Flag Order 3434 landed in my in-basket as if with a resounding thud. I had gone to my promenade deck office to start my day on January 8, 1974. It sent chills of dread down my spine.
The order announcing the new “Rehabilitation Project Force” (RPF) was signed by L. Ron Hubbard, although as I would learn only much later, it had actually been penned by his Personal Communicator Ken Urquhart. We took LRH’s signature at face value, since we also on occasion had written issues which were ordered and approved by him and which came out under his name. At a minimum, there could be no doubt that the program was his wish and met with his approval.
When the new Flag Order came out of Mimeo, it was the talk of the ship. LRH was still not back on his feet full time but was alerted to the new Flag Order by messenger Jill, who was on messenger watch with me at the time. LRH had Jill get a copy of the Flag Order from Urq, so he could see what everyone was talking about. LRH’s response was to have Jill return to Urq and tell him That’s a very well done as she handed the issue back to him. (Janis Gillham Grady, Commodore’s Messenger, Book 2, emphasis in original)
I was lucky enough never to be assigned to the original RPF on the Flagship, from its immediate formation when the Flag Order was issued, until the Apollo crew moved ashore in September 1975. I kept my head down and did my best not to make waves, saved perhaps by the fact that I’d had the same job for three years now and knew the ropes.
My luck ran out in my later Sea Org days. I was assigned to the RPF twice, once at the Flag Land Base and once at the International Base in Hemet. That last broke my back, and I left the Sea Org shortly thereafter, having thoroughly exhausted my willingness to endure the abuse.
But I was well acquainted with the original RPF, because my husband was assigned to it for several months, in the early days of our marriage. He had arrived on board in 1972 as a paying Scientologist, with a burning desire to train as an auditor, which he did for a while. But of course as soon as he signed his Sea Org contract, that was not to be. He had experience in the arena of Public Relations so he was assigned to the Port Captain’s office, from which he was soon “busted to the RPF,” as the saying went, for an alleged fault which I frankly do not recall. Ironically, in the RPF he did get to study, audit, and be audited, at least in theory, five hours a day. “Read it, drill it, do it” was the motto in the RPF, where no official auditor certificates were required or tendered, but one did get to co-audit with a “twin.” That made the program tolerable for him.
The rest of it, not so much. RPF members bunked together in the cavernous forward hold of the ship, and were not allowed even to address regular crew members. It was at Mary Sue’s urging that an additional Flag Order in the 3434 series granted the privilege for married RPF members who were progressing well to spend one night per week with their spouse. Urquhart, being unmarried and seemingly without a romantic or sexual partner on board, had not thought of that. But in practice, my husband was on a day schedule, and I was on a night schedule, so we were like sun and moon. We’d get to spend a couple hours together in the early evening before I went back to work and he went to sleep in my bed, since he needed his seven hours to receive auditing, and I often needed to work till breakfast.
He did not criticize the program and he tended to make light of his predicament, partly because that was in his nature, but as I now realize, almost certainly because RPFers were severely cautioned against causing any “enturbulation” in the Scientology lingo, any upset whatsoever, to their spouses, lest the visiting privilege be promptly withdrawn.
He didn’t have to say a word. The stress he was undergoing was etched in his whole body. The ongoing trauma was palpable. His eyes were bloodshot, in addition to being afflicted with a chronic eczema type of rash. His breath was foul, whether through poor dental hygiene, bad food, or digestive issues. He was losing weight he did not need to lose. His hands were raw from the deck work and his face was burned from the sun. I felt so sorry for him that I resolved not to kick him while he was down, and to preserve the marriage in the hopes that we would live to see a better day. I am glad I made that choice. I would go to the canteen when I could and get him some treats which I could then sneak out to him on occasion, for he was not allowed to speak to me at all except on our couples’ night.
The genesis of the RPF is revealing in several ways.
The RPF was created shortly after Hubbard had a motorcycle accident where he broke an arm and some ribs but refused all medical treatment. Several persons who were attending him at that time have given detailed accounts of his chronically foul disposition. Being in constant pain, nothing and no one seemed right to him. He complained that his household unit staff were trying to kill him, that his Aides were not backing him up, and that the ship’s company was full of counter intention to his orders.
The actual event which triggered the formation of the RPF is very telling. It took place in an exchange between LRH and his Personal Communicator Urquhart in the prom deck foyer, where the Messengers on duty had their station, right outside LRH’s office, grandiosely known as his “research room.” Hubbard still had his arm in a sling at that point.
The Port Captain had been ordered to find the cause of a shore flap (upset with the locals). He wrote to LRH and informed him that the crew member who had caused the problem with the locals had not had much sleep and was extremely tired. When LRH saw the proposal [from the Port Captain – LS] he added an extra step: to handle the crew member’s “case on post,” and assigned this action to Urq, as the LRH Personal Communicator. Urq came up with a solution for “case on post.” Returning to his office, he sat down and wrote Flag Order 3434.” (Janis Gillham Grady, Commodore’s Messenger Book 2)
That raises the question — what is “case on post” in the Sea Org? One would expect the various negative emotions well defined in the Scientology materials to come under this heading: sadness, anger, fear, apathy and the like. Or perhaps anxiety that one did not have the skills or the resources to successfully complete an assignment and “make things go right.” Any personal excuse for not properly performing the duties on one’s post would qualify. Illness? Certainly since it was considered that most illness was of a psychosomatic nature. Really, anything short of the perfectly analytical disposition and superior ability of the “Clear” could theoretically be deemed to be case on post. In fact we in the Sea Org were all expected to behave like “Operating Thetans,” spirit super-beings, even though few of us had attained that lofty case level.
But what about fatigue from chronic or even short term sleep deprivation, as in this particular instance? And what if this fatigue was in fact generated by desperate attempts to meet unrealistic expectations from seniors all the way up the chain of command? And what if, as is proven by multiple research results, fatigue does correlate with errors and accidents? Here for instance is a report from Harvard Business Review. The title says it all: “Sleep Deficit: The Performance Killer.”
As any Sea Org member knows, an unstated expectation permeates the SO that the ability and willingness to endure sleep deprivation is the norm, as a sort of machismo embraced by the elite group who view their body as merely an annoying appendage. This toxic attitude is actually promulgated from the top down. LRH himself had been known for issuing orders of the type: “You may not go to sleep until such and such is done (or handled).”
Leave it to Urquhart then to come up with a clever solution to the case on post problem, as ordered by the boss. RPF members would essentially be placed in a sort of permanent liability condition so as to make reparations through hard menial labor, while they would co-audit five hours a day to handle their case until it no longer got in their way. That was the meaning of the “rehabilitation” in the title. Through this opportunity to give and receive intensive daily auditing, the RPF assignee would supposedly rise up above his irrational “reactive mind” into which he was mired, and would attain or regain a level of sanity and ability that would permit him or her to function adequately on a post. Safe to say, every person on board unquestioningly believed in the power of auditing to achieve these goals, or else they could not have called themselves Scientologists, let alone Sea Org members.
From an administrative viewpoint, the new Rehabilitation Project Force also had a couple of side benefits: The erring crew members would now be segregated from the new recruits who also worked on a “Deck Project Force” or a “Stewards Project Force” while completing their basic Sea Org training. And the RPF would unburden the Qualifications Division, which was supposed to provide auditing to staff but could never keep up, so that precious auditing hours could be reserved for the better performing crew members. All considered, the new RPF was theoretically a neat arrangement for all concerned.
Except that is for those unfortunate crew members assigned to it. It was by several orders of magnitude the most severe punishment scheme devised in the Sea Org’s history. Sure, in its early days starting in 1967 the Sea Org had lived through a “heavy ethics” phase. People were thrown overboard, most commonly students during the Class VIII course in 1968. And there were chain locker assignments, mimicking the traditional “brig,” a ship’s prison. But these were punctual and of short duration, even though they were no doubt traumatic to their victims. They lasted an hour or a few days and then done. There were also ethics lower conditions involving penalties, but these too could be completed within a few days.
By the time I joined the ship in October 1969, those bad old days were over, and ethics was relatively mild for several years, just as well or I would not have stayed on. If one fouled up badly, the usual penalty was to be bounced from one’s post and assigned to menial labor for a time. The sting of humiliation was the worst of it, but the unfortunate soon climbed up the rungs again, such was the demand for experienced executives. A Committee of Evidence could in theory be requested to fight to retain one’s post, but most didn’t bother.
The living and working conditions in the new RPF were intentionally made gruesome enough to encourage members to complete their program quickly and return to a post, and conversely to discourage struggling staff members from quitting their post and voluntarily heading for it, although some did. But most were assigned suddenly and against their will.
According to Grady, the original intention was for the RPF to take about one month maximum to complete. But that never happened, even in the early days. One of the first people assigned took three months to complete. Even the trained auditors who were among the early RPFers could not meet this timeline, let alone people who had to first learn the auditing techniques before starting to audit their assigned twin.
Soon the ranks of the Flag RPF swelled up, and we could see them literally running around the ship in their dark boiler suits, performing the most challenging and demeaning of tasks. No one seemed to be safe from assignment. Alex Sibirsky, who had been a rock star manager in the West US area, found his way there. As did Bob Thomas, former Deputy Guardian US, who was an early inmate called to Flag by the Hubbards specifically to do the RPF, despite not even being a Sea Org member. Even the ship’s captain Norman Starkey was soon bounced to the RPF. And LRH assigned his own son Quentin to it, to my utter horror.
In mid 1974, the Commodore decided to form a permanent troupe of musicians to entertain the locals, in an effort to improve our likeability in the ports we visited. The Apollo Stars were born, and were permitted to recruit several of their members from the ranks of the RPF, through “reprieves” granted to RPFers who happened to play an instrument. The musicians’ group grew in size and became a major conduit for RPF reprieves, my husband being one of them as I recall.
It was clear to me from the early days of the ship’s RPF that a chilling new institution had been created in the Sea Org. I personally felt relatively safe from it, yet I was very disturbed. Certainly I could not have imagined how destructive the RPF would be to me personally in the decades to come. Nor could I have understood then, as I do now, that its creation marked a profound turning point for the worse in Sea Org history, never to be reversed. Over time, the SO morphed from a group whose members were purely motivated to help LRH clear the planet, to one whose members were largely driven by fear of the dreaded RPF assignment.
In the early 2000s, soon after I left Scientology, I found myself with the sudden luxury of being able to reach out to other ex-Sea Org members I had served with, from my Apollo days, my Flag Land Base days, or my International Base days. These had been my only friends for most of my adult life, and I had been too ashamed of my past to make new friends.
I reached out to Ken Urquhart. Ken and I had bonded a little on the ship over music. He played splendidly on Diana Hubbard’s grand piano in the A deck lounge, almost daily. I admired that, as the only person I knew on board who was able to sustain a hobby outside of his post. Ken gave me several cassettes of piano sonatas by Mozart, his favorite composer. Ken sat with us at the Aides’ table every day for all those years. He was very reserved, although he had an impish sense of humor. He was tall and trim and had the most remarkable piercing blue eyes, and he was always impeccably dressed. I was rather in awe of him the whole time. From his perch as LRH’s Personal Communicator, he filtered all of our communications before passing them on to the old man. He seemed indispensable and invincible, secure in his incredibly hot seat so close to power.
So in the new century, after that past was far behind us, we met once in New York, and we traded stories. We were free to speak our truth now. He told me that on the ship, he had lived in fear that he would somehow trigger the wrath of the boss and be put out to pasture. It surprised me. That is how I had felt too, living in fear, and I surmised the rest of the Aides did also, for our heads could roll without recourse at any time, for any reason or none at all, from our capricious and mercurial commodore.
Ken talked about his childhood in Wales. It had been a sad and dramatic affair, with a rift having developed between his two parents, causing him to be separated from his mother at an early age. Here was a man who had grown up without a mother in a hostile environment. Here was a man who was brilliant, yet seemed uniquely cold.
Here was the man who had created the dreaded RPF, which had stolen two whole years of my life, as it did the lives of so many others.
We did not talk about the RPF. I understood by then that he, like the rest of us, had been both victim and perpetrator. But like Mary Sue Hubbard, he was a perpetrator on a grand scale, by virtue of his closeness and his loyalty to Hubbard. When he wrote the first RPF Flag Order in compliance to LRH, he could not have foreseen that his theoretically elegant “solution for case on post” would soon enough degenerate, far beyond its original design and purpose, into a ruthless tool to inflict hardship and abuse upon thousands of Sea Org members for decades to come. And so I was angry for a while after we met, but eventually I found myself forgiving him for those unintended consequences.
— Louise Shekter
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Bonus items from our tipsters
How many ways can you invent to say “they gave us a big check.”
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Did you know you can get an email every morning when we post our daily Scientology story? We know some of the folks who come to the Underground Bunker aren’t here to talk about the politics of the day, and that’s why we created a daily politics feature over at our other blog, The Lowdown, and we ask readers to take their political discussions over there. And if you drop us a line at tonyo94 AT gmail, we’ll put you on the list so you get a morning reminder that a new Scientology story has been posted — and only for our Scientology stories.
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“A fellow made a postulate. He said, ‘I’m going to square this all up. To be a pirate. That’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to be a pirate.’ And a few trillennia later, he sees a pig going down the road with a ring in its snout. And he faints and has a heart attack. Everybody says, ‘Look at what the hot weather has done to him.’ No! The hot weather might have assisted all this, but who did it to him? He did it to himself Way back down the track he said, to be a pirate. And, of course, pirates wear rings in their noses. There it is. Who did it? He did it. Well now, you can’t go around condemning this person for having done it to himself…you don’t have to blame him if you can eradicate it. Well, all of these causations for his ‘misfortunes’ are initially and basically resident in the GPM. Now, those of yesteryear have actually far more force on him, than those of today. These items here in present time — oh, those items are terribly important. Maybe he’s sitting in something that says, ‘Women who look like beatniks.’ You know? Maybe that’s the oppterm, see…And his wife’s a very neatly dressed girl and everything else and he’s always calling her a beatnik and she never can figure it out and he never can figure it out. And here are these items here, a chronic present time problem…He knows, you see, that the source of his ulcerous condition, you see, is because he eats too much harsh food. No, no. That’s the somatic ‘all women are beatniks.’ And what does he have to be? He has to be a Turk in order to combat this in some aberrated way. Well, there’s his ulcers and there’s his opposition. And he begins to think the whole environment is against him when in actual fact it’s just ‘women are beatniks.’ He sees some uncombed hair, he gets ulcers. Bang, bang, just like that — one, two!” — L. Ron Hubbard, April 4, 1963
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“ENEMY FINANCES: I found Scientologists do not know (and the world sure doesn’t) the size and state of the enemy. For years, our orgs have made more in a week than Swersh does in a year. Two years ago Swersh was 25,000 in debt with little income in sight. Last year it was far worse. Brock Chisholen their world leader, just died, very few key figures are left. Their mouthpiece ‘The Daily Mail’ has just folded and Peter Younghusband who caused the Rhodesian upset has been sacked. We have traced their origins to 2 years before Hitler and have traced the Nazi death camps and Nazi Philosophy to this group. There were not 200,000 members at their peak. So over the world we outnumber even their rank and file 25 to one at a very low estimate. We could buy all they own out of a week’s income and never miss it. Although a few skirmishes or even battles are still ahead of us, there is now no slightest question as to who is winning this war. The Nazi Psychiatrist and Nazi psychologist will most surely go the way of the dinosaur. No, there is no question now as to who will win this war. We will.” — The Commodore, April 4, 1971
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“Now there is the problem of governments using the virus to impose totalitarian fascist states for the World Government. What are OTs going to do? (OT Kirstie Alley is commending Trump for defending the USA, flowing power to the power as described in the ‘Responsibility of Leaders Policy Letter.’) Is this a move for a One World Government, as predicted by Captain Bill Robertson in the early 90’s in his UFO Lecture? Is the solution to postulate a New Civilization? Who are the experts at postulating? The OTs. How many are aware of this?”
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2001: Reuters reported that charges have been filed against Scientology to answer charges of extortion and invasion of privacy. “Investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke also notified Marc Walter, a leader of Scientology in the Paris region, that he would face trial on the same charges, in addition to false advertising. However, Van Ruymbeke dropped charges against Martine Brochard, another Scientologist. The suit was filed by three former Scientologists who accused the church of using their names and addresses on its listings after they had left the movement. Court documents said two of the three plaintiffs had been bombarded with publicity material seeking money under false pretenses. A date for the trial was not immediately set.”
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“Some of my greatest wins have come from applying the ‘you seem kind of tense’ back rub tech. Last thing we want is for the WOGs — a/k/a Women On Guard — to become aware of this wondrous technology.”
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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 pretrial conference May 31. Trial scheduled for August 29.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Last hearing was on January 18, referred to grand jury. Additional charges also referred to grand jury after January 5 assault while in jail.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
— Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Pretrial conference May 20 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial conference set for April 8.
— Joseph ‘Ben’ Barton, Medicare fraud: Pleaded guilty, awaiting sentencing.
— Yanti Mike Greene, Scientology private eye accused of contempt of court: Hearing held on February 15, awaiting ruling.
Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Eleventh Circuit affirmed ruling granting Scientology’s motion for arbitration. Garcias considering next move.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Valerie’s motion for reconsideration denied on March 15.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Appellate court removes requirement of arbitration on January 19, case remanded back to Superior Court. Scientology has said it will file an anti-SLAPP motion.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for June 28.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs. Appeal hearing held Aug 23-27. Awaiting a ruling.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Lawsuit filed by the FTC and state of Georgia in August, now in discovery phase.
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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 social media: Does an E-meter count as a concealed weapon?
[TWO years ago] Scientology, stop being so stupid during the pandemic. We have some advice for you.
[THREE years ago] Scientology’s bogus ‘arbitration’: The Garcia appeal brief is here, and it’s a beauty
[FOUR years ago] Scientology cranks up its ‘noisy’ investigation of Leah Remini, and she fires back
[FIVE years ago] David Miscavige: Scientology TV launches by June 21, to show ‘planet’s coolest religion’
[SIX years ago] THE BILLBOARD IS UP: Scientology’s ‘disconnection’ on view in Los Angeles
[SEVEN years ago] ‘Going Clear’ subject Tom DeVocht visited by Burbank PD after suspicious anonymous tip
[EIGHT years ago] Video Vault: Hear L. Ron Hubbard unite Dianetics and Scientology in connubial bliss!
[NINE years ago] The Secret to Scientology’s “Wins” Revealed?
[TEN years ago] Mike Rinder on “The Hole,” Indoctrination, Confessions, and His Ultimate Escape
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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 2,624 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 3,129 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,649 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,669 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,560 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,867 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,735 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,509 days.
Doug Kramer has not seen his parents Linda and Norm in 1,840 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,313 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,629 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 12,195 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 8,114 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 4,282 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,863 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 4,124 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 3,160 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,875 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 2,400 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 755 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,930 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,481 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,630 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,950 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,805 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,924 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 2,280 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,583 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,689 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 3,087 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,963 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,546 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 3,041 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,295 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 14,404 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 4, 2022 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, 1995-2021 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2021), 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
