No, RadarOnline did not discover a new underground bunker at Scientology’s Gold Base

We want to start out by saying that we have had a fine relationship with RadarOnline in the past. Sure, it’s the online sister to the National Enquirer and very tabloidy, but it has employed people who were passionate about getting Scientology stories right and who enjoyed working with us.

You might remember, for example, that it was Radar’s Melissa Cronin who gave us our first taste of the actual FBI investigative documents from the agency’s 2009 probe into labor trafficking at Scientology’s Gold Base, near Hemet, California. She generously shared with us the documents she obtained before we were able to post the entire file on our own.

This week, however, it’s a shame that Radar didn’t reach out before posting a breathless story claiming that they had spotted from aerial photographs a newly constructed underground bunker at that same Gold Base, leading to all kinds of wild speculation about Tom Cruise or David Miscavige becoming subterranean recluses, or something…

 
Radar went so far as to check with the county to see if Scientology had applied for any recent construction permits, which they hadn’t, so it was an especially scandalous scoop: Scientology had not only built a new hidey-hole, they had done so illegally!

Even before we checked with people who actually, you know, lived and worked at the base, we could see an immediate problem with Radar’s claim just by looking at the photo they were talking about…

 
The discoloration on that concrete lid makes it quite clear that this is not new construction. And indeed, Gary “Jackson” Morehead, who was the chief of security at Gold Base in the late 1980s and early 1990s, says that feature has been there for almost 30 years.

“I literally stood there and watched James Hall and Alan Poval build that enclosure and install the elaborate trap and then fine tune it,” Morehead tells us.

What appears to be an underground bunker entrance to Radar is actually a simple concrete box that was used to house a skeet thrower on a rifle range built out behind the Bonnie View house at the base.

“James used to sit in it and reload the machine during use. Tom Cruise bought the machine and of course used it many times in the early 1990s. I used to stand there and watch him and David Miscavige use it. Someone used to go up and lay out all the guns just before their arrival,” Morehead says.

Cruise, as far as we know, hasn’t been to the base in more than 20 years. And even Miscavige himself, according to recent escapee Valerie Haney, stopped going to the base some five or six years ago.

The skeet-shooting apparatus and its concrete enclosure, in other words, are relics of a previous era, not new construction or a door into an underground hiding place.

Radar’s story also perpetuates a lot of bad information about Shelly Miscavige, David’s wife who hasn’t been seen in public or at Scientology events in 14 years.

She had been living and working at Gold Base until late August or early September 2005, when she vanished from the base.

Since then, except for being out to attend her father’s funeral in the summer of 2007, she’s been kept out of sight at a smaller, more secretive Scientology compound, the CST Headquarters near Lake Arrowhead, California. (Here’s a more complete story about her fate and what we know about it.)

So, Radar is completely wrong when it says, “the common consensus among qualified Scientology experts [of Shelly’s location] has generally been Gold Base.”

No, Gold Base is where she vanished from, not where she is being held now. No “qualified Scientology expert” would say that she has been held at Gold.

“I don’t think Shelly was whisked away from the place she lived at 20 years to be hidden at the same place in a skeet shooting range,” says Marc Headley.

Anyway, it’s just a shame that an outlet with a large reach like this wouldn’t do a little homework before putting up such a mistake-filled piece. No one who ever stepped foot at Gold Base is quoted in the story, and although a quote from us does appear in it, it’s apparently from one of our older stories. We weren’t contacted for the story.

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

Meanwhile, in Canada…

 
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Source Code

“Handling Security Checks in a society of this particular character, then, runs into a little bit of heavy weather. And you very often run into some heavy weather. Somebody’s sitting there and, good God, they’re the fellow who did it, you know, and what are you going to do as the auditor, you know?…What is your responsibility as an auditor? Well, it’s, your responsibility as an auditor is first and foremost as an auditor, is get the person out of it. You’re not the police force. Don’t you see? And then you actually are not honor bound from that point there on to be under a stamp and seal of total secrecy with regard to the fact that the First National Bank was robbed by Joe, you see. But don’t go calling up the police. They’re on the wrong road. Cops never get a society anyplace. Cops are a short-term proposition, strictly. The more cops, the more crime.” — L. Ron Hubbard, September 13, 1961

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“About 18 months ago, I began to wake up to the fact that I was in the Church of Scientology in my last lifetime. After more auditing and more mind expansion, I realized, ‘oh, maybe I am/was Clear.’ So, I came to believe I was Clear. Today, I don’t think I was Clear, but, I’m almost sure I did believe I was Clear in my last lifetime. In fact, I kind of see I reached OT2. As I said, I’m not sure, and I speculate that I had good auditing, but also bad auditing. I also was probably subjected to Black Scientology.”

 
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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] How a Scientology-run business preyed on Silicon Valley icons in the name of ‘wellness’
[TWO years ago] Ford Greene responds to Marty Rathbun, and brings up a previous Scientology secret deal
[THREE years ago] Co-writer Dan Koon answers accusations about the accuracy of Ron Miscavige’s ‘Ruthless’
[FOUR years ago] Paul Haggis, Lawrence Wright react to Alex Gibney’s Emmys sweep for ‘Going Clear’
[FIVE years ago] Ryan Hamilton files 20th lawsuit against Scientology’s drug rehab network
[SIX years ago] MONIQUE RATHBUN VS SCIENTOLOGY, DAY 2: Texas Showdown Shifts Gears
[EIGHT years ago] Marty Rathbun, Ex-Scientology Exec, Back from Germany: “The U.S. Media Has No Balls”

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on September 13, 2019 at 07:00

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