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More trouble for Scientology fundraising and recruitment in Europe

For today’s story, we turned to our helpful translators again for assistance with another article from the German press.

This item appeared in the weekly publication Kontext and provided some interesting history of Scientology in Stuttgart, saying that the local Scientologists have actually been “on the sidelines” as plans to replace a drab, poorly situated org []

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Surviving Scientology podcast: Former treasury employee Mat Pesch spills the beans

Amy Scobee and Mat Pesch

In November 2012, we broke a big story with the help of Mat Pesch. At that time, former church executive Marty Rathbun had testified in court that Scientology had spent about $30 million in order to influence officials and get the church out of a criminal prosecution over the []

A Scientology death will be examined Wednesday night on the ID network

Several months ago, your proprietor was asked to take part in a television program about the 2003 death of Elli Perkins which will be airing for the first time next week.

Perkins was a Scientologist in the Buffalo area who was killed by her son, Jeremy, in a vicious knife attack. Jeremy was subsequently judged seriously []

The Dallas Morning News asks a question about Scientology, and we want your response

Hey, kids, welcome to summer camp! This is supposed to be a time when things slow down, but we’re more slammed than ever — and we have big stories coming, we promise.

But today, we thought we’d latch on to the seasonal fun over at the Dallas Morning News, where the editorial board decided that []

John Joseph, 1955-2014: A Scientologist, and a friend to the Underground Bunker

 We knew him only as “Plain Old Thetan.”

He began communicating with us during our Village Voice days, and quickly became one of our most productive and most trusted sources about what was happening inside the Church of Scientology.

On Thursday, Plain Old Thetan — whose real name was John Joseph — died after suffering complications []

Rathbun: ‘Scientology never endorsed anyone where there wasn’t a clear self-interest’

Pam Bondi, Florida AG

On Sunday, we broke the news that Scientologists were holding a campaign fundraiser for Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is running for re-election this year.

One of our tipsters had forwarded to us a mailer that was not meant to be spread outside the church, showing that several high-level Scientologists []

That time L. Ron Hubbard was hit by lightning while wearing full armor: It’s science!

Yesterday, in our Sunday Funnies, we showed you a flier (pictured, right) announcing a set of L. Ron Hubbard lectures that the folks at Scientology’s London Ideal Org claim were never previously released, and that would be on sale for £200.

“Ron talks about the anatomy of the body and gives a glimpse at one of []

UP THE BRIDGE: We finally reach ‘OT 8’ — but was its first version really a hoax?

George White on the Freewinds to do OT 8 in July 1988

More than a year ago, we started a project — ‘Up the Bridge’ — which we thought would be very useful for our readers, particularly those who had never been members of Scientology. With the help of experts — Claire Headley, Bruce Hines, and []

LISTEN: Rare tape reveals how L. Ron Hubbard really came up with Scientology’s space cooties

The Underground Bunker has been leaked a rare 1952 L. Ron Hubbard recording that surfaced online only briefly five years ago. When it did, some longtime Scientology researchers were astonished, saying they thought it was mere legend.

Despite the secrets it unlocks about the formation of Scientology’s beginnings, you won’t see a mention of this recording []

About that ‘threesome’ with L. Ron Hubbard and the Heinleins

Another vintage trio

A tip of the hat to Communicator I/C, who last night spotted something interesting at the New Republic. It was a review of a new book about science fiction giant Robert Heinlein which apparently contains a salacious detail about Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Reviewing William Patterson’s second volume of his huge []