Scientology’s heyday: When you got golden tickets for past-life therapy

We’re continuing to go through a remarkable cache of pristine Scientology materials from the mid-1980s that a former ‘OT’ church member recently sent us.

The stuff really seems to capture a moment in time when Scientology was in its heyday: Sales of ‘Dianetics’ were booming thanks to the erupting volcano TV ad campaign by Jefferson Hawkins, L. Ron Hubbard had been in hiding for several years, and the complex corporate reorganization following the dismantling of the Guardian’s Office was complete. The Sea Org was ascendant, and the era of David Miscavige’s control following the death of Hubbard in January 1986 was looming.

And in those heady times you could get golden discount vouchers for past-life therapy at the Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida!

 
Isn’t it comforting to know that if you were so indoctrinated into the idea of reaching the higher rungs on the Bridge to Total Freedom and had decided to spend a year or more living at the Flag Land Base while undergoing esoteric past-life therapy at hundreds of dollars an hour, you could get a 20 percent discount on your room rate?

Now that’s golden.

 
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Reactions to the Austin video

Reactions were strong to yesterday’s leaked video revealing the fundraising activities that went on for years in Texas to raise enough money for an ‘Ideal Org’ in Austin.

Dressing up in costume for goofy events has been a part of the Ideal Org program almost since it started in 2003 at fundraisers around the world. But the sight of Texas Scientologists doing a ‘South Pacific’ number really got called out by our readers.

 
“When I did the TRs with one of the hula guys, he did a lot of racist characters to make me crack and flunk me on the drills,” says Kat, the comedian who took courses in Austin and who brought the videos out.

And this wasn’t the only time they did the grass skirts and coconuts routine, she says. “It became a carrot, like if we reach this goal, they will do the hula thing.”

We asked her if there other details about yesterday’s video that she wanted to add. she said that during the lengthy fundraising segment, you can see a woman standing by the white board with the donation amounts. “Nia over by the board was a Flag-trained course room supervisor, just like many of the course room sups in Austin. All of them were young, like late teens or early 20s and were pretty much dedicated entirely to the course room. One of them was Stacy Sass’s son, Korbin Springer. Korbin is a UT grad who just opened the New Leaf Academy, Austin’s first Scientology school. Her other son, Barton Springer, is the HES. Stacy is the whale for Austin, she owns a construction parts company and is the main fundraising cheerleader. She once showered the room with $100,000 in cash.”

During the fundraising video, you saw Stacy Sass holding up a copy of cards that had been handed out to everyone in the room to encourage them to give enough to reach their next ‘status level.’

Kat sent us an image of a similar card she was given at a later fundraiser, asking her to contribute $500 to take her from ‘Friend’ to ‘Bronco.’

 
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Source Code

“If the child has suffered a great deal of restimulation such as a recent death on the case, and you know that the emotional content of the prenatal bank is very heavy, you could try to get that death out. But you are liable to find yourself back in the prenatal area, into material that the child can’t handle. The best thing to do is just keep a child from getting restimulated. Limit therapy on a child to picking up little odds and ends. Make them happy, give it to them when you think they need it, stay as late in the case as possible, and above all don’t get the case stirred up to a point where it will swamp the child with anything you suspect may be there. Any prenatal bank is full of infamy. It is extremely embarrassing to try to run some little girl back into the coitus chain who doesn’t know what on earth is going on. She only knows that she is uncomfortable. The words and actions are a complete mystery to her. She is flabbergasted. She will get it off by syllables.” — L. Ron Hubbard, June 14, 1950

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“We will be here 3 or 4 days. There will be Liberty. The port is reported full of refugees who try to stow away so be careful not to give them a chance aboard as we would have to bring them back. The ship is beginning to shape up. The ‘new’ recruits are getting to be old hands, things are ironing out well. The bookstore should stock up on small gifts, sandals etc. Now we’ve got water save it. Long time between here and next drink. Enjoy your liberty.” — The Commodore, June 14, 1969

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“You don’t give firecrackers and matches to children to play with. The L’s run deep into the R6 bank and can have bad consequences if not done right. I’m open to the idea of sharing materials of the L’s with other highly trained auditors, but not for raw public or making it available to those with a small amount of training. People are like children, and someone is going to try the information on another or on themselves and like the firecrackers/children example, you can get a severe in-balance in the mind which becomes psychoses. Hard to unravel if it gets to that stage.”

 
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Past is Prologue

2001: Leipziger Volkszeitung reported that Norbert Bluem accepted the Leipzig Human Rights award for his activism against Scientology. “Bluem received the ‘Leipzig Human Rights Award’ in the Old Stock Exchange. He was honored for his involvement against the Scientology Organization. Bluem was the only federal minister so far who had gotten publicly involved with Scientology’s ‘new totalitarianism,’ as the sect commissioner of the Berlin-Brandenburg Church, Thomas Gandow, read in the decision. Rev. Gandow is a founding member of the European-American Citizens Committee for Human Rights and Religious Freedom in the USA. This committee is active against new totalitarian movements and functions as the body responsible for the award. Bluem has already been attacked both verbally and in court by the Scientologists. So far without success. That never stopped him in Spiegel magazine, for example, from accusing the Scientologists of ‘psychological warfare’ or getting an order to stop them from running private employment agencies, Gandow remembered. He said that Bluem was the only high-ranking federal politician who had expressed himself publicly against the religious community. It said in the award basis that the the distinction should help support politicians in their efforts ‘to put an end to the human rights violations that are being committed by the Scientology organization in the USA and in Europe.'”

 
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Random Howdy

“My dad grew up dirt poor during the Depression and he would eat a jar of pig’s knuckles in one sitting as well as all kinds of other ungodly shit.”

 
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Next hearing set for August 9. Trial tentatively scheduled for early November.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Pretrial conference August 21 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial conference set for June 18.

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition to US Supreme Court submitted on May 26. Scientology has until June 25 to respond.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: California Supreme Court grants review on May 26, asks Second Appellate Division to direct Judge Steven Kleifield to show cause why he granted Scientology’s motion for arbitration.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Dec 17: Feshbachs sign court judgment obliging them to pay entire $3.674 million tax debt, plus interest from Nov 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs. Case appealed on Dec 24.

Concluded litigation:
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.

 
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THE PROSECUTION OF DANNY MASTERSON

We first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation of Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson on rape allegations in 2017, and we’ve been covering the story every step of the way since then. At this page we’ve collected our most important links, including our four days in Los Angeles covering the preliminary hearing and its ruling, which has Danny facing trial and the potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison.

SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.

LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH

An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.

SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z

Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

 
Other links: SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks. Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. 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 a weekly series. How many have you read?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Hanging out with Scientologists going door-to-door in ‘Volunteer Minister’ hazmat suits
[TWO years ago] Scientology trots out new propaganda ploy: Pretending to support journalists
[THREE years ago] DOX: Quebec church owes other Scientology orgs heaps, pays its workers peanuts
[FOUR years ago] Marty Rathbun tries to rewrite the record on Scientology spying. But we have the dox.
[FIVE years ago] Scientology claims L. Ron Hubbard chose David Miscavige to succeed him, proving he didn’t
[SIX years ago] Good morning, New York! Paulette Cooper is dishing on Scientology in the Big Apple today
[SEVEN years ago] L. Ron Hubbard’s mesmerizing lore, and tales of Scientology’s secretive Int Base
[EIGHT years ago] The Fair-Gaming of ESMB’s Michelle “Emma” Sterling
[TEN years ago] David Miscavige, Scientology’s Leader, Wants You to Salute His Beagles

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 14, 2021 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, 1995-2020 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2020), 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, 15 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