R.I.P. | The Underground Bunker

David Palter, 1952-2018: Remembering a Scientologist who became a steady critic

[Gregg Hagglund, Nan McLean, and David Palter watch Anonymous in 2008]

We’ve written before about Scientology’s battles with its critics in Toronto. We obtained documents that described how one Scientologist did his best to harass Gregg Hagglund, a church critic who may be the main reason Scientology has never attained charitable status in Canada. […]

David Mayo, 1940-2017: Scientology’s top technical wizard and target of ‘Fair Game’

We have just learned that on October 23, former Scientology figure David Mayo died in his native New Zealand after a short illness. He was […]

Sinar Parman, 1954-2017: Chef to Scientology’s celebs who escaped to dish on L. Ron Hubbard

Sinar Parman, a longtime Sea Org worker who was chef to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and later to its current leader, David Miscavige, was found dead at his Yucaipa, California home on November 11. He was […]

Days before jumping to his death, actor Brad Bufanda credited Scientology with saving his life

In August, Brad Bufanda, a 34-year-old actor and chiseled gym instructor, showed up for an initial table reading of an independent film he’d landed a role for. […]

Garry Scarff, 1956-2017: A complex figure and dogged researcher

Thanks to Jeffrey Augustine, we received confirmation Monday night that Garry Scarff died on April 12 at the age of 60, apparently without notice in the Scientology critic […]

Ray Emmons, 1942-2017: Clearwater’s cop who sniffed out Scientology’s secrets

[Ray Emmons, left, with Robert Peterson at Flag Down in 2014]

Yesterday, Ray Emmons died of a heart attack. He was 75. We’re remembering him here at the Underground Bunker with the help of Robert Peterson, 68, who got to know Ray when Bob was working for the Lisa McPherson Trust in […]

Bernie Feshbach, 1923-2017: A man who fought against Scientology in his own way

In January, we tried to reach Bernie Feshbach by telephone, but he emailed us to say that he had checked in at a VA hospital. […]

Scientology loses its best fundraiser at perhaps the worst possible time

[Davie Lurie and his sister Charmaine Roger]

Word has gradually made its way out of Scientology’s Florida headquarters — the Flag Land Base, in Clearwater — that a key figure there has died. One of the things “Flag” is known for is that it brings in more money than all the rest of Scientology’s worldwide facilities […]

Leonard Cohen: This awful year strikes again with the loss of a transcendent genius

You probably heard the news last night that Leonard Cohen died at 82. And today, you’ll be seeing some really great remembrances of him and the many different chapters of his life as an author, a songwriter, and a performer. (New Yorker editor David Remnick profiled Cohen in a brilliant piece just last […]

Kathy Slevin, sister who attacked Paul Haggis on behalf of Scientology, dies at 60

Last year, when Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear opened at theaters and then aired on HBO, Scientology leader David Miscavige struck back in a very characteristic way — with websites and videos denouncing Gibney and the people who appeared in the […]

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