Scientology banned his book and trashed him as an apostate. Here’s his full-throated reply!

 
Last Saturday, we had fun posting a 1995 Scientology bulletin that banned Scientologists from reading the 1989 ancient aliens book The Gods of Eden and warned against interacting with its author, former church member William Bramley. In our comments section, Bramley reached out to us and said he was interested in answering Scientology’s criticisms of him. We thought that was a terrific idea, and asked him to swing away at the church’s document. We hope you enjoy his lengthy response.

First of all, let me begin by assuring readers that, contrary to the warning in Scientology’s directive, reading my book will not cause anyone to become a violent ogre who starts spreading cancer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not declared my book to be a carcinogen. So you can now rest your mind on that point.

Also let me assure everyone that I never became violent, suicidal or “a danger to the group” while in Scientology. I was just a young man who wanted to leave and go back to college, which is what I finally did. The directive’s description of my Scientology experience happened back in the 1970’s when I was in my twenties. Here is the back story:

In the late Sixties when the anti-war movement was going strong, I took a social studies class in high school that made me wonder about the bigger social dynamics behind warfare, and whether there is a way to solve it. That interest led me to become a sociology major at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). I was on a mission to end humanity’s war affliction — a brash youth with an oversized goal. But I have always been a square peg in a round hole.

While at UCSB, the head of the sociology department taught a class based on a set of therapeutic techniques known as “Re-evaluation Counseling” (“RC”) created by a man named Harvey Jackins who had been one of L. Ron Hubbard’s early Dianetics students. Jackins then went off and started RC which is roughly based on Dianetics, but without the e-meter or past lives stuff (at least when I was involved).

While taking the course, one of the students gave a talk about the similarity between RC and something called “Dianetics” which I had never heard of before, but it stuck in the back of my mind.

After two years at UCSB, I decided to take a hiatus from college to explore “the real world,” pursue my goal of finding a solution to war, and look into cinema opportunities since I had been an avid student filmmaker in late high school and early college, winning several amateur filmmaking awards for my super-8mm spectaculars. That led me to Los Angeles.

One day while walking through Westwood Village I chanced upon the Scientology mission that displayed a Dianetics book cover out front, triggering my memory of what that student at UCSB had said.

Scientology promised a solution to war, which was right up my alley, so I thought I should give it a look. After taking the introductory Communications Course and doing the “Life Repair” auditing, I was recruited to join staff at the mission. I subsequently took up residence at the Chateau Elysee (the “Manor Hotel”) in Hollywood which now houses Scientology’s Celebrity Center International. At the time of my involvement, the Chateau Elysee was mostly used as a hotel/residence for Scientologists, and the upper two or three floors contained the offices of the U.S. Guardian’s Office — Scientology’s national public relations, espionage, and dirty tricks department.

It did not take me long to become disillusioned with my decision to join mission staff. My original intent had simply been to read the Scientology books and learn how to audit as I pursued my other goals. As a staff member, I was unable to do those things other than to use money on account to get some auditing, and these limitations led me to feeling unhappy (‘enturbulated”). I had expressed occasional feelings of frustration in my auditing similar to when someone says, “I could just punch someone” or “I could throw a chair through the window,” but, of course, I never did anything even remotely like that, and the Scientology directive does not accuse me of having done so. Anyway, back to the story…

I became vaguely aware that Hubbard had invented a condition called “PTS Type III” which meant that a person needed to go to a quiet safe place for a while to “destimulate.” That sounded like the perfect solution for me because I wanted to take a week off, relax my mind, and re-assess everything. I went to one of the mission executives and asked to be assigned Type III status. There was a meeting or two held with me, including with the executive director, and they agreed to my request.

I returned to the Manor Hotel to tell the registrar that I would be gone for a week because I was Type III. He looked at me like I was nuts, and he said, “You are definitely NOT Type III.” I said, yes I am because I needed to go destimulate. The registrar then pulled out one of Hubbard’s writings about Type III, and I learned that Type III essentially means that the person is totally and visibly bonkers. At that moment I felt betrayed by the mission for not having explained that to me since I was a relative “newbie” to Scientology and not well-versed in its doctrines. The registrar was a Sea Org member, and he promised that someone in the Sea Org would straighten it out with the mission and get the declaration cancelled; obviously that never happened.

Anyway, I decided to take my week and drive east from Los Angeles to the desert. On the first day of my trip, I reached the Joshua Tree park, drove up a small road off the main highway, and then sat with my legs dangling out of the car to stare at the Joshua trees so that I could destimulate. And I sat. Finally, after a couple of hours or so it dawned on me, “This is really stupid staring at this plant.” I turned around and drove back to Los Angeles and the Manor Hotel. The registrar was pleased to see me back so soon, and then he said that I should join the Sea Org and work at the Manor because in the Sea Org people could do whatever they want after I told him my aspirations. So, I signed up, and my employment contract at the mission was cancelled.

Of course, it was not true that people can do whatever they want in the Sea Org, and I was assigned different posts, the final one being Manor Hotel registrar after the one who had recruited me left the Sea Org, and his replacement later “blew” (left abruptly without notice). Unlike other Sea Org outfits, the Manor was pretty good about giving everyone a single day off each week, and evenings were allocated for “personal enhancement” to consist of training or auditing. I admit I abused those privileges. On many weekends I drove across town to the UCLA library or to bookstores where I made a deep dive into historical research. I sometimes used my evening personal enhancement time to read publications that I had purchased instead of doing a Scientology course. I was still a cinephile and would occasionally sneak off to movies during time off, especially when interesting art house fare or foreign films were shown. I had completed my staff training and the Dianetics auditing course, but I lost my motivation to do a lot more Scientology training; I was more interested in the human history I was studying.

I was, however, still getting auditing because I had some remaining money on account from the mission where I had been doing the Drug Rundown (DRD). Those were the days of “Endless Drug Rundowns,” and mine was no exception. The first 50 hours of DRD auditing at the mission were actually not bad, and I felt that I had derived some benefit, but then the process became an unfulfilling grind that continued with different auditors after I began working at the Manor.

Because I stopped feeling any real benefit from the endless DRD, someone apparently decided that I must have hidden crimes or evil purposes that were blocking my progress. After doing seemingly endless auditing “repair lists,” I was put on a program of what seemed like endless security checking (which burned through what was left of my account money). My only “crime” was being dilettante in my Scientology studies, so I was checked for “evil intentions” against Scientology, and a couple of times I was asked to do “evil purpose write-ups” outside of auditing. The idea was to dig around in one’s thoughts to find hidden evil intentions against Scientology, confess them, and this would then cleanse the mind so that progress could once again be made in Scientology. The problem with finding “evil purposes” in this fashion is that anyone can think of something plausibly bad that he or she might be able to do, and because the person thought of it, conclude that the “evil purpose” must be genuine even if in reality the person had no intention of actually doing any such thing. I finally got to the point that I “confessed” to anything that would be plausible; for example, the “re-evaluation counseling” that I had participated in before Scientology was considered a “squirrel group” — a terrible thing in Scientology — so I wrote a “confession” that I had an “evil purpose” to steal Scientology’s secrets and take them to re-evaluation counseling. I actually had no interest in becoming involved again with re-evaluation counseling, and never did so after leaving Scientology, but it was about the best “evil purpose” I could come up with at the time.

Meanwhile, in my confessional auditing, I finally got to the point that I started inventing outlandish crimes, for example “confessing” that I had planted a bomb in one of the executive’s toilets. (My auditor gave me a puzzled look, realized that I was joking out of frustration, and my confessional auditing sessions ended soon afterwards, much to my relief.)

I found the process of being constantly sec-checked and digging around in my mind for “evil intentions” to be introverting, and it only had the effect of making me feel worse about myself as a human being. I had come to feel that I must be little more than a seething mass of hidden crimes and evil intentions because that was the only way to explain, within Hubbard’s teachings, why I was feeling unhappy with being in the Sea Org and wanting to go back to college. In fact, there was a Sea Org policy (“Flag Order”) written by Hubbard that stated quite explicitly that any person wanting to leave the Sea Org was to be deemed a psychotic, which I internalized into thinking that I was an actual psychotic because I could not shake the feeling that I wanted to finish getting a university degree instead of working at the Manor. And, according to Hubbard, psychotics are dangerous to people around them. So, yes, I no doubt did express to an ethics officer or auditor at one time or another that I felt like I was a “danger to the group.” But here again, there was nothing that I actually did, or even came close to doing, that made me feel that way; it was just the mental gymnastics that led to my depressing thoughts.

Despite all this, I came to personally like many of my fellow Scientologists, including most of those on staff at the Manor, so I was disturbed that so many of them would “blow” (leave their jobs and/or Scientology abruptly), and have bad labels placed on them so that people “still in” were no longer allowed to have any communication with them. It was painful to experience friendships broken that way.

Another significant experience was finding myself standing in the middle of the famous 1977 FBI raid against Scientology that included the USGO offices upstairs. When the raid got underway, I was summoned by an anxious boss to operate the building’s telephone switchboard that was behind the front desk in the lobby. It was quite something for me as an idealistic twenty-something to field calls from Scientology executives while FBI agents marched past me just a few feet away armed with sledge hammers for breaking into USGO offices upstairs. At the same time, other agents returned carrying cartons full of documents that, as we would learn later, helped lead to the criminal convictions of nearly a dozen top Scientology executives, including L. Ron Hubbard’s wife, Mary Sue Hubbard.

Yet another troubling incident involved our cook (a Sea Org member) who was one day given an “ethics handling” by his senior. That resulted in the cook going to his little room and slashing his wrists. Luckily, this was discovered almost immediately, his wrists were bandaged by one of the Manor staff, and I was summoned to drive him home to relatives who lived in Los Angeles. My heart ached for the young man sitting silently next to me in the car with his wrists bandaged, and to this day I hope that he recovered psychologically and went on to live a good life.

The scariest moment came one night when I was asleep in my bed in a room at the Manor that I shared with a couple of other staff members. I had an extra blanket suspended over the posts of my bed to block out the light at night since we did not have curtains on the windows. I was abruptly awakened by someone lifting the cover, and I saw a figure hulking over my bed looking in. I was startled, and that caused the figure (apparently a male) to turn and run out of the room before I could get a good look at him. The next morning my roommates and I discovered a hunting knife atop the dresser near my bed.

My roommates and I were “freaked out,” as one might imagine, and guessed that the unknown figure may have been intending to stab me to death in my sleep. The incident was reported to the Guardian’s Office, but they refused to contact the police, and we decided on a ploy to see if we could ascertain who owned the knife. The knife was placed into the Manor’s lost-and-found drawer to see if anyone would claim it, and a few days later someone did: it was a Manor executive who said the knife had always belonged to him. That same executive had once talked to me hypothetically about how it might sometimes be necessary to kill a suppressive person who has become a staff executive if the organizational procedures won’t accomplish his or her removal from post. Since I had once been in a “squirrel group” and seemed to have turned into something of a “no case gain” person in my auditing (which Hubbard says is a sure sign that someone is a Suppressive Person), I may have been ID’d in the mind of that executive as a hidden “SP.” Fortunately, no one ended up being murdered at the Manor, and that particular staff member later left the Sea Org.

So what kept me in Scientology a while longer? It was Scientology’s “Freedom” magazine, which at that time was actually doing some very good investigative reporting, especially by the late Vaughn Young, into subjects like Nazi connections to Interpol, the drug BZ, and more. I had always been a fan of investigative journalists like Jack Anderson who wrote exposes on important issues, and Vaughn’s reporting often matched that caliber. This made me feel that I was doing some good for the world by supporting Scientology with my labor, but even that feeling wore off as my yearning to go back to college grew stronger. Eventually Vaughn himself would leave Scientology and write unflattering essays about his experiences in it.

The day finally arrived when I made my decision firm to end my detour “into the real world,” and to finish my schooling. I do not know why the Scientology directive made such a point of saying that I had been ushered out of staff. Quite the opposite happened. Although I had made the decision to leave, I did not simply want to “blow” (i.e., disappear into the night without warning). Instead I arranged for a non-Sea Org tenant of the Manor (who had sometimes filled in for me when I went on holiday leaves) to take over as registrar until the Manor could fill the post with another Sea Org member. I always paid this person out of my private funds, and I arranged to do so again for a while after I left. With these arrangements made and consented to by the Manor executives, I departed the Manor in my little yellow Volkswagen Super Beetle, drove back to northern California where I was welcomed back by family, and I happily re-entered the U.C. system to complete my education. As I worked and completed my higher education, I continued the research and writing that would lead to The Gods of Eden. I knew that I had strayed into some very fringe stuff, and I almost did not write about UFOs.

I was originally planning to write about war-profiteering and propose that all war-related industries should be made into non-profits to take away some of the money-making incentives that warfare brings. (Maybe still not a bad idea). But, I was bothered by reports that I had come across from the medieval Black Death regarding objects in the sky and “men in black” spraying “mists” (aerosols) that were said to cause immediate outbreaks of the Black Death. They were describing what, for all appearances, was biological warfare in a form that has been developed by humans in modern times. I felt that I had a duty as a human being not to bury such potentially important evidence, so I decided that I would need to publish my fringe UFO book even if no one read it, which is what I expected to happen. The first hardcover edition came out in 1989, found an audience, and Avon Books later approached me to do a mass-market paperback edition.

But, quite honestly, I did not want to be deeply involved in ufology and conspiracy theory. I was ready to live a regular life and pursue a regular career. For this reason I declined a very nice invitation from Avon Books to write a series of follow-up books for them on the same general topic. Although I occasionally did interviews (including a few for the Ancient Aliens television show) and made scattered appearances over the decades, I largely stayed away and wrote no more UFO books. UFOs were never my true interest, just certain human social dynamics and their causes.

The Scientology directive in 1995 happened after my book became popular among Scientologists, even though I had not promoted to them. I received very laudatory letters from advanced-level Scientologists and a couple of its celebrities (all of whom shall stay unnamed because of my privacy policy). However, when I wrote back to some of them with suggestions for making changes to Church policies, among them ending disconnection, as well as making it clear that I was no longer a Scientologist, the Scientology directive was issued. I subsequently learned the names of the high executives who participated in writing and issuing that directive, and at least one of them was later busted to the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) back when the RPF was still being operated, and another left the Church and made very public denunciations of it and its leadership.

As for where I got the theory for The Gods of Eden, it was not from Scientology as the Scientology missive implies. When I got into Scientology, I recognized that Hubbard’s “Third Party Law” was derived from Machiavelli’s famous tome “The Prince” I felt that Hubbard went too far by stating that every conflict is caused by a hidden third party. I continue to feel that one must analyze conflicts on a case-by-case basis because most will be seen to arise from visible and obvious causes. On the other hand, conflicts stirred up by outsiders in divide-and-conquer and divide-and-rule strategies have also been significant in history, but I feel that Machiavelli is a better expression of that, which is why I cite him and not Hubbard.

As for the idea of space aliens in the ancient past, a friend in college had given me Von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods before I had even heard of Scientology. The idea of Earth being the possession of an ET society was expressed by Charles Fort in The Book of the Damned published in 1919 when Hubbard was still a child. Fort became popular within the sci-fi set, and was serialized in the sci-fi pulps that Hubbard later wrote for. That is where I am guessing that Hubbard got the idea, on top of which he added some of his own musings that I did not adopt into my thinking.

Von Däniken and my anti-war quest merged when I began to puzzle why religions, especially the Abrahamic ones, seem to generate so much conflict. That caused me to inquire into who started those religions, leading to Biblical and Islamic stories about angels and/or vehicles coming from the sky imparting the teachings to assorted prophets. The book of Genesis claims to spell it all out: humans were created as servants (Adam & Eve story), and they were to be kept in a state of perpetual disunity (Tower of Babel story). So if Yahweh and some of those Biblical entities were the “ancient astronauts” of Von Däniken fame, then I had a simple College 101 divide-and-rule theory: if the ET is real, then it has had a program to keep humanity in a socially fractured state as a planetary management tool. as a planetary management tool. This is a “hidden hand” type of theory to explain one aspect of human history that Hubbard had already pooh-poohed in his 1963 lecture “Free Being”:

There is no master hand guiding all this, but everybody feels that there must be a master hand guiding all this because there’s so much trouble. No. When a master hand is guiding things, there isn’t any trouble; things are calm.

In that same lecture, Hubbard explained the cause of human warfare like this:

Well, when you take bodies which have been mocked up and thetans who have been indoctrinated in very definite lines — to fight, to do this, to have certain types of societies; to do this, to do that, to do the other thing and then they get scooped up from this galaxy and that system and this star and here and there and the other place and are dumped in on one system as unwanted merchandise, you have these tremendous impulses that are at work, one against another, and it works up a lot of heat of friction. You have such a society here at this particular time.

Unlike the above, I did not propose in my book that warfare arose on Earth because of unconsciousness impulses generated during previous lives on other planets. In fact, archaeological studies do not support such a theory. Although humanity’s skeletal and archaeological record indicate that there were occasional episodes of person-to-person violence in early prehistoric times (but surprisingly seldom), warfare as a “thing” did not seem to emerge until either roughly around 9000 BC or 6000 BC (depending on how certain archeological finds are interpreted), contradicting the once long-held assumption that humans have always been warlike. In fact, I continue to believe that the overwhelming majority of humans naturally gravitate away from war, and am encouraged by some of the scholarship in books like The Better Angels of Our Nature by Harvard psychologist Stephen Pinker.

Finally, in that lecture Hubbard seems to propose that whatever controlling ET force there may have once been here, it left around AD 1150. I had a little trouble understanding his exposition, but his concept seemed to have something to do with Invader Forces, an “Espinol” Confederation, and some kind of base being abolished on Mars whereupon “nobody took any interest in this system. This system [which includes Earth] has been running wild since that time [AD 1150].” If Hubbard was correct, there should have been a change in the pattern of anomalous aerial phenomena and contact experiences in the literature from AD 1150 to the present, but I do not see that: quite the opposite, the patterns remained the same and even intensified as the history discussed in my book and chronicles published in past centuries seem to indicate.

Regarding the concept of human bodies (and by extension, Earth) as a prison for souls, well, that’s Plato and the neo-Platonists. This theme was also touched on in an important ancient Mesopotamian creation story (Atrahasis) that talks about the bio-modification of early humans to create a work race for human-like “gods,” some of them hailing from the sky. Hubbard’s idea of a “thetan” is an expression of duality (a soul or consciousness that is separate from the body) that almost every religion teaches in one form or another, and have been doing so for centuries and millennia. Sure, Hubbard added his own thoughts to this age-old idea, and that’s fine, but Scientologists must not think that anyone who discusses dualism today is “squirreling” off Hubbard. In fact, I feel that some of the theories published by academics in recent years about the relationship between consciousness and reality are already leaving some of Hubbard’s ideas behind, but that’s fine, too, because that is how scientific knowledge advances. The Catholic Church had to adjust to it, and all of us (including me) must be ready to see some of our cherished ideas become outmoded as new discoveries and information emerge.

The Scientology directive also points out unfavorably that I had discussed “religion with graduated steps.” That is how the ancient Mystery Schools were structured, as well as many secret societies that emerged from them. Those practices consisted of step-by-step secret initiations in which members were promised increasingly profound revelations about life, the soul, and the universe. Some of those organizations had a significant impact on human religious thought and political history, and that is why I discussed them in my book. Ironically, Scientology was turned into a partial secret society when Hubbard created the advanced “upper levels” and made them confidential with strict penalties against any Scientologist who violated the secrecy. Of course, those secret teachings were later leaked to the public, and even became the subject of that famous parody on the comedy show South Park.

In staying all of the above, I am not trying to sell anyone on the theory I proposed decades ago in The Gods of Eden. (In fact, I have changed my thinking in regard to a number of matters that I discussed in that book and would express some things differently if I had to do it over.) I am simply pointing out that my book was not an exposition of Hubbardian thought, and in its essential theory it veered 180 degrees from what Hubbard had related to his students.

As for the ancient astronaut theory itself, skepticism is understandable. The body of evidence for ancient astronauts and ETs flying in our skies today is a scrambled mess with enormous amounts of fraud mixed in. But there have been very smart people like professors from Stanford University and Harvard who have been willing to put their names on the line in support of the idea that there is probably something there, but we must be meticulous in sorting through the evidence. I was flattered to be invited to meet with a couple of them after my book came out.

The Scientology missive against me resembles the stance of the old Catholic Inquisition or a modern ISIS tribunal that says no one may commit heresy from the absolute truths set forth by the religious founder, otherwise a terrible fate will be forthcoming. Unfortunately, there have been a few debunkers who have veered uncomfortably close to that attitude in the name of rational thinking. Let’s just chill for a moment, take a deep breath, and focus our debates on evidence and analysis in a collegial way. That’s what true science and scholarship try to do, and it is a big reason why science is able to move ahead so quickly. Character smears against people with different ideas simply bog everything down without improving the data base for the topics at hand. In this regard, Scientologist are filled with pride when they can point to writings that Hubbard sprinkled throughout his prose about freedom of thought, such as this line from the Creed of Scientology:

We of the Church believe…That all men have inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others.

Or this line that is quoted by Scientology’s group Applied Scholastics:

Stress  the right of the individual to select only what he desires to know, to  use any knowledge as he wishes, that he himself owns what he has learned.

These excellent sentiments do no good if actual Hubbard policies negate them, as evidenced by Scientology’s directive against me and in the testimony of many former Scientologists. We all need to realize that people are going to have many different thoughts on all sorts of different topics, including those that are near and dear, and the best way to deal with it is to simply have the discussions (which can often be enriching).

In the end, let me make it clear that I am fine with people going up Hubbard’s “Grade Chart” (the spiritual levels) as long as people feel that they are being benefited. That is also how I feel about meditation, talk therapy, and almost any other self-improvement modality (even re-evaluation counseling!). But if a day comes for an individual when the modality of choice does not seem to be helpful anymore, then just stop doing it and go do something else. People come and go from religions, therapies, and spiritual practices all the time. It is foolish to inject unnecessary trauma into the departure process by making people feel that they are sinners or evil for doing so, or losing family or friends for not staying "on the one true path," whatever path that happens to be at the moment. Let’s celebrate our different and often-changing journeys as long as we are not oppressing other people with them — that’s what makes the world interesting.

— William Bramley

 
——————–

Scientology Freedom Medal winner Meghan Fialkoff, filmmaker?

“A little peak [sic] of something I shot this summer,” Drug Free World maven Meghan Fialkoff captioned this video that she posted at Facebook. We gave it a look and, well, we’re not really sure what the heck we just watched.

 
——————–

Bonus items from our tipsters

Meanwhile, in Canada…

 
——————–

Trial and error

We’ve had a change in plans. It turns out that next week’s event at Los Angeles Superior Court is just a pretrial hearing in the Hanan Islam matter. We have canceled our flight and car, and we will rebook once we get an actual trial date — which it turns out might not happen until the new year. (Thank you, holidays.)

Once again, we want to thank the readers who contributed to sending us to Los Angeles, and that money will go to fly us out there, when the judge can figure out when he wants to make this thing happen.

 
——————–

Source Code

“The only other thing I could tell that you really need to know about this meter is, when it’s all the way up to the vicinity of 6.0 or even into the black, you’re reading a thetan who believes he is dead. Completely aside from the theta bop, these are the readings of a body if it were dead: But the thetan believes he’s dead up that high. I learned this from plants. When plants think they’re dead, man, they rise right up there and there they are. And a plant can conceive that it’s dead long before it departs. It says, ‘I’m dead,’ goes right on up here to 6.0. After that, you get no needle motion. You get nothing.” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 16, 1959

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“Don’t forget that LRH did a lot of research. I.e., why does the body sleep? Because of the photosynthesis cycle? Even if bodies were manufactured, why do cells retain memory in the form of engrams? Hmm. Also if bodies are manufactured you have to have a thetan in them to animate them, yeah? Hence an entity, yeah? Hmmm when people think they are famous well that’s a matter for auditing. The track is very long and there are many similar planets and times and lives operating on the same implants. Before bodies there were thetans and theta traps and war with MEST biengs. I don’t care who thinks what they were and how fantastical it gets just if they blow charge.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“My wife used to say the reason I was a such a morbid negative weirdo was because of all the horrible stories my dad use to tell me about Korea and WWII and all the other mondo cane shit he saw during his time in the merchant marines. I think she may have been right.”

 
——————–

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?

 
——————–

THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Scientology’s ‘Super Power’ poster boy gets dunked on by yet another irked judge
[TWO years ago] How Pete Griffiths sued a Scientologist and ended up being vilified by former friends
[THREE years ago] Scientology’s websites try a little too hard to convince you that all is right in crazy town
[FOUR years ago] Lisa McPherson in Orlando: What her hotel roommate witnessed, and the Slaughter rule
[FIVE years ago] Sunday Funnies: Get yer boots on for some Scientology line dancing in Austin!
[SIX years ago] Jon Atack: Did Mary Sue Hubbard Doubt Scientology’s Key Experience?
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology’s Big Gamble: “Golden Age of Tech 2” Is Here!
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Watching Gets Fancy!

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on November 16, 2019 at 07:00

E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post 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 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, 14 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 | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele