January 2016 | The Underground Bunker

When L. Ron Hubbard tried to convince the BBB that Scientology was raking it in

We’re getting yet closer to that big anniversary — 30 years since L. Ron Hubbard shuffled off this mortal coil to surf the galaxy in thetan form — and so we’re still looking back through our files to remember the Great Thetan in his […]

The Church of Scientology of Latter-Day Dolts: Video evidence of the fall

For a few years, we’ve been telling you that Scientology is in a poorly way. Many different sources of evidence suggest that the 65-year-old movement has been suffering from a mass exodus of longtime, loyal members. Many others remain in the group but hold back from participating as they react to leader David Miscavige’s ever-increasing […]

When the feds tracked down L. Ron Hubbard’s boast about getting rich by creating a religion

We’re nearing another big anniversary — 30 years since the Great Thetan, L. Ron Hubbard, dropped his material body — and so we’ve been looking through our files for material about the man that isn’t already picked over. We have something pretty nice and never posted online for the anniversary itself. But along the way […]

Stalked in New Orleans cemetery: Scientology’s secretive defectors getting more open

With the hundreds of former Scientologist employees and Sea Org members who have come out and told their stories in recent years, you might think there was no one left who has ditched the organization and is still holding onto crucial information. There are, in fact, quite a few, and we keep an eye on […]

How Scientology hooks public officials on its addictive anti-drug front

Recently, we wrote about a police chief in a small Minnesota town who found himself being flown to Washington DC to be feted by the Church of Scientology and one of its celebrities, actress Erika Christensen. Why did he deserve this treatment? He was being celebrated because he had purchased anti-drug pamphlets from a Scientology […]

Atack: What I meant when I said Scientologists suffer from arrogance when they leave

Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He has a new edition of the book for sale, and for more than a year on Saturdays he helped us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that […]

Explain your vote, judge tells Maryland county that denied Scientology rehab

[Judge William R. Nicklas Jr., photo source]

We were out on the road all day yesterday and so missed some of the drama happening down in Frederick County, Maryland. Our regular readers know that we’ve been following the action as Scientology struggles to put in a new drug rehab “Narconon” center there with a cute maneuver […]

Oscar snubs Alex Gibney’s Scientology documentary ‘Going Clear’ despite buzz

A day after Alex Gibney learned that he’d been nominated for an award by the Director’s Guild of America for his documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, his movie was left out of the nominations for Documentary Feature which were announced this morning for the 88th Academy Awards, to be presented in […]

DOX: Government disclosure shows extent of Scientology’s reliance on cheap foreign labor

In 2009, researcher Jeff Jacobsen wrote about Scientology’s documented problems bringing foreigners to the United States to work in its “Sea Organization.” Anecdotally, ex-Scientologists say that the church relies heavily on foreigners to accept jobs under the bizarre working conditions of the Sea Org, which requires signing a billion-year contract and working 16-hour days, seven […]

A great peek into how Scientology uses fronts to love-bomb a public official

[Chief Chad Loewen]

We’ve been really busy with an investigative story that we hope to uncork tomorrow. But in the meantime, we want to thank reader QBird, who took it upon herself to follow up on one of our recent stories. […]

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