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 Karen de la Carriere let us know that the new Impact magazine is out, and this is the one with photographs from the October gala held by the International Association of Scientologists.
After breaking tradition and holding its 2013 gala in Clearwater, Florida, the IAS returned this year to its usual place at Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England, which was formerly the home of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Continue reading Whale watching: The wealthy donors keeping Scientology afloat, 2015 edition
 We like to keep an eye on litigation involving the Church of Scientology, so we were interested to see the news yesterday that a woman in British Columbia has filed a lawsuit in order to get back about $86,000 that she says she’s owed by the church.
But then we got Lorna Carleton on the phone, and realized that her story is more interesting than just the money she’s trying to get back. Continue reading More testimony that Scientology’s celebrities know all about Sea Org deprivations
 Once again we’re featuring Chris Shelton today. He’s one of the more recent defectors from Scientology’s Sea Org, and he’s been doing a great service explaining his experience, and Scientology itself, in a series of videos.
He sent us a new video that addresses an issue we’ve also talked about with Jefferson Hawkins and Jon Atack. After finally deciding to leave Scientology’s “matrix of thought” (as Jason Beghe put it in Going Clear), how long does it take to recover from L. Ron Hubbard’s mental implants? Continue reading Leaving Scientology: ‘I think this recovery is something I’ll be doing the rest of my life’
 We’re once again indebted to one of our tipsters for sending us something revealing about how things are going inside the Church of Scientology. In this case, we get a really remarkable glimpse inside the mind of a young Scientologist and his dreams for what Scientology could be.
Continue reading As Scientology crumbles, read the dreams its members are still chasing
 We want to thank the tipster who sent us a flier out of the Tampa org. It definitely interested us, because it featured a really stunning price for going “Clear.”
Now, first of all, if you’ve been hanging around this website for a considerable time, and you’ve seen the hundreds of Scientology ads and fliers we’ve posted over the years, you know that it’s not really common for fliers to post a price for courses (other than for seminar packages on the Freewinds, for example). Continue reading Want to go Clear? Has Scientology got a deal for you!
 On Sunday we revealed that we’d obtained a secretly-recorded audiotape, more than an hour in length, that captures one of Scientology’s executives giving a briefing to an audience of “public” members at an org somewhere in the US.
Today we have the second portion of that recording, along with more help from former Sea Org worker Chris Shelton as he helps us understand what we’re hearing. As he explained last time, Chris worked personally with the person you’ll hear, Andres Rodriguez, who is the Senior Case Supervisor for the Western United States. Continue reading Secretly taped Scientology executive complains about cheating on the ‘Survival Rundown’
 We thought it was very smart of filmmaker Louis Theroux to tweet last week that Scientology’s attorneys have told him the church plans to make a documentary about him now that his own film about Scientology is in the can.
We’ve been telling you for some time that Louis and the BBC have been working on a documentary about Scientology. Theroux recently said publicly that his film is going to be very different from Alex Gibney’s super-successful HBO movie, Going Clear, which turned out to be one of the most-watched documentaries in HBO history. Continue reading Should Louis Theroux be worried? What a Scientology ‘documentary’ actually looks like
 The Underground Bunker has obtained a secretly recorded audiotape that reveals what “public” Scientologists are being told by church management at a time when Scientology is reeling from negative press and dwindling membership, and members are under incredible pressure to donate money.
This is the second time in recent weeks that we’ve been provided a rare view inside Scientology, which is notoriously circumspect about what actually goes on behind its closed doors. On March 30, we posted a truly stunning recording that captured a woman being “declared” a “suppressive person,” resulting in her expulsion and then facing the prospect of her family being ripped apart. Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: Secretly taped briefing uncovers precarious state of Scientology right now
 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 tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet. He was kind enough to send us a new post.
Actually, Jon, it’s not a new post you’ve sent us but an announcement and an invitation? Continue reading Jon Atack announces a five-day Toronto conference on Scientology to take place in June
Our man in Paris — British journalist Jonny Jacobsen — has a special report for us today about what’s been happening in Switzerland. Almost a year since the last new “Ideal Org” opened in Sydney on May 4, 2014, a new one is set to open this weekend. That’s a much slower pace than Scientology leader David Miscavige was on in past years, an indication perhaps of how much more difficult it has become to raise funds from a dwindling membership. Jacobsen has been talking to the locals, and he sets us up for this weekend’s festivities. Take it away, Jonny…
Continue reading Scientology opens a new ‘Ideal Org’ in Basel this weekend — nearly a year after its last one
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Karen de la Carriere let us know that the new Impact magazine is out, and this is the one with photographs from the October gala held by the International Association of Scientologists.
