Chris Owen | The Underground Bunker

Thetans in the Jungle: Scientology in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands

[Boys from the village of Napamogona. Photo by Charles Fourtree.]

Chris Owen provides yet another startling look at Scientology history that you probably haven’t heard […]

Cops, soft porn, and psychiatry: The curious origin of Scientology’s Snow White Program

[Hubbard in his Queens hideout, 1973. Photo by Jim Dincalci]

Chris Owen once again dives into Scientology history and comes up with new evidence and new perspectives… […]

Untouchable? Scientology’s 60-year plan to protect itself from the law

Historian Chris Owen is back with a very timely piece for us after Leah Remini once again provided so much material for […]

50 years ago today, Scientology was banned in the UK — Here’s why it was a bad move

[Guardian’s Office execs Jane Kember and David Gaiman talk to the BBC in 1968]

We’re thrilled to have another well-researched piece by historian Chris Owen, who today is marking a major milestone in Scientology history on its […]

Testimony by the World’s First Real Clear, part two: ‘Scientology is designed to entrap people’

[John McMaster]

Today we’re continuing to bring you highlights from a stunning new document found by historian Chris Owen, a 30-page affidavit by the “World’s first real Clear” — John McMaster. After our highlights, we’re posting the entire document in text and pdf […]

EXCLUSIVE: The rise and fall of the ‘Pope of Scientology’ — in his own words

[John McMaster]

Historian Chris Owen just keeps coming up with gems. He notified us this week that he’d made a killer find digging through some British government files — a 30-page affidavit submitted by the “World’s First Real Clear” — John McMaster — for the defense to use in a 1977 libel lawsuit filed by the […]

Bad boys, part two: Scientology’s involvement with drug smugglers had a long legacy

[L. Ron and Mary Sue Hubbard were running spy operations from sea]

Yesterday, historian Chris Owen explored how Scientology’s Guardian’s Office mounted a secret intelligence operation in cooperation with US Customs to break up an international drug smuggling ring involving ex-Scientologists and two Sea Org vessels. Today, he continues the story with a look at the […]

Bad boys of the Sea Org: guns, drugs, murder and Scientology

[L. Ron Hubbard, Commodore of his own navy]

Chris Owen once again dives into Scientology history to bring us sparkling detail on a sordid episode in Sea Org history. Today, the first of two […]

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 […]

Newly released documents: Scientology leader L. Ron Hubbard tried to ‘buy’ an African nation

Historian Chris Owen has another exclusive for the Bunker, and this one is a real doozy. You may know that in 1966 Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard made an effort to become influential in the African nation of Rhodesia — until he was unceremoniously deported. But new documents show that subsequent to that embarrassing failure, […]

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