On Sunday we brought you the latest ‘OT Phenomena’ from a new issue of Scientology’s magazine ‘Advance!’
And for the most part, you told us that these miracles shared by new OTs, published in order to convince other Scientologists to spend the big bucks on the OT levels so they too could obtain Scientology super powers, were exceedingly weak. Lucky traffic lights? A waning watch battery? This is the best that one could expect after spending hundreds of thousands or even a million dollars or more on the OT levels?
Was it always this way?
We remembered that we’d been sent a pristine collection of Scientology materials from the mid-1980s from one of our readers. And in that pile we found a copy of Advance! that carried a 1985 copyright. It was issue 87, and featured a cover with a rather murky image of Viking glory (see above). And back on page 18, there’s the monthly column of OT Phenomena.
Were the stories shared by Scientologists in 1985 more impressive than they are now? We’ll let you be the judge…
“When I was very young this lifetime, I was preoccupied with the future of this planet, and constantly wondered what life would be like in a thousand or a hundred thousand or a million years. I used to look at the stars for hours and wonder who was really out there and what ‘they’ had to do with ‘us’ here on Earth.
“As I grew older, I never really lost that curiosity and never ceased to feel sad that I ‘wouldn’t be around’ to see the future.
“Until Scientology philosophy, that is.
“Now I am going up the OT Levels. I have achieved, and am still achieving, the awareness that I sought as a kid. The dreams I used to dream and questions I used to ask are real and are being answered every day.
“As for me, well, I no longer worry about not being around to see the future and what the world will be like many many years hence. I know that I will see it.
“But even more importantly, the OT Levels have helped me regain the ability to act and be at cause in present time — and so shape that future myself. I can foresee the future clearly without conjecture or guesswork — for that too is the ability of an OT Scientologist.
“From wonder and worry to certainty of myself and the ability to create my own and others’ futures — this is the route I have traveled. I am still traveling, but now I sure know where I’m going!” — R.M.
“In the spring of 1984 my friend sat on his porch with a wasp sting, and a broken heart. I ran out the wasp sting with NED Narrative. The broken heart? He said that he didn’t feel like carrying on with his life. I said that I understood. Then I used POSITIVE POSTULATES to make things go right. An ideal-scene second dynamic would be an ideal scene for him. For a while I got him looking at trees, sky, clouds, and gentle things, until he felt better.
“Exactly a year later, I attended his marriage to a lovely woman. The ceremony took place right in the vicinity where I’d made the Positive Postulate.” — H.V.
“Three weeks after having completed OT III, I participated in the General Meeting of Executives of the big banking institution where I work.
“There were about 2000 people present, from all over France, one minister, the press and professional organizations. There was a feeling of entheta, covert hostility or of antagonism, against our General Manager.
“I decided to handle this at the moment he was about to start his speech. I established theta lines all over the conference room and in a few seconds I had the results: disappearance of mental masses, peace, surging of time, a silence of extraordinary quality and for him a triumph, a perfect ARC allowing him to start another new year of good common work for the survival of the group.” — E.L.
“I was in a restaurant one night with some friends and I saw a group of people crowded around one of the booths. I went over to see what was going on. There were three guys holding down a lady who was having an epileptic seizure. One was holding her tongue and the other two were holding her down.
“I pushed my way through the crowd and whispered to the one guy to let go of her tongue and motioned to the other two to let her go. I took the lady’s hand and ran an assist on her.
“Eventually, she opened her eyes and was calm, looked better and was breathing eaier. I don’t know how long we had been doing the assist but I looked around and the crowd was larger and there were three policemen and two ambulance attendants standing there patiently waiting for me to finish. There was a complete hush over the group. I turned the lady, now fully recovered, over to the ambulance attendants who gave her a routine check.
“Then her husband stopped me and said he didn’t know what I had done, but thanks very much. He also said he was really puzzled because his wife did not understand a word of English.
“The tech and OT intention really work!” — R.C.
“I noticed the other day that I could look behind me without turning my head. I also have a pretty good idea of how my friends are doing — even if they are not near. I get communications and put them out on a theta level so much that it seems natural, because it is! It’s very nice to be regaining natural abilities here at the AO!” — K.M.
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Leah Remini podcast: L. Ron Hubbard’s life and lies, part 1
Says Mike: “We broke this into two parts, the first focused on Hubbard’s life and claims up to Dianetics. Even in two episodes we can only touch upon some of the highlights (lowlights?) as there is a great deal to know. If you have not already done so, I highly recommend reading both Jon Atack’s ‘Piece of Blue Sky’ and Russell Miller’s ‘Barefaced Messiah’.” Listen to the episode right here!
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Your proprietor on the airwaves
Once again, Jim Paris had us on his show and proved to be a great friend of the Bunker.
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“It’s a long story. But in 1950, a fellow name of Palmer walked into the Explorers Club just as I was leaving the mail room, and Palmer says to me, ‘Hey, Ron, you want an expedition?’ And I said, ‘Well, sure.’ ‘Well, he says, ‘there’s a whole bunch of Greek and Roman statuary that was being brought from Athens to Rome, and the ship went aground on the north side of the Dodecanese.’ And he says, ‘Been there ever since. And they’ve just located it at about thirty fathoms of water’….And I’ve just been sort of working on this in my spare time and getting it together. Nothing very dramatic in the way of progress….And just today, why, their delay was explained. They had already put it before the Flag Committee and the board of directors and that sort of thing. So the expedition, as of that action, became an official scientific expedition: ocean archaeological survey with the purpose of discovering various periods of marine history in the past, as possibly represented on the floors of sunken harbors long since passed from the view of man where there are, of course, still ships. And I don’t guarantee that we won’t stop by on some of the stuff sunk during World War II and pick up a few tommy guns.” — L. Ron Hubbard, June 22, 1961
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“FLAG RUMOURS: You should write all your friends to correct field impression of Flag with brutal ethics and cat-o-nine. I worked out what really happened. In Melilla in the Spring of ’68 we had a flood of raw, relatively untrained, unaudited people arrive. We also had five people who were very heavy handed and suppressive, since blown or dismissed (Berez was booted out of the SO for drug use and is in jail for drug running and possibly Taunton). The ship during the VIII Class was (a) poorly manned (b) had SPs aboard and (c) had very few trained Scientologists and (d) was under heavy enemy attack (the Greek affair with bird dogs aboard). (The UK ban.) What happened was, we trained and processed up the crew, we opened the gate on the SPs and dumped them, we made quite a few auditors and beat the enemy attack with excellent PRO Area Control and the ‘dead agent’ caper, meaning getting documentary proof that what was said of us was lies and getting the agents booted out of the country.” — The Commodore, June 22, 1970
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“Lao Tsu, The Buddha, Jesus, Moses, Ron, all had their flaws, all had their writings altered, all had some of it used for evil purposes, and all were bashed at some time. But they all had many things of value. You can spend an entire lifetime pointing out errors in all of them. But that is just plain stupid. It gets you and me nowhere. Most people who bash real Scientology over and over daily are really very lazy, not going to the trouble to find out what is true. A few have been harmed by pseudo Scientologists and now can’t tell the difference. Some have been fed false data or nothing but the bad actual data and their opinion is cemented. A few are just dumb asses who can’t tell the difference in steak and shit on a shingle. There is a lot of truth out there. Don’t dwell on the errors. Find some truths that work for you and others and put out some G** Damn effort in using it. Get your face out of the computer, get your hand off your privates, get out of the closet, get out there and DO something. It’s not really that hard.”
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1995: An update on the charges against Scientology executives in Spain was posted this week. “In November of 1988, Heber Jentszch, president of the Church of Scientology International was detained along with 69 other Scientology officials. He was then arrested and imprisoned for approximately 30 days and later released on bail of close to one million dollars. He is now required to return to face the charges made by the state attorney in this case when it comes to trial. The Scientologists face over 100 complaints ranging from fraud and coercion to illicit organization. The State Attorney will charge them with approximately 90 different illegal acts. Another named party in the case is the now head of the Office of Special Affairs or OSA, Mr. Kurt Weiland. Weiland, the object of a search and detention order by the Spanish police in 1983, was connected at that time to an alleged kidnapping as well as acts against dissident Scientologists in that country. It is also doubted that Weiland will present himself at the time of the trial as he has been named as a principal missionaire involved in some of the alleged illicit acts which caused the case to be opened. A date for the trial has not yet been established.”
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“The putrefaction shakedown is a more accurate name for it.”
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: June 18 pretrial conference delayed for Juneteenth federal holiday.
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.
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] Scientology donor’s financial firm hit with new charges of securities violations
[TWO years ago] How Scientology is likely going to come back at the explosive new lawsuits
[THREE years ago] Why we think nutty Las Vegas councilwoman Michele Fiore might be a Scientologist
[FOUR years ago] HOWDYCON 2017 IS HERE — DENVER IS CLEAR!
[FIVE years ago] CLEARWATER DONE DEAL — Couple seeks big crowd for Scientology ‘disconnection’ billboard
[SIX years ago] LIVE-BLOGGING: The Toronto conference on Scientology kicks off and we’re on the scene
[SEVEN years ago] Sunday Funnies: The desperation in Scientology fliers is getting worse. Much worse.
[EIGHT years ago] Meet the Man Behind WWP, the Web Home of Anonymous and Project Chanology
[NINE years ago] How Hooters — Yes, Hooters — Could Mess Up Scientology’s Refund Scam
[TWELVE years ago] Tom Cruise Lured Back Into Scientology By Man The Church Now Says Was ‘Demoted’ And A ‘Lunatic’
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Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,339 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,844 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,364 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,384 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,275 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,582 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,450 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,224 days.
Doug Kramer has not seen his parents Linda and Norm in 1,554 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,028 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,344 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,910 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,829 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,997 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,578 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,839 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,877 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,590 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 2,115 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 470 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,645 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,196 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,345 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,665 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,520 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,639 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,995 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,298 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,404 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,806 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,678 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,261 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,756 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,010 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 14,119 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 22, 2021 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, 1995-2020 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
