Is it already time for Leah Remini’s second episode of 2019? For some reason we’re still a little discombobulated after the holidays, and this episode came up on us awfully quick. Well, the tree is put away, the decorations are back in the boxes, and Leah is here to get us all enraged again!
In this special episode, Leah and Mike talk to a panel of people who have been ripped off, swindled, physically harmed — and who were also part of the extortion machine going on in Scientology.
You wanted Leah to follow the money? This week she’s following the money.
We are introduced to a young couple who weren’t in Scientology long, but wow, were they messed with financially. We really felt for this young man, who looked like it was painful for him to recount just how badly he and his wife were abused by Scientology’s “registrars,” or “regges,” the people whose job it is to get you to fork over tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for future courses that might take you years to complete (if you complete them at all).
We also meet a former Sea Org worker who became permanently scarred by his experience. But after being maimed, he walked away and was saddled with a “Freeloader’s Debt,” asking him to pay for what was essentially his job training (such as it was).
(You might remember that Sunny Pereira provided us with documentation of the time when she also was asked to pay for job training after she walked away from her job. It’s completely illegal, of course, but then Scientology seems to get away with everything.)
The other two people on the panel are figures you’ll recognize from here at the Underground Bunker. Last year Heather Ruggeri told us about her harrowing experience in the Sea Org which included being forced to have an abortion. On tonight’s episode, she relates how her mother was so financially suckered by the church it’s affecting her ability to make a living even after she left.
And there’s also Carol Nyburg, a person we’ve written about several times before, a woman who was well known at the Flag Land Base for her hospitality even though she was also a registrar. Carol doesn’t spare herself as she talks about how vampiric Scientology regges could be, and how she was taught never to take no for an answer.
“It was your duty to invade people’s privacy,” she says. “You were taught they have the money. Don’t let them tell you that they don’t.”
And several times, Mike and Leah have to point out that all of the extreme things their guests had been through — the physical maiming, the losing a house, Carol’s all night book-selling binges — are all bog-standard activities and happenings in Scientology that are going on right now.
What is it going to take for law enforcement to see what exploitative practices these are for any business, and not just something calling itself a church?
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Start making your plans!
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Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!
We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.
Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!
Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society!
Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in our weekly series. How many have you read?
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THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] Joy Villa’s ex talks about her domestic violence arrest and the child she put up for adoption
[TWO years ago] Talking to the FBI agent who canceled her talk at Scientology’s ‘mecca’
[THREE years ago] The best thing ever written about the language traps in Scientology’s Bible, ‘Dianetics’
[FOUR years ago] Jefferson Hawkins provides Scientology a way to happiness that actually works
[FIVE years ago] We talk to Ray Jeffrey about today’s brutally long day in a Texas court battling Scientology
[SIX years ago] Nancy Many’s Life in Scientology Dramatized on January 16 Investigation Discovery Series
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology Sunday Funnies: Happiness Coming to a Library Near You!
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Bernie Headley has not seen his daughter Stephanie in 5,323 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 1,454 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 1,956 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 1,436 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 499 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 387 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 3,694 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 1,562 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,336 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,110 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 2,456 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,022 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 6,942 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,109 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 2,690 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 2,950 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 1,990 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 1,702 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,228 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,317 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 2,457 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 2,777 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 7,633 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 2,752 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,108 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 5,410 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 1,516 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 1,919 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 1,790 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 1,373 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 1,868 days.
Mary Jane Sterne has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,122 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,231 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 8, 2019 at 07:00
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Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, 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, 1995-2018 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2018), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | 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 | 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
Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…
Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
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
