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 Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first part in this series.
We were all set to jump into the sauna this week, but Claire Headley had even more to say about the crucial Scientology course we’ve been considering for several weeks now, Potential Trouble Source/Suppressive Person, or PTS/SP. Before we move on, Claire wanted to tackle even more about the notion of being “declared an SP,” Scientology’s version of excommunication, particularly with the notion that an SP might get back in the good graces of the church through certain steps. Continue reading Claire Headley Helps Us Get Back in the Good Graces of Scientology
Well, we had a very relaxing week-long vacation (what, you didn’t notice?) and now we’re hard at work on some big stories that should be rocking the Bunker in coming days. In the meantime, we thought we’d serve up a rare treat — a 50-year-old example of what it was actually like to be audited by the Great Man himself. On May 22, 1963, L. Ron Hubbard recorded an auditing session he did with his third wife, Mary Sue, in order to demonstrate what it was like to remove the “Helatrobus Implant.” As he had explained in a lecture the day previously, the Helatrobus civilization was a relatively weak galactic organization which had managed to use electrified interstellar gases to insert some particularly resilient mental implants in thetans some 43 trillion years ago. Continue reading L. Ron Hubbard Intends to Rid You Of a 43-Trillion-Year-Old Implant. What Was That Like?
 On Sundays, we enjoy revealing to you the wacky Scientology mailers and fliers that have come to us during the week.
Several of our tipsters sent us copies of the same mailer, which suggested that the event advertised in them — a shindig that happened last night — was a major one in Scientology-land. In fact, we’ve been hearing for a few weeks that last night’s big event was something of a watershed moment as Scientology leader David Miscavige attempts to rally his troops during one of the church’s most difficult periods. Continue reading Scientology Sunday Funnies: What Did David Miscavige Tell the Troops Last Night?
 On Saturdays, we like to talk Scientology history with author Jon Atack, but this week he’s been busy with a conference in Copenhagen.
So we thought we’d catch up with some interesting material that our great tipsters have been forwarding to us about how things are going in the Los Angeles area. For several months now, we’ve been entertained by the shenanigans of Scientologists in the San Fernando Valley as they’ve gone to extraordinary lengths to raise money for a new “Ideal Org” that is part of church leader David Miscavige’s high-pressure plan to open up lavish new facilities. Continue reading Here’s Some Photographic Proof that Scientology’s “Ideal Orgs” Are Killing the Church
 Looks like someone could use a touch assist. Here in the Underground Bunker, we just received some indication that things are going to heat up again next week with big Scientology news, so for today, please forgive us if we offer a little light fare for our Friday morning post. Tonight, the movie After Earth opens in theaters, and it’s already received a drubbing from critics. Hey, big-budget movies get hammered by critics with regularity, so why is this one noteworthy? Maybe because even the movie critics have sensed that this vanity project by Will Smith has a strong whiff of Scientology about it. Continue reading Is After Earth Will Smith’s Scientology Coming Out Party?
 Welcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, lawyer, and author Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.
Vance, we’ve now reached another marathon chapter, “Mechanisms and Aspects of Therapy.” It reviews various techniques of dianetic therapy that L. Ron Hubbard has already described. Generally, Hubbard is giving an auditor tips for how to deal with various issues that come up in therapy, always with the goal of eventually returning a patient to his or her very first engram, whatever first traumatized the little zygote soon after conception. But in these instructions, we ran into something that really startled us and had never, as far as we can tell, come up before in this book. Continue reading Word To Your Mother: Dianetics And Its Lack of Boundaries
 Full warrior mode, circa 1990 Last week, Mark “Marty” Rathbun sent us a review copy of his newest book, Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior. We’re grateful that he did. After all, we weren’t gentle with our review of his first book, a sort of manifesto for the Independent Scientology community that he’s such a big part of. Rathbun was once the second-highest ranking official in the Church of Scientology and oversaw its bruising legal strategies for many years. He had a reputation for being the “enforcer” for a church not known for turning the other cheek. But after his defection in 2004 and then resurfacing in 2009, Rathbun quickly became, in our estimation, the single greatest threat to the ongoing existence of the church. Continue reading Former Scientology Enforcer Marty Rathbun Examines His Past as the Church’s “Warrior”
 Ronald Weil Two weeks ago, the Church of Scientology pulled a classic maneuver from its bag of litigation tricks. Using the declaration of ex-church member Brian Culkin — who had signed the document reportedly in order to obtain a large refund — Scientology attempted to get the attorneys for Luis and Rocio Garcia disqualified in their federal fraud lawsuit against the church. Tonight, the Garcias answered back with a coldly logical and narrowly focused briefing, which we’ve posted below. Continue reading Garcias Answer Scientology’s Attempt to Disqualify Their Attorneys in Fraud Lawsuit
 Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first part in this series.
For the past two weeks, Claire Headley has been helping us explore one of the most important steps that a Scientologist encounters early in his or her career: the PTS/SP course. Last week, we talked about the policy of “disconnection,” which has a tendency to rip apart families. This week, we’ve asked her to focus on another aspect of the course before moving on — we wanted her to talk to us about L. Ron Hubbard’s “Tone Scale.” As early as his 1950 book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, Hubbard was comparing life to a trip up and down a sort of keyboard of emotions. Later, that notion took firm hold in what he called his Tone Scale — a numerical value for determining a person’s emotional state. Continue reading Scientology Gets Emotional: Claire Headley on the Tone Scale
 If you’ve been following our coverage of Scientology even tangentially, you know that one of the big stories to emerge in the last year is the surprising meltdown occurring in the church’s drug rehab network, Narconon.
Four deaths since 2009 at Narconon Arrowhead, its flagship facility in Oklahoma, has resulted in multiple investigations and lawsuits. A devastating wrongful death lawsuit at its Georgia facility has produced criminal investigations of insurance and credit card fraud. And additional lawsuits and document leaks have revealed deceitful practices at centers in California, Michigan, and Florida. Narconon’s controversies have garnered a lot of problematic publicity for Scientology, including a series of damaging segments at NBC’s Rock Center. But now, Narconon is fighting back. With the powerful words of stand-up comic Clark Carr. Continue reading Scientology’s Drug Rehab Network Goes On the Offensive
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Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first part in this series.
