Ex-Scientologist story #318, Disconnection, the cult seperates another family.

The poorer and famous Hollywood Scientologists

John H. Richardson – Catch a Rising Star

Premiere, September 1993

Scientology’s membership boasts some of Hollywood’s top talent,  despite one of the most sinister reputations of any modern religion.

“The evidence portrays L. Ron Hubbard as … virtually a  pathological liar when it comes to his history, background, and achievements.   The writings and documents in evidence … reflect his egoism, greed, avarice,  lust for power, vindictiveness, and aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile.”
– Paul G. Breckenridge, Jr., Judge of the
Superior Court of Los Angeles, June 20, 1984

AFTER HIS WEDDING TO NICOLE KIDMAN, TOM CRUISE was the guest of  honor at a dinner party given by the powerful Creative Artists Agency at the trendy DC3 Restaurant, overlooking the Santa Monica Airport. Cruise sat at a table with CAA kingpin Michael Ovitz, often called the most powerful man in Hollywood. Right next to them sat David Miscavige, often called the most powerful man in the Church of Scientology, the self-help religion that promises “auditing” will “clear” its followers of the fears and traumas blocking them from total success–at a typical cost of $300 to $400 an hour. Nearby were two
full tables of Scientologists. According to one of the guests, the  Scientologists around Cruise were “like they always are–very direct, very attentive, very protective–hovering over Tom. And shaking a lot of hands.”

Across town, a former Scientologist named Nan Herst Bowers was  agonizing over a letter she’d recently received from her 23-year-old son, Todd.  “Dear Mom,” he wrote, “I am sending you this letter to let you know that I have to disconnect from you … I can’t see you, the babies, or Jim until this is all over and handled.”

A Hollywood publicist, Bowers had been a Scientologist for twenty years, had been married to a Scientologist, and had raised three sons in the organization. Although she had been drifting away for years, she was still officially a member when an article appeared in the Star about Cruise’s involvement with Scientology. Almost immediately, the tabloid began getting strange calls. The callers “started harassing me to find out who my source was,” says Janet Charlton, the reporter who broke the story. “People in the Tarrytown, New York office, the reporter who worked with me, the front office all got fake calls, trying to find out my source, to get a phone number.” When that didn’t work, Charlton says, she got a startling call from the phone company. “They told me there were people calling from different places, from New York and the West
Coast, trying to get copies of my phone bill, pretending to be me. Then someone called me pretending to be a lawyer from my own magazine.”

Shortly afterward, Bowers says, she also got a strange call–from a  man claiming to work for the Star. “He said his name was Alan Goldman and he  was with the GP Group, which had recently bought the Star and the National Enquirer. He said he had talked to Janet Charlton, and she said I was her source for the Tom Cruise story, and if it wasn’t true, she would be wired.”

Bowers insists she wasn’t a source for the Cruise story. But Charlton is a close friend. So, Bowers says, under pressure from “Goldman,” she  finally made the statement that tore apart her family. “I lied for Janet,” says Bowers. “He said, ‘Did you get paid for it?’ and I named a figure I thought was right.”

It turned out that “Alan Goldman” was lying. In fact, as Scientology  officials readily admit, the caller was a private detective working for  Scientology attorneys. Three days later, Bowers says, a Scientology official named Philip Jepsen paid her a visit. “He comes with two people in uniforms–very intimidating–and he asks me about Tom Cruise,” Bowers recalls. “It became obvious he knew everything I had told ‘Goldman.’ He grilled me for two hours. At the end, he handed me a Declare.”

The charges listed in Bowers’s “Suppressive Person Declare”–essentially an order of excommunication–included “writing anti-Scientology letters to the press or giving anti-Scientology or anti-Scientologist data to the press” and “engaging in malicious rumour-mongering to destroy the authority or repute of higher officers or the leading names of Scientology.” The Declare meant that, in general, no one in Scientology should speak to her again, including members of her family. It was  followed by “Disconnect” letters from her sons and ex-husband.

When Bowers tried to contact her sons, she got letters back from  Jepsen. “Dear Nan, I just received a letter from Todd, enclosing a card you sent to him for Valentine’s Day,” Jepsen wrote. “In the card you suggest to him that you and Todd see each other without telling anyone. I think you realize that this would not help Todd in any way in his auditing, and he would at best have a withhold that would keep him constantly out of session and unable to make any gains. Todd has asked me to let you know that he is now engaged and that he is giving you a year’s warning in which to handle your situation so that you will not miss out on something you really want to be part of.” In other words, recant or miss your son’s wedding.

Scientology officials respond to Bowers’s charges by accusing her of  being in league with the Cult Awareness Network, an anticult group whose members they call “thugs” and “kidnappers.” Scientology organizations and individuals have lodged more than 40 lawsuits against CAN, which counts among its members the wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas and Patricia Ryan, whose father, Representative Leo J. Ryan, was killed by Jim Jones’s followers in  Guyana. CAN officials say their only service is to provide information, and they adamantly deny Scientology’s charges that they are involved in kidnapping or any other illegal acts. Scientologists also say Bowers tried to get one of her sons “kidnapped” by deprogrammers. Bowers admits trying to get her son to talk to two “exit counselors”–who say they don’t use force and only talk to people who are willing to speak to them–but the son ran away before she could even bring them together.

For the rest of the story go here: http://www.bible.ca/scientology-poor-famous-members.htm

Ex-Scientologist story #317, “Where is OT 9 and 10, finished in 1988?”

Mike Henderson left the cult with some 35 family members still involved.  This gave new meaning to the term “disconnection.”  Otherwise this is all pretty much self explanatory.  For the full “Through the Open Door” interview go here: http://www.xenu-directory.net/accounts/henderson20070321.html

Training and/or processing level?

Flag trained Cl. IV, OT 8, IAS Patron

Org or location?

Flag.

Time involved in the Church of Scientology?

34 years.

1. How did you first become acquainted with the Church of Scientology?
I took the Communication Course at Arden Way Mission in Sacramento in 1971, August. My sister Chel was on staff. She is now President LA ORG, the highest non-SO post in Scn.

2. What initially appealed to you about scientology?
TRs, the thought of going OT someday, the group was friendly, and it was socially nice. Chel’s mother in law let me stay at her house and within a week I was balling her. This helped.

3. Were there problems in your life that you thought scientology would address?
Yeah, the standard ruins, lack of confidence, due to a really tall, skinny body with acne, etc. I also had seen UFOs on two occasions, always with other people who saw the same thing, and had naturally good ESP (theta perception) and wanted to work on it. I came in originally to get my sister Chel out of the ‘cult’ but started the Comm Course that same night! I had wins on it, and all the way up the Bridge, and do not fault the tech at all.

4. Did you see, experience, or hear about things that didn’t seem right while you were in the Church of Scientology? What were they, and what convinced you to set aside your feelings?
Disconnection is #1 with me. From 2001, November, when my Dad was declared SP with his second wife, because she was ‘contacting the spirits of dead loved ones’, an admittedly offbeat practice. I did not speak to him for 4 years, until 3 months after I had left the Sea Org in July of 2005. He has not heard from his other son or four daughters, or any of their kids (22 grandkids) since then. It is emotional slow torture for him. He has esophageal cancer and does not have long to live. He will likely die without hearing from any of them. Way to go, Scientology!!!

I also am estranged from my daughter, due to my overts, and ripping her brother off who later joined staff and then the SO at ASHO. She can’t talk to her own brother whom she loves very much. I can’t talk to my own mother, as I am declared SP. (for leaving the SO on short notice, technically a ‘blow’.) She was taken off OT 7 due to her connection to me. My son cannot speak to me.

2. Staff conditions in the Sea Org. It blows, really. It is so insane you have to pinch yourself. Close order drilling daily. (right face, left face, about face) Crap food, not enough sleep, 110 hours a week ‘schedule’. Can you say ‘slave labor’ boys and girls? I knew that you could.

3. Screaming in somebody’s face is not tolerated in the world, generally. In the real world, people say fuck off and quit. And if you touch somebody, oh gawd, lawsuit city. Not in the Sea Org. Prepare yourself if you must go in, you will wish you hadn’t. If your kid starts talking about going in, have him/her read the internet until they no longer think it’s a great idea, and pat yourself on the back. Nice save, well done.

4. OK, now this will sound petty, but bear with me. If you smoke, you may not get this at all. In the SO, they can’t smoke anywhere except the mess hall, as it is ‘out-PR’ to smoke publicly. So, the mess hall is CHOKED with second-hand smoke after a few minutes of the start of a meal. I hated that part. I considered it an invasion of my space and health.

5. I renovated my room at the Hacienda before we moved in, with the help of several RPFers, some of whom I knew. Pat Harney’s husband Mike, Dave Englehard and others. I felt for those guys. I saw Chris Sheehy and asked about Rick, her husband, one of the nicest guys you could ever know, and one of the best auditors I ever had. They had been in the RPF for awhile, and she couldn’t say anything, except pass my regards to Rick. She did not look well. Poor food, little sleep, lack of medical and dental attention over a long time and the lifers look like meth freaks. Poor skin color, missing teeth. Ugly scene, man and here is the result: I could no longer reconcile my belief in LRH, and the scene before me. The staff are NOT going up the Bridge. They are for the most part unsessionable.

Staff at Tampa and Flag mostly get assists, PTS handlings, L1C lists, disagreement checks, sec checks for leaves and return from leaves, and very little actual grade chart progress. So, if the Bridge is so important, why don’t the staff get up it? Where is Super Power, which was written up in 1978? Where is OT 9 and 10, finished in 1988? Don’t listen, look. Go look at the org board plainly posted in any SO or Class IV org. The case level of staff is shown. You will not believe how LOW it is for people who have been in the SO for 20, 30 years!!!

5. Why did you choose to stay in the Church of Scientology?
I left after a short stint in the SO, after 34 years in Scientology and achieving OT 8. I also did all 3 L rundowns [Ls], total 200 hours of L’s. I stayed because of family, and peer pressure. I spent a half a million dollars on myself and 1st wife. I left because it really is too expensive, you are encouraged to borrow, and this places you at risk, and it got me into a bad sit with my mother who loaned me a bundle. She had run up cards to stay on OT 7 and it blew up in her face. She is not the only one that has happened to.

6. Were you staff or public? If staff, was it at a mission or an org? Were you ever in the Sea Org or OSA? Which unit? If not on staff, did you ever volunteer to ‘help out’?
Public mostly, twice in SO, once 7 months on the Apollo as a telex operator in 1974, and again in the TTC at Flag in early to mid 2005. I met LRH briefly, but he was pretty removed from most staff.

7. Why did you leave the Church of Scientology? Was there a “final straw”?

My wife and I talked it over (suppressive act to talk over leaving) and agreed we were not going to be in this crazy nuthouse any more. After we had left, and read extensively on the internet, a lot of things became more clear. Our perceptions were correct, it is nutso in there.

8. Do you think the Church of Scientology needs to change some of its practices? If so, what should be changed? How did those practices affect your life?
Yes. Schedules are insane . If people worked 10 hours a day there would be lots of time for co-audits, etc. Feed everybody better. We were doing 2 and a half million a week in July 2005, and spending less than $50 thousand on food for the whole base including outer org trainees. My friends were wearing worn out, broken heeled shoes. Pathetic. The stories about how DM treats staff are too many to be false. He needs to be replaced with someone more humane. Get a dental budget that includes more than temporary filings and extractions (true story). If staff were happy, they would stay longer, and get more done.

This is as crazy as it gets: “Death” awaits OTIII Trespasers.

 

This video, complete with a uniformed Scientologist, with strange Spock  eyebrows, warns about the dangers of OT III.  Hubbard says the “Wall of Fire” will set your butt on fire if you are not ready to take the course.  Only those who have donated large amounts of money can survive the trip.

Ex-Scientologist story #316, -Get a life, Get a refund!!

This post was made on May 26, 2006 in the newsgroup Alt.religion.Scientology by former Ron Bot Shawn M. Hollenshead.

The consequences of involvement with Scientology:

You are going to spend lots of money or lots of time. If you have money or  access to money then you will be persuaded to spend it. I personally spent  my college savings on scientology services and for 3 years I spent 8 hours a  day at the church studying so that I could get the results I was promised. I  lived very poorly for those 3 years and realized that I had nothing to show for all my hard work. It is scary to come to such a conclusion. I am
 currently seeking a refund from scientology as I feel that the services did  not improving my life the way that I was promised they would.  I started in scientology when I was 18; I am 30 currently and feel like I am  just starting my adult life. This is only one repercussion of  scientology.

I feel that my request for a refund is the right thing to do.. When you are  old something that doesn’t perform as it should or only sometimes works the  way it is supposed to I don’t see that as a fair exchange.   I am able to see if something has made a great difference in my life.  I  think that it is dishonest to say something is beneficial to you if you  can’t see the daily results in your hard work. I have no interest in letting someone keep my money because I an agreement. Had scientology been as  effective as it was initially sold to me I would still be involved. An  agreement is based on fair exchange. If  I buy a $60,000 BMW, it had better  be drivable otherwise I am not just ging to keep it parked in the garage as  a nice souvenir.

To read the orgininal post go here: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.scientology/msg/62597508121eb259

I added this just for fun, Hubbard talks about his “good friend” Aleister Crowley.  Go here to read what Wikipedia has to say about this great loon of a bygone era.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley

Ex-Scientologist story #315, Down and out in Edinburgh, stats crashed!

Moira Hutchinson was sent to the US to take some classes but when she returned what did she find?  A real mess.  The small staff and few public members had mostly left; only a handful remained.  She did her best to get things going again but when she failed at this impossible task she was, in true Sea Org style, blamed for the lack of growth and money.  It was her “crimes” that impeded the growth of Scientology; not the extremely bad reputation that the cult has done so much to deserve!

 

Upon my return to the UK  I found that I was to be made the ED in Edinburgh.   The org now only comprised of 2 staff and less than 10 clients.    Seven months prior to this, when I left Britain, this org consisted of  20 staff and circa 50 clients.

What had happened was that all of these people had ‘defected’ to form ‘splinter groups’.   This was slammed by the church, who called all of the people using this technology outside of the church’s umbrella ‘squirrels’.   Members in good standing were forbidden to communicate with any of them.

This heralded the beginning of my struggle to keep an org running in Edinburgh, I was making some money with the sale of basic courses, materials and books.   However, I inherited a #900.00 phone bill, #750.00 rates bill, #600.00 electric bill etc etc.   The phone was disconnected and I had to use public phone boxes.   I had several
writs served for non-payment of bills.   I was actually successful in talking a Sheriff out of auctioning all of the furniture in the org. All requests for financial help were ignored by the Sea Org.   Of course, the money had to still be filtered upwards.

This added fuel to the niggling doubts I had started to have about the church and how it operated.   After about a month of being the ED, the current COUK called me down to East Grinstead.   This was an attempt to get me to ‘confess my transgressions that I must have committed’.  You see because I was now supposed to be a hot-shot, I was expected to have the statistics of the org turned around and back to the level they had been prior to my departure to LA.    One of the key issues here was that I was supposed to make money for the church.   It did
not matter that all resources were now depleted and any possible solution had to start back at the basics.   It was considered not acceptable to hold seminars, workshops etc using the basic Dianetic information.   The courses that I was signing people up for at this point ran at a cost of #20 – #40.   One day I made the mistake of telling one of my superior officers about a wonderful older lady that I had signed up to do a communication course.   I was told that I had to sell the whole bridge to her.  An officer was sent up from East Grinstead to facilitate
this.   I was harassed and chased by upper management to do this, they did not care for her well being.   They just wanted the money.

Anyways, I was ‘busted’ as the ED twice.   There was a new COUK now (the other one had been ‘busted’ for having an affair  with an underage girl who baby-sat his children.   In my first conversation with her she accused me of having destroyed the Org in Edinburgh.Shortly after this I was summoned to the Sea Org HQ in East Grinstead, supposedly for one day, I was kept there for a whole week so that I could complete a program very similar to the RPF where I had to write down all of my transgressions committed against the church and carry
out menial physical duties. . .
Once my ‘ethics were intact’ I was told that I was going to be sent on a “garrison mission” to Plymouth.   This is where a Sea Org Officer is sent to an Org, expected to perform miracles with the revenue and other statistics of org performance.   It also usually meant that the officer was left there indefinitely.

So I went to Plymouth and did my be st, as I always did.   I was pregnant when I went to Plymouth.   I miscarried in my fourth month (not really surprising due to my very poor diet and the fact that I worked seven days a week 8:00 am- 10:00pm).   I wanted to take some time off to recover, the request was denied. . .
I did the confessional, wrote up my transgressions, namely having an affair while still legally married to another.   I wrote a list of every project I was working on, which client was doing what, who had been promised what.   Upon completion of this, I went down a back set of stairs and left the building via the fire escape.   This was due to a tacit agreement between my friend and myself that I had to leave.  

The church made three attempts to get me to return.   (I would have had to report straight to the RPF, of course!).   In  the third one, I was actually kidnapped to be taken to East Grinstead.   I managed to jump off the train at the station before East Grinstead.   Luckily I had enough money on me to pay for a train ticket back to Plymouth.  

Within a month I received a declaration stating that I was now classified as a Suppressive Person.

Later she would write a requiem of sorts on her experience in Scientology, it serves as a warning to others.

Ten years have passed since all of this happened.   I view Scn with very different eyes now.   My life experience in these past years has taught me that there is no one right path to lead us through this life, nor does any one person have the right to dictate a thought system, slandering all others.  The Scn Technology I was taught was focused a lot on freedoms; freedom from control, from self inflicted hang ups and so on.   This, in my opinion, is where Scn gets its appeal, as we all want freedom in some form or another.  However, in reality there is a large amount of fear in the people who work in the church.   An opposing opinion meant an ethics investigation and handling.   Depending on the severity of the opposition to the thought system, a person could be declared a Suppressive Person.   Whenever this happened, in my experience, the remaining staff/officers would make statements like  –  “I always suspected he/she was suppressive”.   I am sure the same was said of me once I was declared.

I have to say that although I admit to having some success with some of the processing, my belief system has changed very much.   I have grown up and taken charge of my life.   One thing I can say that the whole experience has taught me is to ensure that I explore everything when any type of spiritual or philosophical train of thought or belief system comes my way.   I will never allow myself to be involved with an organization which takes people out of the real world.

I feel very strongly that no one should become involved with the Church of Scientology.   The setup I was exposed to was a hierarchy to make money.   There was very little evidence of true caring for the clients by the management.   Staff members become wrapped in a cause.  The work hours and rules are so demanding, the real world ceases to exist.

For the rest of the story go here: http://www.spaink.net/cos/mpoulter/sods/moirah.html

Ex-Scientologist story #314, Saved from the Sea Org in a nick of time.

This is the story of the Hutchinson family, Tom and Carol, daughters Molly and Laura.  This family got out in just the nick of time as they were about to enter the Sea Org.  Luckily, a person who knew what the cult was all about saved the day and told them the truth about Scientology.  This is taken from a series of stories that appeared on Nov. 11, 12 1991 in the St. Petersburg Times entitled, Scientology’s Children.  [note the use in this story that the cult knowingly lied about being able to be a Christian and a Scientologist at the same time.]

‘THEY TOOK OUR LIVES”
by Curtis Krueger, Times Staff Writer

Eleven-year-old Laura Hutchinson went to Girl Scout camp scared.  Not scared of camp. Camp would be fine.  Laura was scared that when she returned, Mom and Dad might be  divorced.

Tom and Carol Hutchinson, self-employed commercial artists in the   Atlanta area, had been having marital problems. When Tom started getting counseling at Atlanta’s Dianetics center, affiliated with the Church of Scientology, Carol objected.

The parents fought as Laura left.  But when Laura came back, her parents were together. By then, both  were getting Scientology counseling. Before long, both considered  themselves Scientologists. Soon Laura and her 8-year-old sister,  Molly, did too.

But Tom and Carol did more than switch religions. They switched focus. Scientology, rather than Laura and Molly, consumed them.   Within two years, Tom and Carol spent $60,000 on the church, according to a lawsuit. They traveled to Clearwater for Scientology counseling and spent virtually all of their free time on the church. They signed billion-year contracts and prepared to move the  family to Los Angeles.

Their experience is not unusual. When parents plunge into  Scientology, critics say, children often are swept along and family  life takes a back seat.   “I mean, they took our lives away,” said Laura, now 17.The Hutchinsons’ story begins in the summer of 1985. Tom confided to a client that he was having marital problems.

The client referred Tom to Atlanta’s Dianetics center. During a weekend auditing session he spent 12 hours telling his problems to a Scientology counselor, or “auditor.”   “You come out of it, of course, feeling like you’ve dumped your troubles,” Tom said. “You get real high off the whole thing. And of course you want some more of that feeling.”

After Laura went to camp, Carol went to the Dianetics center, too,  despite reservations. Like Tom, she went back for more.  But Tom and Carol did not discuss their counseling sessions with  each other. They had learned an important rule of Scientology: You can’t discuss your “case” with anyone else even your spouse. And then, one brief remark changed everything.

One thing troubled Tom. Could he be a Christian and a Scientologist too? No problem, Scientologists said.  They kept saying, ‘Well, you can be a Christian and a Scientologist at the same time,’ ” Tom said.  “Eventually the lifestyle takes over and the Christianity kind of just goes by the wayside,” Carol said.

Laura was put off by the first Scientologists she met. They seemed pushy and phony. Both girls were enrolled in a Scientology study course and found it boring. But within a couple of months, Tom and Carol were spending seven days a week at the Atlanta Dianetics center for auditing or Scientology courses. The staff encouraged them to bring Laura and Molly.

While their parents sat for hours in auditing sessions, the girls went to the basement and stuffed envelopes with Scientology literature.  Mom and Dad were happy.

“We thought, well, this is good, you know,” Carol said. “They’re staying busy doing something that’s of benefit rather than just  wasting their time playing or watching TV.”  Molly was audited only once, but Laura was audited several times.  Like her parents, she was hooked to an “E-meter” – a device similar to a lie-detector. She held two metal cans while the auditor asked  her questions and evaluated her responses.

She, too, found that auditing made her feel good. “I just felt like I was floating.”  Eventually, the girls went along. Molly told her friends she  belonged to the Church of Scientology, which she thought was a new denomination of Christianity. At Christmas, Laura gave her friends books by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Laura was awed by some of the other Scientologists, especially the  ones called “OTs” – for “operating thetans.” She knew OTs  supposedly could remember past lives, and that fascinated her.  “I used to ask them if they had met God at any time, you know? And like, what was God like? I never got an answer.”

The auditing sessions soon got expensive, but Tom and Carol wanted more.  Scientology staff members told the Hutchinsons they were lucky  because they could afford to get enough auditing to attain the  state of “clear,” an important goal within Scientology. Scientologists believe that by going “clear,” they can increase their IQs, improve their health and accomplish their goals.

Many people couldn’t have afforded the $35,000 price tag to go clear.  But the Hutchinsons could. A Scientology official explained how:   All they had to do was get a second mortgage. For later counseling  and training, they also cashed in their individual retirement  accounts, charged up to the limit on their Visa card and sold a collection of antique, sterling-silver mint-julep cups.

Tom and Carol eventually were told to go to Los Angeles to be  evaluated and certified as clears.    Thrilled, Tom and Carol flew to California.   But Laura was not thrilled. This Los Angeles trip meant Mom and Dad would miss her 13th birthday.   Laura’s birthday just didn’t seem so important, Carol said.   “We felt that the most important thing was to do the (clearing process), and that Laura would have other birthdays and she would  get over it and, you know, no big deal. That’s the way we felt,”  she said.

As a Scientologist, Carol said she was taught that children  sometimes manipulate their parents in order to get attention. So she said she learned not to give her children much sympathy.  “The normal, mothering, motherly feelings that you have, where you want to nurture and care for your children is taken away from you.”

Laura remembers that “We’d be sick or we’d hurt ourselves or there was something we were upset about and Mom would just say, ‘I have no sympathy.’ ”   “I was always sick because I needed her attention so bad.”

The news in Los Angeles was shattering. Although Carol successfully became clear, the Scientologists told Tom he failed. He wasn’t  clear. And it was his responsibility to get clear – by buying more auditing, even though he and Carol already had spent $35,000.

“I thought my whole world had fallen apart,” Tom said. “I sat there and wept…. I had done everything that I could do to get what they had promised me., and then coming up empty-handed . . . just seemed to me to be the ultimate rip-off.”  Returning to Atlanta, Tom and Carol soured on the church and found themselves swamped in debt, working extra hours to keep their business afloat.

Out of the blue, a Scientologist called from Clearwater to offer free auditing.   Clearwater, known among Scientologists as “Flag Land Base,” is considered the spiritual headquarters of Scientology.

“We had always been told that Flag (Clearwater) was the Mecca of  Scientology, that at Flag you could get the world’s best auditing,”   Carol said. “And so I thought, this is fantastic. Free auditing at Flag!”

It was in Clearwater, at the Fort Harrison Hotel in 1987, that Carol had her last auditing session.  In the auditing room, Carol said she sat in the chair and relaxed, settling into something like a hypnotic trance. She picked up the two metal cylinders connected to the E-meter. Closing her eyes, she started feeling uncomfortable. Carol could see something; she  wasn’t sure what.

“I could see a lot of fog, and it was like the fog didn’t want to  clear, because there was something in the fog, or behind the fog.  And I felt my back was hurting . . . and I didn’t understand why.”   “And finally . . . I started to get an image of what was in the fog. And it was Christ on the cross.”

The auditor peppered her with questions. “She kept pushing me for more and more information… and that’s the way you do it with an      auditing session. And the more I described it, the clearer the picture got. And finally I heard a voice speaking to me, and I knew that it was his voice, Christ’s voice. But I didn’t want to tell the auditor.”

But the auditor pushed, and eventually she explained.  “I knew that what he was saying was, Don’t be afraid, I’ll always be with you.  “And I burst into tears, and I felt this immediate, incredible  relief, and this understanding and knowledge that was true.”  She wasn’t sure what it meant. But she was exhilarated.

Carol went back to Atlanta ecstatic.  “She comes home from Clearwater, and it’s like her feet don’t touch the floor,” Tom said. He wondered what had happened, but, under the rules, she couldn’t tell him.   Before long, Tom was off to Clearwater. While they chased that dream, their debts were catching up to them.   At about this time, a recruiter visited them from the “Sea Org,” short for Sea Organization.

Sea Org members are full-time Scientologists who work 12-hour days,  and wear naval-style uniforms. Tom and Carol were told they would  earn $35 a week. It was a way out. They could sell the house, leave their debts behind and move to Los Angeles with the girls.  Tom and Carol joined and signed the Sea Org’s standard billion year contract.  Tom, Carol and the girls told their friends they were leaving.   “I was really scared,” Laura said.   I felt like I didn’t have anywhere to go.  There was no home for me, there was nothing.”   As he prepared to leave, Tom ran an errand to a typesetter. He told a woman there that he was moving to Los Angeles. She asked why.

Ever heard of the Church of Scientology? he asked. “She says, ‘I  was an auditor in Los Angeles 15 years ago,’ ” Tom recalled. “And  she says, ‘Now I’m a Christian, and I don’t believe in anything  that they were doing, and it’s a cult.’ ”   The words hit Tom like a lightning bolt. Thunderstruck, he went home and told Carol. Neither of them had read any material critical of Scientology or run across former Scientologists.

“Oh my God,” Carol said.   “We sat there,” Tom recalled, “and said, ‘Could it possibly be that  we are making a huge mistake?’ ”  They took the telephone off the hook. Tom and Carol told their  daughters to turn away anyone who came to the door. The children  stood guard while the parents holed up in the bedroom.

Tom and Carol each had doubts, but, in accordance with church rules, they had never discussed them.  Now they talked heart-to-heart. After two days of talking virtually nonstop, they realized that there was no way they could go back to Scientology.  Tom and Carol were exhausted from their marathon discussion. They needed an excuse to get out of the house.

Molly said her girlfriend had invited her to a church play.  The whole family went along. Carol said she walked into the Peachtree Christian Church and stared at a stained-glass window  depicting the baptism of Jesus.  “I looked up at that and I just burst into tears, because I was  just overcome, knowing that this was where we were led.”  A memory came to her. Don’t be afraid, I’ll always be with you.  After the play, a crowd of churchgoers surrounded the family and  welcomed them. Tom met the minister. “I remember distinctly tears welling up in his eyes,” the Rev.  James L. Collins said. Collins told him Scientology was a  counterfeit religion that had caused turmoil in many lives.

Today, Tom and Carol still are working as commercial artists in the Atlanta area. They say they cannot think of a single benefit from their two years in Scientology.  The Hutchinsons have sued the Church of Scientology in Georgia,  seeking unspecified damages for their unhappy experience in the  church and seeking to prevent Scientology from using what the suit  says is a policy of harassing former members who speak out. A  countersuit says the Hutchinsons’ action is frivolous.

The family still attends Peachtree Christian Church. At first, Laura said, she had reservations about getting involved in another religious organization. But now, Molly and Laura both said their  Christian faith is strong.

To read the rest of the story go here: http://www.caic.org.au/stories/sci-kids.htm

Ex-Scientologist story #313, Fear and Loathing in 1982.

Hubbard orders his mission system looted.

In 1982 Hubbard looted the mission holders, who held Scientology franchises, of tens of millions of dollars he claimed they owed him for various things including licensing.  This was all a sham of course, the real sin here is that he never, ever, at all, under any conditions, wanted anyone to make money from off of Scientology except him.  His own son left Scientology because “Nibs” couldn’t make enough to feed his family despite his father’s vast wealth. 

Former Commanding Officer, LA, Jay Hurwitz was part of the carnage of the mission holder’s fiasco.  The following quote comes from chapter five of A Piece of Blue Sky, Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed, by Jon Atack.

“At the end of August, David Mayo and his entire staff were removed from their positions, and put under guard at Gilman. The next month, Franks’ successor as Executive Director International, Kerry Gleeson, was removed, and replaced by the head of Scientology’s operations in continental Europe, Guillaume Lesevre. In October several other well known, long-term Sea Org members were rounded up and taken to Gilman Hot Springs. One of these, Jay Hurwitz, described the experience in some detail:

The first day I arrived at INT
[International HQ, Gilman] I had a Nazi style “Interrogation” sec check which
was done by the highest authorities of Scientology. There were four
interrogators present in the room firing questions at me while I was on a meter.

They were: David Miscavige, one of the
three highest execs running Scientology today; Steve Marlowe, Executive Director
of RTC; Marc Yaeger, CO CMO INT; Vicky Aznaran, Deputy Inspector General.

Their first question to me was “Who is
paying you?”… I was then subjected to enormous duress with statements like “we
will stay here all night until you tell us who is running you” (in other words 1
was a plant, an enemy agent). Miscavige said he would declare me [Suppressive]
on the spot if I didn’t tell him who my operations man was ….

For the first five days I was at INT I
was kept locked up under guard with three other people (females) . . . for the
first two days, we were kept in an office ….For the next three days, we were
kept confined in a toilet, under guard ….We used the same toilet facilities in
the presence of one another. ²

Hurwitz accused Miscavige of physically
assaulting three people during the course of his investigation. A Committee of
Evidence was convened and lasted for several weeks. Hurwitz was one of those who left before the Findings and Recommendations of that “Comm Ev” were published in January 1983.”

If you want to read some really whacked-out, bat-shit crazy nonsense then go here to read the SP declare that Scientology issued to Jay.  The rabbit hole here is very deep . . .

http://www.lermanet.com/scientology/ottman/JayHurwitz-Expell.txt

It’s time for some fun. A song and a story.

 

Ex-Scientologist story #312, ANZO cult member quits in disgust.

Lance Hoskins gives his reasons for quitting Scientology on this New Zealand  television show.  He was a 20 year plus member who worked on staff at Auckland and as a Sea Org member worked as Flag Service Rep. in other orgs. He left in 1989. 

Ex-Scientologist story #311, The Duke of Chug.

It began and ended with aliens.

Here is another example of how things work in the lower warren of the rabbit hole.  Jason Harris is ordered to creat a monster computer program that will take all the leg work out of ethics.  Files go into the system which then spits out SP declares.  This was aptly named after one of Hubbard’s mental fantasies named after the alien Duke of Chug.  Follow the link below to the Operation Clambake message board and you will see thin post and others with some interesting sidebars by Chuck Beatty who knew Jason from back in the Sea Org days.

Chug: well given that I once held the post of D/Chug Project I/C for Technical, OSA will have to work hard at disputing what you say.

Chug was the name of a planet, that according to Hubbard, almost suffered from a revolution. The computer system put together the facts of civil unrest, and reduced tax revenue.  It determined that the current Duke of Chug was actually increasing taxes, but not forwarding them on – he was embezzling the money.

Hubbard’s idea was that we could create a computer system similar to this. One that would watch the world wide scientology stats, and detect problem areas. Then take immediate action and prevent the situation from getting out of hand.

So the computer would detect a scientology org that was not doing well, evaluate all the statistics, and then issue a rote “handling”.

And BTW, according to Hubbard, that computer ordered the Duke of Chug executed. This was carried out and the planet went back to “normal”.

Accordingly, the computer systems we programmed had unlimited ethics powers, backed by Hubbards ethics policies.  They never ordered anyone executed, but they had the full gamut of scientology ethics to apply.

The SP Hall reminds me of the end result of another system. This was called Orders Logging. You may have heard BFG mention COB’s staff that do nothing but log all the insane orders he gives? Well we designed and implemented a system that helped not only track all these orders, but tell you who was continually non-complying. All the orders were integrated, and non-compliance to one, meant all your other orders went up a notch.

Every time you non-complied to an order from COB (no matter how ridiculous it was) you went up a gradient. This starts from noting your non-compliance, ordering a debug on the target, up the gradients through ethics investigations and hearings, then onto committees of evidence (courts-martial).  The end result of continual non-compliance was you getting a provisional SP declare, and eventually the real declare. Sound familiar?

For more go here: http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=29126&start=15

Here is something that really belongs with this story: