We’re traveling today, and we’re grateful to our tipsters for keeping us supplied with good material while we look for some time to do some reporting on new stories.
We have contributions from two tipsters today that happened to hit on a similar theme — Scientology’s super-secretive entity, the “Church of Spiritual Technology” (CST), and its Space Age underground vaults.
First, Underground Bunker regular “Observer” recently visited California’s central coast, and she couldn’t resist stopping by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s final spot on Earth before he moved on to Target 2.
On January 24, 1986, Hubbard left his body to pursue his “researches” without the impediment of a human body. Or he died of a stroke and other complications, depending on who you believe. He was 74 years old. For the final few years of his life, he’d been hiding out at a ranch owned by CST which is near the town of Creston, California. We’re told that while Hubbard lived there, he stayed in a Bluebird motorhome, while a few other people — Annie Broeker and Steve “Sarge” Pfauth,” primarily — took care of the ranch and of Hubbard.
Observer stopped by the ranch to see what kind of shape it’s in today. And she took along with her a copy of our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, which has been seen in such amazing places around the globe lately. Here’s a nice panoramic overview of the place, annotated by Observer…
Some of CST’s super secret compounds have an odd feature: Two large interlocking circles carved into the ground so they can be seen from the air. What are they for? Only one former CST employee has ever given an on-the-record interview, and he talked first to us. His name is Dylan Gill. Dylan told us the CST corporate symbol is carved into the ground at Creston Ranch and at two other CST locations so that they can serve as guides for L. Ron Hubbard when he comes back to Earth from wherever he’s been. Some of the CST compounds also feature an “LRH House” for Hubbard to move into as he begins his next stint running Scientology.
You can also see the guard tower in the middle of the CST logo in this view from Google Earth…
We asked Observer what a Bluebird motorhome looked like, and she dug up this photo of a model that was popular in 1986…
So something like that was Hubbard’s departure point from this dimension. Sail on, Commodore.
Another tipster alerted us to the latest International Scientology News, which contains an article about CST’s main activity, which is digging vaults for storing Hubbard’s words and lectures against the ravages of nuclear war.
After Hubbard went into permanent hiding in February 1980, he subsequently ordered a corporate reorganization of Scientology, and that’s when CST was born, in 1982. The late, great Denise Brennan worked on that project, and she helped us understand where the idea for CST’s vaults came from — she was told to review a similar plot in Hubbard’s just-published science fiction epic, Battlefield Earth.
“The vaults in Battlefield Earth maybe were an imperfect analogy. We weren’t planning for a doomsday so 50 people could live in the vaults and run the world from bunkers. It was to preserve the tech, not house people,” Denise told us.
So ever since then, CST has dug vaults and equipped them in California, New Mexico, and Wyoming (and we provided maps to all of them in our story with Dylan Gill).
Now, for some reason, Scientology is boasting again about all the next-generation technology it’s lavishing on the process of storing and preserving Hubbard’s words so they last forever and can jump-start a civilization after a nuclear winter. Or something.
And just look at all the ways Scientology is spending tax-exempt dollars so all the crackpot nuttiness Hubbard wrote about his trips to Heaven and years as a race car driver 30,000 years ago on Earth will be preserved forever more…
Hey, IRS, are you paying attention?
But here’s our question: Why this now? Are they begging for more money again?
While we wait for an answer, we have to point out the last time we mentioned that a young, reincarnated L. Ron Hubbard might be wandering the central coast of California looking for a symbol of interlocking rings. As we put it in 2012…
“If you spot a chain-smoking 5-year-old redhead with an eye for ladies in miniskirts — hey, give us a call!”
And here was the shoop someone immediately put together over at WWP…
UPDATE!! We never thought we’d see a photo like this. Ladies and gentlemen, a genuine CST titanium container for the storage of L. Ron Hubbard’s words — except, look who got there first!
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BOOK NOTES
We didn’t get a chance to include photos in our book, so we’ve posted them at a dedicated page. Reader Sookie put together a complete index and we’re hosting it here on the website. Copies of the paperback version of ‘The Unbreakable Miss Lovely’ are on sale at Amazon. The Kindle edition is also available, and shipping instantly.
Tony Ortega’s upcoming appearances (and check out the interactive map to our ongoing tour)…
July 29: Paris, Le Bistrot Landais, 19:00 (with Jonny Jacobsen)
August 4: London, Conway Hall, 19:30, (with John Sweeney)
August 24: Boston, Boston Skeptics in the Pub, 7 pm (with Gregg Housh)
Sept 15: Barrett the Honors College, Arizona State University, ASU in Downtown Phoenix campus
Sept 23: Cleveland, Parma Heights Library, 7pm sponsored by Center for Inquiry – Northeast Ohio
Sept 24: Minneapolis
Sept 27: Portland
Sept 28: Seattle
Sept 29: Vancouver, BC, Seven Dining Lounge, 7 pm
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Posted by Tony Ortega on July 27, 2015 at 07:00
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Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of LA 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
PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer
The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill
The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield
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