Several months ago, your proprietor was asked to take part in a television program about the 2003 death of Elli Perkins which will be airing for the first time next week.
Perkins was a Scientologist in the Buffalo area who was killed by her son, Jeremy, in a vicious knife attack. Jeremy was subsequently judged seriously mentally ill and was institutionalized. From the beginning, there were questions about Elli’s involvement in Scientology playing a part in her decision not to seek psychiatric care for her son, a decision that proved fatal for her.
An excellent 2005 series by Buffalo News reporter Mark Sommer is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn about Elli’s life and death.
In 2006, the CBS show 48 Hours also did a top-notch hour-long presentation about Scientology and about Elli’s death. It was produced by Miguel Sancho, who today works at ABC with reporter Dan Harris.
Also in 2006, this ad ran in LA Weekly, and we still find it rather provocative…
And now, the ID network — Discovery’s true crime channel — is revisiting the Perkins family tragedy after the success the network had previously with Nancy Many’s story.
If you were with us to live-blog Nancy’s story, you know that ID combined interviews with Nancy and Paulette Cooper along with dramatized scenes for an excellent portrayal of life in Scientology’s “Sea Org.”
We don’t know how the show about Elli Perkins next week will look, but we were among several people interviewed for it.
“The Scientology Cure” is the second episode of the second season of ID’s series Deadly Devotion, and it will air for the first time on Wednesday, July 23 at 9 pm Eastern. It will repeat three hours later, and then air again on Sunday the 27th at noon.
We’re thinking a live-blog is in order for Wednesday night.
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Somewhere, a diminutive ecclesiastical CEO is celebrating
Unfortunate news from across the pond this morning. We trust our friend will land on his feet…
Today is a great day for Church of Scientology, North Korea, Barclay Twins, Glencore etc. I've been made redundant from #BBCPanorama. Byeee
— john sweeney (@johnsweeneyroar) July 17, 2014
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Posted by Tony Ortega on July 17, 2014 at 07:00
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Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS (We read Scientology’s founding text) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
UP THE BRIDGE (Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN (Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING (Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43
PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer
