology.

And another great addition to the Bunker in 2017: Historian Chris Owen submitted a very timely look at L. Ron Hubbard’s 1932 trip to Puerto Rico, ostensibly for hurricane relief, but eventually for gold mining.

And we finished up the month with rare home video from the LRH Birthday celebration, the first ever held, on the Freewinds cruise ship in 1989.

 
MOST-READ STORIES OF SEPTEMBER 2017
1. HURRICANE LEAH: ‘The defenses are crumbling. Scientology in Los Angeles is dying’
2. Moss wins Emmy for portraying totalitarian cult victim and doesn’t care what you think about it
3. Scientology’s ultimate prize: For the first time online, the current ‘OT 8’ materials laid bare
4. Director Paul Haggis pens an open letter to Marty Rathbun after Scientology’s latest smear
5. Tonight, Paul Haggis calls out Scientology’s celebs: ‘Damn them for being purposely blind’

 
A LOOK BACK AT SEPTEMBER 2016: Marty Rathbun goes on the attack against Ron Miscavige and Louis Theroux. The anonymous drone pilot begins premiering his footage of Scientology bases. Jason Lee ditches Scientology. And Steve Cannane’s excellent book Fair Game comes out.

A LOOK BACK AT SEPTEMBER 2015: We marked a full decade since Shelly Miscavige first vanished. Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear took home three Emmy awards. And we broke the news that Jim Carrey’s girlfriend, Cat White, was a Scientologist on the SRD when she killed herself.

A LOOK BACK AT SEPTEMBER 2014: Nancy Cartwright makes perhaps the creepiest Scientology ad ever. Jim Jackson remembers Lyman Spurlock. And Scientology crows about getting money from Google.

A LOOK BACK AT SEPTEMBER 2013: Scientology’s private dancer, live-blogging at the Monique Rathbun temporary restraining order hearing, and day two’s live-blog which set a then-record number of comments for a single blog post at the Bunker (3,442).

 
Five of our favorites from the most-upvoted comments of September 2017

September 6: otviii2late
OT8 was the beginning of the end for me. I remember finally completing a long, gruesome OT8 which I thought would never end, stepping off the ship that I never thought I would ever escape, into the sunshine and thinking finally, now THIS is freedom. I had finally escaped that hellhole and OT8. That was my EP. I vowed that under no circumstance would anybody ever take my money, my freedom and my mind like that again. And with that, I stepped not just away from the ship, but away from Scientology forever. Thanks to the bullshit of OT8. Simply put, the end phenomenal of OT8 is supposed to be freedom from amnesia on the whole track, clearly indicating an expectation that you will recall everything that’s ever happened to you from the beginning of time. It’s actually the opposite. You end up with no memories at all of your whole track and instead run some more BTS with the recognition that it’s their lives, not yours being run and that’s it. It’s so short and unsatisfying–a massive financial rip off. I ran the same version as Vicki, Luis and Mary. What you have here is correct… The only good that came out of it is that I had hit the top of the bridge and realized that’s all there is — and it’s worse than I thought. Freedom is what you have outside of Scientology, not in it. It made me walk away forever.

September 8: Michael Leonard Tilse
Some people cannot fathom how a scientologist can just be so solid, so uncaring, so unemotional when they put scientology ahead of family. It’s that they have created the ability to fully disconnect from their emotions. I think this happens primarily during the Training Routines where you spend long hours learning how not to have physical or emotional reactions to anything a person does or says. Scientologists think this is an ability gained. It really is dehumanization. So when faced with a genuine, important emotional situation, the loss of a son or daughter or grand children, a scientologist reaches into this well learned ability bag of tricks and puts on an unflinching front. I know from experience how proud a scientologist can feel while doing this. “I kept my TRs IN!” is the thought. But it really is a well learned and deployed synthetic sociopathy. An efficient masking of feeling and the connection between people, with a substitution of a calculated and complex artificial “beingness” that denies human compassion and substitutes scientology concepts and principles and loyalty. It’s a sick fucking warped attitude and it kills people visibly or invisibly.

September 9: Patty Moher
I’ve been on both sides of the insane Scientology war machine. I worked for OSA for many years prior to leaving Scientology. Among the many jobs I performed for them was collecting intel (dirt) on people speaking out against the cult. Back then, there was a checklist assigned to each “enemy”. The first checklist was Overt Data Collection and it required that I physically visit, City Halls, libraries, courts, including probate, Deeds and Land records, Civil, local, county, state and federal court houses, to name a few. Each place would be traveled to, sometime hours away, and then time spent culling records to get as much info as possible on that person. I was looking for dirt on the person. Lawsuits, bankruptcy, arrests, convictions, newspaper articles, etc. The purpose of the checklist was to collect public info on an enemy in an attempt to silence him. In many cases it worked. Many people don’t want their dirty laundry aired on the internet or in the old days, with flyers about you passed out to your neighbors, and people go silent and sue for peace. Scientology considers this practice a “successful action” and therefore something that should be repeated over and over again. I have also been a target of their wrath, with my very own special hate page. I’m not actually ashamed or appalled by it, instead I wear it like a badge of honor. Today, it’s a matter of a few taps on the computer and you can collect information on anyone pretty easily. What took weeks of collecting data on cult enemies can now be done in minutes. It’s very easy for them to go after people now. OSA knows there will be some kickback for putting up their hate pages, but they don’t care. To them this is successful and their mission is to silence all critics of Scientology. The louder you are the more you attract their attention. It takes a certain kind of courage to stand up to this cult. Thanks to all that do.

September 16: Bernie Headley
I have a two year old grandson I have never met due to disconnection. I am grateful that a few friends have been able to send me pictures. I didn’t know Stephanie was married until after the fact. I didn’t know she was pregnant until after the fact. I didn’t know of Hunter’s birth until after the fact. I am thankful that Stephanie’s pregnancy did get Stephanie and her husband offloaded from the SO (new policy after Claire’s lawsuit).

September 23: Mat Pesch
Wow, I continue to be really worried for Marty. Its been stated before that I was the first ex-Scientologist Marty contacted after escaping but I have never disclosed WHY that was. The truth is that Marty had gone into a heavy depression and didn’t seem to want to live. His now wife, Monique didn’t know what to do for him. She had never been a Scientologist and had no reality on the world he had come from. She suggested that he might contact some ex Scientology friend hoping it would help him. Because of that Marty contacted me with an e-mail and within a few days Amy and I flew down to Texas. We fished, played board games, laughed and most of all we let Marty download about Scientology, hour after hour. We all had a great time and we never once had the idea of speaking out against Scientology. That moment would come later when we saw Tommy Davis on TV saying there was no such thing as disconnection. Eventually Marty decided to speak out regarding the abuses within the “church” and he seemed to be doing fine. He went on to marry Monique and adopt a beautiful baby. When I saw videos of Marty’s reaction to the churches non stop attack for months outside his house, I started worrying about his mental health. While I never really followed the things that Marty was posting, I could see at a glance that he was getting more and more into his own head. I told Amy numerous times that I was worried he would have a mental breakdown. It was only a couple months ago that I saw “My Scientology Movie”. Toward the end a message is delivered to Marty from Miscavige that spins him. Marty starts going into a self pity talk about how he can’t have friends and he isn’t employable. I thought of shit, they broke this guy. Now whether Scientology used blackmail, money or both, the fact is that they have Marty barking every time they ring the bell. With Scientology, enough is never enough. They will use and abuse this poor son of a bitch until there is nothing left to use. I fear Marty will eventually hurt himself. If and when that happens no one in Scientology will lose a single tear or a second of sleep. Miscavige will have a big smirk on his face and will celebrate with another glass of scotch. If anyone has Marty’s new address I would appreciate it.

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

Mark your calendars…

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on December 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 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

  Scientology celeb Joy Villa is getting a ton of ink this week for her complaint that former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski slapped her butt inappropriately at a social gathering in November.

What we hadn’t seen her comment on, however, was the recent report by Huffington Post reporter Yashar Ali that Joy’s [...]]]>

 
Scientology celeb Joy Villa is getting a ton of ink this week for her complaint that former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski slapped her butt inappropriately at a social gathering in November.

What we hadn’t seen her comment on, however, was the recent report by Huffington Post reporter Yashar Ali that Joy’s MAGA benefactor, Donald Trump, told his longtime aide Lynne Patton that he’s in favor of pulling the Church of Scientology’s tax exempt status.

Yesterday, however, one of our readers managed to get a response out of the pop singer at one of her Facebook accounts, and it looks like Joy doesn’t believe that the president will follow through on that desire to clip Scientology’s wings…

 
There was some confusion after Yashar’s story about whether Trump could actually do something about Scientology’s tax exempt status even if he wanted to. But we had previously researched that situation and pointed out that yes, one of the three people in the country who could, by law, order an investigation of Scientology’s status is Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who works directly for the president.

So if Trump really would like to see Scientology challenged, as Patton alleged, then there’s a clear avenue for him to take. But Joy Villa seems to think that the president isn’t raring to take a run at the church.

We really have no idea if she’s right about that or not. At this point, we’re still marveling that a talent-challenged Scientology celebrity wannabe we used to monitor for her exercises in obscurity is now international news for her sexual assault claim, which has even eclipsed her Congressional ambitions. What a country.

 
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In August, Leah Remini came back in the strongest way possible

We’re continuing to look back at 2017’s most significant stories here at the Underground Bunker and today it’s a flashback to August in our annual Scientology year-in-review.

We started out the month by looking at a sermon by Clearwater pastor Willy Rice, who had hoped to host a taping of a Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath episode at his church. But even after that didn’t pan out, he said to his flock that he stood by things he had said about Scientology and its effect on their town.

The next day, Carol Nyburg became the latest to discuss her involvement in a television series about Scientology disconnection that hasn’t aired. Carol’s episode was about her painful separation from her daughter, but she also had good news for us — her son chose her over Scientology, and a new relationship for her has resulted in marriage.

In August we also got a new look inside the Super Power Building (given the bland moniker “Flag Building” after it was opened in 2013). This is one of the great monuments built to David Miscavige’s hubris. It’s massive, the features inside are ludicrous on a scale even L. Ron Hubbard never imagined, and we see no evidence that it’s having any effect on spreading Scientology. Once again, we claim dibs on the Oiliness Table once this thing goes belly up.

Although it was still summer, Leah Remini’s new season of ‘Aftermath’ was slated to start ahead of the regular fall television schedule, and it was up for an Emmy award, to boot. Early in August, the media expectation for the new season was building, and the show won a Television Critics Award. We talked to Mike Rinder about the effect he thought the show was having on Scientology itself. Leah, meanwhile, visited with Stephen Colbert.

In order to provide a curtain-raiser for Leah’s second season, the Hollywood Reporter posted a story about court documents being forged — but we felt a need to provide some clarification, that it wasn’t the Church of Scientology that was involved, even though there’s no doubt it was an alarming abuse of the courts. In our own curtain-raiser on the second season, we talked to Jeffrey Augustine about the barriers to a new IRS investigation of Scientology.

And when Leah did start her second season, what a nuclear bomb she led with. The stories of child molestation and child neglect — and its coverup — told by Mirriam Francis and Saina Kamula were heartbreaking, and set the tone for Leah’s new run at the church. We followed up with Mirriam and Saina the next day, asking them about their disappointing interaction with the LAPD.

We then pointed out that one of the Scientologists helping to promote an anti-Aftermath petition was Danny Masterson, as well as someone who has worked for him, Michael Peña’s wife Brie Shaffer. In fact, we pointed out that Shaffer is actually listed as a witness on the police report for one of the alleged rape incidents filed by a Masterson accuser. How curious!

As we had predicted, once Clearwater’s Pastor Willy Rice voiced some pretty strong opinions about Scientology, he became the subject of his own smear video posted by the church.

August 21 was really a historic day for us. Not only did we make the file from the 2009-2010 FBI investigation of the Church of Scientology fully public for the first time, but much more importantly, we stood in the shadow of the moon that morning in Madras, Oregon, for what turned out to be a glorious total solar eclipse — and we were fortunate to have Jefferson Hawkins along with us. What a moment.

 
Two days later, R.M. Seibert was back with even more documents showing how much Scientology is relying on R-1 religious visas to staff their Sea Org bases. It’s almost like no one in the U.S. wants to sign a billion-year contract and work for pennies an hour anymore.

On August 25, we joined a chorus of folks online who were demonstrating that Scientology’s “grass-roots” group, the STAND League, was as fake as astro turf. It’s amazing that Scientology attacks Leah Remini with this bot army.

Thanks to journalist Emma Best, the FBI coughed up new Scientology-related documents in August, and we got a look, for example, at records showing that the FBI had looked into complaints against the Anonymous movement in 2008. Tabloid media, meanwhile, turned some of the new documents into pure nonsense, of course.

On August 29, we were on hand for the San Antonio hearing over compelling the Rathbuns to testify, but their expensive lawyer successfully derailed the motion with an argument over jurisdiction. Ray Jeffrey and his colleagues can refile their motion in the county where the Rathbuns live, and the last time we checked they were still trying to decide whether to do that.

Among the new FBI documents coming out, there were declarations by L. Ron Hubbard Jr. (also known as “Nibs” and “Ron DeWolf”), which included some harsh things about his famous father being a junkie and sex pervert. It proved to be one of our most popular stories all year.

And on the month’s final day, we reviewed several signs that Scientology was losing its mind over Leah Remini’s series. “What we didn’t predict is just how unhinged Scientology’s attacks have become, and so reckless. We can’t help wondering if the wheels haven’t simply fallen off the crazy train.”

 
MOST-READ STORIES OF AUGUST 2017
1. DOX: L. Ron Hubbard’s son called him a junkie and sex pervert in FBI’s Scientology files
2. As Leah Remini’s second season hammers away, Scientology is losing its mind
3. Celebrity battle lines: Michael Peña’s wife asks Scientologists to ‘Stand with Daniel Masterson’
4. Leah Remini goes there: Child molestation in Scientology for tonight’s ‘Aftermath’ premiere
5. Stephen Colbert: Do you believe Scientology is a religion at all? Leah Remini: No

 
A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST 2016: Scientology didn’t make us feel very welcome at its Harlem grand opening. Life in retirement looks pretty good for Scientology’s notorious dirty trickster, Eugene Ingram. In the presidential campaign, a lot of comparisons between Donald Trump and L. Ron Hubbard were being made, but we pointed out that it was the Clinton White House that had serious Scientology baggage.

A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST 2015: Steve Fishman, of the famous Fishman Papers, is doing serious time for a bizarre crime. Tom Cruise gave a speech in Spanish, and turned up at a Scientology org in Colombia. And Paulette Cooper had an amazing encounter in Europe.

A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST 2014: We remembered Denise Brennan on the occasion of her passing. Mary Sue Hubbard’s house finally went up for sale, as we had predicted. And Kim Poff and Michael DeLong filed lawsuits over the troubling behavior of Oklahoma state officials who were too afraid to take on Scientology.

A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST 2013: Leah Remini filed a missing-person report on Shelly Miscavige, PZ Myers read A History of Man with us, Gerry Armstrong helped us tell his tale, and Monique Rathbun filed her harassment lawsuit.

 
Five of our favorites from the most-upvoted comments of August 2017

August 4: Mat Pesch
Flag claims to have put 4,000 public through the “Super Power Rundown” in 4 years which is an average of about 3 people per week. When I printed out a list of public who had done $1,000 worth of service at Flag over a 3 year period, it was only 5,000 names. That means about 80% (4,000/5,000) of Flags active public have already done the service. One can expect that the public rate of completion at this time is probably average 1 to 2 people per week. Realize that the building is HUGE. It takes up a city block and is about 100 feet tall. All of the Scientology delivery in the world could be done in this building. The building cost in the neighborhood of $100 million. While Scientology is known for its huge, fancy, expensive buildings that sit empty, this one takes the cake. It should be recognized as the most unutilized building in the world with Miscaviges office building at the Int base taking a close second. I guess the money needs to be spent somewhere to maintain tax exempt status. The buildings also look impressive in promotional videos and magazines.

August 11: Len Zinberg
If successfully prosecuting Scientology for its crimes and abuses was an easy task, it would’ve happened already. That it will not be easy should only strengthen our resolve, because we know it is necessary.

August 14: Luv2LuvEm
I just want to say, before all the new people flood into the Bunker after Season 2 starts tomorrow…I was one of them after Season 1 of Aftermath. The wonderful people in this forum are so genuinely kind, even to newcomers and that’s pretty rare in tight communities like this. I’ve learned SO much from you guys and I feel like even if I ask a “stupid” question the people here will take the time to sit down and explain things in a compassionate way. Morning is my favorite time now. I love that quiet time early before everyone is up, when I get my coffee, read Tony’s article and then spend hours going through all the comments. I get up extra early now because I look forward to it so much. You guys are awesome.

August 15: Princess Poopypants
Hate? Let me tell you a little about a hate group. Yeah. I have not said much about my mom, except that she disconnected from me in 2004. Well, here is a little about Scientology and hate. I had a very hard time with my mom. All my life. This is how I remember it. It may not be how she remembers it. I don’t know. She joined the Sea Org when I was 3 years old. (She is still there, 40 years later). I remember many days standing at the fence of the daycare screaming for my mom to come back. Because I knew some days, the sun would go up, then down, then up, then down, then up, then down again, many, many, many, MANY times before I would see her again. Later I found out it was weeks or months. I remember one time, I had not seen her for months. I saw her coming from across the street. I was so excited to see her. I don’t know why, but she would not come inside the fence. She did, however, hand me the biggest apple I had ever seen. I was a big deal to me that day. But then very soon she had to go. No hug, she just left. Did I spend my whole childhood crying for my mom to visit me? Sure felt like it. There was a point when I locked up, though. I stopped crying. I stopped caring if she came or not. I even once stood on the side of the Fountain building, which was 5 stories up (I was 6 or 7) and thought about falling. I was not afraid to die. I was afraid of the consequences if I lived. What gets a child to the point of thinking like this? For years the relationship between my mom and I was very, very rough. It was always one or the other of us trying to mend things, but neither of us at the same time. Mending never happened. Ever. Then sometime in the 90’s (I would have been in my 20’s), I made the huge mistake of doing sessions on her. I won’t talk about the sessions themselves, ever, but at that time I found out that my mom had labeled me an SP when I was 5 years old, and had been treating me as an SP since then. That fucking hurt so much. So so so so much. It was like being stabbed in the heart with a dagger. It was over for me. Any thought of repairing my relationship was gone from that moment on. And still, in this day, I have forgiven her for it. Not that she has ever asked for forgiveness. I will take her in my home and love her to the end of time. Scientology made her this way. She thinks it is ok to pretend she does not love her family. I don’t know my real mom. I only know this fake mom, molded by Scientology. She was taught to hate her own child.

August 17: Jefferson Hawkins
[The anti-Aftermath petition] indicates an all-out panic mode. Normally one would never mention an “entheta” article or show to the Scientology field. That’s Hubbard policy. I don’t have the reference handy as I pulped all my OEC Volumes 12 years ago, but old timers will remember. You never call attention to entheta articles or shows – because Scientologists might get curious and read or watch them. So they are taking a gamble that Scientologists will meekly sign the petition and not look at the show. Good luck with that. Some will – more than they will ever know. No question that this is a coordinated effort and that Scientologists are being ordered to sign it. Staff will simply be marched to computer terminals and forced to sign. Public will no doubt have to turn in a “compliance report” that they have signed the petition, and these will be reported to OSA, who will report the totals to Dave Miscavige. And Dave is probably screaming and yelling and threatening everyone within reach to get those petition totals up. It’s a weak move and will likely backfire. If the show is “lies,” then where is the lawsuit? Nowhere, of course. They will never take this to court as the evidence, presented under oath, would bury them.

 
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Chris Shelton talks to Leah Farrow

You might remember our story about Leah Farrow and her time as a Sea Org worker on the Freewinds. Now Chris Shelton has spoken with her about her six years aboard Scientology’s private cruise ship.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on December 28, 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 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 continuing to look back at 2017’s most significant stories here at the Underground Bunker and today it’s a flashback to July in our annual Scientology year-in-review.

On Independence Day, we reported that Clearwater bar owner Clay Irwin had managed to download images from the spy [...]]]>

We’re continuing to look back at 2017’s most significant stories here at the Underground Bunker and today it’s a flashback to July in our annual Scientology year-in-review.

On Independence Day, we reported that Clearwater bar owner Clay Irwin had managed to download images from the spy camera that was planted outside his house. They included not only images of his house but another one as well. Based on those images, we were later able to confirm that the Church of Scientology was behind the surveillance of Clay’s driveway.

On July 7, we did that thing we do every once in a while and bring you Scientology at its source with another fun excerpt of an actual L. Ron Hubbard lecture, in this case a really fun talk that Hubbard gave in 1963. In it, Hubbard revealed the real name of Earth society as given by our space overlords, and he also pitied people who believe in God, who fail to understand that they are a god, and that Scientology can give them powers to crush a planet between thumb and forefinger. Funny how the Scientology celebs never talk about this stuff.

In what we think was one of our more important stories of the year, we revealed that Jeffrey Augustine had found a very interesting document for us. It showed that in the last week of 2015, Bob and Trish Duggan, the world’s richest Scientologists, had socked away a million shares of stock from the pharmaceutical firm AbbVie in a foundation under their names. AbbVie is the maker of Humira, the rheumatoid arthritis treatment that is the biggest-selling drug in the world, and its stock was trading for just under $60 a share at that time — so the stock the Duggans set aside was worth about $60 million. (AbbVie also makes depakote, a drug for treating a bipolar diagnosis. So yes, AbbVie makes “psych” drugs.) The Duggans had a million shares of AbbVie stock to set aside because in 2015, AbbVie had bought Bob’s firm Pharmacyclics for $21 billion, boosting Bob’s personal wealth to almost $4 billion at that time. Anyway, according to the tax filing made by the Duggan Foundation, that AbbVie stock was expected to bring in revenue of about $3 million a year, and the foundation was very up front that it would only disburse that income in the way of charitable grants to the Church of Scientology or its various charitable entities. So, the upshot: Bob and Trish had socked away a big chunk of money so that as long as Humira is selling well and AbbVie’s stock is healthy, the Church of Scientology will reliably get a few million bucks a year into perpetuity. Later in the year, we got confirmation that Bob and Trish were splitting up, and we also got word that Bob has a new science-y girlfriend and may be stepping away from the church, so in that light we’re thinking that this gift of Humira-related revenue to Scientology may be Bob’s “leave me alone” money.

In July, it was time for the usual “Maiden Voyage” celebrations for Scientologists to applaud their leader, but this year David Miscavige’s message to his flock was decidedly darker than in past celebrations. He actually said this: “So, not to put too sharp a point on it, but this is the moment you have to ask: What did you think you were joining? The local bowling league?”

On July 12, we got excited about the prospect of an ‘Aftermath’ episode being filmed at the Clearwater church of Pastor Willy Rice, but A&E changed its mind. But at least we got to know Pastor Willy, who has been featured in our pages numerous times since.

Marty Rathbun was still making his little video attacks, and in one of them he made a snide remark about our interest in Shelly Miscavige, so we obliged him and explained why we’re still asking questions about her, 12 years after she vanished. We make no apologies about that.

Like everyone else, we were excited to learn in July that Leah’s series was nominated for an Emmy. But we also wondered if that might have an effect on her competition, fellow nominee Neil deGrasse Tyson, who has said some uninformed things about Scientology.

On July 17, Allen Barton let us publish an extract from his new book, which has a chapter talking about legendary acting coach Milton Katselas and his involvement in Scientology.

Even some six years after Tommy Davis lost his job as Scientology’s international spokesman, we still get asked all the time about him by the public, and on July 20 we had a big update that we knew would interest his legion of fans. Once again, he’d changed jobs, leaving his work for billionaire Australian gambling magnate (and former Scientologist) James Packer and going back to work for Los Angeles real estate investor Tom Barrack. And also, that we had found that Tommy had filed for divorce from his wife and fellow former Sea Org flack, Jessica Feshbach. The couple has two young daughters, and we truly do hope they work out something that is best for their girls.

Meanwhile, Janis Gillham Grady’s highly anticipated book about her time as a Commodore’s Messenger came out, Janis was kind enough to give us an excerpt to share with our readers, and Jon Atack offered his thoughts.

The Marty Rathbun situation continued to get weirder. On July 24, we reported that Rathbun’s former attorney Ray Jeffrey and his colleagues had filed a motion with the court asking for Marty and his wife Monique Rathbun to be compelled to testify in depositions to explain what the hell was going on with dropping their lawsuit and Marty going on the attack for Scientology. The next day, we pointed out that the Rathbuns had lawyered up with an expensive San Antonio attorney. Later, the San Antonio court dismissed the motion on jurisdictional grounds, but the attorneys can re-file in the county where the Rathbuns live. Last we checked, they’re still considering whether to do that. In the San Antonio hearing we attended in August, the Rathbun attorney made it pretty clear that they were willing to go for a writ of mandamus to prevent the depositions, a legal move that would cost the Rathbuns around $20,000, Ray explained to us.

On July 26, we marked the 75th birthday of Paulette Cooper, the unbreakable Miss Lovely herself. Just recently, she filled a lecture hall and brought down the house with her account of what she went through at the hands of Scientology. She hasn’t slowed down a bit.

The next day, we posted a lengthy piece by Derek Bloch about his experience taking part in a television series about Scientology disconnection which has not yet aired. Derek was one of several Bunker regulars who had taken part, and it involved trying to put people together in ambushes and the emotional meetings that resulted. Derek gave us just a taste of what it was like to confront his mother, who didn’t want to talk to him. Spurred by Derek’s example, Phil and Willie Jones told us about their experience filming for the same series, which was produced for the A&E network but has not been shown. Will it get a chance to air after Leah Remini’s run is over? We honestly have no idea.

 
MOST-READ STORIES OF JULY 2017
1. Scientology’s ‘Block Party today in Clearwater: Sending a message to the Lucky Anchor?
2. David Miscavige’s dark vision for Scientology: ‘What did you think you were joining?’
3. Ray Jeffrey to judge: Order Rathbuns to turn over financial records and testify
4. Leah Remini is filming an ‘Aftermath’ episode in Clearwater’s oldest Baptist church on July 22
5. Almost 12 years ago, Shelly Miscavige vanished. Here’s why we keep asking about her.

 
A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2016: How the parents of a Kazakh woman got her back from the Sea Org. We marked the passing of Steve “Sarge” Pfauth at 70. We found that Joey Chait’s story was more complex than some had it. Rebecca McKee told us how she reunited with her high school sweetheart. And we said goodbye to Arlene Cordova.

A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2015: We wrote about Scientology’s day care from hell. Brian Sheen’s full Scientology story turned out to be pretty fascinating. Chris Shelton emceed us in Denver. And Nick Lister dishes on Tom Cruise ruthlessly putting ethics in on his own family.

A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2014: Our Independence Day special, when Jeremy Powers defied disconnection and came home. We said goodbye to John Joseph, a man who cared. Camilla Andersson went public after 29 years in Scientology. And we live-blogged ID network’s show on Elli Perkins (which featured your proprietor).

A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2013: Leah Remini defects, Shelly Miscavige speaks, Jim Lynch exteriorizes, and Christian Stolte rocks.

 
Five of our favorites from the most-upvoted comments of July 2017

July 4: OutAndAbout
I was a public for 25 years, on and off. I was doing the basics at home. I decided to join staff at an org and it was at the training in LA that I realized the truth. I could feel them trying to separate me from my child. I could see so clearly that it was all a farce and that they were more focused on the stat deadline than helping people. You can’t see this while just doing extension courses. I was far away from home and when it hit me that this was not what I thought it was, I went into survival mode and got us out of there. I will never forget the daily trips to the restroom where someone was always crying in the other stall, wearing a SO uniform. It was the most depressing, weird place. When I wouldn’t comply, they yelled at me and slammed their hands down on the table and tried to shame me, telling me I was worthless. After finding The Bunker and Mike Rinder’s blog, I now know that they were doing the drills to break me down. It didn’t work on me. It just pissed me off. I am still peeling off the layers of indoctrination but I have come a long way. I changed my phone number, facebook and email and they still managed to find me. Thank you Tony for this blog and for not giving up and putting the pressure on. I just get sick every time I see someone suffering disconnection and I know that eventually I would have faced that as they tried to distance me from my child. Happy 4th to you all! Embrace your freedom!

July 7: Len Zinberg
Oh, Tony, this really hit a nerve. This is the stuff I bought into, hook, line and sinker! And listening today to Hubbard construct this bullshit cosmology becomes for me, an exercise in recalling the virtues of humility. What hubris the man had! Even today, I feel a tinge of grudging admiration for the old fucker to have bamboozled me so thoroughly back then. Ooo wa ta fu lie wuz. oh what a fool I was! And to you lucky never-ins: Yes, Scientologists really do believe this crap!

July 10: Mighty Korgo of Teegeeack
Things haven’t changed that much over the years. The blather used to be about “clearing the planet.” I took a WOG friend from university to see Captain Bill speak to a group of perhaps a thousand Scientologists at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto, about 1973. There the Captain spoke of clearing the planet. My friend said, “The guy up at the front is talking about taking over the world and the audience is laughing at the wrong parts.”

July 20: Tim Brown
I can’t believe it. With all the Scientology [Tommy Davis] has had for all those years, and he can’t keep a job and stay married? Kind of makes you wonder if it’s all bullshit.

July 27: chukicita
Damn, Derek. Just damn. I will have to be a little late to work today, I can’t go in like this. I believe your mom is still in there. You saw it in her eyes. In the way she closed the car door to contain your father so she could have one moment with you. In that handshake. Handshake. She knew if she hugged you like she wanted to, the armor would crack. She has been taught to fear that. No amount of auditing will ever remove her memory of that moment. For any mom.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on December 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 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