PODCAST: Karen Pressley on Scientology’s radicalizing of Tom Cruise

[Karen Pressley on ‘Aftermath’]

Karen Pressley spent almost 20 years in Scientology, and then turned her experience into a terrific book, Escaping Scientology: My Journey with the Cult of Celebrity Spirituality, Greed & Power.

Continue reading PODCAST: Karen Pressley on Scientology’s radicalizing of Tom Cruise

TESTAMENT: When a celeb faced a nasty divorce, and Scientology kept it all under wraps

[Woman in fur coat, the Night Court version]

In February 1987, I was an auditor in the Flag Service Organization in Clearwater, Florida. This org was known as the highest and best place to partake in Scientology services within the sprawling network of that “Church.” There was no better place, supposedly, to get auditing anywhere in the world.

Continue reading TESTAMENT: When a celeb faced a nasty divorce, and Scientology kept it all under wraps

REPORT: Scientology loses captain of its Florida ‘spiritual mecca,’ a fundraising marvel

A couple of our best sources reached out to us this week to let us know they’ve heard something interesting that is coming out of Scientology’s “spiritual mecca,” the Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida.

Continue reading REPORT: Scientology loses captain of its Florida ‘spiritual mecca,’ a fundraising marvel

Simi Valley: Not the town, but one of the Underground Bunker’s most loyal helpers

[Simi Valley, and Simi Valley]

To start out the new year of 2013, we posted one of our favorite stories of all time that morning of January 1: Simi Valley, a woman who had legally changed her name to match that Southern California town, was now not only out of the Church of Scientology, but she had decided also to shake off “independent Scientology” and the ideas of L. Ron Hubbard.

Continue reading Simi Valley: Not the town, but one of the Underground Bunker’s most loyal helpers

Richard Belzer, and that time he got us in to see Tom Cruise roast Matt Lauer

[Belzer, center, with Jeff Ross, left, and Jim Carrey honoring Jerry Lewis on his 90th at the Friar’s Club in 2016]

We were very sad to hear about Richard Belzer’s passing. It was reported that he died in France this week at the age of 78 after some years there dealing with illness.

His last words were reported to have been, “Fuck you, motherfucker.”

Damn, that is so good.

Continue reading Richard Belzer, and that time he got us in to see Tom Cruise roast Matt Lauer

TRANSCRIPT, PART 2: Experienced auditor is taped talking about E-meter, the OT levels

And now we have for you the second half of the remarkable recorded conversation between a recent high school graduate and the OT Scientologist auditor, which ranged over a number of fascinating subjects.

Continue reading TRANSCRIPT, PART 2: Experienced auditor is taped talking about E-meter, the OT levels

Celebrity Sunday: John Travolta, Anne Archer, and ‘rising star’ Joy Villa

We mentioned earlier this week that we were thinking about Scientology’s Celebrity magazine, which appears to be a victim of the pandemic. We’ve gathered some of the last issues Scientology published, and today we thought we’d look at Issue 434, which came out in December, 2016.

Continue reading Celebrity Sunday: John Travolta, Anne Archer, and ‘rising star’ Joy Villa

PODCAST: Mark Ebner joined Scientology for two weeks and we’re still recovering from it

[From Ebner’s 1996 Spy magazine feature]

Way back at the turn of the century, your Proprietor and Mark Ebner were both slaving away for a newspaper that no longer exists that was called New Times Los Angeles.

Continue reading PODCAST: Mark Ebner joined Scientology for two weeks and we’re still recovering from it

Danny Masterson retrial: No, the DA is not putting less focus on Scientology

[Danny Masterson and Deputy DA Reinhold Mueller]

We mentioned yesterday that we were in New York filming with a foreign news crew, and so we were not able to attend the pretrial hearing in Danny Masterson’s retrial that took place in a Los Angeles courtroom.

Continue reading Danny Masterson retrial: No, the DA is not putting less focus on Scientology

TRANSCRIPT: Experienced OT auditor secretly taped dishing on the state of Scientology today

It doesn’t matter how many former Scientologists come out and tell us what’s going on in Scientology, the church itself denies what they’re saying, and some gullible academics and others fall for it, telling us that we really don’t know what it’s like to be a rank-and-file Scientologist today.

Continue reading TRANSCRIPT: Experienced OT auditor secretly taped dishing on the state of Scientology today

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