Tony Ortega | The Underground Bunker

Tony Ortega is a journalist who was formerly the editor of The Village Voice. He's written about Scientology since 1995, and in May 2015 released a book about Scientology's harassment of Paulette Cooper titled 'The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.' He continues to monitor breaking developments in the Scientology world from an undisclosed location in an underground bunker he shares with four cats and one of them wrinkly Shar Pei dogs. Despite his super-secret security protections, you can still reach him pretty easily by sending him a message at tonyo94 AT gmail.com (Drop him a line if you'd like to get an e-mail whenever a new story is posted.) [Header image courtesy John Rickard]

Scientology’s astounding pre-history in a new book you really need to read

In June, we were very fortunate to have author Alec Nevala-Lee with us in Chicago for our annual small gathering, HowdyCon. He was there so we could get to know him ahead of the publication of his exciting new book, Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden […]

Richest Scientologist in the world is one of the donors behind offensive Arkansas radio ad

[Trish Duggan getting a trophy from David Miscavige in 2017]

Yesterday, a political radio ad playing in Arkansas went viral nationally to widespread criticism when it was pointed out that a conservative group was endorsing a white Republican incumbent congressman by using black voices in a pretty unseemly […]

Scientology has to open its books again, and we dig into the numbers

[Narconon United Kingdom]

In some parts of the world — namely, in various parts of Europe — Scientology can’t keep things as secret as they do in the US, and they’re forced to open their books for inspection. Recently, a number of new Scientology financial reports became available, and we turned to our financial maverick, John […]

Read the ‘disconnection letter’ from a brother telling his sis — Sylvia DeWall — so long forever

[Sylvia and Tim DeWall]

Yesterday, Sylvia DeWall made her declaration to friends and family who had turned their backs on her. Today, we’re following up with even more about her journey out of […]

Scientology tried to ruin her. Now, Sylvia DeWall has a message for her former friends and family.

Some of you will remember the blockbuster audio recording we posted in 2014 that captured the sounds of a woman, Sylvia Wagner DeWall, being kicked out of the Church of Scientology as it was […]

Growing up in Scientology, and growing together outside of it: An appeal

I wanted to open up a bit more about my experiences since leaving Scientology, and adjustments, some rather large adjustments, I’ve had to make. I hope this hits a note with other second and third generation Scientologists, and helps others better understand us.

I grew up in Scientology and spent many years working in the Sea […]

US Sheriffs, dead or alive — Scientology is happy to use them for self-promotion

Rod Keller once again gets the drop on Scientology’s sneaky front […]

Detroit going Ideal! Scientology throws its invite-only party in Motor City today

The stage is set for Scientology’s Ideal Org grand opening in Detroit today at 1 pm. We hope to have live reports from a couple of correspondents on the […]

A queer story about Scientology, gender, and L. Ron Hubbard’s sweet pile of Swiss cash

[The fabulous Kate Bornstein]

One of our favorite stories at the Village Voice was the chance we got to write about Kate Bornstein’s unique journey in Scientology and later as a well-known New York transgender performance artist, captured in the 2012 memoir, A Queer and Pleasant Danger. Kate has had an amazing year with a run […]

Dave’s shrinkage: Help us determine turnout for Scientology’s IAS 2018 gala

Pete Griffiths brought our attention to something interesting yesterday. He noted that Scientology, as usual, posted numerous pretty photos from its most recent big event at its various websites. In this case, we’re talking about the annual gala for the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) held in a giant tent at Saint Hill Manor in […]

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