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We have a follow-up to our story Wednesday about Scientology doing what it can to erase L. Ron Hubbard’s second wife, Sara Northrup, from the historical record. We had some help from Lauren Wolf, who worked as research assistant to author and New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Wright on his 2013 book, Going Clear. It was Lauren who had spotted a photograph in a Scientology publication that erased Sara Northrup from a 1946 photo with Hubbard. She told us she had found it too late for Wright’s book, and we were grateful that she brought it to the Underground Bunker. Continue reading More L. Ron Hubbard history that Scientology has done its best to disappear
 We have another fun set of Sunday Funnies for you this week, where we reveal to you the best Scientology mailers that have been sent to us during the week.
And this time, we get to start off with a couple of new videos. This first one, from the Austin org, is really a treat. Now, we’ve only been to Austin a couple of times, but we enjoyed how seriously the town takes its fun, and in particular its music. Continue reading Sunday Funnies: Get yer boots on for some Scientology line dancing in Austin!
 Judge James D. Whittemore Here’s a little bit of a surprise. We had expected that Tampa federal District Judge James D. Whittemore would be nearing a decision on the Church of Scientology’s motion to compel Luis and Rocio Garcia to submit to internal church arbitration and dismiss their fraud lawsuit. Instead, he’s called for an evidentiary hearing on February 18. It will be a sort of mini-trial, which will not be the first in this lawsuit since it was filed by the Garcias in January 2013. We were present for the first one, a courtroom battle over a Scientology motion to have the attorneys for the Garcias disqualified. Whittemore denied that motion. Continue reading Judge calls for February mini-trial in Garcia case, and we have text of the Lemberger lawsuit
Wasn’t it just yesterday we made the point that Scientology is incapable of evolving into a more benign form?
For you connoisseurs of classic Scientology legal chicanery, you’re going to love the full body and complex flavors of this vintage. Continue reading Classic Scientology shenanigans as class action lawsuit is filed against legal opponent NAFC
 Yesterday, we told you about Lauren Wolf describing what it was like to work for Lawrence Wright on his book Going Clear and finding an example of Scientology trying to erase the existence of L. Ron Hubbard’s second wife, Sara Northrup, from the record with creative photoshopping.
She told us that in the “Master Mariner” volume of “The RON Series” of “biographical encyclopedias” (pictured, right), she found an example of the church pulling Sara from a 1946 photograph of her with Hubbard. Continue reading Scientology Photoshopping, Part 2: A mystery disappearance on the yacht Apollo
We have a real treat for you today, and it comes courtesy of someone we are honored to have helping us out.
We met Lauren Wolf when she was helping Lawrence Wright as the research assistant on his epic 2013 book on Scientology, Going Clear, and she’s been a friend to the Underground Bunker ever since. Recently, she emailed us with a hot tip, and we are so glad that she did. Continue reading Scientology Photoshopping: Erasing L. Ron Hubbard’s second wife from ‘The RON Series’
 Kim Poff Now it can be told: Just days after we reported, along with local Oklahoma media, that Kim Poff had filed suit against the state’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuses Services (ODMHSAS), she was fired by another Oklahoma state agency, the Department of Human Services. Her attorney, Rachel Bussett, tells us she believes those events are directly connected. Continue reading Kim Poff fired by Oklahoma agency after stories (including ours) described Scientology dispute
 Las Vegas attorney Ryan Hamilton has filed 24 separate lawsuits against Scientology’s drug rehab network, Narconon, in three states. We’ve noticed that some of our commenters have wondered how one attorney can handle so many different suits at the same time, and apparently, that question has occurred to Hamilton himself.
On November 3, Hamilton submitted a motion to consolidate the pretrial phase of his 24 lawsuits to the US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Continue reading Ryan Hamilton’s next move: Consolidating his Narconon litigation into one big case
 We’re going to start out this installment of Sunday Funnies with a tip we received from one of our best sources. We’re told that on Friday night, the Flag graduation ceremony in Clearwater, Florida was graced by the presence of none other than super celebrity Scientologist and television actress Kirstie Alley!
Continue reading Scientology Sunday Funnies: Kirstie Alley is now Super Powered!
 A couple of weeks ago, we looked at a 1949 letter written by L. Ron Hubbard which hasn’t received a lot of attention before. Russell Miller paraphrased the letter in his 1987 book Bare-Faced Messiah, but the full text of the letter has never been published in a book or news article, as far as we know.
In it, Hubbard wrote to his friend Forrest Ackerman about the work he was doing on what would become Dianetics, the 1950 book that would change Hubbard’s fortunes and eventually lead him to create Scientology. Continue reading The Heinlein Letters: What L. Ron Hubbard’s close friends really thought of him
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