Rod Keller keeps an eye on Scientology’s Ideal Org program for us, and has an update from the heartland!

Renovations have begun at the Kansas City Ideal Org. Scientology purchased the building in 2007 for over $5 million and have been raising the funds to renovate it for the past decade. The current org [...]]]>

Rod Keller keeps an eye on Scientology’s Ideal Org program for us, and has an update from the heartland!

Renovations have begun at the Kansas City Ideal Org. Scientology purchased the building in 2007 for over $5 million and have been raising the funds to renovate it for the past decade. The current org is tiny with very few staff or publics, located on the second floor above an H&R Block tax office. Local Scientologists have donated to the project, but the bulk of the money appears to come from Clearwater, where many large donors live. In the US the Orlando Ideal Org will open very soon, with Detroit and Kansas City next in line.

Until the funds have been raised Scientology enlists untrained volunteers to do demolition work and minor repairs. Volunteers have been working on the Kansas City building, but this month they reached their goal and the professional builders have started. Permits are being pulled with the city for remodeling, electrical work and a fire sprinkler system.

 
Donors include Tom and Victoria Cummins, well-known Scientology “whales” from Clearwater. Tom is the CEO of American Power & Gas, an energy reselling company. The couple have been involved in many Ideal Org projects around the world, including Mexico City, Miami, North Hollywood and Taipei. They are Diamond Meritorious donors to the IAS, having given over $5 million in addition to their Ideal Org contributions.

Stacy Francis is a Los Angeles actress and singer, known for appearances on The X-Factor US, R&B Divas LA, and Celebrity Big Brother. She previously was involved in the fundraising for the Harlem Ideal Org.

 
Bill Rhodes is a Clearwater Scientologist and donor. Bobby Newman is an interventionist for Narconon Suncoast in Clearwater. The Newmans contributed $50,000 to the project.

 
There are many local donors as well, but none that can match the flow of money from outside. Paul and Roxanne Silovsky are the owners of Rebound Physical Therapy in Topeka, Kansas. Laura Williams operates Southport Animal Hospital in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Bob and Terri Marx own and operate a local dental practice.

 
As usual in Scientology, reaching the fundraising goal doesn’t stop the fundraising. The next scheduled event is May 5 and the theme is Land of the Titans. In mythology, the Titans were overthrown and replaced by the Olympian gods. In Scientology Kansas City will have their moment in the sun when David Miscavige opens the new org. They may even win the Birthday Game, but they will then be overthrown by the Ideal Orgs of 2020 or 2021 when the opening boom turns bust and Kansas City joins the list of empty buildings. Despite opening dozens of Ideal Orgs, in real terms Scientology is still just Clearwater and Los Angeles, with little anywhere else.

 
— Rod Keller

 
——————–

Make your plans now!

HOWDYCON UPDATE

We’re now just two months out, and Chee Chalker is working hard to make sure things are going to run smoothly at this year’s HowdyCon in Chicago, June 21-23. As in past years, we’re looking forward to meeting readers of the Bunker, culminating in Saturday night’s main event.

The biggest difference this year is that our Saturday night event is separate from that evening’s dinner. Chee is setting up an inexpensive pizza dinner that you don’t need to pay for ahead of time, after which we’ll walk over to the theater where our event, hosted by Chicago Fire star Christian Stolte, will take place. Because it’s a separate event, we’re asking that you pay $10 each to get into the Saturday night event, which will help us recoup what the Bunker paid for the venue. (We have never made a penny on our HowdyCon meetups, we only try to break even.)

Please email your proprietor (tonyo94 AT gmail) in order to reserve your spot for Saturday night’s main event. Seating is limited, and we’re going to have some really interesting people on stage and they may make a few announcements that you don’t want to miss.

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on April 22, 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

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news

We sure have a treat for you today. On Thursday, after we posted excerpts from L. Ron Hubbard’s most notorious lecture, his 1968 lesson about Xenu/Xemu and a 75 million-year-old genocide, we heard from someone who served with Hubbard at the time, Hana Whitfield! We hope you [...]]]>

We sure have a treat for you today. On Thursday, after we posted excerpts from L. Ron Hubbard’s most notorious lecture, his 1968 lesson about Xenu/Xemu and a 75 million-year-old genocide, we heard from someone who served with Hubbard at the time, Hana Whitfield! We hope you remember what an amazing job she did describing life on the high seas with Hubbard in the 2015 HBO documentary, ‘Going Clear.’

Anyway, we can hardly believe it, but Hana was inspired by our story on Thursday and decided to share with us a chapter of a forthcoming book she’s been working on. She can’t tell us the title or the publication date of the book yet, but the chapter is all about her own experience with Incident Two and OT 3 and Hubbard, and we knew you’d want to see it.

 
It was January 1968. Valencia harbor, Spain.

I was the Chief Officer on the Avon River and Joe van Staden, the Captain, and I were preparing our ship for Hubbard’s upcoming Whole Track Recall Mission.

Hubbard had just released OT 3. He glowed as he strutted proudly around the Royal Scotman — his Flagship on which he lived and which was docked next to the Avon — surveying the many Scientologists pouring on board from near and far to do his new OT 3.

Hubbard had invited qualified crew to start on OT 3 as well. I was one of many. I won’t go into the mess of trying to do OT 3. This is about what happened afterwards.

A number of Sea Org members completed OT 3 in a week. I had a premonition that Hubbard would go ballistic when he heard the news. How could I not? It had taken him years and he claimed he almost died in the attempt. However, unable to get anywhere with the level and after seeing my crewmates attesting, I decided to do the same.

Two mornings later, I was on deck on the Avon River supervising quantities of stores coming on board for our trip when a Commodore’s Messenger ran up to me. I think it was Janis Gillham (Grady). Out of breath, her face flushed, she said in quick words that the Commodore wanted to see me immediately in the Royal Scotman B Deck dining room. When I arrived, Peggy Bankston and Yvonne Gillham (Jentzsch) were already there.

Hubbard marched in grim-faced clearly beside himself.

I steeled myself.

He paced around the large dining room for a few seconds.

“You all know it took me years to research OT 3,” he began, his voice was hard, his words clipped. “The damage it did is irreparable and I almost dropped the body. And that getting through it would take years of uncompromising auditing.” He peered at us, anger distorting his features, shoulders hunched, his hands clenched. “Do you think I said that for your amusement? Yet all of you,” he spat out the words as he jabbed at us in turn, “attested in one week? Do you realize that doing this level honestly is your only road out of this … this trap?“ He looked around the dining room waving his hands. “Do none of you get it?”

He paced around again, the words pouring out of his mouth, falling over one another. Suddenly he stopped and stood not a foot in front of us.

“If the OT 3 platens didn’t restimulate you enough, I’ll tell you the whole story!”

He began, his voice alternating between fury, a plaintive wail, and a kind of singsong that reminded me of his Saint Hill Special Briefing Course taped lectures. I became scared he would have a heart attack…

Before the volcanoes exploded on Earth, Hubbard raged, Xemu set up traps to capture people on his empire of planets. The capture of humans, particularly prisoners, thieves, killers, rapists, stealers, was ingenious. Xemu’s renegade army set massive bonfires at strategic locations with voice recordings that cried out, beseeched, in scared voices – “Please help me!” and “Mother?” or “Father?” or “Here! I’m here! Help!” The recordings, voices pleading for help, rose from the flames for years.

“Of course, people went to help . . . and were caught! Like that!” Hubbard’s fingers snapped!

Once he had them electronically immobilized and bound, Xemu brought them to earth, and placed them on volcanoes. The volcanic explosions went on for years, the stream of bodies arriving and being thrown down into the fires and red-hot lava unending.

Hundreds of thousands of Xemu’s psychiatrists, waiting in the wings, pounced onto unwilling and resisting thetans, pinned them with electronic beams and PDH’d (pain, drugs, hypnosis and electric shock) them for sixty days to break and control them.

Xemu captured Loyal Officers, positioned them around the PDH locations, and made them watch the torture and suffering of their own people.

“You think it was a quick action?” Hubbard’s voice thundered. He moved forward and went nose-to-nose with us in turn. My knees began to shake – fearful of what Hubbard might do to us physically. I tried to pull myself together.

“The whole world shook,” he bellowed. The sun disappeared.” His voice rose. “Humans who lived on Earth couldn’t breathe. They died. Everything died. Xenu wanted everyone dead!” He waved his arms around, shouting the words.

Unconscious thetans were collected up, he went on, with enormous nets and beams, bound together, and taken to Hawaii and Las Palmas. Every batch brought in was implanted non-stop around the clock for thirty-six days. Electronic beams immobilized them, kept them in constant pain, and forced them to look at giant screens. After one lot was implanted, another took its place, and so on.

“Their implanting was repeated … over and over … and over!” He jabbed into the air with each over. “Pictures flashed on the screens continually for thirty-six days … everything you see around here and in the world!”

He began to chant … birth, death, life, bodies, men, women, food, sex, clothes, buildings, cars, trains, planes, ships, commerce, finance, education, torture, pain, beauty … and blood, pain, suffering… His voice sped up. He began pacing again.

Houses, clothes, cars, children… He paused, looked away.

“Ah! Then there’s religion! That was the key! Pictures of Gods, devils, saints, cherubs … that’s why religions display cherubs … and crosses, icons, clerical dress, rituals, houses, buildings, eating, sleeping, planes, trains, ships, emotions, punishment, crucifixions, being burned on the cross, torture, sex, priests, incense, shame, blame, and the whole bag of worms, it’s all in there, in the thirty-six day sequence. Details of sordid sex images, human starvation, suffering, and death. The Heaven and Hell implants, Christ on the cross and aspects of religion, and how savagely they were implanted into people. Voices that accompanied the images, commanded, ‘You will obey,’ ‘You are nothing,’ ‘You sin’ and ‘You are a body,’ ‘You are flesh.’ Single word commands such as ‘devil,’ ‘Satan,’ ‘sinner,’ ‘dead,’ ‘suffer,’ and on and on. Electric shocks occurred in between each command and image. We have it all … but it’s not all needed to run the implant.

“Xemu betrayed his own Officers to hide his crime. I’m telling you this for a reason,” he thundered. “If what I wrote didn’t restimulate every thetan and cluster you have, then I will! My confront isn’t limited. I got through the level and lived, the only one ever to do so!” He glared at us again. “Do you understand me? If any of you are ill tomorrow,” his finger jabbing, “I will know! And I’ll have Qual publicly cancel your OT 3 attestations. And,” his voice rose, “you will be assigned Treason. You’ll be declared SPs and offloaded. Or you can withdraw your attestations here and now, and go back onto OT 3!”

I stood, terrified, not daring to breathe.

Hubbard turned and marched out of the dining room.

Yvonne, Peggy, and I were silent. For a long moment. We looked at each other.

“I guess we go back to work,” said Peggy. We grimaced, turned, and went our separate ways. There was no way we could even talk about what had just happened … because that would be ‘discussing case,’ right?

I remembered a key policy Hubbard wrote in 1968: “It is sometimes easier for a pc to falsely attest than to face his own bank. To escape, he falsely attests. If ethics action for such false attestation is soft, it encourages him to falsely attest as there is no real penalty. Where ethics action is savage, it is easier for him to face his bank and so he actually makes it.” (HCO PL 7 Feb 68 “Fast Flow and Ethics”).

If Ron was right, I’d just thrown away my eternity. But something stirred inside, a whisper that told me to leave, go back to work … do nothing …

None of us volunteered that evening to go back on OT 3.

I went to sleep that night with the Old Man’s words ringing in my ears. And woke in the morning with a tiny spot of tenderness at the back in my throat.

“Shit,” I thought. “Am I incomplete on OT 3? No!”

Operating on automatic, I got up, had breakfast, and went on deck to supervise stores that were coming on board for the upcoming voyage.

Hearing movement and voices by the gangway, I looked over. The Old Man, in full uniform, his cape swirling as he marched, as grim-faced as he’d been the night before, was on the Avon gangway and advancing rapidly toward me. His usual retinue of personal aides, all as sour-faced as he, followed. Usually when the Old Man came on board, he took his time, and smiled and chatted to those around. But not that day. He saluted the Quartermaster and strode in my direction like a heat-seeking missile.

I faced him and saluted crisply. “Good morning, Sir!”

He leaned into me, his eyes slits, his nose two inches from mine. His retinue closed ranks behind him. I wondered if they knew about the night before.

“How are you this morning!” It was a bark, not a question.

I felt wonderful. That spot in my throat had disappeared. I also felt a sudden and unusual mischievous rush of dishing the Old Man some of what he’d dished us the night before.

“Perfectly well! Sir!” I said in my most authoritative crisp, loud voice. I faced him eye-to-eye, chest-to-chest, unblinking. I saluted once more. He peered at me, also unblinking, most likely looking for the tiniest quiver of skin, muscle, or eye to admit to a lie.

I remained motionless, refusing to break the gaze, holding the salute.

Finally he leaned away, took a full step back and visibly relaxed. He looked out at the bustle and activity that was going on over the Avon’s aft well deck.

The buzz and noise of orders being shouted and answered, and stores clattering broke over me as I came out of the Old Man’s trance and back into the present.

He turned back to me, looking like the Old Man I knew and would have gone to hell for.

“Well, looks like you have things well in hand, here, Commander,” he said congenially, smiling around at everyone. “Carry on!” He whirled back to me, saluted crisply, turned toward the gangway, and slowly walked away. His retinue wheeled around with him.

Returning the salute, I stayed at attention until he stepped off the Avon gangway and onto the Royal Scotman’s aft deck.

Hubbard never mentioned OT 3 to me again. However, I am quite sure my preclear folders are full of searing and derogatory notes how I “quickied” OT 3 because he ordered me back onto that crazy level many times later on with none of them producing the result he so wanted to see.

Later that day, I asked Yvonne and Peggy if LRH had seen them that morning. Oh yes, he had. Yvonne, tears appearing, said he’d been ferocious and accused her of trying to undermine his leadership and authority. She broke down in front of him, crying, and denying his accusations, affirming repeatedly that she was a loyal Sea Org member. We sat together until she felt better.

Peggy said that after the Old Man gave me another tirade, she had smiled and said, “Sir, if there are no BTs, how can I find them?” I marveled at her courage. At the same time, I wondered how much longer she would last in the Sea Org; Hubbard didn’t tolerate insubordination from anyone. She was gone in a few months…

 
— Hana Whitfield

 
——————–

Name-dropping Irish Scientologists get called out

Our thanks to the tipster who spotted this account by Irish resident Gerard Daly. We’re just going to present it as is, and perhaps we can get more detail from Mr. Daly later…

 
——————–

Make your plans now!

HOWDYCON UPDATE

Wow, we’re now two months out, and Chee Chalker is working hard to make sure things are going to run smoothly at this year’s HowdyCon in Chicago, June 21-23. As in past years, we’re looking forward to meeting readers of the Bunker, culminating in Saturday night’s main event.

The biggest difference this year is that our Saturday night event is separate from that evening’s dinner. Chee is setting up an inexpensive pizza dinner that you don’t need to pay for ahead of time, after which we’ll walk over to the theater where our event, hosted by Chicago Fire star Christian Stolte, will take place. Because it’s a separate event, we’re asking that you pay $10 each to get into the Saturday night event, which will help us recoup what the Bunker paid for the venue. (We have never made a penny on our HowdyCon meetups, we only try to break even.)

Please email your proprietor (tonyo94 AT gmail) in order to reserve your spot for Saturday night’s main event. Seating is limited, and we’re going to have some really interesting people on stage and they may make a few announcements that you don’t want to miss.

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on April 21, 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

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news

The photography website PetaPixel is reporting that Thorsten von Overgaard, a wealthy Danish photographer, got into hot water with his fellow camera enthusiasts when he offered super-luxury camera bags made not only of alligator skin but also elephant hide.

The 53-year-old Overgaard, known for [...]]]>

The photography website PetaPixel is reporting that Thorsten von Overgaard, a wealthy Danish photographer, got into hot water with his fellow camera enthusiasts when he offered super-luxury camera bags made not only of alligator skin but also elephant hide.

The 53-year-old Overgaard, known for his photography writing and workshops, sells luxury camera bags and bespoke suitcases through a partnership with Italian luxury designer Matteo Perin. The bags typically cost from $6,000 to $40,000 depending on the skin used, with calf being on the lower end and crocodile on the high end. But what caught the eye of some photographers was the elephant skin bag that was listed on the page.

We know Overgaard well because he’s a longtime Scientologist who, in 2016, married Joy Villa, the ever-ambitious Scientology celebrity who zoomed to fame for wearing a pro-Trump dress at the 2017 Grammy Awards red carpet and then worked her way into the White House. At one point, the president himself endorsed Joy’s intention to run for Congress, but after a falling out with her manager over tensions between her Scientology obligations and her conservative political ambitions, she has lost much of the momentum she had with Trump followers.

Overgaard, meanwhile, is less famous for his photography than for running seminars for other photographers. We didn’t know he was also selling high-end camera bags, but that certainly fits. When it was noticed that he was selling a bag made of elephant skin, he had a controversy on his hands.

According to PetaPixel, Overgaard tried to tamp down the outrage by claiming that the skin used on the bags was from elephants that had died “naturally,” and that proceeds from the sale of the material actually helped fund elephant conservation in Africa. But that only seemed to generate even more outrage.

After 5 days and over 20 forum pages of conversation in the forum thread, Overgaard was convinced by his critics’ arguments and changed his mind on the issue. In addition to no longer offering the elephant skin bags for sale, Overgaard decided to adopt an elephant.

Thankfully, you can still get a bag made from crocodile skin and designed by Overgaard. He calls it “The Von.”

 
The grift that keeps on grifting

Meanwhile, in Oregon, it was front page news this week that the state’s Department of Justice had ordered Les Smith, the former organizer of the Portland Marathon, to pay $865,000 as the result of an investigation which found that he’d illegally loaned himself money from the race’s nonprofit.

Tsk, tsk. Such unethical behavior. And the last sort of person that you’d expect would be asked to, oh, you know, speak at the opening of a new “Ideal Org” for the most ethical people on the planet…

 
Yes, that’s Les at the 2013 opening of the Portland Ideal Org, which we had a lot of fun covering at the time.

 
Grift those Google results, baby!

Also this week, Bryan Seely is back with more evidence that Scientology is the beneficiary of unethical Internet practices intended to boost reviews of its drug rehab centers.

The KrebsOnSecurity website has a lengthy and technical rundown on how someone (cough, cough) is recruiting people to randomly pass out glowing reviews of Scientology rehabs, boosting their results in Google searches.

Says the site…

Bryan Seely, a security expert who has written extensively about the use of fake search listings to conduct online bait-and-switch scams, said the purpose of sites like those that Seorehabs pays people to create is to funnel calls to a handful of switchboards that then sell the leads to rehab centers that have agreed to pay for them. Many rehab facilities will pay hundreds of dollars for leads that may ultimately lead to a new patient. After all, Seely said, some facilities can then turn around and bill insurance providers for thousands of dollars per patient.

Kudos to Seely and Brian Krebs for staying on this complex story.

 
Grift all the little girls and boys…

Millennials have been freaking out over a story at The Outline which did a good job explaining how wealthy Scientologist Doug Dohring ran Neopets as a “WISE” business, and on L. Ron Hubbard’s business principles, complete with an “org board” for structuring the company.

We understand why people who grew up online at the turn of the century and spent half their lives on Neopets are shocked to learn that it was a Scientologist-owned enterprise, but as the story makes pretty clear, it was owned by Dohring only for about five years (2000-2005), and Scientology ideas were never allowed in the game itself.

We were only surprised that The Outline’s story didn’t mention that today Dohring owns Age of Learning, the company that runs ABCMouse, and that Dohring’s personal donations to Scientology reached a whopping $20 million last October, as we reported here at the Underground Bunker. (That was a cumulative $20 million over many years, not a single donation of that amount, by the way.)

So, we would encourage those young moms freaking out about their Neopets experience as kids to maybe check to see if they aren’t funneling cash to Scientology today through their toddler’s ABCMouse subscriptions.

 
Grifting the bestseller list…

After our most recent story trying to get authors to pay more attention to the blatant connections between Scientology’s controversies and its “Writers and Illustrators of the Future” contest, we noticed that this year more science fiction types were raising their voices on social media about it.

That’s good to see. And then there was this really eye-opening piece by Sci Fi writer Jason Sanford, who pointed out the grifty levels of sales that the contest anthology, put out by Galaxy Press, claims to be making each year.

Sanford noticed a really suspicious and huge uptick that happened in 2015…

2010 edition: 753 copies
2011 edition: 711 copies
2012 edition: 1,120 copies
2013 edition: 2,111 copies
2014 edition: 1,413 copies
2015 edition: 7,563 copies
2016 edition: 5,405 copies
2017 edition: 13,731 copies

Here’s what that looks like on a graph…

 
Yeah, that’s not very suspicious or anything.

Says Sanford, “Prior to Galaxy Press being created, Hubbard’s books were released by Bridge Publications, another Scientology owned company. As has been well documented, Bridge used Scientology members to purchase their own books from bookstores, enabling Hubbard’s works to land on the bestseller lists…To me these numbers don’t fit the pattern of normal book sales and suggest Galaxy Press may be engaging in the documented behavior used by their previous publisher to put Hubbard’s books on bestseller lists.”

That would be shocking. Simply shocking.

We’d ask Galaxy Press executives John Goodwin and Emily Jones about this, but they are currently participating in Scientology’s disconnection program and wish to be left alone.

 
The grift stops here?

Even if Scientologists and their gladhanding allies are finding ways to comport themselves like human slime molds in the above examples, the really comforting thing is that no matter how rotten things are in David Miscavige’s empire, he always finds friends in the government who will look the other way.

Our final item today should comfort our Florida readers in particular, who will be moved to learn that their attorney general, Pam Bondi, is doing what she can to fight the opioid crisis in her state. And in the “weekly briefing” she posted recently to her website, she made sure to include a link to a podcast she participated in recently about the drug abuse epidemic in Florida.

You will no doubt be thrilled to hear that the podcast Ms. Bondi appeared on, “The Addiction Podcast – Point of No Return,” is produced by Narconon Suncoast, the Scientology rehab clinic in Clearwater, Florida that we have kept an eye on over the years.

Bondi has a fairly lengthy record of playing footsie with the Church of Scientology.

We sent an email to Bondi’s office asking about her appearing on the podcast and promoting it at her website. We appreciated getting a prompt response from her director of communications, Whitney Ray: “In an effort to save lives, the Attorney General is committed to reaching as many people as possible through many different local, state, and national platforms — especially to warn teens not to take a pill from anyone because it could contain heroin laced with fentanyl.”

We certainly agree that kids need to learn about the dangers of fentanyl.

And Floridians can rest assured that Scientology grift will keep on grifting without much concern from the state’s highest levels of law enforcement. Good times!

 
——————–

Make your plans now!

HOWDYCON UPDATE

We’re just a little more than two months out, and Chee Chalker is working hard to make sure things are going to run smoothly at this year’s HowdyCon in Chicago, June 21-23. As in past years, we’re looking forward to meeting readers of the Bunker, culminating in Saturday night’s main event.

The biggest difference this year is that our Saturday night event is separate from that evening’s dinner. Chee is setting up an inexpensive pizza dinner that you don’t need to pay for ahead of time, after which we’ll walk over to the theater where our event, hosted by Chicago Fire star Christian Stolte, will take place.

Because it’s a separate event, we’re asking that you pay $10 each to get into the Saturday night event, which will help us recoup what the Bunker paid for the venue. (We have never made a penny on our HowdyCon meetups, we only try to break even.)

Please email your proprietor (tonyo94 AT gmail) in order to reserve your spot for Saturday night’s main event. Seating is limited, and we’re going to have some really interesting people on stage and they may make a few announcements that you don’t want to miss.

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on April 20, 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

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news

Over the last few months, we’ve made an occasional series out of bringing you Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard in his own words. On its new television network, Scientology itself has a program it calls “L. Ron Hubbard: In His Own Voice,” but that’s the [...]]]>

Over the last few months, we’ve made an occasional series out of bringing you Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard in his own words. On its new television network, Scientology itself has a program it calls “L. Ron Hubbard: In His Own Voice,” but that’s the safe stuff, Hubbard’s recollections of his travels that helps to perpetuate his myths about himself.

Our series has been an attempt to bring you the unadulterated Hubbard, the space opera and superhuman claims that is meat and potatoes to Scientologists, who believe that they are creating a new species of human being with Hubbard’s vast galactic wisdom.

We’ve brought you Hubbard on space aliens, on the true name of our society, on his days as a race car driver tens of thousands of years ago, his claims that we’ve all lived so many trillions of years we all have horrific crimes against children in our pasts, on religion (before Scientology was a ‘church’), and on how to read people’s minds and control them through lying, and more.

But there’s one Hubbard lecture that is more notorious than any other, and we figured it was finally time to dive into it. Sure, you probably know it. It’s the time in 1968, aboard the yacht Apollo, when Hubbard was giving his “Class 8” lectures to create a new, higher level of auditor among his followers. And on October 3, in the tenth lecture of the series, titled “Assists,” he spelled out for them an ancient memory they were going to have to deal with among their subjects, a memory he had discovered the year before for something called “OT 3.”

It was the story of Xenu.

You’ve no doubt heard most or all of this lecture. Alex Gibney and Lawrence Wright used parts of it to great effect in their 2015 HBO documentary “Going Clear,” and it was the basis for what you saw in South Park’s 2005 episode, “Trapped in the Closet.” But we’ve never dug into it for this website before. We’re sensitive to the complaints of some former Scientologists that too much emphasis is put on the Xenu tale by the press and “never-ins” who don’t realize that Xenu, the evil galactic dictator, is only a very minor figure in the total experience of Scientology.

We get that. But on the other hand, what a lecture. We figured it’s time we dove in with both feet.

In September 1968, Hubbard announced that he wanted every org on the planet to send two auditors to the Apollo to be trained as Class 8 auditors. The course would take three weeks, and discipline would be harsh.

On October 3, he turned to the subject of assists. Nearly every Scientologist is trained in how to give a “contact assist” or “touch assist.” It’s essentially Scientology’s version of faith healing, built on the idea that you lessen an injury’s effect by re-staging it with a light touch (a contact assist), or help the body “communicate” with itself by running your finger over the affected area (a touch assist).

Sometimes, however, the simple assist doesn’t work, and Hubbard explains that your subject — known as a “preclear” — is suffering the effects from an “engram,” a traumatic memory, perhaps from one of his or her past lives. These memories may have been something we actually experienced in the far past, or they might be “implants,” false memories forced on us by malevolent agents. Hubbard wants his students to understand that although each of us have many different individual experiences, if you audit people far enough into the past, you will run into a few memories that we all have in common.

In Hubbard’s cosmology, there is an Incident One which occurred about 4 quadrillion years ago, which marked the beginning of this universe (actual scientists say the universe has only been around about 13.8 billion years, but whatever), and a more traumatic Incident Two, which occurred much, much more recently — only around 75 million years ago.

Hubbard discovered this information the year before in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, when he went through the “Wall of Fire” and learned the details of Incident Two, which explained Earth’s violent past. The handwritten notes from that session are given to Scientologists when they reach the secret “Operating Thetan Level Three.” But here, Hubbard launches into a much more detailed version of the tale to his Class 8 students, to help them deal with the nasty engrams they’re going to run into among their preclears.

Here’s our first Fair Use excerpt from the lecture, as Hubbard begins to explain the background to Incident Two.

 
Earth is part of a confederacy made up of 21 stars and 76 planets. The tale Hubbard is telling started with the capture of people on those planets.

At the time, Hubbard explains, the culture of the confederacy was very much like the 1950s and 1960s in the US. And there’s a reason for that, he says. Incident Two left behind an “implant” that is referred to as “R6,” which has left all of us with these vague memories of the old confederacy and what its society looked like. And so in the march of civilization here on Earth in the past few thousand years, human beings were simply trying to recreate the look of society in the old confederacy without really understanding that they were doing so.

The confederacy had an elite class known as the Loyal Officers who had elected a leader, Xenu. (And yes, Hubbard here says his name could be spelled X-E-M-U, but we’ve already explained why we continue to refer to him generally as Xenu, which Hubbard used in all other written texts.)

After electing Xenu, the Loyal Officers had lost faith in him and were going to “unelect” him. A sort of civil war ensued between Xenu and the Loyal Officers, and Xenu used subterfuge to capture many of his enemies — he employed the ruse of an income tax audit to bring them in, for example.

To this day, Hubbard says, the United States is blindly following the R6 implant by having an income tax. (We love that particular detail.)

OK, here’s the second excerpt…

 
The civil war continued, and whole planets were wiped out, becoming like “billiard balls.”

After capturing his enemies, Xenu used a special technique not only to kill a body but seize their spirit — known as a “thetan” in Scientology. A needle in the lung was followed by encasing the body in “frozen alcohol and glycol,” which would trap the thetan inside.

The corpses were then put into spaceships which looked just like DC8 airplanes. (Presumably, human engineers, also affected by the R6 implant, slavishly ended up copying a space plane in their past when they designed modern airplanes.) Xenu’s forces then made the trip to Teegeeack, which was this planet’s name then, moving faster than the speed of light because Einstein’s theories are “balderdash,” Hubbard says.

He gives a particular example to illustrate that point: One of the 21 stars in the confederacy is Polaris, our north star, which astronomers recently estimated to be 323 light years away. Hubbard says the trip from Polaris’ planet Coltus took nine weeks, so that’s moving at about 1.2 trillion miles an hour — or about 1,800 times the speed of light.

The corpses were stacked up in boxes around volcanoes in various parts of Teegeeack, and then blown up with hydrogen bombs. A sort of electric field — an electronic ribbon, Hubbard says — captured the thetans that were released from the destroyed corpses, and then the thetans were assembled to be forced to watch color movies.

These movies put implants — false memories — into the thetans, giving them memories seemingly from trillions of years ago that are encountered during the really bizarre auditing level of OT 2.

Here’s the third excerpt…

 
Over the course of about 36 days, the captured thetans were forced to watch 3-D movies that indoctrinated them with false memories of “God, the devil, space opera, etcetera…the entirety of Roman Catholicism, the devil, all that sort of thing, that is all part of R6.”

After being indoctrinated with the R6 implant, the thetans were then sent to assembly areas in Hawaii and Las Palmas, and then were sent out to various planets to live a much more programmed kind of life.

Symbols contained in the implants, for example, would influence people in odd ways. Modern movie theaters, he says, preserve those symbols in their interior design and people have no idea that they’re being influenced by the implant.

After the processing and transport, about 178 billion programmed thetans were sent to each of the planets in the confederacy, with about 250 billion left here on Earth/Teegeeack.

Remnants of the explosions can still be found when you dig down deep enough in the earth, Hubbard says, and find a layer of green glass.

Here’s the next part…

 
One of the motivations behind this complex operation, Hubbard says, was an overpopulation problem. The newly programmed thetans now were influenced by ideas which would cause them to engage in behavior that inhibited their survival.

For example, one of the results was the sexual molestation of children, which was taught by the R6 implant.

Meanwhile, Earth was left with a grim reputation because everyone in the confederacy associated it with the explosions and genocide. “This planet is the planet of evil repute,” Hubbard says.

 
All of this took place almost 75 million years ago. Some 20 million years ago, a new “body line” started up on the planet, and humanity was instilled with the thetans implanted with R6.

The history of civilization is man’s attempt to recreate those conditions of the confederacy, not knowing that we’re being influenced by this evil programming.

And when anyone tries to stand up and counteract that — to save the planet, as it were — the rest of us are programmed to kill that person.

Again Hubbard refers to the Catholic church, which has “picked up” fragments of R6 to dramatize them.

Meanwhile, Hubbard reveals that some Loyal Officers did manage to survive, and ultimately defeated Xenu in the civil war. The evil overlord was imprisoned with some of his followers in a wire cage “charged with an eternal battery” in a mountain on one of the confederacy’s planets. “He is not likely ever to get out.”

The Loyal Officers then had to start civilization over again from the beginning.

Hubbard then makes an interesting observation — that in order to counteract the effect of the implant, you should never say that we are “saving” the planet but that “you are the people who own the planet.”

 
One of the results of the R6 implant is that we react to the symbol of a volcano, where the corpses were blown up by Xenu. And that’s why Hubbard had an erupting volcano put on the cover of his book “Dianetics,” which he holds up to the class.

Another symbol in our implant is that of crucifixion, which is common in R6. “Everybody is shown crucified,” he says. But someone around the year 600 BC somehow “found a piece” of R6 and used it to create what became Christianity.

“There was no Christ,” Hubbard says. But pretty much everyone you audit is going to say that they remember being Christ in a past life – that’s just the R6 implant talking.

The implant also causes illness, and makes sure that we only live around 70 years, which was not the case before Incident Two.

In general, the people living on this planet are a mess, but now that Hubbard had discovered the implant (and had supposedly almost paid for it with his life during his “Wall of Fire” incident the year before), Scientology was now the only answer to combating it.

Removing the implant, living as free “operating thetans,” Scientologists could live longer and without the false ideas of Christ, the devil, and other religions.

Hubbard, not being of this planet, is less concerned about it: “The truth of the matter is that it is more the business of the inhabitants of this planet than it is mine.”

Wow. Is that something or what?

Why don’t we see this stuff on Scientology TV?

OK, we can’t wait to hear your thoughts after listening to Hubbard spell this stuff out. How do you think it would have affected you at the time, on the ship Apollo in the Mediterranean, cut off from the outside world? What do you think about the reactions you can hear from the audience? And if Hubbard did dream this all up, how does it stack up as science fiction? Let us hear it.

 
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Chris Shelton and Sunny Pereira on the Introspection Rundown

Says Chris: “Here’s my new video for this week, the second part of my series on mental illness treatment in Scientology. In this one, we go into the Introspection Rundown and the setup for it. The next (and last) part will be the technical details and steps.”

 
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Make your plans now!

HOWDYCON UPDATE

We’re just a little more than two months out, and Chee Chalker is working hard to make sure things are going to run smoothly at this year’s HowdyCon in Chicago, June 21-23. As in past years, we’re looking forward to meeting readers of the Bunker, culminating in Saturday night’s main event.

The biggest difference this year is that our Saturday night event is separate from that evening’s dinner. Chee is setting up an inexpensive pizza dinner that you don’t need to pay for ahead of time, after which we’ll walk over to the theater where our event, hosted by Chicago Fire star Christian Stolte, will take place.

Because it’s a separate event, we’re asking that you pay $10 each to get into the Saturday night event, which will help us recoup what the Bunker paid for the venue. (We have never made a penny on our HowdyCon meetups, we only try to break even.)

Please email your proprietor (tonyo94 AT gmail) in order to reserve your spot for Saturday night’s main event. Seating is limited, and we’re going to have some really interesting people on stage and they may make a few announcements that you don’t want to miss.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 19, 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

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news

  Every once in a while, we like to remind readers what it is that keeps Scientologists committed to going up the “Bridge to Total Freedom,” a pursuit that takes years of expensive auditing, brutal interrogations, and extortionate pricing.

As many former church members have told us, one of the things that kept [...]]]>

 
Every once in a while, we like to remind readers what it is that keeps Scientologists committed to going up the “Bridge to Total Freedom,” a pursuit that takes years of expensive auditing, brutal interrogations, and extortionate pricing.

As many former church members have told us, one of the things that kept them going through that harrowing experience were the stories told by more experienced Scientologists, egging them on with stories of their fabulous “wins” and “gains” once they managed to go “OT.”

Scientology even enshrines that practice in one of its magazines. We’ve long had a fascination for the “OT Phenomena” column of Advance! magazine, and it’s also been a favorite of our readers. Each month, advanced church members who have gone through the “Operating Thetan” auditing levels — which cost tens of thousands of dollars each — tell mysterious tales of how their OT powers, gained on those levels, have impacted their lives.

Jefferson Hawkins once edited the magazine and told us the OT Phenomena column was one of its most popular features. Scientologists hunger for tales of the superhuman powers they will attain. And we never tire of reading these wonderful ghost stories, which for some reason often involve automobiles. (In the 1970s, the stories were wilder. Like the person who left their body, went across the country, and then performed surgery on someone while still in an ethereal state.)

Yesterday, a reader sent us the OT Phenomena column from a copy of Advance! that’s a few years old. We’re glad to see that the column really hasn’t changed very much from its heyday in the 70s — with the big exception being that names are no longer attached now, just initials.

We hope you enjoy these tales from Scientologists, and keep in mind, this is the stuff that keeps them in, year after year, putting up with so much abuse.

And hey, here’s an idea: Write up your own OT Phenomenon in the comments section! Let’s see if you can nail the style.

 
WHAT CUTS?

I was working as a carpenter on a project that required a lot of skill and dexterity with very sharp tools. On this occasion, I was fitting two pieces of wood together, and the chisel I was using slipped off the wood and went right through my thumb, cutting deeply to the bone.

I did not panic or react wildly, but in fact remained calm and wrapped a cloth tightly around the thumb, and held it above my heart. I then went to see a Scientologist doctor who fixed it up with about 8 stitches and I went back to work.

I stopped by the HGC and originated what happened and was told to come back a few hours later for my session.

In that session, we did an assist using NOTs procedure, and the most amazing thing happened. While I was doing the command, I noticed that my thumb was tingling, so I looked to where my left hand was holding the cans, and watched as the skin straightened itself out and then stopped — leaving nothing but a thin red line where the wound used to be!

The whole session was 10 minutes.

I went back to the same doctor the next day, told him what happened, and he took out the stitches declaring that it was healed. If it had been a regular doctor it would have been seen as a miracle! I went back to work as if nothing had happened at all, and it has been no trouble for me since. — T.S.

 
AN IMPOSSIBLE TEST

I was studying the Congress course on Positive Postulates and the datum that there was no negative, just the postulate and no negative given attention to.

I have an older truck that needed to get a smog check. When I brought it to my mechanic he said it will never pass. The standards had been raised to help stimulate the new car market.

At that point I saw perfectly that it was now my postulate and all in my hands. Did I got into agreement with that or not? I decided not to and really made the total positive postulate that the car was a pass.

The look on my mechanic’s face when he came out was pure astonishment.

It passed!

He was amazed as he had not seen the likes of that before. For me it was a good lesson in Tone 40 as an OT in life. — M.T.

 
JUST WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR

I was in a flurry of intense activity and then got home and sat at the computer. I wanted to chill out and turned on an internet music site on which I have about one hundred “stations” I created which, in shuffle mode, constantly rotate from station to station. Each station can play, randomly, thousands of songs from that genre of music. I thought, “What I want to hear is a nice, slow, Rachmaninoff piece.” I only have three classical music stations and only one of those hundred focuses on pieces by Rachmaninoff or other pieces similar to his music. So I intended to take the site out of shuffle mode and pick the Rachmaninoff station when the site booted up.

Suddenly, a nice, slow, Rachmaninoff piece started playing! The chances of that are probably one out of one hundred thousand, or maybe even less.

Obviously the MEST universe cancelled the odds and complied with my command. — P.M.

 
PURE MAGIC IN SESSION

New OT V (NOTs) is like magic. The things handled in session truly defy all the laws of the physical universe. For instance, I have had a bit of uncomfortable back pain for years. The pain was not much, but at times it would be very annoying.

One day while in session on NOTs, my back just snapped in place by itself. And I don’t have that uncomfortable feeling anymore. I have also had allergies I get this time of year. That too has blown in session. It is something everyone should experience. It is all personal gains and different beings get different things handled for them. — E.R.

 
BENDING MEST UNIVERSE

It was mid-morning and I was in a rush to get to the airport to catch my flight. I had to get to a very important meeting that night on the East Coast.

A friend was taking me to the airport. We’re driving down the freeway, it’s pouring rain and there is traffic all around us. All of a sudden, we hit a sheet of water and started hydroplaning. The car started weaving out of control. Suddenly we were heading straight for the center divider at about 60 miles an hour.

In a flash I decided we were not going to have a head on collision as I had to make the flight and I was not about to get smashed up all over the freeway. I gave the car a theta nudge and it suddenly turned around and we were hurtling down the road backwards. The back bumper touched the center divider, we had traction again on the road and my friend was able to stop the car. All we had was a dent on the back bumper and a flat tire. But we were facing the wrong direction.

Then, just as suddenly as the car flipped around, all the oncoming traffic mysteriously disappeared and there was an off ramp right next to us. We drove off the freeway and found a gas station. While the car was being fixed, I caught a taxi to the airport, made my flight with time to spare and I arrived at the meeting on time without a scratch! Now that was OT. My friend thought it was a miracle. It was! — C.C.

 
A MIRACLE IN SESSION

I was auditing a preclear and in session and we took up the “Tax Collector.”

The preclear stated that the State had sent him a bill, but he had been reluctant to communicate with them for a long time.

We contginued to run “Tax Collector” and a couple more items to F/N and a big win and ended off. The following day the preclear reported that he called the state and the taxes were no longer owed at all. — E.B.

 
FINDING WITH PERCEPTION

A friend and I were making props for an upcoming film. She was working on a miniature sports car (the size of a toy) and needed to paint it a different color along with a few adjustments that would make it match the real sports car that was being shot in the film (within hours).

I came into the room she was working in and she was on her hands and knees searching for something. I asked if she needed help (she was in grief). She had lost a very small silver part to the miniature car that was to go on the hood (less than 1/8th inch in size).

The props room she was working in had bits of things (wood, metal, clay, etc.) all over the floor from the many props made that day and she felt quite hopeless on her search.

I decided I would find it. I also decided that I was not going to be anxious or frantic about it (it was a pretty frantic and anxious situation as the shoot was going to take place within hours)…

I searched in the props area she was in, but did not find it. I then walked into the ladies changing room and quite suddenly I knew where it was. I could not see anything, but I just knew where it was, so I walked forward about 6 feet, bent down and when I got quite close to the floor I saw it! I picked it up and returned it to my co-worker. She now had tears of joy as it saved the shot by finding this small piece that was needed for the miniature car. — J.H.

 
SAVING A LIFE

My dad was very ill and losing weight at a phenomenal speed. He had a physical condition which had come back and the doctor was unable to effectively treat it. He was about to be hospitalized and there was not a lot of hope on what else to do.

I was starting New OT I, but was very worried about his illness. I did my first session for New OT I and in that session, I spotted the exact thing that was occurring in my dad’s universe and totally blew that charge — for him.

The next day, when my dad went to the doctor, he started to respond to the medical treatment.

Within two weeks, he had received more medical handling, had regained weight and then was actually able to get well enough for auditing. Next thing I knew, he himself was in session, addressing his own case factors and has never had that same problem return.

I was impressed that OT auditing could influence others so simply — yet, this is exactly what happened fo rme. I saved my dad’s life! — S.M.

 
DRIVING THE “OTHER” CAR TOO

I was driving down the street on a pleasant afternoon. As the light turned green and I entered the intersection I saw a lady speeding to the right of me. At that moment I realized that I had nowhere to go (someone was following too close behind me and someone was to the left me). I also saw that no one was behind the person heading right toward me. So I threw out a “STOP” into her universe, she immediately hit the brakes and came into present time.

I merrily went on my way and no horrible accident occurred.

This whole action took place in about 1 billionth of a second. — A.W.

 
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Make your plans now!

HOWDYCON UPDATE

We’re just a little more than two months out, and Chee Chalker is working hard to make sure things are going to run smoothly at this year’s HowdyCon in Chicago, June 21-23. As in past years, we’re looking forward to meeting readers of the Bunker, culminating in Saturday night’s main event.

The biggest difference this year is that our Saturday night event is separate from that evening’s dinner. Chee is setting up an inexpensive pizza dinner that you don’t need to pay for ahead of time, after which we’ll walk over to the theater where our event, hosted by Chicago Fire star Christian Stolte, will take place.

Because it’s a separate event, we’re asking that you pay $10 each to get into the Saturday night event, which will help us recoup what the Bunker paid for the venue. (We have never made a penny on our HowdyCon meetups, we only try to break even.)

Please email your proprietor (tonyo94 AT gmail) in order to reserve your spot for Saturday night’s main event. Seating is limited, and we’re going to have some really interesting people on stage and they may make a few announcements that you don’t want to miss.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 18, 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

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news

  Last night, we heard from our old friend Steve Hall after he read our interview with Justin Craig, who claims to be the returned L. Ron Hubbard. During our interview, Craig/LRH denied that the infamous “Original OT 8” materials were genuine.

Several years ago we came to the opposite conclusion, that the notorious [...]]]>

 
Last night, we heard from our old friend Steve Hall after he read our interview with Justin Craig, who claims to be the returned L. Ron Hubbard. During our interview, Craig/LRH denied that the infamous “Original OT 8” materials were genuine.

Several years ago we came to the opposite conclusion, that the notorious document, which was used briefly by the Church of Scientology in 1988 before being abandoned, was actually intended by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to be a shocking revelation to his followers that he considered himself the Antichrist. The church has called the document a hoax. But was it? Hall sent us this stunning account of how he ran into that document while he was working at Scientology’s secretive Int Base near Hemet, California — and that he also witnessed another contested work by Hubbard, the “Affirmations.” We knew you’d want to see his recollections!

 
Tony, I read your post about the new LRH criminal/con man hoping to pick up where the original LRH criminal/con man left off. Oh boy.

Regarding the authenticity of the Original OT 8 document, during the six years that I was the director of scriptwriting at the Int base, I along with my associate writer and friend Dan were frequently called on the carpet to meet with COB (Chairman of the Board, RTC, David Miscavige). Among other things, we were saddled with the onerous task of having to write all his propaganda videos used in events.

This position was not obtained by choice. I was forced onto the post as I had become somewhat adept as a copywriter and had made a name for myself as the “Senior Writer” in marketing. No one had ever lasted more than a year as scriptwriter, so I got thrown in with the sharks. My swim lasted six tortuous years until I finally scripted my own escape, but that’s a story for another time.

Dan and I both loathed the scripts we had to write and detested the job; it was abject slavery. We were tasked with writing more than thirty types of scripts and the COB “traffic” (micro-managerial orders) on how to write each of those scripts comprised twelve linear feet of traffic. Here’s a riddle, how do you become good at writing what is inherently shit? Yet to refuse the post would have meant never seeing my wife again and being trap-doored straight into RPF hell in another city. It had already happened to me once in 1990.

These COB “meetings” (a/k/a “shit storms”) took place with about equal regularity at Int Base in the CMO Int Conference Room, the WDC Conference Area (both were part of the CMO Int triple-wide trailers which later became ‘the Hole’), the Cine Conference room (just across from the flagpole facing the highway), or the Building 50 Atrium (which was the new RTC Building).

One night, round about the year 2000 or so, we arrived in the CMO Int Conference room. COB came in followed by Marc Yager, CO CMO Int, and the other usual suspects like COB Secretary (Laurisse “Lou” Henley-Smith), ED Int (Guillaume Lesevre) etc. One of COB’s slaves handed me and Dan an “LRH Advice,” and DM ordered us to read it while flashing a knowing glance at Yager. Of course that glance was not lost on me. COB was out to make some kind of point, but what was the point?

LRH Advices were unpublished notes from L. Ron Hubbard (of which there were thousands) by which he ran the Church during his final years when he was in hiding and not supposed to be running the Church. LRH advices were written on all subjects having to do with Scientology, the administration of Scientology organizations, running the Int Base, and any other subject. Officially, they don’t exist. But Scientology’s “Incomm” computer system provided us with a search function enabling approved Int Base staff to access certain libraries of LRH Advices. The system was called “SIR,” an acronym which as I recall stood for Source Information Retrieval.

There were other unpublished LRH “references” some of us had access to and were expected to utilize. For example, in the late 1990s I happened upon a paper copy of Hubbard’s damning “Affirmations” document of self-hypnosis from the late 1940s where Hubbard revealed some pretty frightening crazy, like a violent sexual lust, a predilection for what sounded like rape, the determination to impregnate random women before throwing them away, and a vow to make all men his slaves. I came across that document at the Int Base and read the whole thing, astonished that it had accidentally landed in my hands. It was real and had been included in a packet of LRH references for a submission. In Marketing, every submission had to include the relevant LRH Advices and references tabbed with highlighted excerpts as a part of our “Completed Staff Work.” I was appalled when I read it, which brings us to the disputed document mentioned during your interview of the fellow claiming to be New LRH.

That night when Dan and I were called up to the CMOI Conference Room, we were handed a single LRH Advice which was the very one now identified as from the Original OT 8 materials, but neither Dan nor I knew from whence it had come.

In the advice, LRH said that he had been Lucifer, whose name meant “bringer of light.” He said that Jesus was a lover of young boys, etc. After we read the advice, COB wanted to know what Dan and I thought about it. We didn’t really know what to say (as per usual, a fact which drove COB nuts) since with COB anytime he asked you a question, you were on the edge of a precipice. Answer wrong, and you could expect instant retaliation and likely punishment. In that kind of situation, something vague was usually a safer response. So we both just said we thought it was “really cool.” COB questioned us a bit more to verify we had a positive reaction to it. We said we thought it was “definitely OT.” After he saw our reaction was “positive,” he looked at Marc Yager as if to say, “See, I told you so you, you stupid fuck.”

Today, that encounter tells me that it was probably COB’s idea (if not Hubbard’s) to incorporate that advice into the OT 8 materials, an idea that went over like a lead balloon filled with bricks… and angry killer bees. [The Original OT 8 course was only offered for a few months in 1988, reportedly causing considerable upset with the Scientologists who experienced it. Since then a different version, which we detailed here, has replaced it, and makes no mention of Hubbard’s claim to be the Antichrist. — Ed.]

Incidentally, I was also one of the lucky few who actually got to read Danny Sherman’s unpublished LRH biography which admitted that Hubbard had been married to two women at the same time and other such-like problematic issues, which poor Danny did his best to explain away. But even full-strength Shermanspeak whitewash wasn’t enough to lipstick those pigs. I was supposed to write a script which was to become the film biography of LRH’s life, so I was given the manuscript to study by the LRH Biography In/Charge CMOI, Andy Lenarchic, who was Danny’s personal Sea Org handler. It should now be obvious why Danny’s biography has never and will never see the light of day. Andy got in hot water with COB when he found out I had been given the Bio to read.

So in my personal experience, the statements earlier identified as from the Original OT 8 materials are genuine L. Ron Hubbard, as are the equally appalling “Affirmations.”

— Steve Hall

 
——————–

Make your plans now!

HOWDYCON UPDATE

We’re just a little more than two months out, and Chee Chalker is working hard to make sure things are going to run smoothly at this year’s HowdyCon in Chicago, June 21-23. As in past years, we’re looking forward to meeting readers of the Bunker, culminating in Saturday night’s main event.

The biggest difference this year is that our Saturday night event is separate from that evening’s dinner. Chee is setting up an inexpensive pizza dinner that you don’t need to pay for ahead of time, after which we’ll walk over to the theater where our event, hosted by Chicago Fire star Christian Stolte, will take place.

Because it’s a separate event, we’re asking that you pay $10 each to get into the Saturday night event, which will help us recoup what the Bunker paid for the venue. (We have never made a penny on our HowdyCon meetups, we only try to break even.)

Please email your proprietor (tonyo94 AT gmail) in order to reserve your spot for Saturday night’s main event. Seating is limited, and we’re going to have some really interesting people on stage and they may make a few announcements that you don’t want to miss.

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on April 17, 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

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news

Secrecy is one of the things that most makes Scientology what it is. Although we know plenty about the origins of Scientology, its underlying materials, and much of its controversial history thanks to countless media exposes and court cases and defections, Scientologists themselves are still very tight-lipped about what Scientology is and [...]]]>

Secrecy is one of the things that most makes Scientology what it is. Although we know plenty about the origins of Scientology, its underlying materials, and much of its controversial history thanks to countless media exposes and court cases and defections, Scientologists themselves are still very tight-lipped about what Scientology is and how it works.

And that’s one of the reasons we’re glad that there’s such a thing as “independent Scientology,” those former church members who got fed up with leader David Miscavige and his heavy-handed ways, and went off to practice Scientology on their own. No longer under the control of the church, “indies” or “freezoners” will often talk freely of things like body thetans, the “OT” levels, and other really strange and bizarre things that church members try to keep quiet.

Meanwhile, one of the questions we tend to get a lot from people learning about Scientology is, what is the church going to do if someone shows up claiming to be the returned L. Ron Hubbard?

The Scientology founder shuffled off this mortal coil on January 24, 1986, supposedly to work in another part of the galaxy in pure spirit form. But what if he returned by taking up residence in a new body? How would that returned Hubbard convince David Miscavige and the church that he was the genuine article?

Once again, the indies and their openness give us a window on Scientology, and are providing an opportunity to see how that might go down.

In recent weeks, the independent and ex-Scientology communities have been buzzing about a man who claims to be Lafayette Ronald Hubbard — and even had his name formally changed to that last year. He lives in a rural community outside Seattle, but his website claims that he’s at the ranch in Creston, California where Hubbard died in 1986.

That’s only one cute detail that suggests “LRH” is having everyone on. But it’s been interesting to see some of the indies really going all in on this.

We reached out to “Ron” (and more about that later) after he gave a video interview to one of the more credulous members of the indie community, a guy named Brian Cox.

What neither Cox nor “Ron” discussed in that interview was Ron’s background before he decided to change his name.

So with the help of one of our excellent researchers, we decided to check that out on our own. And if Hubbard has come back, he made a pretty curious choice about which vessel to use.

Justin Alan Craig was born on July 9, 1987, and he racked up a pretty lengthy criminal record in California before moving to Washington, according to court records in Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties.

In March 2006 when he was 18, Craig pleaded guilty to auto theft with priors and shoplifting, and was sentenced to ten days in jail and three years probation.

Three months later, he pleaded guilty to taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent, and was sentenced to 180 days in jail and three years probation.

That same month, he pleaded guilty to attempted carjacking and was sentenced to 18 months in state prison.

In August 2008, while in prison, he was found guilty of battering another inmate and was sentenced to three more years of prison time.

In July 2011, he was found guilty of battery and resisting arrest and was sentenced to 60 days in jail and another three years of probation.

The next month, he was found guilty of threatening harm to a public official and was sentenced to four years in state prison.

At some point, however, Craig found Scientology, and by the time he showed up at the indie community in Washington, among his many tattoos were symbols associated with Hubbard and the church — including the symbol for “infinity” engraved right on his forehead between the eyes.

Craig Robart, the E-meter expert we’ve consulted in the past, tells us he audited Justin Craig last year for about three weeks.

“I think he’s dreaming,” Robart told us about Craig’s “cognition” that he was the returned Hubbard.

We asked Robart why he thought some in the indie field are spending any time at all considering that Justin Craig is the returned Hubbard.

“Well, you gotta understand that we believe in reincarnation,” Robart messaged us. “But yes, if you think about it, a man who developed a worldwide religion and a paramilitary org, wrote all of the Tech Volumes, all of the Admin tech, and gave over 5,000 recorded lectures would be reincarnated as Justin? It’s laughable.”

Jeffrey Augustine pointed out that it’s natural for indie Scientologists to be curious about Justin’s claims, but, “The cynic in me says that if David Miscavige were smart he would jump at this chance to turn over the massive Scientology disaster to the new LRH and retire to Bulgravia with a $100,000,000 retirement package.”

We asked Cox, who did the video interview, if he really entertains the idea that Justin Craig is the returned L. Ron Hubbard.

“If he lives a lifetime of producing good results with new tech, I will have to believe he probably is,” Cox says.

Well, Justin certainly seems committed to his performance. On September 29, he had his name legally changed to Lafayette Ronald Hubbard. And as long as there are credulous people like Brian Cox out there, this spectacle will probably go on for a while.

Late last night, we finally heard from “Lafayette,” who answered our Facebook private message. Here’s our entire conversation, with only a few edits to clean up some typos…

The Bunker: Hey, LRH. Let’s chat.

Lafayette Hubbard: I am willing to hear what you have to say Mr. Ortega. Though I will make it clear from the outset that I am not an admirer of what you are doing for many reasons. Though there are two sides to each token.

The Bunker: That’s fine. On your bio, at your website, you say: “I am also a sucker for beautiful redheads or women by the name of Mary.” I guess that’s a reference to Mary Sue Hubbard?

[No response.]

The Bunker: Hey, so I’m interested in your extensive criminal history. Attempted carjacking. Threatening to harm a public official. Battery on a fellow prisoner. It’s interesting to me that there’s nothing about that on your website.

Lafayette: It will be in the next book I am publishing. It is for reverse effect you see? I am letting everyone see the validity of this new technology before making that public — everyone I work with currently is aware of it.

The Bunker: You didn’t answer my question about “Mary.”

Lafayette: Yes, that was a reference to Mary. I am still partial to them even this life.

The Bunker: I guess you didn’t know that Ron actually called her “Suzy” in private?

Lafayette: Why would I?

The Bunker: So you’re not claiming to be the returned L. Ron Hubbard?

Lafayette: I thought that was obvious by now?

The Bunker: Isn’t that what your website is about, that you’re the reincarnated LRH?

Lafayette: Why do you feel the need to attack me and the Technology?

The Bunker: I’m not attacking, I’m asking a question. You give the impression on your website that you claim to be the returned L. Ron Hubbard. But now you’re saying that’s not the case?

Lafayette: I am and yes, that is my claim.

The Bunker: So, if that is your claim, and you are the returned LRH, saying “why would I” know about what Ron called his wife seems like a pretty odd answer.

Lafayette: Not if you have been paying attention. Have you seen the filmed interview I just did with Scientolipedia?

The Bunker: Yes, I did. You didn’t really get asked any questions that tested your claim of being LRH.

Lafayette: Fair enough. What specifics do you want.

The Bunker: Just asked you one. And you said you wouldn’t know what Ron called his third wife. Why not?

Lafayette: I have no recall whatsoever. Not last life or any on the wholetrack; as a matter of fact I have NO wholetrack and that is why.

The Bunker: So how do you know you’re Ron if you can’t remember his last lifetime?

Lafayette: Pure knowingness and the sheer raw ability and tack I have with the tech, that only I have ever had. Pretty much sums it up.

The Bunker: That doesn’t seem very convincing. What do you say to people who wonder if Justin Craig, multiple felon, is just having people on, and possibly for financial gain?

Lafayette: I am a class 12 auditor and C/S that is stationed at one of the most trusted Freezone orgs. So how is that even possible? I daresay I do more auditing and C/Sing then 1/4th of the Freezone currently.

The Bunker: Ron said, in one place anyway, that he would return as a politician. He didn’t say anything about showing up as an ex-con. Isn’t that an odd decision for him to make?

Lafayette: That HCOB also says I was the anti-Christ, and Jesus had a personal preference for young boys and was a pedophile. Or did you forget to leave that part out conveniently. That doesn’t sound like anything I would write then or now. By the way, this conversation was for your own personal curiosity I am assuming.

The Bunker: OK, so you’re saying the original OT 8 we have is not genuine. Fair enough. I disagree, but that’s a decent rejoinder. I’ll give you points for that.

Lafayette: Of course it is not genuine.

The Bunker: But back to the question. Why would Ron choose to inhabit a body and then commit auto theft, battery, etc.? Seems like a pretty big handicap.

Lafayette: Not really. I always was a rough-and-tumble sort, so how better to learn the times we live in than to play with gangsters and criminals. Cop this life, criminal next.

The Bunker: As to your “assumption,” it was pretty clear from your initial statement that you know who I am. I’m a reporter. This is an on-the-record conversation.

Lafayette: It better not be as I did not consent to that.

The Bunker: Your consent not required.

Lafayette: Then this conversation is over. And you will hear from my attorney.

The Bunker: Oh, can’t wait.

Lafayette: You have a good evening. Nice chat.

The Bunker: Ron understood reporters and the press pretty well. Another proof that you haven’t researched him as well as you should have before trying this little performance.

Lafayette: No, I just allowed you to show the piece of shit scumbag you are. Good evening.

The Bunker: My, my. Ron didn’t talk like that. Sounds like Justin Craig just showed up.

 
——————–

Brendan Tighe dishes on his days as Scientology security for Tom Cruise

Chris White uncorked a beauty last night at the Daily Mail, a lengthy feature about Brendan Tighe, who worked security as a Sea Org employee until leaving in 2009 and then leaving the church in 2011.

Working closely with Scientology’s three most famous celebrities — Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Kirstie Alley — Tighe had plenty of great anecdotes about them, including minute details about Cruise’s security needs and private habits. And yes, Cruise is as uptight and entitled as you’d imagine.

‘I wasn’t his personal bodyguard, that was a guy called Algar, but for seven years in a row, I was doing his security detail, such as guarding him when he walked down the street and would be checking all the cameras in his living area. I was a top priority with the dentist, I always had to have my teeth whitened and regular check ups. You had to have a good smile for Tom Cruise,’ says Tighe.

‘Five of us were ordered to get gun licenses out of 47 security, we’d have a gun strapped to our legs, it was specifically for Cruise and Miscavige. It was amped up when the protester group called Anonymous started in the early 2000s. [Actually, Anonymous showed up in 2008.]

‘In all those years, I think he said hi to me three times, even though I’d be in the hotel every single day. When you see him glad-handing everyone in videos, he never did that at Flag, he kept to himself. Even if he was on a course with 200 people, he’d have a three-person security buffer from anyone.

It was all about Cruise…

‘His routine would be – wake up, gym for an hour, then breakfast of all kinds of ‘shakes, lots of food and protein, all sent to his room by his personal chef, who was one of my close friends called Nico. He just liked bacon and eggs and protein shakes. Then he’d gym again before the day is out. When he would go to exercise, he would want the entire gym wing all to himself.

‘He’d then go to study, including auditing sessions and refresher courses, he’d be constantly in the classroom. Cruise was a perfectionist and would hang around for several weeks even after being allowed to go, as he wanted more auditing, more courses.

That’s great stuff. And there’s plenty more. Give it a look.

 
——————–

Make your plans now!

HOWDYCON UPDATE

We’re just a little more than two months out, and Chee Chalker is working hard to make sure things are going to run smoothly at this year’s HowdyCon in Chicago, June 21-23. As in past years, we’re looking forward to meeting readers of the Bunker, culminating in Saturday night’s main event.

The biggest difference this year is that our Saturday night event is separate from that evening’s dinner. Chee is setting up an inexpensive pizza dinner that you don’t need to pay for ahead of time, after which we’ll walk over to the theater where our event, hosted by Chicago Fire star Christian Stolte, will take place.

Because it’s a separate event, we’re asking that you pay $10 each to get into the Saturday night event, which will help us recoup what the Bunker paid for the venue. (We have never made a penny on our HowdyCon meetups, we only try to break even.)

Please email your proprietor (tonyo94 AT gmail) in order to reserve your spot for Saturday night’s main event. Seating is limited, and we’re going to have some really interesting people on stage and they may make a few announcements that you don’t want to miss.

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on April 16, 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

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news

  Rod Keller reminds us that space opera is not just for the upper levels in Scientology, and it’s actively part of what Scientologists learn today, as much as David Miscavige wants to promote a more businesslike, self-help image.

The Cincinnati Ideal Org is holding an event today with Jeanie Sonenfield and Rachel Kasle. [...]]]>

 
Rod Keller reminds us that space opera is not just for the upper levels in Scientology, and it’s actively part of what Scientologists learn today, as much as David Miscavige wants to promote a more businesslike, self-help image.

The Cincinnati Ideal Org is holding an event today with Jeanie Sonenfield and Rachel Kasle. The lecture is likely based on a non-confidential Scientology book, A History of Man, written by L. Ron Hubbard in 1952. It’s one of “the basics” series of books that Scientologists are expected to purchase and complete a course on the contents of each.

 
A common misconception is that Scientologists are unaware of the science fiction aspects of the “technology” as the attempt to improve themselves through study, auditing, and other processes. When they reach the advanced auditing level of OT3 — which can take several years — they are introduced to the bizarre science fiction story of Xenu, the evil space tyrant. That revelation can be a shock, but the space opera of Scientology starts long before that, with A History of Man. OT3 was released in 1968, but all the elements of it existed as far back as 1952, just two years after the publication of Dianetics. Originally titled “What to Audit,” History of Man describes alien invaders, memory implants, and other beings that exist inside one’s body. The foreword begins: “This is a cold-blooded and factual account of your last sixty trillion years.”

 
Hubbard describes a person as a composite being in History of Man. The Thetan is the entity with a personality, the self of a person. The body itself is created by the Genetic Entity, or GE. Just as the thetan continues after death to another lifetime, the GE continues after death to create a new body usually to be inhabited by a different Thetan. Incidents in previous lifetimes of the GE create engrams, which need to be audited out using Dianetics.

Other entities exist in the body, each in its own part. The right side is home to a being Hubbard says responds to the name “crew chief.” This collection of entities makes up a person, and Hubbard claims, “if the preclear were suddenly opened and the balloons let loose, the ‘I’ balloon would float free clear and unmistakable and that ‘I’ balloon would be the theta being, it would be who the preclear always thought he was anyway. All others are simply modifiers.” By the time Hubbard writes OT3, he has discovered the existence of “body thetans,” which are also independent entities attached to a person’s body. By then the goal is no longer to audit the GE but to remove the body thetans, convincing them to go find a body elsewhere.

Hubbard writes that the GE can have engrams from past lives, and these lives go far back into the evolution of animal species on earth. One of these is the clam, but that does not mean that people evolved from clams. The GE that created a modern person’s MEST body long ago created an ancient clam body. The problems of long dead clams can cause problems for a person because of incidents experienced by their GE.

Should you describe “the clam” to some one, you may restimulate it in him to the extent of causing severe jaw hinge pain. One such victim, after hearing about a clam death could not use his jaws for three days. Another “had to have” two molars extracted because of the resulting ache. The clam and all these incidents are very much present in the GE and can be restimulated easily.

Hubbard describes the Fourth Invaders, a group of aliens that implant memories into Thetans in an incident he calls Facsimile One and the use of a device known as the Coffee-grinder.

FAC ONE was an outright control mechanism, invented to cut down rebel raids on invader installations. It was probable designed by the Fourth Invader and used by him in its original state and “ritual” for a considerable time. It gave him a nice, non-combative, religiously insane community.

The “Coffee-grinder” (which might be an alternative name for it) is leveled at the preclear and a push-pull wave is played over him, first on his left side, then on his right and back and forth from side to side, laying in a bone-deep somatic which cannot be run unless you recognize it as a vibration, not the solid board it seems to be. When this treatment is done, the preclear is dumped in scalding water, then immediately in ice water. Then the preclear is put in a chair and whirled around. He was quite swollen after the pummeling of the waves and was generally kept in a badly run (but quite modern) hospital for a few days.

The book contains descriptions of many such implants. They are similar to the implants described in OT3, which says “36 days of picture implants which give a vast array of materials and three explanations for the bombing, The pictures contain God, the Devil, angels, space opera, theaters, helicopters, a constant spinning, a spinning dancer, trains and various scenes very like modern England. You name it, it’s in this implant we call in its entirely ‘R6’.” History of Man also describes the Jiggler, the Whirler, the Bouncer, the Spinner and others in which a thetan is bounced around to create implants.

History of Man has all the elements that were later used in OT3. Alien invaders, implanted memories, and beings that are part of the human body. A Scientologist who encounters Xenu in confidential materials should be well versed in the building blocks of the story from the non-confidential book and associated taped lectures by Hubbard. Scientology mandates the story of the book, and lectures on the space opera stories included are given at orgs around the world.

— Rod Keller

 
SEE ALSO: We read ‘History of Man’ with Prof. PZ Myers

 
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Graham Berry’s eulogy for Arnie Lerma

A memorial service was held yesterday in Sylvania, Georgia for noted longtime Scientology critic Arnie Lerma, who died on March 16. Our old friend Graham Berry, an attorney in Los Angeles, wrote this eulogy for Arnie.

It is with great sadness that I eulogize Arnie Lerma, who left this life too soon on March 16, 2018. What happened on March 16 was an unexpected tragedy; both for himself and his widow Ginger Sugerman. My condolences and respect go out to Ginger who I wish the very best for a full and speedy recovery herself. And to Arnie’s son I convey my sympathy at his loss.

Arnie was my good friend for 25 years. Like most of us Arnie had his flaws and what happened on March 16 was inexcusable, although explainable in retrospect with reference to the severe pain, extremely strong medications, and abnormal mental state of his last few days. They are a sad coda to a remarkable life. As William Shakespeare wrote, “(t)he evil that men do lives on after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.” So today I celebrate Arnie’s life and remember some of the momentous things Arnie has accomplished. To that end, I am going to write of some of the great good that Arnie Lerma did for a cause he worked tirelessly on for nearly three decades: stopping the human rights abuses of his former church of Scientology, its use of hypnosis, mental manipulation, fraud, disconnection, and lies.

Arnie was born in 1950. His mother was a Scientology staffer and she urged him to join the church’s Sea Organization at the age of 16. In 1978 he had to leave Scientology because, as he later said in an interview, he “was a troublemaker who could not be controlled.” That was when he “woke up and snapped out of the [Scientology] trance.” However, Arnie’s days as one of the original “old guard” of anti-Scientology protesters would not begin until February 1993 when he started posting messages to ‘alt.religion.scientology’ (“ARS”), one of the Usenet groups of the early Internet. A Usenet is an old-school newsgroup where users posted messages, news articles, engaged in debate, and sometimes encountered vicious “flame wars.”

The ARS newsgroup was started after the May 6, 1991, publication of the Time magazine cover story “Scientology, Thriving cult of Greed and Power.” Scientology responded to Time magazine with three lawsuits. One lawsuit was against two sources, Steven Fishman and his psychologist Dr. Uwe Geertz, regarding allegations of Scientology related instructions to Fishman to commit fraud, murder Dr. Geertz, and then commit suicide. This lawsuit became a large and very expensive federal defamation case. I led a team of lawyers in the defense of Dr. Geertz. During the case, Fishman wrote a declaration attaching all of Scientology’s trade secret and copyrighted confidential upper levels, called OT 1 to OT 8. I filed the Fishman Declaration in court. Then we successfully defended all of the church’s attempts and appeals to seal the Fishman declaration and its exhibits. Humiliated, Scientology dismissed the Fishman-Geertz case on the eve of trial.

One of Scientology’s responses to the filing of the Fishman Declaration was to have staff check out the court case file all day every day, and this continued for long after we had won the litigation. Despite the church blockading the court file Arnie Lerma, a handful of other individuals, and the Washington Post newspaper somehow obtained copies of the Fishman Declaration. Among other things it was posted to the ARS newsgroup and to other Internet locations. What followed was described by many publications as Scientology’s ‘War against the Net.’ The church filed three high profile lawsuits for trade secret and copyright violations and obtained ex parte federal court orders to raid the homes of a number of critics and Lawrence Wollersheim’s FactNet.org. At the time, Arnie was a member of FactNet’s Board of Directors.

Arnie Lerma’s Washington, DC home was raided on August 12, 1995. Federal marshals, Scientology lawyers, church officials and computer technicians stormed into the house. They spent many hours ransacking his home, seizing his computer, backups, disks, modem, scanner and files. Subsequently the federal judge excoriated the church for misleading her regarding the request for the raid, and she ultimately awarded the church only $2,500 in damages and costs for five instances of non-willful copyright violation. The judge’s decision was extremely critical of the church’s motives in bringing the litigation and the published opinion judicially acknowledged Scientology’s “Fair Game” policy which the church had long denied. Arnie responded to Scientology’s ‘War against the Net’ by establishing what became one of the most extensive anti-Scientology Internet websites under the banner of lermanet.net, and a blog as arnielerma at wordpress.com. Those two resources are huge. They are among Arnie’s lasting legacies to the anti-cult abuse movement. Indeed, just Google the “Arnie Lerma” name and one will see tens of thousands of items either by him or referring to him. However, Arnie’s contribution to the anti-cult cause went much further than playing a large role exposing Scientology’s dark side to the Internet.

In the mid-1990s Arnie became friends with Ida Camburn who he came to call “Mom.” Ida had lost her son to Scientology “Disconnection,” and she was one of the first people to speak out publicly against the cult. From the early 1980s Ida had been writing letters to every politician, clergyman, newspaper and person who might listen to her pleas for something to be done about destructive cults such as Scientology. Ida Camburn became one of the heroines of cult critics. Inspired, Arnie began writing letters exposing Scientology’s abuses to members of Congress and others. Arnie would assemble the materials and Ida would send him the stamps for postage. Eventually, Arnie would walk through the various congressional and senate office buildings distributing his anti-Scientology materials to the various offices. He also appeared on numerous news, cable and talk shows explaining why Scientology, its training, hypnosis and e-meters were so destructive and harmful to society, individuals and their families. He even testified before the German government’s commission into harmful cults.

Arnie had an eagle’s eye for technical details. In 1993 Scientology finally succeeded in it’s thirty-year “War against the IRS” to regain its IRS non-profit status. The church celebrated at a “War is Over” event in Los Angeles. It published a large photograph of the event claiming that 10,000 people had attended. Arnie skeptically examined the photograph and determined that the cult had manipulated the picture by superimposing thousands of identical heads into otherwise empty seats. It was yet another Scientology ‘foot-bullet’ that was revealed by Mr. Lerma. In 1996 the highly publicized death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson occurred. This became an international legal and public relations crisis for the church. Robert (Bob) Minton, a multi-millionaire, established The Lisa McPherson Trust with Stacy Young (nee Brooks) in Clearwater, Florida, right next door to the cult’s complex there. Arnie became closely involved and an enthusiastic supporter of both the work of the Lisa McPherson Trust, and of Bob personally, during the vicious and bitter years of Scientology attacks that inevitably followed. Arnie was devastated by what the cult did to Bob Minton, and by his sudden death in 2010.

In January 2008 an embarrassing internal Scientology interview with Tom Cruise was posted to the Internet. It rapidly spread while the church chased after it with ineffectual cease, desist and take-down orders. This offended a leader-less Internet-based group called Anonymous who counter-attacked the church with their Project Chanology, which included large non-violent protests around the world. Arnie eagerly participated and would drive around Scientology facilities with large mobile anti-Scientology messages. On Saturday, July 19, 2009, the “Over 9,000 Anonymous March” was held at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Anonymous sent me an airfare and so I attended the “Over 9,000 Anonymous March” as well. I stayed at Arnie Lerma’s house along with former Scientologist and activist Tommy Gorman. Arnie was crippled by severe back pain the entire weekend. It was so bad he had to crawl along the floor and crawl backwards down the stairs. He was in miserable shape and a pitiful sight to behold. A few years later Arnie sold his house in order to pay for very expensive back surgery. The surgery was only partially and temporarily successful. Several years later he had more back surgery which did not improve his unbearable situation. Arnie had long trafficked in some of the far right conspiracy theories; black helicopters, the deep state, etc. There were also the decades of Scientology “Fair Game” operations against him; gas-lighting, surveillance, spies planted among his friendships, and the like. Things that can eventually cause a type of Post-Traumatic Stress condition. By March 16, 2018, Arnie was wracked by extreme back pain, overly medicated on opioids, and having delusions. In what must have been a fit of temporary madness he lost his life. And so Ginger lost her dear husband, many of us lost a dear friend, and the anti-cult movement lost a dear giant.

Not everyone was enthralled with Arnie or was his friend. The Internet can be a verbally abusive forum and Arnie was nothing if not provocative, colorful and interesting. I did not share all of his opinions, beliefs, and idiosyncrasies. However, Arnie was my friend; flaws, quirks and all. Like many of us in these public causes, Arnie had his share of critics, cynics, detractors and haters. He was the subject of many abusive “flame wars” between on-line forum users. However, one of Arnie’s mantras was “I’d prefer to die speaking my mind than live fearing to speak.” “The Internet,” he wrote, “is the Liberty Tree of [our time].” And Arnie took the liberty of speaking his mind in many volumes of writings, comments and interviews that can be found across the Internet.

That is Arnie Lerma’s lasting legacy to those seeking information and opinions about cults in general and Scientology in particular, considered by many to be the most dangerous of all cults. The author Margaret Mead wrote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” These are words that Arnie Lerma lived by. Arnie helped change the world’s ignorance of Scientology’s evil and dark side. That is an exceptionally good thing to have done, and that great good will live on. May God bless Arnie Lerma, and may he rest in eternal peace.

 
— Graham Berry

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

Actual caption: “I cannot express how excited I was to park in the Church of Scientology parking lot! It made my day. I even got a goodie bag full of propaganda. Downside- I will now forever be on their mailing list.”

 
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Make your plans now!

HOWDYCON UPDATE

We’re just a little more than two months out, and Chee Chalker is working hard to make sure things are going to run smoothly at this year’s HowdyCon in Chicago, June 21-23. As in past years, we’re looking forward to meeting readers of the Bunker, culminating in Saturday night’s main event.

The biggest difference this year is that our Saturday night event is separate from that evening’s dinner. Chee is setting up an inexpensive pizza dinner that you don’t need to pay for ahead of time, after which we’ll walk over to the theater where our event, hosted by Chicago Fire star Christian Stolte, will take place.

Because it’s a separate event, we’re asking that you pay $10 each to get into the Saturday night event, which will help us recoup what the Bunker paid for the venue. (We have never made a penny on our HowdyCon meetups, we only try to break even.)

Please email your proprietor (tonyo94 AT gmail) in order to reserve your spot for Saturday night’s main event. Seating is limited, and we’re going to have some really interesting people on stage and they may make a few announcements that you don’t want to miss.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 15, 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

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news

  The other day we told you that Brent Jones, a Scientologist who served as a legislator in Nevada for one term, 2015-2017, is now running for lieutenant governor in that state.

An alert reader pointed out that Brent’s wife Aimee Jones is also running for office, trying to win the seat that [...]]]>

 
The other day we told you that Brent Jones, a Scientologist who served as a legislator in Nevada for one term, 2015-2017, is now running for lieutenant governor in that state.

An alert reader pointed out that Brent’s wife Aimee Jones is also running for office, trying to win the seat that Brent lost to a Democrat in the 2016 election.

Aimee Jones has a campaign website, Facebook page, and a GoFundMe going, and in her bio she talks about working with her husband at their business that sells “Real Water” — a company that uses L. Ron Hubbard technology for its business administration concepts.

Brent has a long history with Scientology, but we wondered if Aimee did as well.

We called up her campaign Tuesday and spoke to her campaign manager, Laurel Fee. We explained to Laurel that it’s extremely unusual for Scientologists to run for office in this country, and so we wondered about Aimee’s involvement — we found in a 2016 issue of Scientology’s Source magazine that Aimee Jones was listed as completing an expensive and high-level auditing service, the “L11 New Life Rundown.”

But Laurel denied that Aimee and Brent are Scientologists.

“Neither one of them are,” she told us. “Brent, in his Real Water business, he uses the applied philosophies of L. Ron Hubbard. But they are not members of the church.”

She said the campaign was working on some “cease and desist” letters “against some of these articles” that have written about Brent’s Scientology involvement.

We pointed out that Scientology publications list Brent completing Scientology courses many times and going back more than a decade — and we believe his involvement goes back at least into the 1990s.

“Aimee and Brent have both taken courses to learn the business model, I will say that,” Laurel told us. “But you don’t have to be a Scientologist to take their courses. All kinds of people take their courses. All kinds of people use those courses for a business model.”

Both Brent and Aimee Jones are listed in Scientology publications as completing L11. We told Laurel that Scientology itself would certainly consider anyone doing such high-level and expensive courses to be Scientologists.

“I really don’t focus on other people’s religion. And I don’t think she’s a working Scientologist. They don’t go anywhere and worship. Many companies use these things,” she said. “It is true that they use L. Ron Hubbard applied statistics, and it is a separate entity from Scientology, the religion.”

We pointed out that Affinity Lifestyles, the company that puts out “alkalized” Real Water with added electrons, lists the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) as a charity that it supports. CCHR is Scientology’s most unhinged front group, going after the psychiatry industry with claims, for example, that it was behind the Holocaust. Church leader David Miscavige speaks openly about Scientology’s goal to eradicate the mental health industry and replace it with Hubbard’s ideas.

But Laurel pointed out that Real Water benefits many other charities, and that CCHR’s criticism of psychiatric medicine is one a lot of people share.

We asked her to check with Aimee Jones about her L11 completion. In an email, we asked the potential legislator how the abilities she gained on that experience might benefit her work as a lawmaker.

In the meantime, we asked our resident tech expert, Sunny Pereira, to help us understand what a Scientologist goes through during the L11 Rundown, which, according to a 2007 price list, runs about $24,000.

One has to be well up onto the Bridge to receive this auditing step. The person has to have completed Scientology drug handlings, which includes the controversial Purif, as well as Grades, up to Grade IV, which is supposed to help a person communicate better, and operate better in general in life.

The first step has the person read the bulletin title “Justification” aloud. He or she has to read it aloud perfectly. Any flaws in reading has the person looking through what they read to find a word they can’t define. Then they look it up fully, clearing all definitions, then keep reading the entire bulletin this way. Then the person is asked to write an essay of how the bulletin applies to them.

The second step addresses the subject of overrun. Overrun, in Scientology, is defined as something that has gone on too long (a marriage that is over, yet continues, for example).

Hubbard states that a being (a spirit, thetan) can do anything forever. The only time it gets into overrun is when the person themselves decides to stop it. Hubbard states that when a person starts wanting to stop one thing, it can become obsessive to where he irrationally or obsessively stops things all around him.

These continuous efforts to stop things turns into ridges, which make mass. (ridges are pictures, generally perceived as right in front of the person’s face, that contain energy and emotion and make a person irrationally unable to process things right in front of themselves. They can last forever, per Hubbard).

The third step has the person, while attached to the E-meter, find the exact date, down to the last millisecond and the location of exactly when they received the implant “To Harm.” (Such implants are put into us between lives.)

The fourth step has the person listing out their evil purposes to the auditor, while again connected to the meter. They will keep listing out these until one has a large reaction by meter, which is what is the main answer to the question. Then they again date and locate when that evil purpose was.

The fifth step is to go over a long list of words. The auditor gives the person one word and the person must respond with what comes to mind first. Let’s take the word “restrain” as example. The person might answer with “police have to do that.” This is then converted into a question to ask the person: “Who or what would find that police have to restrain?” This particular step does not explain much about what its purpose is, except to clear off aberration on those words.

The final step is basically asking for thoughts, ideas and so forth about “the character of man” until the person has a realization about something.

Now that sounds like a whale of a time. And such a bargain at $24,000.

“The L Rundowns are reserved for the most dedicated Scientologists,” says former Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder. “You have to be heavily committed to Scientology and buy into the power of auditing to afford the astonishing price of the L’s. They are the most expensive Scientology service per auditing intensive. The reason given is that they can only be delivered by a Class XII auditor, the Scientology equivalent of a Harvard Law Professor. The L’s are not for the ‘part-time’ or ‘not really’ members. They are for the hardcore (and wealthiest).”

Surely the voters of Nevada would love to hear all about that experience, wouldn’t they?

 
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Make your plans now!

HOWDYCON UPDATE

We’re just a little more than two months out, and Chee Chalker is working hard to make sure things are going to run smoothly at this year’s HowdyCon in Chicago, June 21-23. As in past years, we’re looking forward to meeting readers of the Bunker, culminating in Saturday night’s main event.

The biggest difference this year is that our Saturday night event is separate from that evening’s dinner. Chee is setting up an inexpensive pizza dinner that you don’t need to pay for ahead of time, after which we’ll walk over to the theater where our event, hosted by Chicago Fire star Christian Stolte, will take place.

Because it’s a separate event, we’re asking that you pay $10 each to get into the Saturday night event, which will help us recoup what the Bunker paid for the venue. (We have never made a penny on our HowdyCon meetups, we only try to break even.)

Please email your proprietor (tonyo94 AT gmail) in order to reserve your spot for Saturday night’s main event. Seating is limited, and we’re going to have some really interesting people on stage and they may make a few announcements that you don’t want to miss.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 14, 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

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news

Way back in 1999, we wrote a story for the Phoenix New Times about a local resident who was getting the full “Fair Game” treatment from the Church of Scientology. Jeff Jacobsen was a knowledgeable church critic who had alerted the world to the plight of [...]]]>

Way back in 1999, we wrote a story for the Phoenix New Times about a local resident who was getting the full “Fair Game” treatment from the Church of Scientology. Jeff Jacobsen was a knowledgeable church critic who had alerted the world to the plight of a parishioner named Lisa McPherson who had died on the other side of the country. Jeff was also known for an excellent backgrounder on L. Ron Hubbard’s “technology,” and for being one of the members of the Lisa McPherson Trust in Clearwater, Florida. He made a trip back to Clearwater this week, and we asked him to send us his thoughts about it…

I took a quick trip to Florida for the first time since 2001, when the Lisa McPherson Trust closed down. While I worked there Clearwater was trying hard to figure out how to revitalize their downtown. The main problem, however, was that Scientology also had big plans for the downtown area, and had by then already purchased millions of dollars in properties, and their staff were heading to and fro everywhere in their uniforms. The place truly did seem occupied by some huge corporation, or maybe cult.

Clearwater still hasn’t figured out how to revitalize downtown. I spent a couple of hours on my own last week just walking around to see what differences 17 years might have brought. It is a bit tidier now. There seem to be more stores open, although it is still far from revitalized. Little shops like the Lucky Anchor Bar have tables and chairs out in front of their respective locations. This is good because the city has ONE bench in all of downtown that I could see. They even took benches out of the Gaslight Alley Park, which essentially defeats the purpose of the park as a quiet place to relax. If the city wants to attract people downtown, why not give them shade trees and places to sit? I even asked this question at the downtown development office. The woman there said yes, that’s a good point. I’ll pass that on. Sure.

The mass marches to the back of the Clearwater Bank Building don’t happen anymore. This is where the cafeteria was for staff, so bus after bus and wave after wave of Scientologists in uniform would crowd in there in shifts. I think I heard they moved the cafeteria to the Super Power building now, but I didn’t see any mass migration there so don’t know. One new thing is a cross walk on Ft. Harrison Avenue right in front of the Ft. Harrison Hotel. It has a button for the pedestrians to push that sets off flashing yellow lights so traffic has to stop for them. I saw these flashing lights going often, and in fact I had to wait myself for a slow string of staff members continually pressing that button. This seems a little strange to me because just above the heads of all those pedestrians is a walkway going over Ft. Harrison Avenue connecting the hotel to the Super Power building. Is this used at all? I couldn’t see inside so don’t know.

Staff in crisp black and white uniforms are still rushing from place to place (do they actually have identical sunglasses?), only the foot traffic seems more spread out now. I saw people walking from the Sandcastle to the Ft. Harrison, and every place in between. After walking past Super Power, I even walked past Ben Shaw! I thought about talking to him, but then wondered if he knew who I was as we smiled at each other. So I just walked on, marveling that he looked pretty good for a 100-year-old.

 
The Lisa McPherson Trust building is now occupied by the Way to Happiness. And in fact that whole block is now Scientology front groups, with no foot traffic to any of them. At least the buildings are kept up and look occupied, making the downtown appear more active than otherwise.

While passing the old LMT I saw a book in the curb. I picked it up and saw it was a Russian-to-English dictionary. There is discussion about how many staff are at Flag on Religious Worker visas from other countries, so that fits in.

The Lisa McPherson brick in the Gaslight Alley Park is now the front middle brick as you step into the park. Someone had scratched out the name from the brick, so we paid for a replacement and the city moved that brick front and center so if anyone else tried to deface it they would be noticed. Thank you, Clearwater.

When I worked at the LMT, a routine set in where Scientology’s private investigators would follow us to and from work and to other destinations. Ever-present security at Scientology buildings would constantly watch us and report in on their radios. On this trip, however, there seemed to be less security than I was used to, but yet… as I was walking around like a simple tourist, taking photos here and there, a young guy in a nice suit, with a big walkie-talkie or something on his belt, seemed to be paying attention to me. But I was never followed that I could tell on foot or by car. After meeting with some friends at the Lucky Anchor, however, I walked to my car parked in the public parking garage across from the LMT. Standing near my car was a tall thin young man who started a conversation with me by asking me what I was doing there. He seemed upset that I had been denigrating someone with my life-size cutout of David Miscavige. My friends and I and some other people took photos with the cutout here and there. As I was debating whethere to actually have a conversation, I asked “who are you? Are you a Scientologist?” He said yes and I said “oh, then I don’t have to talk to you” and went to my car. He took the required photos of me and my car as I left.

So what’s new in Clearwater after 17 years? Unfortunately, not much. Small attempts are being made to make change, but that 400-pound gorilla is still there, and apparently still in control.

 
— Jeff Jacobsen

 
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LD Sledge posts his Flag graduation

LD Sledge is a longtime Scientologist we’ve noted from time to time. He is a die hard who joined the church in 1970s, a charismatic guy who offers his services as a ghostwriter. He went through a bout with cancer not too long ago, and we quietly rooted for him to come through it. And now he’s graduated on some Basics course — after already achieving the highest level on the Bridge to Total Freedom, OT 8, which is one of David Miscavige’s odd innovations. It’s like a PhD has redone the 4th grade and is being celebrated by what appear to be several hundred enthusiastic Scientologists at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater.

Sledge posted this graduation video himself to Facebook, so we’re going to share it with you to get a glimpse of Flag today. So many people who started during LD’s time have fallen away. What keeps him in?

 
It’s interesting to hear him recount his Scientology origin story. Glancing at an article in a 1975 copy of Celebrity magazine gripped his mind late one night. What he had read was an excerpt from a Philadelphia Doctorate Course lecture from 1952 which is fairly well known — it’s called “Boots in the Sky,” and here’s the transcript of it, with L. Ron Hubbard talking about how he had stepped into the biggest shoes in the universe.

Cast yourself back to 1975. Would reading this have utterly changed your life?

What is the essential difference between what I’m doing in Scientology and other people? Is it because I’m brighter? No, no. Uh-uh. Is it because I know more? Naw. No there’s really only one thing, is I recognize that it’s my job, I recognize anybody has this job. You see, anybody has this job. And there was this great big pair of boots and they were sitting right in the middle of this universe, and they were awfully big boots, and you could get down amongst them with telescopes. You could look the length and breadth of them and find absolutely nothing inhabiting ’em.

And it says in these boots, it just simply said, “These are the boots which go down a road which leads out of this joint.” And other people had been diving spaceships through them and playing hopscotch in them and so on, when they ever did see them, and so on. They were sitting right there. They sat on the doorstep of every door that has ever been covered with crepe. They sat on the doorstep of every bank that ever reneged on a pledged agreement or refused a loan to somebody who was desperate. They sat on the doorstep of every church which itself was pretending to take vast responsibility. They fell across every single boulevard and progress that Man ever thought he could make. He could go ahead and take responsibility for destroying culture, but not for helping a single individual in it. Ho!

Fascinating! Why, those boots – well, you look at these boots, and they weren’t even big boots. They were little boots – little kids’ boots. Wasn’t anything to them. And what’d you do? You just threw some space out that big, that’s all. I mean, you narrowed the space down to the universe of one man and you found out he was a highly representative man, and then you took a look. The boots were very wearable. And they’re very, very simply boots. But what do you know? These boots have a catch to them. They aren’t just one man’s boots. They were every man’s boots. And because I assayed to take a few steps in them and square them around and find out where the road was and what leather they were made out of, didn’t absolve a single individual who cared to benefit from those boots from wearing them. And that is the grimmest joke of all.

A person has to come up the scale so that he can take responsibility for himself and all of his fellows and the whole cock-eyed condemned universe before he can walk down that road out. Isn’t that fascinating?

 
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HOWDYCON UPDATE

We’re just a little more than two months out, and Chee Chalker is working hard to make sure things are going to run smoothly at this year’s HowdyCon in Chicago, June 21-23. As in past years, we’re looking forward to meeting readers of the Bunker, culminating in Saturday night’s main event.

The biggest difference this year is that our Saturday night event is separate from that evening’s dinner. Chee is setting up an inexpensive pizza dinner that you don’t need to pay for ahead of time, after which we’ll walk over to the theater where our event, hosted by Chicago Fire star Christian Stolte, will take place.

Because it’s a separate event, we’re asking that you pay $10 each to get into the Saturday night event, which will help us recoup what the Bunker paid for the venue. (We have never made a penny on our HowdyCon meetups, we only try to break even.)

Please email your proprietor (tonyo94 AT gmail) in order to reserve your spot for Saturday night’s main event. Seating is limited, and we’re going to have some really interesting people on stage and they may make a few announcements that you don’t want to miss.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 13, 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

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news