TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Marc and Claire Headley are constantly attacked by #Scientology online, but even they were surprised at the church’s latest attempt to paint Claire as a criminal. And from a familiar disgraced journalist who has become the church’s go-to smear merchant. Yes, Claire got Blossered! [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]
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Technology Cocktail
“New Era Dianetics or any Dianetics is NOT to be run on Clears or above or on Dianetic Clears. This applies even when they say they can see some pictures. Anyone who has purchased NED auditing who is Clear or above must be routed to an AO or Flag to receive the special NED Rundown for OTs. They are NOT to be run on regular New Era Dianetics. Anyone who is Clear but not OT III is to get through OT III immediately so he can receive this special rundown. The EP of this rundown is: CAUSE OVER LIFE.” — 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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“I feel I should apologize for coming a little bit late to this lecture: three, four, five minutes. But you should realize that this particular planet has a great many lures. There are all kinds of things. There’s drink, you know, there’s beautiful women. There are all of these various things and they lure you away and distract your attention from what you should be doing. And recently, I’d had a Lincoln for ages — since about ’54 — and I sold it and got a fantastic price for it. And then I traded an old Humber we had out here for it, you see, and I got me a Jaguar and — a 60, 61 Jag — and came out all straight on this. And I regret to have to report to you that the Jaguar is leading me astray. I went out to take a fifteen-minute run to get some fresh air and came back three hours later. So you see, sometimes it’s drink, sometimes it’s women. In this particular case it’s a Jaguar. You’ll pardon me weaknesses. Blame it on the planet.” — L. Ron Hubbard, July 12, 1962
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“If you want to start a project or two 1. Grab your hat 2. Speed up the ships comm 3. Resign from the Bid-a-Wee Social Club and join the SO! I can and do single-hand this 3200 ton ship. It’s time some made up their minds to decide its theirs too and help me out.” — The Commodore, July 12, 1969
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“Life in Scientology Town, USA: A Narrative for your Consideration. In Scientology Town, coordination and cooperation are the rule of the day, not competition. In our factories and fields, almost everything is made, harvested, maintained, and repaired by intelligent machines, and near-human autonomous robots. Human people and our alien friends create art, culture, games, do interesting research, and maintain Scientology outposts on nearby inhabited planets. Our schools and universities use study tech and Hubbard educational methods. School attendance is not mandatory. Education is loads of fun. Students absorb materials online or in study centers where teachers, trainers, drill instructors, and courseroom supervisors monitor the students but generally do not repeat the same principles of the study material which has already been well delineated in the materials. Our communities do not have police departments. Military operations take place only on other planets. On Earth, we have Ethics Officers, who only teach principles. They do not punish or penalize. There are no SPs or PTSs, except in off-Earth locations. Our Government runs off of HCO PLs, and generally avoids making additional laws, restrictions, regulations, or requiring licensing as a prerequisite. We do not have psychs. There are no drug manufacturers. We have no recreational drugs, and no drugs, period. Our doctors teach health principles. They do not perform surgeries. They heal with physical therapy. We have almost no lawyers because we don’t need them. The few agreed-upon laws are founded upon HCOPLs and we ourselves can read and understand them; we don’t need lawyers in order to understand them or to represent us in front of a committee or court of law. It is not at all dangerous to speak for ourselves or advance our concerns here. There are a lot of us who work in space, busily constructing space stations or running space-resort complexes.”
2000: Cynthia Kisser, former director of the Cult Awareness Network, reacted to the planned conference session on CAN led by a Scientology lawyer. “Paper for upcoming conference of Society for the Scientific Study of Religion: ‘CAN, We Hardly Knew Ye: Sex, Drugs, Deprogrammers’ Kickbacks, and Corporate Crime in the (Old) Cult Awareness Network.’ Anson Shupe, Indiana-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, Kendrick Moxon, and Susan E. Darnell. “Desiring to divert researchers from the legal record that points to Scientology’s illegal use of the court system to destroy CAN and attack its leaders, Scientologist Kendrick Moxon, working with cult apologist Ansun Shupe is now driven to further justify Scientology’s conduct in regard to that destruction. Since exclusive control of CAN’s files and corporate records passed to Scientologist Gary Beeny a few years back, CAN will likely not be able to dispute any misrepresentations and out of context statements that Moxon and Shupe present as part of their paper. Despite gleeful howls from Scientologists a few years back with the passage of CAN’s files to Beeny that criminal charges would likely be forthcoming based on evidence that would be found in those files, no such event has, of course, come to pass. Instead, Moxon et al are reduced to Scientology’s infamous dead agenting techniques such as the creation of the anti-CAN paper scheduled to be presented under the auspices of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.”
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“The first time I heard about the ‘overt motivator sequence’ was when the Carmen Rainer outrage occurred and vaLLarrr was defending Jan Eastgate for telling a 10-year-old girl it was her fault that her stepfather molested her. I asked vaLLarrr, ‘So it was her karma?’ and vaLLarrr said it was something different than karma. The resident ex-Scientologist explained the overt motivator sequence to me and my head exploded.”
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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 July 14.
— ‘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 July 7.
Civil litigation:
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Forced to arbitration.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson. Judge Upindra Kalra’s ruling denying Scientology’s motion to strike is on appeal. Jane Does’ response to Scientology’s appeal brief is due July 3.
— Jane Doe 1 v. Scientology, David Miscavige, and Gavin Potter: Case unsealed and second amended complaint filed. Scientology moves for religious arbitration, gets ruling to depose Jane Doe 1. Trial has been set for January 10, 2028.
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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] Shelley Duvall’s fears about Scientology, and why she called us about it
[TWO years ago] Scientology’s lobbyist: He was sent to DC with a secret mission, and we have it
[THREE years ago] Singing for David Miscavige: What it was like in Scientology’s indentured servitude
[FOUR years ago] How Scientology wrecks the lives of people who never even go near it
[FIVE years ago] Scientology turned ‘Dianetics’ into a 4-hour video, and the result is UTTER MADNESS
[SIX years ago] Scientology front group claims it fed an anti-psychiatry story to the L.A. Times
[SEVEN years ago] Derek Bloch reflects on what having Scientology parents can mean for kids in the church
[EIGHT years ago] David Miscavige’s dark vision for Scientology: ‘What did you think you were joining?’
[NINE years ago] Here’s how you can help make a difference in lives touched by Scientology
[TEN years ago] Jon Atack: Scientology’s snitch culture, and how ex-members must relearn the notion of privacy
[ELEVEN years ago] Scientology accused of financial sleight of hand to avoid paying in human slavery lawsuit
[TWELVE years ago] Hey, Tom Cruise, Why Weren’t You the One to Raise a Stink When This Woman Went Missing?
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Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Joe Reaiche (1958-2024) did not see his daughter Alanna Masterson in his final 6,999 days.
Mike Rinder (1955-2025) did not see his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in his final 7,589 days.
Tammy Synovec has not seen her daughter Julia in 3,323 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 3,827 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 4,333 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 3,883 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 2,873 days.
Klaus Büchele has not seen his daughter Jasmin in 5,259 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 2,754 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 6,058 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 3,927 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 5,481 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 4,822 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 13,389 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 9,308 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 5,476 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 5,058 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 5,317 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 4,354 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 4,070 days.
Marie Poulin has not seen her mother June in 3,634 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 1,949 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 3,124 days.
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 4,806 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 5,143 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 9,997 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 5,112 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 3,474 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 3,883 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 4,273 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 4,157 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 3,722 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 4,233 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 4,493 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 15,597 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on July 12, 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
