The drone pilot is back! Since last September, the Underground Bunker has been the beneficiary of a shadowy anonymous drone operator who has allowed us to premiere his amazing overhead views of secretive Scientology sites.
He’s twice given us amazing views of the CST headquarters in the mountains above LA, where we believe that Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige banished his wife in 2005. He’s also been over Int Base near Hemet (twice), as well as vault locations in Tuolumne County, Petrolia, California, and near Trementina, New Mexico, as well as the ranch near Creston, California where L. Ron Hubbard died.
Each time, he’s made his lavish 4K videos available free of charge and with no strings attached, and filmmakers and television production companies have been taking advantage of it. (We’ve seen his footage pop up in Leah Remini’s A&E series, for example.)
And now the drone pilot is taking us somewhere we’ve never been before: Sweeney Ranch in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, where Scientology’s odd Church of Spiritual Technology has run into problems with another vault project.
The Church of Spiritual Technology is Scientology’s most secretive subsidiary, and its mandate is to develop underground vaults intended to house the preserved works of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to last thousands of years. With vaults already placed in California and New Mexico, several years ago CST began a new project in Wyoming.
But as Mike Rinder has pointed out, the project ran afoul of local authorities, who didn’t like that Scientology was building a doomsday shelter on land that was zoned for agricultural use. Rinder reported that not only was the work halted, but the church was ordered to return the hillside it was drilling to its original state.
As you’ll see in the high-resolution footage we have for you today, the hillside dig site is still pretty visible, even if the hole being dug into the ground was collapsed. Also, you’ll see that there’s still a lot of storage containers on site, which makes us wonder if CST is still hoping it can, someday, get back to digging.
Thanks again, drone pilot, for taking us on such revealing trips over Scientology’s secret locations!
(Note: This video our drone pilot edited together from two separate overflights. For raw video from the two separate flights, see video 1 and video 2.)
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Bonus items from our tipsters
Says our correspondent: “I enjoy your blog so much I had to share this funny thing. I am attending Dragoncon in Atlanta. A pop culture convention. I donate blood every year. This year we all got a free gift. I attached a picture. I laughed out loud.”
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Bernie Headley has not seen his daughter Stephanie in 4,860 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 1,843 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 2,617 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 1,963 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 2,457 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 1,497 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 1,209 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 735 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 4,824 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 1,964 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 2,284 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 2,259 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 615 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 4,917 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 1,024 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis for 1,426 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 1,299 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 880 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 1,385 days.
Mary Jane Sterne has not seen her daughter Samantha in 1,629 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 12,738 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on September 1, 2017 at 07:00
E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2016 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2016), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts
Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield
