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 smear campaign against Mike Rinder takes a more disturbing turn than usual

[Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey and Taryn Teutsch]

For years, Scientology and its operatives have attacked former spokesman Mike Rinder with one particular accusation. […]

Scientology files notice of appeal in time-wasting federal court attack on forced-abortion case

[Laura DeCrescenzo and Bert Deixler]

Well-regarded California attorney Bert Deixler has once again genuflected to his client, Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, filing a notice of appeal after the church got roundly defeated in a calculated move to slow down a lawsuit that scares the bejeesus out of […]

Scientology’s reclusive ‘president,’ 82-year-old Heber Jentzsch, tells a niece he’s doing fine

Tammy Clark tells us she sent a letter to her uncle Heber Jentzsch in November, hoping to find out how he’s doing as he turned 82. This week, she received a reply.

But she’s suspicious about […]

We have the detailed specs for your dream job: Public Relations officer in Scientology

[Copenhagen’s May 2017 grand opening]

Rod Keller has some new insights for us about how Scientology “Ideal Orgs” evolve, including a fascinating new ad posting from the […]

Scientology’s toxic policy of ‘disconnection’ — we check in with the people who endure it

[Bernie Headley and his son Marc, and Marc’s sister Stephanie]

More than a year ago, in January 2017, we wrote a story about Bernie Headley that got us pretty worked up. Here was a man who was fighting cancer and was being prevented from seeing his own daughter, Stephanie, by the Church of […]

Scientology’s bizarre international base and its near-prison life: A Marc Headley classic

[A drone’s-eye view of Int Base]

It’s been nearly a decade since one of our favorite books about Scientology life was published: Blown for Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology, by former Sea Org worker Marc […]

How much do the Don Rogers letters shake up early Dianetics history? Two experts weigh in.

Over the last two days, we’ve seen some fascinating letters made public for the first time which were written by Donald H. Rogers, an eyewitness to the earliest days of Dianetics. Rogers wrote the letters in 1984-85 to Jon Atack, who was researching his book, A Piece of Blue Sky, and who generously shared the […]

Early witness Don Rogers on Hubbard and ‘prior lives’: ‘Nothing but a parlor hypnosis trick’

Today we have the second and third letters sent in the mid-1980s by Don Rogers, an early witness to Dianetics, to author Jon Atack, who has generously allowed us to make them public for the first time. Please see historian Chris Owen’s introduction to these letters in yesterday’s first […]

Witness to Dianetics: For the first time, the letters of key Hubbard ally Donald H. Rogers

Jon Atack has provided us a marvelous exclusive. He’s provided us with copies of letters he received from a man name Don Rogers in the mid-1980s. And we’ve asked historian Chris Owen to help us understand just how valuable these letters are and what’s in them, followed by the first of three Rogers letters in […]

Scientology celeb Joy Villa takes down her ‘testing the waters’ for Congress web pages

[Milo Yiannopoulos and Joy Villa, in happier days]

Thanks again to one of our alert tipsters, it was brought to our attention that Joy Villa’s “testing the waters” web pages for a Congressional run have come […]

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