Scientology’s next ‘Ideal’ grand opening revealed: Dave’s on his way!

TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: The fliers have gone out, and Scientology leader David Miscavige will most likely be on hand to preside over the grand opening of his latest ‘Ideal Org,’ this time in South Africa. Or will he? A local correspondent explains why she has her doubts that Dave will risk it. [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]

 
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Technology Cocktail

“Pilots audited with Dianetics, by a test involving a whole squadron, went without a single even minor accident for the following year. Scientists audited with Dianetics have greatly improved intelligence. Dianetics raises IQ as a side product to usual auditing, at a rate of about one point of IQ per hour of processing. Withered limbs, skin blotches and rashes and even blindness and deafness have all responded to Dianetics. Possibly the point which counted most against Dianetics in the early attacks on it was that it did a vast array of things. The truth was, it actually did them. When you have the answer to the human mind as in Dianetics of course anything caused by the mind can be remedied.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1978

 
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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 as Danny faces a potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison. NOW WITH TRIAL INDEX.

 
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THE PODCAST: How many have you heard?

[1] Marc Headley [2] Claire Headley [3] Jeffrey Augustine [4] Bruce Hines [5] Sunny Pereira [6] Pete Griffiths [7] Geoff Levin [8] Patty Moher [9] Marc Headley [10] Jefferson Hawkins [11] Michelle ‘Emma’ Ryan [12] Paulette Cooper [13] Jesse Prince [14] Mark Bunker [15] Jon Atack [16] Mirriam Francis [17] Bruce Hines on MSH

— SPECIAL: The best TV show on Scientology you never got to see

[1] Phil Jones [2] Derek Bloch [3] Carol Nyburg [4] Katrina Reyes [5] Jamie DeWolf

— The first Danny Masterson trial and beyond

[18] Trial special with Chris Shelton [19] Trial week one [20] Marc Headley on the spy in the hallway [21] Trial week two [22] Trial week three [23] Trial week four [24] Leah Remini on LAPD Corruption [25] Mike Rinder 2022 Thanksgiving Special [26] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part One [27] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part Two [28] Claire Headley on the trial [29] Tory Christman [30] Bruce Hines on spying [31] Karen de la Carriere [32] Ron Miscavige on Shelly Miscavige [33] Karen de la Carriere on the L’s [34] Mark Bunker on Miscavige hiding [35] Mark Plummer [36] Mark Ebner [37] Karen Pressley [38] Steve Cannane [39] Fredrick Brennan [40] Clarissa Adams [41] Louise Shekter [42] John Sweeney [43] Tory Christman [44] Kate Bornstein [45] Christian Stolte [46] Mark Bunker [47] Jon Atack [48] Luke Y. Thompson [49] Mark Ebner [50] Bruce Hines [51] Spanky Taylor and Karen Pressley [51] Geoff and Robbie Levin [52] Sands Hall [53] Jonny Jacobsen [54] Sandy Holeman [55] Mark Bunker [56] Trish and Liz Conley [57] Trish Conley [58] Alex Barnes-Ross [59] Alex Barnes-Ross [60] Alex Barnes-Ross [61] Alex Barnes-Ross [62] Alex Barnes-Ross [63] Alex Barnes-Ross [64] Tory Christman [65] Tammy Synovec [66] Dennis Erlich [67] Alex Barnes-Ross [68] Valerie Ross [69] Kat in Austin [70] Mark Bunker [71] Phil Jones

 
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Source Code

“It’s an interesting thing that there exists on Earth a cult which believes a hundred percent that it has the only god there is in this universe. And this is quite an interesting thing. See, this is terribly interesting. Anybody who says he has a total monopoly on all there is of something, which you can’t weigh, see or measure, is suspect. Christianity’s gain in the world and its departure from its own announced principles were in the main in the direction of control…It is not even a major group today in European and American spheres of influence. It keeps telling you that it is, but it isn’t. The majority of the white races today are not members of the Christian church. And there are about ten times as many Buddhists. Oh I don’t know, two hundred times as many Buddhists or something. Rather overwhelmingly big. But that was an effort to control. And an interesting effort to control, because when it failed in its own basic tenets it then departed from its basics. And our quarrel with it is, that in practice it isn’t what it says it is. That’s our only quarrel with it. It is something that tries to appear one way when it is something else.” — L. Ron Hubbard, March 28, 1957

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER go near a British Consul in any port we are in for passport renewal or any other reason. Send the person to another port we don’t use. The Corfu trouble has been traced by our Missionaires to FORTE the Corfu British Consul who told the most vile and fantastic lies about us such as the H&W men were now in an insane asylum in Athens! That we poisoned wells and did black magic. We are suing him there and also will kick it back to England. The whole Corfu incident was censored out of Greek press and has not hit International Press. So no ports know of it. Which is okay. But let that be a lesson to us about British Consuls. So that’s how they lost their empire! 3rd Party specialists. By the way they supply arms to both sides of the Biafra conflict and both sides in the Israel-Jordan Suez war! Also, by the way, an official protest was made by the Panama Consul General in Athens to the Greek govt. And so Panama is on our side. Also the Nomarch is being removed in Corfu. Hah! But the people there are terrified of arrest so we’re pulling our Mission out. We won after all.” — The Commodore, March 28, 1969

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“What happens when the newly emerging Tyranny, Monarchy and Dictatorship of TechnoScientoMathematical Authority gets tied into the Money, Finance and Appreciation of our Americanosophic Allusions in Libertarianism, Capitalism and Altruism? What happens when the newly evolving ‘pandemic effects’ ripple across the infrastructures of education, healthcare and transportation, and prompt further autonomous depersonalized postmodernizations in need of more worthwhile interactivity and integrativity going forward?”

 
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Past is Prologue

2000: The Tampa Tribune published an article describing Scientology’s point of view on the death of Lisa McPherson and the subsequent criminal and civil cases. “Lisa McPherson wasn’t an easy charge. She kicked people, stood in a toilet and claimed to have created time. Fellow Scientologists called her psychotic but shuddered to think how a psychiatrist might treat her. On the 17th day, McPherson died. Her body, not her troubled mind, had betrayed her, seizing her breath with a blood clot that lodged in her lungs. Around the world, an echo sounded: ‘Scientology Kills.’ Church attorneys likened the prosecution to a witch hunt. Newspapers and television stations beat the drum. Critics galvanized, ready to hurl hostility at a religion they couldn’t fathom. Strangers spit at Scientology staff, clients boycotted Scientologist-owned businesses, and Scientologists’ children were mocked at school. ‘This is America. This is supposed to be the land of religious freedom,’ protests McPherson’s former friend and employer, Bennetta Slaughter, who sent a daughter away to boarding school to get her out of the frenzy. Then, in February, four years after McPherson’s death, the state’s case turned sour. Wood backed away from her findings. She signed an amended death certificate and left for a convention without explaining. She deleted ‘bed rest and severe dehydration’ as causes, removing a link to McPherson’s caregivers. Instead, she wrote about the bruise on McPherson’s left leg. Prosecutors allege that Scientology staff held McPherson down while force-feeding her food, vitamins, minerals, herbs and medicines, from simple aspirin to a sedative prescribed by a doctor who didn’t see her until she was dead. The penalty for conviction: fines of up to $15,000. ‘It has cost a very considerable amount of money, and obviously the issue here isn’t a $15,000 fine. The issue is this attempt to stigmatize the church,’ Rinder says. He questions why, if prosecutors suspected wrongdoing, they didn’t simply charge the individual Scientologists who took care of McPherson, instead of going after a church, a move without precedent. He figures it’s just an attempt to discredit Scientology. Scientology holds that man is a spirit and basically good. Psychiatry begins from a premise that man is an animal and must be restrained. ‘Forcing a Scientologist to receive psychiatric services would be like forcing an Orthodox Jew to eat pork or forcing a devoted Catholic to have an abortion,’ Scientologists Kendrick Moxon and Helena Kobrin wrote in a legal brief filed on behalf of church members. The issue comes up in court files to explain why McPherson did not voluntarily remain at Morton Plant Hospital for psychiatric evaluation. Instead, she left with church friends, including case supervisor Alain Kartuzinski. Now, critics of Scientology hold memorials and rally around her name. That bothers church members. ‘When Lisa McPherson was alive,’ says Rinder, the Scientology board member, ‘they would have spit on her.'”

 
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Random Howdy

“I laugh when Scientologists state that Scientology has nothing to do with faith or belief, and that it doesn’t involve a belief in the supernatural or paranormal. Yeah, spirits, reincarnation, telekinesis, astral projection, demons (body thetans) have nothing to do with anything like that!”

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Found guilty on two counts on May 31, remanded to custody. Sentenced to 30 years to life on Sep 7, 2023. DA’s response to appeal brief due April 15.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Next pretrial hearing March 31.
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, convicted of fraud, sentencing scheduled for April 4.

Civil litigation:

 
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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] Val Ross: After the FBI raid, what it was like to return to work there — as a Scientology spy
[TWO years ago] Here’s the prosecution’s witness list for the Danny Masterson retrial
[THREE years ago] No, Will Smith was not high on Scientology when he slugged Chris Rock at the Oscars
[FOUR years ago] Scientology social media: The gang’s all here, let’s clear the planet!
[FIVE years ago] This is Scientology’s plan for bringing good ‘hygiene’ to your door
[SIX years ago] Scientology’s Narconon drug rehab expansion plans DENIED in Maryland and Michigan
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology TV was launched with a massive ad campaign — is it working?
[EIGHT years ago] Lawrence Wright goes to Nazareth; or, how Reza Aslan drove us into the arms of L. Ron Hubbard
[NINE years ago] Scientology at Comic Con: An attempt at a minor intervention, as told by Phil Jones
[TEN years ago] On the eve of ‘Going Clear’, Leah Remini says she’s grateful to the people behind it
[ELEVEN years ago] Ted Babbitt’s gambit: Recasting the Garcia federal fraud lawsuit against Scientology
[TWELVE years ago] In Dianetics, the Uterus is a Frightening Place — ALSO: Nation of Islam Boosting Involvement?

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on March 28, 2025 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, 1995-2023 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2023), 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

 

Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast

 

Tony Ortega at Rolling Stone