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A new ex-Scientologist memoir provides a journey through extortion in the rank-and-file

 Books by ex-Scientologists keep arriving, and we received one this week that we didn’t even know was coming at all, from an ex-Scientologist we hadn’t spoken to before. So yes, forgive us if we were a little skeptical about whether we’d enjoy Chris Shugart’s Fractured Journey: A Personal Account of 30 Outrageous Years in the []

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It’s only April, but we already have a leading contender for Scientology mother of the year!

 We’ve run a number of stories in the past about Scientologists giving up their children to the organization’s staff and Sea Org, which can be brutal places to work for almost no pay. It’s been hard to read about people like Mirriam Francis, whose mother seemed so much more focused on Scientology than her own []

Joy Villa’s Scientologist husband shamed into dropping elephant skin bags from luxury line

[Thorsten von Overgaard and the photo dropped from his site]

The photography website PetaPixel is reporting that Thorsten von Overgaard, a wealthy Danish photographer, got into hot water with his fellow camera enthusiasts when he offered super-luxury camera bags made not only of alligator skin but also elephant []

Scientologists, gullible? Would they fall for a felon saying he’s the returned L. Ron Hubbard?

[He is risen?]

Secrecy is one of the things that most makes Scientology what it is. Although we know plenty about the origins of Scientology, its underlying materials, and much of its controversial history thanks to countless media exposes and court cases and defections, Scientologists themselves are still very tight-lipped about what Scientology is and how []

Georgia police department closes its case on Arnie Lerma attempted murder-suicide

[The small apartment building on the right is where the March 16 tragedy took place]

 We spoke yesterday with Lt. Tony Taylor of the Sylvania Police Department in Georgia, which investigated the March 16 death of noted Scientology critic Arnie []

Scientology’s secret vaults get their star turn on the new TV network, and it’s nutty!

[Scientology’s time capsules can survive a nuclear holocaust!]

Last night, the show about Scientology’s “Archival Project” aired, giving outsiders a pretty amazing look at some of the inner workings making sure Scientology’s wisdom can survive natural disasters and a nuclear holocaust. []

Court magician? Scientology attorney can now affect matter with thought, levitate, read minds

 Your proprietor is under the weather, but before the cats quarantine us in the Bunker’s airlock, we wanted to make a brief note about a remarkable photograph that was sent to us by one of our great []

AUDIO: David Miscavige’s claim that Mexico has officially recognized Scientology as a religion

[Hey, Nancy did her part.]

Gosh, we not only had a correspondent at the New Year’s event at the Shrine Auditorium on Saturday who heard David Miscavige’s claim that Mexico has officially recognized Scientology as a religion, but we also have audio to prove []

When love triumphs over Scientology: A fairy tale of New York for the holidays

 Chris Tringali is the youngest of five children. His father was a chiropractor and high school teacher on Long Island and was well known in the community around Central []

‘Scientology is dying’: John Brousseau on the decline of Int Base and fate of Shelly Miscavige

 On Wednesday, Erin Hodges Plumb wrote up her visit to the San Jacinto City Council, which briefly considered the notion of closing Gilman Springs Road before approving a motion never to bring the subject up []