mercoledì 28 maggio 2008

Stern: Undercover at the Scientology-Church Berlin


Stern Magazine HEFT 21, 15.5.2008

Scientology: Undercover in der Berliner Zentrale

English translation from enturbulation.org:

While the sun sets behind the Berlin scenery, Scientologists are celebrating a birthday. The 97th of their founder L. Ron Hubbard, died in 1986. Torches line the red carpet leading into the Scientology-Residency in Charlottenburg. The building at the Otto-Suhr-Allee is a complex of glass and steel, the Scientology-cross above the entrance. The Scientologists – dark suits, dresses – are jolly laughing in the foyer. Berlin, so is the internal saying, allegedly works ten times better than planned. And: Berlin is meant to grow even further...
To the Scientologists, I am Thorsten Brock, workless specialist in American studies, fan of Tom Cruise and his success. I pretend to live with my girlfriend in a 2-room-flat in the Prenzlauer Berg quarter. Sandra is against Scientology. For five months overall I have been able to hide my true identity. Have smuggled in a micro cam. I am a journalist and want to document what is really happening behind that glass front. About 250 Scientologists, among them obviously lots of newbies, have gathered on this saturday in the end of march. They want to reflect on the past year and set the marching route for the future. There will be a video from Los Angeles, then buffet on the 6th floor.

On the 1st floor Irmi Tjarks, Executive Director Berlin, goes before the audience. Her red short hair is shimmering in the lights, her smile is bright. The former real estate agent has just been to the USA. She brought along her a gold cup, with a galloping horse on top. In the worldwide comparison of the Scientology-organizations – a yearly race for fixures, sales, stats – Berlin made the top. Allegedly. Not even the local Scientologists had been reckoning that. "The start for a new civilization" says Irmi Tjarks "here in Berlin and in the whole of Germany." Strong applause."And with that we gonna turn Europe around!"

Statements like that the general public doesn't get to hear usually. The video tape is about the expansion as well. David Miscavice, Ron Hubbard's successor, presents 13 new "orgs" - that's how Scientologists call their "parish" - as well as plans for Africe and China. Confidently he lays out the charactor of Scientology "We are a train without brakes, and we're even putting more coals into the fire." After leaviing the the room, I am being intercepted by someone in a dark suit. "I am Sören", he says "Director personnel." Kennen wir uns? "No", he replies smilingly "but I know of you – come along."

It started last year. A Scientologist called Corinna accosted me on the street right outside the Berlin Org. Tight white shirt, black trousers, crimped hair, 19 years old. She opened her mouth to a shining white smile and asked, whether I wouldn't like to come in. She was very nice, sweet even.

So I went in and filled out a personality test. The result was "inacceptable." All stats severely down. But they would be able to help. With a course called "Troubles of work." Pay rightaway, start now. Tom Cruise did that course too," they said.

My provisional membership ID dates from the 22th of November 2007. Since then I did four courses, und the Scientologists tightened the circle around me. The phone rang more frequently, more often I was meant to come, and ever longer I was meant to stay. Four months that went on, first with a loose leash, that was strained always further – and now, on Hubbard's birthday they wanted to get the catch into the boat. I was to be a part of the system.

While the others are moving to the buffet, Sören leads me to the 2nd floor on the back stairs. The window is open, it's chilling. Sören is blond, in his early 20ies and suddenly has a form in his hand. "That's how an employee contract looks like", he says, and his green eyes drill into me. He keeps eye contact till I turn away. A trick of the Scientologists. Who looks away, gives in. Sören wants me to sign.

In my distress I pretend to be hungry, to evade Sören. On the 6th floor I am putting some salami on my plate, more is impossible, my stomach is a fist. When my plate is emtpy, Sören appears again, his hand behind his back. He won't take his eyes away from me. All other, who are relatively new, experience the same. They are being worked on by Scientologists with clipboards in their hands. It's about donations, course, staff work.

Sören wants me to come with him to the 2nd floor again. He points to the contract and tells me that in contradiction to a normal company there is no pay. Company? I always thought they would denounce themselves as church. At some point Sören talks about his partents. They were against Scientology till he "handled" them. A word I will encounter often. In Scientology-jargon it means: to win somebody for the cause. Time passes and it becomes more exhausting to fight off Sören. As I am leaving the building shortly before midnight it feels like peeling off a heavy coat.

Tuesday, April 1st. On my way to the course Sören intercepts me in the foyer. "I want to show you a movie", he says, "about the meaning of Berlin." Sören starts playing a DVD. The movie shows Kennedy, he speaks his famous words in front of Schöneberger Rathaus. Berlin has ethic presence, the movie argues, Berlin stands for freedom. Us against them, the movie narrates. And about the resistance they encounter. "So bad things we already had to experience in Germany" Sören says. What bad things? "Scientologists have been tortured, to reprogram them." By whom? "By the church, secret service, Interpol. By those who have money."

Money is what they want as well. In the movie Hubbard appeals to push people into closings, to put them on courses, to sell them books: Don't be stopped. No matter what excuse they have. "Clear Deutschland!" The movie ends with that. "Clear" in Scientology means the liberation of the psyche from the subconscious. Sören switches off the TV and presents the work contract to me. This is no job, he clarifies. This is a crusade.

I hesitate. Sören alters his tactics. He shows me on the organigram positions I could work in. Org Security for instance. What are they doing? Sören's fingertips touch each other: "Press can write anything" he says "but someone has to leak this information – we find these people and put them to court." I nod.

I hear yelling: "Let me go! Let me go!" It has to be in the room around the corner. I look at Sören askingly. Is that by chance? He only smiles und shrugs his shoulders.

"I am expecting a decision till Thursday, 2 pm," he says.

Wednesday, April 2nd. Courseroom. My current course is called "Self Analysis." A mixture of philosophy, psychology, banalities and lies. The target: dressage to unresistancy. If I am not asking a question for 10 minutes, I am suspect. Then the course supervisor appears on my side, goes through my book, asks questions. Until the answer is congruent with Hubbard's demand. If I am looking out of the window for a bit, the course supervisor stands besides me again. Might say that I should use the "demo kit" - a bowl with some kind of building bricks – to receive "more mass." If I don't do it, I am urged to it over and over again.

I answer the question in the books and write essays. As long as I am using Hubbard's key words, everything is fine, then the rest can be the biggest rubbish. Any critical discourse about the content ends most likely like that: "who believes to know everything never learns the right thing." To end a course one has to get attached to the infamous "e-meter," the central tool of the Scientologists, a sort of a lie-detector. One has to "attest" to have understood everything. One gets a certificate and holds a speech in the courseroom. The applause does good to many. After to the "registrar," pay for the next course. One of my first lessons was: Let yourself be controlled.

I learn that you can heal diseases as a Scientologist. "Skin diseases too?" I ask course supervisor Hermias. He: "Exactly." Me: "And if I continue, can I then cure cancer?" He: "Totally. You are then the cause over the physical universe." Hermias isn't the only one telling me that so cloudedly. At what point, I think, does one stop to ask questions? At what point one starts to adopt that nonsense?

Thursday, April 3rd. Sören's office. The recruitment form Sören gave me last time I didn't fill in. Ten pages of personal questions. For instance question 41: "Have you committed crimes you haven't been convicted of?" Question 42: "Did you ever had anything to do with prostitution, homosexuality, illegal sex or any sexual perversions? Please state with any incident with who, where and when it happened."

I tell Sören my girlfriend has found the papers and torn them apart. "Hm," Sören says. "It's best you do a different course now." Immediately. "To overcome the ups and downs in life." 90 Euro and 50 Cent. "Do you have the money?" Of course not. "I am unemployed."

Him: "Good, then get it. Because you need to become cause once more. You need to handle your girlfriend. And if not, one has to separate." So it's us against them. Sören looks me deep into they eyes. "Have you ever thought about whether your girlfriend is betraying you?" He then leads me to Philipp. Blond, hard eyes, about 30 years old. "Please take the cans in your hand." Again, the e-meter, the lie-detector.

"Are you here to find stories for newspapers?" I try to laugh the question away with a bit of outrage. Just don't think of anything, don't put pressure on the cans of the e-meter. A small current flows through them, measuring skin resistance. If the needle [reacts] one sees that something is happening inside oneself, but not what it is.

Primitive. My heart is beating. The other got control, I don't. "Is there something you don't tell me?" Again and again he is asking such questions. How long have I been in here now? My hands are cold and damp. I become aggressive. Want to get out. "You can tell me everything", says Philipp, "it stays with us". For every session there is a protocol. The most intimate secrets are being archived and when necessary used as means of pressure. "There is still something left" Philipp says and looks at me suspiciously as I leave.

At home I need to drink a schnapps at first. The methods of the Scientologists go to the essence. To mentally seal oneself off is exhaustive. How long can one stand such a thing? Sören told me I should be home before my girlfriend. So she doesn't realize I was gone.

Wednesday, April 9th. My phone rings until late in the night. It rings, then it's hung up. Again and again. For Scientologists the week ends at Thursday 14 o' clock. At that time the performance of each organization is being analyzed. For the expansion the numbers have to grow. Everyone is under this pressure and passes it on.

Thursday, April 10th. This morning it starts right away once more. I let it ring 20 times, before I pick up the phone. "Hello Thorsten, this is Carina. So when can you come in again?" Carina replaces Sören. I tell her I come at 14 o'clock anyway. "[Oh no], a little bit earlier." - "I need to get some things done before." - "We [will/may] also come where you are." - "No, that's a waste of time." - "There is a piece of paper you would need to sign. And it's definitely too late at two o'clock!" - "See you at two" I say and end the conversation. Two minutes later it rings once more.

"We just want to get this done quickly, then our statistics go up, it has something to do with the size of the Org, so our influence on Berlin grows." As if there had been no previous phone call. "What kind of form is it?" Carina: "Ahem, I show you." When I ask her where she is, my heart stops beating for a moment: Even though I said no several times, they are already on their way to my part of town. We agree on the S-train station Bornholmer Straße as a meeting point. On the way to this my mobile rings five more times.

In the station hall Carina and Cornelius demand of me to sign the working treaty now. Now. Carina is 19, Cornelius 21. They would easily outplay any competition in a group of hardsell doorstep salespeople. I tell them, that I don't want to do anything behind my girlfriend's back. Carina points at the treaty, in the hand a ball pen.

"The signature would be a step in the right direction." I'm hesitating. "How if you would already enter your name in here? We won't enter a date yet."

"No. We will do it the way I want to."

Carina: "I'm for another direction. Just enter your name here." And taps on the treaty once more. "[Just] take the ball pen." She tries to force me with her look. I keep my hands in my pockets. "[Just] take the ball pen now!"

Saturday, April 12th. Training room. The lessons take up to three hours. I read about potential trouble sources (me) and supressive persons (my girlfriend and everbody critic of scientology). Course leader Reinhold is questioning a child. How old may it be, eight years? But it is stubborn, so they have to isolate it and bring it into another room. I see kids here more frequently. Sometimes they belong to staff and sometimes to parents that study here. If have to think about Carina's gaze, when I was signing the contract last Thursday. Of course it would have been possible for me to just leave. This is the only way. But I wanted to see how far they will go. The look Carina gave Cornelius. Stone cold. Hard. It wasn't about me. It wasn't about "total freedom and immortality," that Scientology pretends to give to mankind. I was only a number, a conclusion of a contract. How does someone feel that falls into scientologys trap?

Tuesday, April 15th. Sörens office. Carina is talking to me.

"When are you able to start?"

"Monday."

"Why not now?"

"I still have stuff to do."

"I want you to start now!" Carina is grabbing a piece of paper. I told her that I have a new job at the Unversity. Four days a week 8 hours each day. She draws a couple of quick lines on the paper with the ballpen and my new shedule is ready. I'm to work for 52.5 hours a week beside of the job at the university. Salary? She can´t say how much exactly. She gets 50 Euros, at the moment. Sörens enters the room. Both start to grill me. At the end they get me to enter the years in the contract , that I pledge myself to work for Scientology. Allegedly I have the choice between 2.5 and 5 years, as I write 2.5 years Carine smiles and says,"You will enter 5 years on Monday."

A short time later executive director Irmi Tjarks enters the office. I think to myself that this looks as if it is arranged that way. She says that we have to rescue the planet, who else will do that?

"You know," she says, "this is like rescuing a drowning man that doesn´t want to be rescued, but you do it anyway." The Scientologists are laughing. I starting to think how my life will look in like in 2.5 years if I had done this for real if I had obligated myself for real.

Monday April 21st. A traditional Bar in Berlin "House of 100 Beers." I can´t go on. How long can you stand the pressure before you break, mentally, and you start to become another person? Half a year, one year? Today is gonna be the last day I will meet with them. Carina is dropping by to "handle" my girlfriend. Corinna is with her. Carina tells me that Berlin shall raise in the internal structure of scientology and be on one level with Copenhagen, the European headquarter of Scientology. To do so they need 55 more staff members. They already got 125. They want to do this until the 6th of june.

They admit me into their confidence. "We have really good contacts," they say quietly, "not only actors, but also politicians. They only wait for a sign that we are proceeding, and that they can emerge from the shadows." Who knows which of these claims are true. Scientology masters PR not only in public but also on the inside of the organisation.

When Sandra arrives we lean back again. Sandra asks questions and the two girls laugh – and lie.

"You can heal diseases?"

"Bullshit, no-one tells that."

"Pressure?"

"No way."

"The Press?"

"They are lying."

Then they try to lure Sandra into the Org. Sandra resists and says that she doesn´t want to. That she ain't got time and that the numerous phone calls piss her off. Carina and Corinna just put their hands under their chins and nod nicely. Obviously they have the feeling to at least have me under control.

Sandra gets up. "You know what I think of that" she says to me and leaves. We planned it that way Sandra is being acted by a colleague. Corinna says I have to go to the org immediately to become "stable." They want to drill me so I can handle Sandra when I come home. They want to show me how "assistance" works. It's a psychological method that I should use on Sandra. It worked with Corinna's boyfriend as well.

Carina plants seeds of doubt. "Did you ever think that your girlfriend is cheating on you?" I take a look at both of them. How can it be that two 19-year old girls are trying to destroy my relationship, to break me mentally and financially try to ruin me while they are smiling?

The light catches Carina's blond hair. The 19 year old girl shows her teeth while smiling and says: "We're like Rottweilers, we won't let go."

Fonte -Refund and Reparation, A resource for victims of Scientology's unconscionable policies and practices, 15 Maggio 2008.

U.S.Religious Landscape Survey


E' stato divulgato lo "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey", uno studio sul panorama religioso negli Stati Uniti che evidenzia la presenza di una vasta gamma di credo religiosi. Al suo interno non sono stati inseriti, a buon diritto, movimenti come quello di Scientology, che religione non è, o altri fatti della stessa matrice ideologica. Nel sito è possibile trovare ampio materiale divulgativo quanto tecnico, come anche la versione PDF, di 143 pagine, del testo. Buona Lettura!!!

Ron Hubbard, cercando nel suo passato





Una chicca scovata nella rete sul fondatore/creatore di Scientology. Si tratta di un articolo apparso sul Los Angeles Mirror il 23 Aprile del 1951. Il sito in cui lo abbiamo trovato riporta anche una interessante analisi che Vi riproponiamo.



Dianetics Author Crazy, Wife Charges

April 23, 1951


Torture, kidnapping and bigamy charges today were made by his wife against L. Ron Hubbard, 35, fabulous leader of Los Angeles' "Dianetics" cult.

Mrs. Sara Northrup Hubbard, 25, daughter of a wealthy Pasadena family, charged in suing Hubbard for divorce that "he is hopelessly insane and crazy."

She expressed fear for the life of their daughter, aged 131/2 months, victim of an alleged kidnapping by Hubbard and Richard B. DeMille, son of Producer Cecil B. DeMille.

Torture Charged

She also charged Hubbard, head of the $1,000,000 Hubbard Dianetics Research Foundation, 2300 S Hoover St., "repeatedly subjected her to systematic torture."
It included "loss of sleep, beatings, strangulation and scientific torture experiments," the young wife declared in action filed in Superior Court by Atty. Caryl Warner.
Following one ordeal of torture, the suit charged, Mrs. Hubbard was hospitalized for five days and kept under guard by her husband, who, she said, had been diagnosed as insane by competent psychiatrists.
Mrs. Hubbard also accused her husband of marrying her bigamously Aug. 10,1946, and asked $500,000 damages if the court proves her bigamy charges true.
Hubbard, head of a new psychology whose followers practice self-analysis, "dominated her physically, mentally and emotionally," her suit alleges. It quoted Hubbard as telling her once:
"I do not want to be an American husband. I can buy my friends whenever I want them.''
He "further said that he did not want to be married, yet divorce was impossible for a divorce would hurt his reputation," the suit charges, "and that she should kill herself if she really loved him."
Mrs. Hubbard declared her 131/2 -month-old daughter, Alexis Valery, was "abducted from her crib" last Feb. 23 by Hubbard and Frank B Dressier, a "Dianetics" associate, and hidden from her by them and DeMille.

Nightmare Told

Her suit detailed a nightmare incident at 1 a.m. the following day in which Mrs. Hubbard allegedly was "dragged out of bed attired in a nightgown" by Hubbard, DeMille and Dressler.

"By use of threats, strangulation, torture and false promises to return her child," the suit said "they carried and kidnapped her to Yuma, Arizona."

Hubbard is still in Yuma and the child-"if alive"-is in hiding under an assumed name in West Los Angeles, Mrs. Hubbard charged.

"Even now she would not bare the truth to the world," the suit declared, "except for the compelling advice of [her] attorney that she tell the truth, for the truth will bring back her baby, if alive."

In torturing her, Mrs. Hubbard said, her husband once kept her awake in their Hollywood apartment for 96 hours, then gave her an overdose of sedatives which resulted in her hospitalization for five days.

On another occasion, she declared, Hubbard caused her "serious personal injury" by starting up the car "intentionally" as she alighted from it.

"By reason of the foregoing crazy misconduct of Hubbard," the suit said, "she is in hourly fear for both the lives of herself and her infant daughter."

Seeking divorce, annulment or separate maintenance, the suit also asked the court to compel Hubbard to submit to psychiatric examination. Competent psychiatrists, the suit declared, already have recommended that he be confined "for treatment of a mental ailment known as paranoid schizophrenia."

The suit charged Hubbard "frequently" strangled his wife and that shortly after last Christmas "he violently strangled her and sadistically ruptured the Eustachian tube in her left ear, resulting in an impairment of hearing."

Hubbard kidnapped the child and abducted his wife to Yuma, she said, when he learned that she had informed his superiors in the "Dianetics" cult of his mental condition.

Mrs. Hubbard's 12-page complaint identified Hubbard's previous wife as Margaret Grubb Hubbard, of Bremerton, Washington, whom he divorced December 24, 1947, in Port Orchard, Washington, over a year after his present marriage began.

Anche i Mormoni contro Wikileaks


Roma - Ci sono certi documenti, certe carte riservate, certi misteri del culto di riferimento dei Mormoni che sono arrivati in rete non autorizzati, diffusi da Wikileaks, il sito dei leak appunto, delle spiate. E i Mormoni non hanno apprezzato. Riportano le cronache che la pubblicazione del Church Handbook of Instructions abbia infastidito la Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. La reazione non è stata molto composta: diffide sono state inviate non solo a siti che avevano ripreso i documenti ma anche a soggetti, come Wikimedia Foundation, che non hanno nulla a che vedere con Wikileaks. Come noto contro Wikileaks si era scagliata di recente anche la Chiesa di Scientology, che ritiene il sito colpevole della pubblicazione di materiali riservati.

Fonte - Punto Informatico, 14 Maggio 2008

Scientology: Anonymous colpisce ancora!



Tutti in piazza in Germania, contro la "Chiesa" Americana.

di GRAZIELLA MOSCHELLA

Torna all'attacco la comunità di internauti Anonymous, '' la legione che non perdona e che non dimentica''. Anonymous (anche detto anon) è un esercito/comunità online che non ha una struttura gerarchizzata, un sito di riferimento, o un gruppo identificabile in qualche modo. Spesso, lanciano dei veri e proprio attacci informatici attravarso i Denial of Service, letteralmente negazione del servizio. In questo tipo di attacco si cerca di portare il funzionamento di un sistema informatico che fornisce un servizio (come su un sito web, appunto) al limite delle prestazioni, lavorando su uno dei parametri d'ingresso, fino a renderlo non più in grado di erogare il servizio.

Ma qual è il principale scopo di questa "organizzazione non organizzata"? Semplice. Scatenare il lulz (una storpiatura dell'acronimo internettiano LOL - laughing out loud); ovvero il loro principale scopo è ridere a crepapelle, preferibilmente alle spese di terzi. E tra i nemici, in vetta troviamo il gruppo pseudo-religioso di Scientology. Già lo scorso 10 febbraio si erano scatenati, ottenendo ottimi risultati (circa 10.000 persone sparse in 17 Stati in tutto il mondo), con l'"Anti-Scientology Day", iniziativa volta a smascherare a livello mondiale la setta di Ron Hubbard. E a questo principio si ispira anche quest'ultima iniziativa. Per domani, infatti, Anonymous ha convocato una protesta pubblica, la quarta del suo genere, in tutto il mondo. Solo in Germania dimostrazioni e i cortei si svolgeranno a Berlino, Dusseldorf, Francoforte, Amburgo, Monaco di Baviera e Stoccarda. Per evitare eventuali proteste, ma soprattutto probabili denunce ad opera dei potentissimi avvocati di Scientology, i partecipanti alla manifestazione - riferisce oggi il quotidiano Frankfurter Rundschau - indosseranno maschere come quella del protagonista del film di Alan Moores "V per Vendetta".

''Nel gran numero dei dimostranti risiede la sicurezza dei singoli'' si legge nell'appello diffuso via Internet, e la maschera viene indicata come un mezzo per ''proteggere la nostra identità da Scientology, e per poter attirare l'attenzione sulle pratiche e le violazioni dei diritti umani da parte di Scientology''.

Ma i guai per la "Chiesa" Americana non arrivano mai soli...La forza della potente organizzazione, sembra affievolirsi negli ultimi tempi, come dimostrano le notizie arrivate dal Belgio. Poco tempo fa, infatti, la polizia ha perquisito e sigillato la sede di Bruxelles, e la tv pubblica belga, Rtbf, ha trasmesso un servizio su una serie di offerte di lavoro in cui veniva intimato all'aspirante dipendente di aderire a Scientology. Gli organizzatori sono stati rinviati a giudizio per falso e truffa. Tra un anno si dovrebbe celebrare il processo.

E on è la prima volta che il controverso movimento americano, finisce sotto la lente della magistratura. Lo scorso dicembre, infatti, i ministri degli Interni dei land tedeschi hanno dichiarato "incostituzionale" Scientology, aprendo la strada alla messa al bando dell’organizzazione. Finora il Governo tedesco ha permesso al movimento di essere presente come semplice organizzazione e non come vero e proprio culto. Il ministro degli Interni federale Wolfgang Schaeuble ha affermato di «non considerare Scientology un’organizzazione compatibile con la Costituzione».

Staremo a vedere. Come sempre, arriveranno proteste e smentite, ma forse qualcosa si sta rompendo, e la profonda coltre di segretezza che governa l'organizzazione, sta mostrando le sue crepe. Forse, anche grazie ad Anonymous.

Fonte - Agenzia Radicale, 9 Maggio 2008

The Roots of Scientology - Time-line Hubbard® & Scientology®


Un testo davvero grande ma che merita di essere letto, valutato e analizzato nei suoi dettagli. Troverete molte informazioni davvero interessanti e utili a comprendere meglio e a fondo la natura di questo movimento.


Il Blogger

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The Roots of
Scientology


Time-line Hubbard® & Scientology®

(Click here for scanned-in documents)

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/LRH-bio/lrhpaper.htm


1885

Ledora May Waterbury born in Burnett, (later changed to Tilden) Neb. Her father is a small time rancher and veterinarian who did NOT own a quarter of the state as LRH would later claim. The Waterbury's were humble, hard working people who struggled just as everyone did in their location, to make a home for their large family.


1886

31 August. Henry August Wilson born at Fayette, Iowa. His mother dies at birth, he is adopted by Mr. and Mrs. James Hubbard of Frederiksburg, Iowa and renamed Harry Ross Hubbard. Later L. Ron Hubbard would claim all sorts of grandiose nonsense about his Hubbard lineage but in fact his father was an orphan and therefore LRH had not a drop of real Hubbard blood in him.


1909

25 April: Marriage of Ledora May Waterbury and Harry Ross Hubbard. Harry was at this time working as a clerk for the "Omaha World Herald" newspaper.


1911

10 March, 1911, birth of Lafayette Ronald Hubbard in Tilden, Neb.


1917

Harry Hubbard re-enlists in the US navy after the entry of America into the war


1918

Harry Hubbard makes officer grade, becomes assistant paymaster with the rank of ensign.


1920

While serving on the USS Aroostock Harry Hubbard becomes the subject of an inquiry concerning missing funds. Apparently there was no theft, merely bookkeeping errors.


1921

Harry Hubbard pursued by 14 creditors for unpaid bills amounting to $125.00. They take their complaints to the Navy Dept.


1922

Harry Hubbard posted to the USS Oklahoma as assistant supply officer. His wife and child move to San Diego, the ship's home port. Later that year he is sent the US Accounts School in Washington DC. They travel via the USS Grant through the Panama Canal.


1924

March: Hubbard becomes an Eagle Scout, later he would claim to have been the youngest in the country. Critics would later dispute this claim as the Boy Scouts listed their members only alphabetically, not by age. That fall the Hubbards return to the west coast and live in Seattle, WA, his ship's new home port.


1927

16 July: Harry Hubbard assigned officer in charge, US Commissary Store at the naval base in Guam. He leaves on 5 April, his family several weeks later. They go via Honolulu,Yokohama, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Manila. Total time from US to Guam: 36 days. 16 July Harry's son L. R. Hubbard returns to Bremerton on the USS Nitro. 6 Sept. L. Ron Hubbard enrolls as a junior in Helena High School while living with his maternal grandparents.


1928

14 May: Ron drops out of school and goes to Seattle to live with his aunt. He receives reluctant permission to go to his parents and arrives in Guam on 25 July. His mother begins to tutor him in hopes of getting him past the entrance examination at the US Naval Academy. Im October he and his mother go for a two month junket to China. They see Peking, Tsingtao, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Young Hubbard is oppressed by the smell and squalor of the places he visits. An entry in his diary reads: "The trouble with China is there are too many chinks there" and "they smell of all the baths they did not take.". He and mom arrive back in Guam 18 December.


1929

Hubbard fails his entrance exam to Annapolis. His father, now the Disbursing Officer at the US Naval Hospital in Washington, DC puts his son into the Swaely Preparatory school in Manasses, VA, for more intensive study. Here it is found that Ron's eyesight is defective forever ruling out the naval academy.


1930

Ron is enrolled at the Woodward School for Boys, in Washington, DC. That fall he is admitted to the School of Engineering at George Washington University. For the next two years he struggles to stay in school, most of 1931 is spent on academic probation.


1932

Summer break. Hubbard organizes a trip to the Caribbean. He and friends charter the old four-masted schooner Doris Hamilton and set forth in search of adventure. Their ambitious schedule includes collecting various fauna and flora as specimens for universities. Treasure hunting is also mentioned. Things, however, go wrong; eleven of the crew defect at the first port of call, the rest grimly persevere in the face of bad weather, seasickness and short funds. None of the high-minded goals had been completed, few even started. Despite claims later made by Hubbard that they made a geological survey of Puerto Rico (they did no such thing) the trip was considered a flop.

September, Hubbard returns to school only to drop out after reviewing his last semester's grades. He got an "F" in molecular and atomic physics, an area that he would later claim a degree in. His other grades were similarly unimpressive.


1933

13 April: Hubbard marries Margaret Louise Grubb. Nicknamed "Polly" she is pregnant when they wed. Two months after they were married she suffered a spontaneous abortion thought to be caused by overexertion while swimming.

18 August: A three column article in the Washington Daily News stating that L. Ron Hubbard had found gold (also platinum and iridium) on his in-laws farm in Maryland. Big plans are made to unearth the hidden wealth. Nothing comes of this, they continued living in near poverty. Hubbard's income for that year was a little less than $100.00.


1934

Hubbard studies pulp fiction which is big at that time in an effort to find out what the public is reading. Soon he is writing 5 to 20 thousand words per day. His first story "Green God" published appears in Thrilling Adventures. Soon after the "The Phantom Detective" is printed in Calling Squad Cars followed by "Sea Fang" in Five Novels Monthly. His rock'em, sock'em style appeals to readers. He now has the first steady, although modest, income in his life.

7 May: L. Ron Hubbard Jr. is born. Hubbard tenderly constructs a small incubator out of a cardboard box and lamp. After considerable effort by the parents the boy begins to thrive. The relationship between this boy and his father would become stormy in later life. Junior would one day disown his father and change his name.

Hubbard leaves his family and heads for NYC to get a first hand look at the writer's market. Over the years he would spend more and more time there. He meets the writers of that era, well-known and otherwise. The average pay is a penny a word, only a few get more. Competition is keen and to make more than a bare living wage is a challenge.


1935

Hubbard works with great zeal to sell his work. That year he had published 10 pulp novels, three novelettes and three non-fiction stories. He also writes the screen play for the Saturday matinee series The Secret of Treasure Island. This is the ONLY screen play that he ever wrote regardless of any claims to the contrary. Although he would later enjoy a reputation as a writer of science fiction Hubbard wrote many westerns. This year he wrote, among others "The Baron of Coyote River," for All Western besides more thrillers like "The Blow Torch Murder" for Detective Fiction."


1936

15 January. Catherine May Hubbard born. In July Hubbard's friend and literary critic gives him a boost with the preposterous and senseless claim that Hubbard had written over a million words so far. That absurd claim would be added to considerably over the years.


1937

Hubbard writes his first hard cover novel "Buckskin Brigades." He spends the advance on an old 30ft ketch to the bewilderment of his wife who wanted to be free, for once, of their mounting bills and creditors.


1938

An experiment using a rubber wheeled boat comes to grief as the craft split apart and foundered, Hubbard forced to swim for it.

John W. Campbell takes over as editor of " Astounding Magazine," that he later changes into "Astounding Science Fiction Magazine." His higher standards of writing do much to improve the fare offered readers. He meets Hubbard soon after taking over, a relationship that lasted for some years. July's edition contains "The Dangerous Dimension," that concerns time travel, a topic that interests Hubbard mightily. Another favorite theme is exaggerated mental powers, "The Tramp," a three-part novelette appeared during that year. Hubbard claimed to have written the mysterious and never revealed book, "Excalibar" that year. Apparently this was an important book on philosophy that he thought "Would have greater impact upon people than the Bible." Although his serious effort at philosophy died on the vine for lack of interest he did sell a large number of stories that included "Six Gun Caballero," "Hot lead Payoff," The Boss of the Lazy B," and Death Waits at Sundown." Perhaps it is well that "Excalibar" was never published for Hubbard claimed the book had such a powerful affect on people that several readers who had reviewed the book for him had either gone crazy or committed suicide.


1939

Hubbard grinds out more stories like "The Ultimate Adventure," that appeared in Unknown and "Slaves of Sleep," that appeared in the July edition of the same magazine. Not a big year when compared to his previous output. He wrote a mere seven novels and two short stories. His efforts might his been impeded by his persistent attempts to be appointed to the National Aeronautics Association on the strength of his previous gliding and flying experience.

1 September: Britain declares war on Germany. Hubbard writes to the Secretary of War offering his services, nothing is done though as the US declares neutrality. Hubbard virtually abandons his family for a small apartment in Manhattan.

12 December: Using credentials that nobody could have possibly checked out he is approved for membership in the prestigious NY Explorers Club. He now begins to call himself "Captain Hubbard."


1940

Hubbard writes "Fear," that appeared in "Unknown" besides "Typewriter in the Sky," and "Final Blackout."

16 May: Hubbard reports to the FBI that a German steward working at the Knickerbocker Hotel was a Nazi sympathizer whose sister belonged to the SS.

July: Hubbard sails his little 30' vessel the Maggie, north on a trip to Alaska. The name of the adventure was: 'ALASKAN RADIO-EXPERIMENTAL EXPEDITION." They arrive in Ketchican on August 30 after many problems with the ship's engine. While there they get a loan from the local bank which is never repaid.


1942

19 July: After a relentless barrage of letters from Hubbards friends, collages and congressman the navy commissions him as a Lieutenant (junior grade) in the US Naval Reserve.

February. After being transferred from one desk job to another Hubbard is posted to the Philippines. On a layover in Brisbane he so infuriates senior officers to the extent that he was sent home with a bad report. Again he rode a desk, this time in NYC censoring cables.

June: Posted to Neponset, MA to take command of a fishing trawler being converted to a gunboat. He is hounded by debtors who dun him for a variety of unpaid bills.

Hubbard was passed over to command this vessel due to his inability to get along with anyone. He is sent to the Submarine Chaser Training School in Miami instead.


1943

20 April: Hubbard takes command of USS PC 815, a new but small sub-chaser.

18-21 May: Hubbard has his ship repeatedly attack a suspected submarine. Other ships and even blimps join the attack but fail to find a target.

8 June: The navy command, after reviewing all data, discounts all possibility that there was a enemy sub in the area at the time Hubbard's ship attacked. The brass consider it a distinct possibility that Hubbard attacked a "Known magnetic deposit."

8 July: Hubbard relieved of command.

28 June: Hubbard has gunnery practice on a small uninhabited island of the coast of southern California. It turns out that this island is owned by Mexico, a minor diplomatic flap occurs. Hubbard is relieved of command and sent back to San Diego to ride a desk.

1943 October: Attends Naval Small Craft Training Center, San Pedro, CA, for a six week course.

December: Posted aboard the USS Algol, a ship now fitting out for heroic duty in the Pacific. The ship earned two battle stars for involment in the invastion of the Philipines and the landing at Okinawa. Hubbard did not partake of this glory having transferred to the Military Government School in Princeton.


1945

April: Hubbard diagnosed with an ulcer.

5 September: Hubbard admitted to the US Naval Hospital at Oakland, CA. Here he was treated for a duodenal ulcer. His other complaints included arthritis, hemorrhoids and headaches.

5 December: Hubbard leaves the hospital and is mustered out of the service. He never saw battle or smelled gunpowder fired in anger. The four medals he recieved (he would later claim over twenty medals) were the ones commonly given to those who served in the areas that he was in. He was not wounded and never was singled out for bravery or heroism despite claims to the contrary. All of his time in the navy is accounted for, he was not employed as a secret agent and he did not go behind enemy lines for any purpose at any time.

6 December: The day following his mustering out Hubbard files for disability listing a number of complaints.


1946

Hubbard meets, and eventually moves in with, John W. Parsons an eccentric but brilliant scientist. Parsons, a developer of rocket fuel was a devotee of the notorious Alistair Crowley. This Englishman, a self proclaimed reprobate and practitioner of the occult, considered himself the "Beast" mentioned in "The book of Revelation." Parson's large Victorian home in Los Angeles that he named "Ordo Temple Orientis," or OTO for short. People of odd beliefs and backrounds frequent the house to the disgust of the neighbors.

February: Hubbard gets a disability pension for $11.50 a month.

April: Parsons gives Hubbard $10,000 to go into partnership with him in the buying a boat. Hubbard takes the money and Parson's girlfriend (Sara Northrup) as well and departs.

1 July: Parsons tracks Hubbard and Sara to Miami and files suit against him in Dade Co. Court. This matter is settled out of court but Parsons gets little, if any of the money back. He leaves and has no further dealings with Hubbard. In 1952 he dies from an explosion in his garage while conducting chemical experiments.

10 August: Hubbard commits bigamy by marrying Sara Northrup (who does not know tha Ron was even married) while still married to his first wife.

19 Sept: Hubbard writes to the VA listing a variety of aliments; he is sent for a physical where only arthritis and a "Minimal duodenal deformity" are found. About this time he decides to get his former writing career in hand.


1947

14 April: His first wife files for divorce on the grounds of desertion and non-support. At this time they are living with Hubbards parents.

23 June: Polly given custody of their children and $50.00 a month support. She sees very little of this money over the years.

August: Forrest Ackerman becomes Ron's first literary agent. Later Hubbard will borrow thirty dollars from him because his first wife has gotten a lawyer after him to make him pay his support payments.


1948

27 January. "I cannot imagine how to repay the $51.00 as I am nearly penniless," Hubbard replies to a notice from the VA demanding the return of overpayments.

31 August. Hubbard fined $25.00 for writing a bad check in San Luis Obispo Co.

Later that year he and Sara move to Savannah, GA. Hubbard takes up his former career as a pulp fiction writer. His stories include "Gun Boss of Tumbleweed," "Blood on his Spurs," and "The emperor of the Universe."

December issue of "Astounding Science Fiction," a twenty-five-cent magazine, announces an upcoming non fiction story about the new science of "Dianetics." It says: "It's power is unbelievable. . . ulcers, asthma and arthritis can be cured, as can all other psychosomatic ills."


1950

8 March: Alexis Valerie Hubbard born.

April: Another mention of the upcoming article about the new science of Dianetics is made in "Astounding Science Fiction,": "A technique that gives any man a perfect, indelible, total memory, and perfect, errorless ability to compute his problems. A basic answer, and a technique for curing-not alleviating ulcers, arthritis, asthma, and many non-germ diseases. A totally new conception of the truly incredible ability and power of the human mind."

May: The long awaited article on "Dianetics" appears in "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine. The ad touting the story on the cover is next to a large glowering ape like figure who figured in another story contained in that issue. This is the first science ever launched from a magazine of pulp fiction. The story itself is somewhat vague for Hubbard cleverly abstained from giving away too much too soon. It was merely a device to wet the public's appetite for the upcoming book.

9 May: "Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health," hits the bookstores. It is published by the small firm of Hermitage House. Critics pan the book calling it "Incomprehensible."

Sales languish at first as only sci-fi devotees buy the book but by degrees sales pick up putting it on the best sellers list. Ron takes his first royalty check and buys a big luxury Lincoln with it. Soon he is giving courses in Dianetics for $500, a large sum in those days.

10 August: Before a large crowd at the Shriner's auditorium Hubbard shows off the world's first "Clear." The event proves to be a humiliating fiasco as Sonya Bianca can perform none of the wonders that a clear is supposed to possess. Gleeful reporters ask if she can tell them the color of Hubbards tie (his back was turned for a moment) - she hangs her head in shame unable to reply.

Not long after this a certain Dr. Winter, a medical doctor who supported Hubbards assertions quits the Dianetics movement after concluding that Hubbard conducted no research and that this system was not without danger. He had seen two preclears develop acute psychoses during auditing.

3 November: Art Ceppos, president of Hermitage House quits the Dianetics foundation. Hubbard reports him to the FBI as a communist. About this time Hubbard invents "Guk," a mixture of Benzedrine, vitamins and glutamic acid, to facilitate auditing.

December: "Look" magazine publishes a scathing review of Hubbard's work calling it a "poor man's psychiatry."


1951

The New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners institute proceedings against Hubbard for teaching medicine without a license. Hubbard flees to LA to avoid prosecution.

24 February: Following a series of domestic disputes with his wife Hubbard abducts the child.

25 February: Hubbard returns the next day and forces his wife to accompany him the Yuma airport. A juicy farce ensues that will later provide grist for many a newsman's mill. Hubbard gets his wife to sign a paper absolving him of any wrong doing, she in turn expects to get the baby back. At this time his first wife Polly initiates legal proceeding against him to collect owed child support. The Dianetics foundation of NJ is besieged by creditors.

3 March: Hubbard sends a list of suspected communists to the FBI. Heading the list of 15 people is his wife. A week later he is interviewed by an agent of the FBI who concludes that Hubbard is a "mental case."

12 April: Hubbard takes his child to Havana to effectively put her beyond his wife's reach. Newspaper headlines in the US: "Cult Founder Accused of Tot Kidnap," and "Hiding of Baby Charged to Dianetics Founder."

13 April: Hubbard applies to the US Embassy in Havana for protection from communists who are trying to steal his work.

23 April: Sara Hubbard petitions for divorce citing "extreme cruelty, great mental anguish and physical suffering," besides "systematic torture, including loss of sleep, beatings. . .bigamy, kidnaping and crazy misconduct." Hubbard's fledgling empire now in tatters as he is hounded by creditors and bad-mouthed in the press.

May: Hubbard goes to Wichita, Kansas at the invitation of wealthy real estate developer Don Purcell. Soon after, with Purcell's backing, they open a Dianetics center in that town. This was a move that Purcell would live to regret.

2 May: A letter from Hubbard's first wife to Sara Hubbard states: "You must get Alexis in your custody. Ron is not normal. I hoped that you could straighten him out. Your charges probably sound fantastic to the average person, but I've been through it- the beatings, threats on my life, all the sadistic traits that you charge-12 years of it."

14 May: Sara's attorney files another motion for Hubbards assets in LA be placed in receivership. The same day Hubbard writes a seven page letter to the Department of Justice claiming that Sara had attempted to kill him by sticking a needle into his heart and hooking it up to an electrical outlet. He repeats the charge that she is a communist.

12 June: In return for custody of her daughter Sara Hubbard allows Ron to divorce her, an attempt by him to save what was left of his reputation.

June: Hubbard writes "Science of Survival" and introduces the tone scale.

Summer: Ron meets 19 yr. old Mary Sue Whipp in Wichita, she is a student at the U. Of Texas.

November: Hubbard's attempt to enroll elite scientists in a plan to store their research in bomb-proof caves in Arizona fizzles. Most who receive his promo literature are suspicious of it and pass it on to the FBI whose files on Hubbard are by this time bulging. The FBI sourly notes in an internal memo that Hubbard is "mentally incompetent" and has "delusions of grandeur."


1952

12 February: Purcell and other members of the Dianetics board of directors vote Hubbard out for gross mis-management.

March: Hubbard, by this time no longer in control of Dianetics, announces that he has a new device, called the "e-meter" that will figure prominently in his new science that he calls "Scientology." He takes time out during this month to marry one of his followers, Mary Sue Whipp who is now at this time two months pregnant.

April: Hubbard opens a Scientology office in Phoenix, Arizona. He discovers the state of OT (operating thetan). Later he would say "Neither Lord Buddha nor Jesus Christ were OT's according to evidence. They were just a shade above clear."

July: Hubbard writes "The History of Man." Critics call it one of the most unintentionally funny books ever written. It impresses his adherents but scientists and scholars dismiss his assertions as sheer balderdash written by a man ignorant of history, geology, anthropology and a host of other disciplines.

September: Hubbard and wife move to London, England.

16 December: Hubbard returns to the US to give a series of lectures in Philadelphia. There he is arrested for wrongfully withdrawing $9,286.00 from the now bankrupt Wichita Dianetics Foundation. He agrees to pay restitution and the matter is dropped.


1953

Hubbard awarded a Pd.D. from the "University of Sequoia," a diploma mill run by a LA Chiropractor who conferred degrees on anyone that he felt worthy.

6 January: Geoffrey Quinten McCaully Hubbard born.

November: Hubbard gets Dianetics back under his control when former business partner Don Purcell, tired of the endless litigation, gives up the fight.


1954

Mary Suzette Rochelle Hubbard born.

The Church of Scientology, California, incorporated.


1955

11 July. Hubbard writes to the FBI complaining that evil accountants and communists are trying to ruin him. The FBI declines to answer any more of his letters because: "Rambling, meaningless nature and lack of any pertinence to Bureau interest."

7 September. Hubbard complains to the FBI that the American Psychological association was trying to poison Scientologists with LSD.


1956

Scientology begins to prosper and from this point on makes money regardless of controversy.


1957

Hubbard's personal income now estimated a $250,000 per year.

"All About Radiation" is published by famed nuclear physicist and doctor, L. Ron Hubbard. He also invents a weird vitamin compound called "Dianazene" which is supposed to cure radiation sickness. The FDA takes a dim view of this and confiscates 21,000 tablets. Hubbard takes time to send the FBI a pamphlet on brain -washing that he had supposedly got from communist sources. The FBI concludes it a fake and add it to the already crowded files on Hubbard.

June, 1957: The CIA starts a file, No. 156409, on Hubbard.

June: Hubbard gives a series of lectures in Washington, DC. Scientologists film the even but when lab technicians developed it they are so outraged at the anti-American content that they report Hubbard to the FBI.


1958

8 June: Arthur Conway Hubbard born. By this time there are more than sixty books on Scientology written by Hubbard.

Summer: Hubbard purchases and moves into Saint Hill Manor in East Grimstead, Sussex, England. Formerly owned by the Maharajah of Jaipur it is was built in 1733 by a wealthy landowner. The people welcome the famous American "Dr. Hubbard," into their midst. At first all goes well with the townspeople, a relationship soon to change.

August: The local paper, the "Courier" reports the "nuclear scientist, Dr. Hubbard," was experimenting with the growing of vegetables. A picture of Hubbard with an e-meter attached to a tomato plant appeared in "Garden News," and when the British press heard about it there was a scramble to the gates of St. Hill. This famous picture of Hubbard eventually found itself into "Newsweek," magazine in the US.


1959

Hubbard alarmed to find out that his oldest son "Nibs" had left Scientology complaining that although his father gave him a lot of duties, titles and responsibilities his father didn't pay him enough money to earn a living.

December: Hubbard's mother is on her deathbed. Under pressure from his aunt he reluctantly flies back to the US and Bremerton. He arrives too late to speak with her, she is in a coma and soon dies. Hubbard pays for the funeral expenses and marker stone but pleads urgent business and skips the funeral. The relatives are outraged at his behavior.


1960

March: The solid citizens of East Grimstead read a report in the "Courier," about a book written by the local Dr. Hubbard entitled, "Have You Lived Before This Life?" Much interest is aroused concerning this eccentric American and his steady stream of followers. Also talked about locally were the strange "security checks" made on members of the staff and the servants. This involved the use of the e-meter which the residents thought some sinister device.

Hubbard's success was now interesting the FBI who had prior to this time dismissed him as a mental case. He became the only American owner of a country house in England to be kept under suveilence. File No. 244-210-B.

October-November. Hubbard gives a series of lectures in South Africa.

December. Hubbard flies to the US for a series of lectures in Washington, DC.


1961

Hubbard returns to South Africa for more lectures.

March: St. Hill is expanded to accomadate the growing number of auditors who show up for his special breifing courses. Cost: L250.

Security checks are stepped up with more questions like: "Have you ever had intercourse with a member of your family," and "Have you ever had anything to do with a baby farm?" Despite the intrusive questions people, mainly Americans, flock to St. Hill where additional housing was made to receive them.


1962

Hubbard writes a letter to the White House to advise President Kennedy that Scientology methods would be very usefull to the space program and offers to train American astronauts. Hubbard orders his staff to make peperations to receive the astronauts.


1963

4 January, 1963: The astornauts didn't come but the FAD did in a raid that siezed mounds of paperwork and hundreds of e-meters. The government alleged massive medical fraud in their use.

March: Hubbard issues a general amnesty to all who had been declared suppressive persons and booted out of Scientolgy.

May: Hubbard reveals that he had twice visited heaven. His first visit to heaven, a town high in the mountains on an alien planet, went well enough but when he came back three-million years later he found the place in a sad state of disrepair. Later this embarrassing pair of bulletins would be deleted from Scientolgy's list of Hubbard's writings.


1964

March: Hubbard gives his last interview with the press. In an interview with the "Saturday Evening Post," he claims that his wages from Scientology are just $70.00 a week and that Fidel Castro had contacted him about training an elite corps of Cuban Scientologists.


1965

October: The Australian Board of Inquiry into Scientology publishes a long and sarcastic report. A sample quote: "Scientology is evil; it's techniques evil; it's practice a serious threat to the community, medically, morally and socially; and it's adherents sadly deluded and often mentally ill." As to Hubbard, "His sanity is gravely doubted."


1966

February: Lord Balniel, MP, asked the British government to investigate Scientology. Hubbard responds by hiring a private detective to investigate Lord Balniel. Unfortunately the detective ran off and sold his story to the newspapers thereby creating even more ill feeling for Scientology.

March: The "Guardian's Office" is created at St. Hill, England. The primary purpose of this entity is to sue Hubbards opponents and harass them with dirty tricks.

April: Hubbard goes to Rhodesia to see what the prospects are for Scientology in that area. He also wants to look for lost treasure that he, as the former Cecil Rhodes, had buried. The CIA take note of him but are told by Washington that Hubbard is a "crack-pot," of "doubtful mental background."

18 July: Hubbard booted out of Rhodesia because of his bad reputation and attempted meddling in local politics.


1967

Hubbard, smarting over the defeats that he had suffered at the hands of various governments creates his own navy. The "Sea Org" is born. Here he will be beyond the reach of law and the scrutiny of hostile reporters. He refits the "Enchanter" a forty ton sea going schooner that he bought the previous year along with the 414 ton "Avon River," an old North Sea trawler. Soon would follow the "Royal Scotsman," a 3,200 former cattle ferry that had plied the Irish Sea for the last thirty years. Later, due to a spelling mistake that occurred while completing the paperwork necessary to register the vessel under the flag of Sierra Leon the ship's name inadvertently changed to the "Royal Scotman."

During this year the fledgling navy seasoned with some genuine sailors hired by the thoughtful Hubbard sail the Mediterranean. Things do not always go well, the inexperienced crew members attempt to sail using Hubbard's system of radio wave detection but they are not up to the task and frequently get lost. Storms play their part to and when the hired sailors return to port they had much to say to reporters about there experiences. "Ahoy There: It's the Craziest Cruise on Earth" says "The People" on 21, February.

Hubbard continued his development of upper Scientology doctrine, during the next few years much of the OT series was written. Notable too is the formation of the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) that was designed to punish malefactors aboard the ship. Tales of Hubbard's cruelty would eventually surface further tarnishing his name.


1968

"USIS OFFICER STATES THAT HUBBARD RUNS FLOATING "UNIVERSITY" OF QUESTIONABLE MORAL CHARACTER- NOT ACCREDITED ANY US UNIVERSITIES AND POOR REPRESENTATIVE FOR US ABROAD. . .FLOATING COLLEGE PROBABLY PART OF CHARLATAN CULT." CIA cable traffic June/July 1968

April: Hubbard musters his crew for an important task. They are to find on the coast of Corsica a hidden space ship base complete with craft. However, just before they could find the secret entrance that would only open with Hubbard's palm print they get an urgent cable from Hubbard's wife. Mary Sue complains of serious trouble with the Spanish government causing him to immediately weigh anchor and head for Spain. The UFO fleet unfortunately is never found anymore than the gold treasure that Hubbard was always looking for. Gold did come to Ron's way starting over the next few years but it was modern, not ancient treasure.

July: Hubbard is declared an undesirable alien by the British government. Kenneth Robinson, health minister says: "The Government is satisfied having reviewed all the available evidence, that Scientology is socially harmful. It alienates members of families from each other and attributes squalid and disgraceful motives to all who oppose it."

August: Major John Forte, British Vice-counsel on the Greek island of Corfu sees Hubbard's flagship "Royal Scotman" steaming into the harbor and correctly deduces that it is the "sinister Scientology ship." Later he would write a humorous booklet entitled, "The Commodore and the Colonels."

August: Scientologist James Stewart, 35, found dead in suspicious circumstances outside a window at the advanced org in Edinburgh. Stewart, an epileptic had just completed an ethics condition wherein he stayed awake for 80 hours. He was in trouble with Scientology over his failure to rid himself of his physical problems; the following notice was posted on the org bulletin board: "James Stewart has been put in a Condition of Doubt for having seizures in public and thus invalidating Scientology. If there is any reoccurrence of these either consciously or unconsciously on his part he will be placed in a Condition of Enemy."Author and ex-Scientolgist Jon Atack speculates that Stewart fell from the roof while engaged in an ethics penance.

Meanwhile, back in Greece Hubbard tried to ingratiate himself with the Greek authorities by promising to found a university and make Corfu a great center of learning. He even renamed his ships with suitable Greek names. The "Royal Scotman" became the "Apollo", The "Avon River" the "Athena" and the "Enchanter" became the "Diana." However the Greek authorities were not impressed. They found the teachings of Scientology to be incomprehensible and some of their activities very strange to say the least. The morning ritual of "overboarding" errant crew members (simply pitching them over the side of the ship) began to draw amused crowds of tourists and dock workers. Inquires to other nations about Scientology brought less than enthusiastic response.

December: Scientology tries to take over the membership of the National Association of Mental Health in London. Officers of that group become suspicious of the hundreds of new members joining just before the annual election. All such applications bear the postmark of East Grinstead.


1969

March 19: Hubbard given 24 hours to leave Greek waters. The astonished Hubbard was beside himself with rage at being given the boot but there was nothing he could do but slip his cable and sail away.

September 26: Cable from US Consul General, Casablanca, to Washington: "It is possible that Commodore Hubbard and his wife. . .are philanthropists of some kind and/or eccentrics, but if one does not accept this as an explanation, there has to be some other gimmick involved in this operation. What this gimmick might be is unknown here, although people from Casablanca have speculated variously from smuggling to drug traffic to a far-out religious cult."

November 2: Hubbard declares that he is the victim of a vast and nefarious international conspiracy. The details, he said, are to be found in the "Tenyaka Memorial," a mysterious document that has so far never been unearthed. Hubbard instructs his wife, Mary Sue, to crank up security, already elaborate, to new heights to meet the threat. During this time he sails aimlessly off the Spain and N. Africa. Hubbard, now attended by prepubescent girls in fetching attire alternately bullies and praises his crew. Sometimes he works long hours on preclear files, sometimes he drinks rum and unbends with a tale or two yet other times he bellows with rage if his shirts are not rinced with enough water to remove all trace of soap smell.


1971

25, June: Scientologist Susan Meister found dead aboard the "Apollo" while in the port of Casablanca, Morocco. Her father flies in a few days later to investigate this apparent suicide. Hubbard refuses to see him and the local authorities are mysteriously silent. Meister came to believe that the events that transpired concerning his daughter's death were very different from the official line given him by Scientology. He would later testify at the Clearwater hearings.

Paulette Cooper writes "The scandal of Scientology," and is rewarded for her efforts by the Guardians Office with years of persecution. An all out effort is made against this woman in hopes of ruining her mental sanity or getting her put into jail. She is sued dozens of times, threatened with death and spied upon. This campaign of terror is code named "Operation Freakout." Her "boyfriend" who is in reality an agent of Scientology, obtains her fingerprints on a blank piece of paper and uses it to write Henry Kissinger a death threat. Cooper narrowly averts a prison sentence. Eventually documents proving Scientology's complicity in this nefarious affair come to light when The FBI raided Scientology offices ending operation "Snow White.'


1972

Hubbard begins this year seriously ill with a variety of complaints. He takes up residence in a small villa near Tangiers. His staff do their utmost to curry favor in that country. All came to naught though as word comes that Hubbard is about to be indicted in France for fraud. Fearing extradition he flees to Lisbon. Later in the year he travels to NYC where he lives in seclusion.


1973

Word comes from Mary Sue Hubbard who by now had been established as head of the Guardian's Office," that the threat of extradition had diminished enough for Hubbard to return to his ships. The GO had the responsibility of providing intelligence/counter-intelligence as well as handling any and all enemies of Scientology. Over the years they sued or hounded many critics of Scientology into submission. The "Apollo" begins further aimless cruises off the coast of Spain.

November. Hubbard breaks an arm and two ribs while on a motorcycle in Morocco. He declines any medical attention and is in pain and miserable for months to come.


1974

Hubbard who had told the same lies year after year about his decorations and citations from the US Navy apparently came to believe his own tales. He gives permission to his staff to apply to the Navy for his decorations which were presumably lost. Their efforts come to nothing as the navy fails to find any record of them ever being issued.

October: The "Apollo" is stoned in the port of Funchal. Madeira. The locals, under the mistaken idea that Scientologists were members of the CIA, riot and throw cars and motorcycles belonging to crew members over the end of the dock.


1975

Having worn out his welcome in the Mediterranean Hubbard sets sail for the US. He intends to go to Charleston, SC but he is tipped off the IRS and FBI agents are lurking around the harbor so Hubbard enters the Caribbean. Sometime during the summer he suffers a heart attack and is hospitalized in Curacao. Soon though his ship is ejected by the Dutch prime minister.

July. Michael Shannon, an obscure and mysterious person in the history of Scientology, begins to take a very close look at the life of L. Ron Hubbard. He obtains Hubbard's school records, his war record and conducts a general one man investigation of Hubbard. His work would later be circulated among those interested in the subject, including biographer Omar Garrison and Gary Armstrong. Most of what Shannon unearthed was at complete odds with accounts of Hubbard's life as published by Scientology.

CIA cable 16 October 1975 : 'REVIEW OF AVAILABLE INFO REGARDING OVERSEAS ACTIVITIES CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY REVEALS ONLY THAT ITS FOUNDER L. RON HUBBARD IS ECCENTRIC MILLIONAIRE WHO HAS BEE EXPELLED FROM RESIDENCE IN SEVERAL COUNTRIES BECAUSE OF HIS ODD ACTIVITIES AND BEHAVIOR. HE IS OWNER OF SEVERAL SHIPS WHOSE APPEARANCE IN PORTS HAS STIMULATED QUERIES . . . FROM OTHER GOVERNMENTS ASKING INFO RE VESSELS MISSION AND CREW. RESPONSES INDICATE WE KNOW VERY LITTLE.'

August: The Sea org comes ashore in Daytona Beach, FL in great secrecy. The "Apollo" is sent back to the Caribbean. Hubbard looks around for a land base an rests his eye on the quiet city of Clearwater, just north of St. Petersburg. October. "Southern Land Sales" buys the Ft. Harrison Hotel for $2.3 million and the old Bank of Clearwater building for another $550,000. The deals are concluded in great secrecy. Soon it is announced that "The United Churches of Florida" had leased both properties.

5 December: Hubbard moves into a small condo complex in Dunedin, immediately north of Clearwater. Elaborate security is maintained.

"Operation Snow White," the code name for efforts by the GO's office to infiltrate various government agencies, is in full swing. Hubbard had planned it a few years previous as sort of an early warning system to advise him on government plans to prosecute him. He worries constantly about the IRS and the FBI. His wife, Mary Sue, is in overall charge. Soon they would clandestinely steal thousands of government documents and infiltrate the FBI, IRS, Coast Guard and the Drug Enforcement Agency. But their success almost became the Waterloo of Scientology in time to come.

In Clearwater mayor Gabriel Cazares publicly wonders why the "United Churches of Florida" need uniformed security guards who are armed with mace and clubs. He, along with other area politicians and public figures, is put on Scientology's "enemy" list.


1976

January: Betty Orsini, a reporter for the "St. Petersburg Times," is reported by Scientology agents to be close to finding out the truth about who the latest group of immigrants to Clearwater really are. Scientologist June (real name was "Phillips") Byrne, working undercover at the Clearwater "Sun" reports that newsman Mark Sableman is also beginning to put two and two together. The coverage of Scientology would someday net the "Times" a Pulitzer Prize, besides the inevitable lawsuits.

28, January: Scientology forestalls a planned coup by the "Times" and spills the beans at a press conference.

29, January: Scientology sues Clearwater mayor Cazares for libel, slander and civil rights violations. He would fight Scientology in the courts and press for years to come and was undaunted in his efforts to clear his name and show the world the dark side of Scientology.

Hubbard flees the Clearwater area after a tailor who is a science fiction buff recognizes him as the famous author and cult leader. Hubbard goes to Washington, D.C.

March: Scientologists fake a hit and run car accident in an effort to smear Gabe Cazares while he is attending a national conference of mayors in Washington, D.C. This attempt to ruin Cazares's career comes to light when "Snow White" is blown.

11, June: Two Scientologists are questioned concerning their presence in the U.S. Courthouse Library at the foot of capital hill. Their passes are bogus, "Snow White" begins to unravel.

October: Hubbard moves his family into a ranch La Quinta, CA. They are guarded by two of Mary Sue's dogs both of whom are "clear" and therefore will only attack suppressive persons.

28, October: Quentin Hubbard commits suicide in Las Vegas. Due to a lack of identification on the body the Hubbards don't learn of it until November 17. Mary sue is heartbroken, Ron furious. Trusted agents are sent to clean up the matter and distance Hubbard as far from this sad event as possible. Hubbard's dynastic hopes die with Quentin.


1977

Hubbard develops the "Purification Run-Down." It is a system of saunas and mega doses of vitamins designed to rid the body of toxins and chemical residues. He hopes to get the Nobel Prize for this but only gets lawsuits from people injured by the toxic doses of vitamins and injured from the too lengthy time in the sauna.

8, July: One of the most massive raids in the history of the FBI smashes "Snow White" and Scientology. More than 130 agents raid Scientology headquarters in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Thousands of documents (48, 148) are seized. Activities of the Guardian's Office come to light making headlines throughout the country. Hubbard flees to an obscure town in Nevada knowing that he is only one step ahead of the law. From this point on the number of people knowing his true whereabouts will decline. Many people, including Paulette Cooper's lawyers, would love to know where Hubbard is hiding.


1978

15 August: A federal grand jury indites 10 Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife, for their participation is Snow White. There are a total of 28 counts: conspiring to steal government documents, theft of government documents , harboring a fugitive, perjury and obstruction of justice. Hubbard himself is listed as an "unindicted co-conspirator." He stays in seclusion leaving his wife to face the music alone.


1979

26, October: All Scientologists on trial are found guilty. In a plea bargain Mary Sue Hubbard gets five years in federal prison. As operation "Freakout" comes to light concerning Paulette Cooper and the fake accident involving mayor Gabe Cazares, Hubbard is relentlessly pilloried in the press.


1980

Hubbard now disappears for good to a remote ranch in CA. He fears summonses from the IRS, Dept. Of Justice and Paula Coopers lawyers. Only three people know where he is: Annie and Pat Broeker, David Miscavige. Hubbards personal income at this time is about a million dollars a week.