July 2012 was one of the craziest months in our 20-year history of watching and writing about the Church of Scientology. The media was in a frenzy because, at the end of June, Katie Holmes had amputated her ties to Tom Cruise in a highly calculated surgical strike. But so much else happened then. We broke the news that month that Ron Miscavige had escaped from his son’s organization. (He had actually left in March, but it had taken a few months for the news to get to us, and now his escape is the subject of Ron’s bestselling book, Ruthless.) We also reacted to the tragic death at 27 of Alexander Jentzsch, son to Karen de la Carriere, who had been cut out of her son’s life on orders from the church.

Continue reading There’s nothing quite like when Scientology cancels your superhuman powers with a ‘declare’

 
Ross Blocher and Carrie Poppy wrapped up their podcast series on Scientology with a ninth and final episode, describing how ultimately they were found out as infiltrators and were shooed away from church events. But not before they had managed to take several courses, do some auditor training, and had attended both the New Year’s Eve and LRH Birthday events, two of the biggest Scientology happenings of the year.

Continue reading ‘Ross & Carrie’ conclude their Scientology investigation by calling it ‘ridiculously creepy’