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Ryan Hamilton’s plan to consolidate his lawsuits against Scientology rehabs is denied

Ryan Hamilton

We’re so used to Las Vegas attorney Ryan Hamilton running roughshod over his opponents, this comes as a bit of a surprise. But Hamilton’s attempt to have his many lawsuits in several states against Scientology’s drug rehab network Narconon consolidated into a single federal court in Nevada was rejected on Friday.

Consolidating the []

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An L. Ron Hubbard island fantasy: The Scientology daydream you haven’t heard

On Tuesday, we told you about new FDA documents which helped us fill in some gaps in Scientology history. The documents took us back to late 1957, when L. Ron Hubbard hatched a scheme to force the country’s psychiatrists and psychologists to take a “loyalty oath” he’d dreamed up, with hopes of rooting out disloyal []

Scientology vs. the mayor: The full Gabe Cazares interview from 1997’s Secret Lives

We have another leak of raw footage from Channel 4’s excellent 1997 documentary, Secret Lives — L. Ron Hubbard, this time with former Clearwater mayor Gabe Cazares.

The film, one of the better ones made about Scientology, contained numerous short clips from interviews of people who knew Hubbard. A source is releasing to us the full []

SCIENTOLOGY DENIED: Australia’s only Narconon rehab center loses zoning fight

The Australian community of Warburton, in the state of Victoria east of Melbourne, has won its struggle to keep a Scientology drug rehab facility from moving into town, and now Scientology’s Narconon network finds its only Australian facility on the brink of oblivion.

Here in the U.S., Narconon centers around the country have been the subject []

LEAH REMINI IN TALKS TO SUE SCIENTOLOGY: MIKE RINDER TESTIMONY

In July 2013 the Underground Bunker first broke the news that Leah Remini had defected from the Church of Scientology. Now, we’ve learned that within the last year, Remini has been in talks to join a federal fraud lawsuit seeking refunds for former Scientology members, according to a sworn deposition.

Luis and Rocio Garcia of Irvine, []

When Richard Nixon ordered the Secret Service to investigate Scientology

We have another fun discovery found in a Freedom of Information Act request made by a friend to the Underground Bunker. Her request pried loose documents gathered by the Food and Drug Administration during its long investigation of L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology.

In the late 1950s, the FDA had become concerned about the health claims []

The shocking case of Scientology mistreatment of the mentally ill you haven’t heard

 Last May, in a small Arkansas town, a sheriff’s deputy arrived at a large house to help an ambulance crew with an unusual call.

He went into the basement of the house, which had a ground floor entry, and on the stairway leading to the kitchen on the next floor there was a woman sitting on []

About that Scientology ad you saw on TV before and during the Super Bowl

We’re getting reports from around the country that Scientology’s “Age of Answers” ad has already been airing today on Super Sunday.

We figure it’s only going to pick up as the game itself nears. Earlier today, we weren’t certain which ad the church was going to use for its Sunday blitz, but then we received a []

Super Sunday Funnies: Will you get to see Scientology’s ad during the big game today?

UPDATE: We have a new leak from Scientology that suggests the church will be airing its “Age of Answers” ad from October as its commercial during the Super Bowl, and it will occur at halftime. See the update, below.

Ah, Super Sunday, when, for the past few years, the Church of Scientology has caused a Twitter []

Jon Atack: Scientology’s elusive ‘Clears’ and ‘Operating Thetans’ — where have they been?

Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He has a new edition of the book for sale, and for more than a year on Saturdays he helped us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that []