TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Australian Scientologist Luke Ayers has a slick website where he’s asking 3 grand for photography lessons. Is that a fair price? We don’t know. But we were thrilled to see Ayers again as an excuse to post once again one of our favorite Scientology rap videos of all time! [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]
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Technology Cocktail
“The Purification Rundown is simply a program to clean out and purify one’s system. Based on the original Sweat Out Program, it is a new much more thorough and much faster version of that program, streamlined by the introduction of the sauna bath for sweating, and with a much broader use. It should be clearly understood at the outset that the Purification Rundown is not a substitute for any kind of processing. Rather, because of the biochemical problem that besets society today, it is the undercut that has become necessary to prepare the majority of pcs for making optimum
case gain from their processing. In point of fact, the Purification Rundown is for anyone.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1979
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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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“You all dead today — I mean, all alive today? Twenty-third, huh? 23 August, AD 11. Well, I’m glad you made it. I didn’t think you’d ever get to August the 23rd. Back there in the Roman Empire I was damn sure you wouldn’t get here! And I remember one space-opera society when I didn’t think it was very probable that you’d make it. I remember standing there at the edge of the spaceport as the battle planes took off, and I said, ‘Well, they won’t make it.’ I knew, you see, I knew the high command hadn’t given you any ammunition.” — L. Ron Hubbard, August 23, 1961
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“Tech is the theta thrust into the society. All new civilizations progressed on new technology. In the main we face what is called a ‘cultural lag.’ The mental health field is stuck about 1450 AD. Dungeons, torture, illegal seizure, the ‘best’ people. We are rolling at about 2050 AD. This time gap makes it nearly impossible for the society’s witch doctors (untrained in logic or mathematics) to grasp what is going on. They lack even a purpose to make anyone well. Not even up to that. So we are impeded by a ‘cultural lag.’ By tying a bridge to medicine and healing we can overcome this to some degree. Therefore the Standard Dianetics Programme was an enormous advance for us, not just in tech but in social advance. So we are doing very well really.” — The Commodore, August 23, 1969
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“You can still be subject to the engrams of beings you have not released yet. This can be very frightening to those who have been assured they are engram-free by reason of their being a Clear or an OT. You experience a wonderful state of release and then, months or years later, you are sitting in a restaurant and the space-age uniforms of the waitresses set you into violent restimulation. Or, you buy a new brand of lox from a neighborhood market and you go into spasms at the first bite because it turns on someone’s incident of being forced to eat raw human flesh. These unfortunate experiences are a result of being on a prison planet that is chock full of tortured beings. You have many beings who have been with you for years and have acted like trusted companions and when one of them goes berserk because of some unexpected stimulus, you can spot the earlier incident in minutes and calm things down. After all, it is their incident, not yours, and knowing this you can take the steps needed to free the being from the incident they are still trapped in. Generally, spotting the incident and what occurred will free the being immediately, but you must be able to stay in present time in order to do this. If you think it is your incident, you may go out of present time and experience the incident yourself. There is no amount of processing that will keep you free from experiencing other being’s engrams if they are close to you. If you are recruiting beings to help you and working in harmony with them, you are knowingly operating in present time and are able to help each other when someone gets restimulated.”
2000: Karin Spaink and Zenon Panoussis reported a multi-day protest at the Scientology exhibit in Amsterdam. “The scienos rented a conference room in the American hotel, fairly posh, very central, for a one-week exhibition. Got demo permits for the entire week, produced fliers in the very last minute. We got it all wrong, the exhibition was starting Monday. In four hours, six of us handed out about 700 fliers to the afternoon shoppers, tourists, saunterers and early evening out-goers. Monday afternoon we met outside the hotel to celebrate the real opening of the exhibition. The scienos knew we had been there on Friday, yet appeared to be taken by surprise when we arrived today. They made some attempts at handling us (surrounding, questioning, insulting, distracting). I called the police, who arrived half an hour later and told them off. In the meanwhile, a couple of tone-40 ‘FUCK THE HELL OUT OF MY FACE!’ at about 120 db proved to be most efficient, since they can’t very well have scenes like this in front of their posh exhibition, with press invited and all. Even the hotel manager came out and told them off. We moved away from the hotel entrance, which is on a side-street to the main street where all the pedestrian traffic is. Some 500 within two hours, we ran out and I had to go make another 800. In the meanwhile the scienos got their counter-picketters ready and came out to apply their usual tactics again, surrounding us, barring us from view, standing in front of us. They came out with balloons and carnations and started distributing them to passers-by. That won them momentary sympathy, which often only lasted until they proceeded to offer an invitation card for their exhibition. Handing out our fliers to the people that got the invitations with the words ‘the other side of the story’ was no problem at all. The Jive Aces took to playing at the nearby square. The people formed a wide ring around them and were given flowers, balloons and invitations. This made it extremely easy for us to walk inside that circle and serve each and every member of that audience with one of our own fliers, while the scienos could hardly disturb their show by trying to handle us inside the circle in full view of everybody. The Jive Disasters broke up and left. They snatch the critics’ flyers out of people’s hands. It tends to irritate people to no end. You see their faces go from stunned to annoyed. But more often, the Scienos try to prevent us from handing out folders. Getting ‘inadvertently’ in our way or downright blocking us. I was in my wheelchair, a huge cardboard sign standing against one of my wheels. An elderly Scieno approached, pushing an old woman in a wheelchair. She parked her right next to me. After some time I moved, wanting more of a view and a better approach to passers-by. The woman was pushed right next to me again. I moved. She was moved. I got out of my chair and used my stick to support myself. The old woman couldn’t. I moved my cardboard sign to the opposite side of the chair, where it wouldn’t be blocked by the old woman. She was wheeled around and parked to block it again. I lifted the sign and moved it back. The old woman was shoved around once more. This lasted some twenty minutes. The woman in the chair was Ms. Van Loon, an IAS Patron With Honours [$100,000]. The woman pushing her was another Ms Van Loon, also an IAS Patron With Honours [$100,000]. I gave somebody a flyer while the scieno was telling him ‘find out for yourself’. The scieno snatched it immediately. I asked ‘really now, is this what you mean by find out for yourself?’ and gave the raw meat guy another flyer. The scieno started moving to snatch it too, so I said ‘put it in your pocket, or she’ll take it too.’ By this time the guy was dying to read my flyer and had no interest whatsoever in going to the exhibition where they were trying to drag him. We placed one huge poster 85×120 cm with the text ‘Scientology is a fraud. See here how they trick you’ on each corner in front of the hotel, so that it was impossible to get to the exhibition without seeing them. It could refer equally well to our OCA table as to the scienos’ own exhibition. The scienos were notably furious. The posters definitely resolved all the confusions on who is who, and it became even easier for us to hand out our flyers without being mistaken for scienos. The hotel was completely surrounded by entheta and the exhibition was under siege. As a result, the scienos moved all their body routing away from the hotel, to the nearby square and elsewhere. One of the posters was tied to a pole, the other was just leaned against one. Within 15 minutes the scienos had stolen it. The police arrived. They had had a constant stream of complaints from ‘annoyed citizens’ all week about our ‘aggressive leafleting’ and our ‘harassing of passers-by’. They had also received complaints from the CoS officials about our ‘offending flyers’ and our ‘disruption of their peaceful exhibition’. It took the police very short time to figure the real situation and the real source of the complaints. They dismissed the ‘aggressive leafleting’ as bullshit, the ‘offending flyers’ as freedom of speech and the ‘disruption of a peaceful exhibition’ as a properly carried out demonstration with proper permits and all. This done, we begun to wonder about the leafleting of the scienos: did they have a permit for it? ‘Right’, said the police to the OSA, ‘can we see your permits now?’ The scienos were ordered to stop leafleting at once, leave the area in front of their own exhibition and not get close to us any more.”
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“Scientology is like doing acid minus the fun.”
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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 August 13.
— ‘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 December 1.
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 submitted July 30. Scientology’s reply due October 20.
— 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] Danny Masterson victims argue again for adding racketeering in Scientology lawsuit
[TWO years ago] We asked Mark Bunker about Scientology developer’s high rise plans for Clearwater
[THREE years ago] Pete’s journey: The long, scary bus ride from active Scientologist to active protester
[FOUR years ago] What is it going to take for the LA Times to take the threat of Rizza Islam seriously?
[FIVE years ago] Half-million dollar man: Scientology donor gives pep talk in leaked video
[SIX years ago] Scientology’s obsession with kids and sex? Nick Lister has the receipts.
[SEVEN years ago] Why Colombia’s military was fertile territory for Scientology — and one general’s stunning role
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology shows no sign of slowing down its use of religious visas for foreign labor
[NINE years ago] Maybe the worst thing about Scientology: It turns you into L. Ron Hubbard
[TEN years ago] Chill EB joins the Sea Org — well, long enough to wish a happy birthday!
[ELEVEN years ago] Jon Atack: How Scientology’s methods of manipulation stay with you after you leave
[TWELVE years ago] PR Director of Scientology’s Las Vegas Celebrity Center Arrested in Plot to Assassinate a Cop
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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 3,364 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 3,868 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 4,374 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 3,924 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 2,914 days.
Klaus Büchele has not seen his daughter Jasmin in 5,300 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 2,795 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 6,099 days.
Marc Headley has not seen his mother Trudy in 4,750 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 3,968 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 5,522 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 4,863 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 13,434 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 9,350 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 5,517 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 5,099 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 5,358 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 4,395 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 4,111 days.
Marie Poulin has not seen her mother June in 3,675 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 1,990 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 3,165 days.
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 4,847 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 5,184 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 10,038 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 5,153 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 3,515 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 3,924 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 4,314 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 4,198 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 3,763 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 4,274 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 4,534 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 15,638 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on August 23, 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
