Journalism: Scientology - L. Ron Hubbard's Brainchild

The impulse to believe the absurd when presented with the unknowable is called religion. Whether this is wise or unwise is the domain of doctrine. Once you understand someone's doctrine, you understand their rationale for believing the absurd. At that point, it may no longer seem absurd. You can get to both sides of this conondrum from here.

Re: Journalism: Scientology - L. Ron Hubbard's Brainchild

Postby admin » Tue Jul 23, 2019 12:23 am

The Awful Truth About Scientology
by Another Hired Stranger
The Realist
October 1973 (Number 97-B)

Although many people have had some brief acquaintance with Scientology, very few have gotten into the subject far enough to find out what it is really all about. It is a subject which doesn't easily lend itself to study. The courses are many and tend to become quite expensive, not only in terms of money, but also in terms of time and commitment.

Even though the first course is free, and a $500 Dianetics course is offered free to professional ministers and psychologists, the main purpose of these courses is to gain converts who will invest further faith and money in Scientology. The fact that these courses are free is often used for publicity purposes to answer the frequent criticism that Scientology is attempting to capitalize on its claimed monopoly on spiritual freedom. But since a person can easily spend over $25,000 on services, it is obvious they are not giving away much in proportion to what they expect in return.

The extent of financial investment a person has to make tends to make one more and more committed in favor of the subject, since the more one invests, the more reason one has not to admit that the investments were questionable. The cost becomes an important instrument in the person's conversion, since it involves them personally and emotionally with the subject and its claims. The nature of this involvement is not one which is conducive to critical scholarship, but rather one of hope, faith and belief.

For those who do not have the large amounts of money to pay for their services outright, one can get these services through working for a Scientology organization, but since there is no financial commitment the personal commitments are that much greater. To get any substantial amount of services, the person must contract himself to the organization for 2 1/2 or 5 years minimum, during which time he becomes a virtual serf to the organization, working a minimum 10-hour day, six days a week, for between $15 and $25 per week.

His energy and attention become totally monopolized, and he must not only convince himself that his decision is worth it, but others as well, since each member shelters and supports the others in their beliefs, so any manifestation of doubt is considered subversion, and treated as such.

No Scientology staff member would dare to complain about the working conditions, since he knows full well that to do so brings down the official wrath of the organization on him, which not only endangers what he believes is his only chance for spiritual salvation, but loses him all his friends as well.

Further, he is obliged to report on the "nattering" of others so that each person acts as informant on the rest. Since this type of group pressure is extended to support other beliefs, such as the beneficial results of services, or the competence of Scientology management, each person is subtly influenced to pattern his thinking and behavior toward conformity with group standards. And these, of course, are models of enthusiastic compliance, and "duplication" their word for unquestioned acceptance, a particularly esteemed "ability" in study.

The thing which is so disturbing is the completely systematic way in which Scientology seeks to estrange its members from all standards of judgement except its own. Scientology has its own system of ethics: anything which advances Scientology or Scientologists is *good*, and anything which impedes them is *bad*.

A person's function and identity are defined in terms of his "hat" -- a portfolio listing out the precise way in which that person is expected to *contribute* to Scientology. Each person is given a statistic to *measure* his contribution for which he must feel guilty and "make amends" if it is not kept constantly rising.

Sanity and insanity are defined in terms of organizational utility, and on and on until the person will not believe anything unless it is published by founder L. Ron Hubbard.

The dynamics of the group are carefully engineered by policy to keep the individuals subordinate to the whole process. The process consists of isolating individuals, subjecting them to indoctrination, and encouraging them to persuade themselves by participating in the isolation and indoctrination of others. The process is repeated in cycles as the person become progressively more isolated from the rest of the world and more and more indoctrinated.

The Scientology policy on Public Relations is careful to stress that one should pick on people who are already feeling a little alienated. The PR officer is cautioned against addressing groups, since groups offer solidarity to their members. In the dissemination procedure one is directed to search for another individual's sense of "ruin" and, once found, one is instructed to offer Scientology as a definite solution for it, regardless of how extravagant and absurd a promise it might seem.

Public lecture personnel are told that their beginning lecture should stress the turmoil and horrors of the modern world. It should stress the conflict and pain of it all, and offer Scientology as "the road to Total Freedom."

If the person buys a book as a result of any of this, his name is entered on the mailing list, and is counted as "one of the many people who are joining the world's fastest growing religion." From there he is treated according to a set of well known policies until he either shows up at the organization, or moves without leaving a forwarding address. In fact, he will be hounded till his dying day with high pressure letters and brochures.

The high pressure is intentional and is considered necessary in all phases of dealing with the "raw public" or "wogs" as they are called, because, as every Scientologist is taught, a person without the benefit of the wisdom of Scientology is too aberrated to choose for himself, and so must have his choices made for him.

This type of handling (called "8C") is specifically prescribed for handling the unconscious and the psychotic, or other cases "where reason cannot be consulted." This turns out to be a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy on two counts. On one, those who do not simply walk away or discard these communications automatically select themselves out as the most curious and unwary; and on the other, it serves to validate the low opinion of Scientologists on the unenlightened and hostile state of Non- Scientologists in general.

Hubbard insists on this policy, going even so far as to warn all Scientologists that anyone who suggests that the promo be toned down is probably a "Suppressive Person" -- a person so deranged that he works toward the destruction of Scientology.

The organization's own statistics show that less than 1% respond to these bulk mailings, a percentage so low that the method would be discarded by any other advertising firm. But mere advertising is not Hubbard's aim, or else he would not rely on these tons of cheaply printed mailers and would advertise in reputable magazines. It is a self selection and screening process, shrewdly devised.

Once the person does show up at the organization to join or submit himself for training or "processing" he must be examined to see if he is a potential Troublesome Source. The explicit policy on this is that a person may not be accepted for processing (therapy) if he is doing so just to see if Scientology works, nor if he is a reporter, or someone who is attempting to judge Scientology on some sort of objective basis, nor if he has close emotional ties with someone who is antagonistic to Scientology.

In effect, no one may be accepted unless he already believes that Scientology is going to work, and has few social forces acting in his environment to convince him otherwise.

Since Scientology works by faith and social engineering, it is necessary that these policies exist. By the time the person shows up he has already undergone a great deal of mental preparation as to what to expect and what is expected of him.

Hubbard's books, which seem like paraphrases of psychological and sociological researches of the time they were written, are couched in obscure and esoteric language. This gives the impression that Scientology is off by itself in a field which has never been researched, and of which Scientology has exclusive knowledge.

As part of the person's education, of the supposed structure of the mind, he also learns what ailments it is supposed to be prone to, and consequently what symptoms to manifest. (This is especially chronic among the oldtimers who, every time a new piece of technology is issued, start having different symptoms.)

For example, illnesses were fashionable in the summer of 1969, being replaced by headaches and feelings of wanting to leave in early 1970. Since feelings of wanting to leave are equated with psychosis currently, there has been a marked tapering off of that particular symptom.

Also, the person is given literature which speaks in a new language into which he is not initiated. Through exposure to people in the organization he becomes aware that he is to some degree an outsider. He is shown a chart of levels and statuses and more or less sold on the idea that the road to acceptance lies in progress up the levels. There is a big show over the announcing, awarding the certificates, and applauding each gain in status which becomes progressively more elaborate at each step up the line.

Since it is a High Crime in Scientology to invalidate the status of "Clear," everyone is held in check from telling or repeating anything which might damage the glitter of that status. Consequently, newcomers quickly learn to covet and stand in awe of the statuses of which everyone speaks so respectfully.

From testimonials and pictures the person learns that he is supposed to emerge from his auditing session smiling and "happy." He knows that he is expected to write a testimonial about how much "bigger and cleaner and better" and "how more god damned decent" he feels, because he has carefully been taught, and continues to be taught by requiring him to go through the exact same procedure at every minor success.

So, armed with the fact that the person has already been educated into what symptoms he is supposed to have, what is supposed to happen to those symptoms, how he is supposed to act and feel when he finishes his session, and given that the person *wants* these results not only for relief from his personal condition, but for acceptance into a group, then whatever techniques are employed in the auditing session can hardly fail.

But the session has its own persuasive techniques, not the least of which is that it costs at least $30 per hour. The person has rather strong incentive to reach the required result, and quickly. There are other more subtle devices, some of which are legitimately therapeutic, but they are managed in such a way as to validate and increase the person's emotional dependence on Scientology.

For example, there is what is known in medicine as the Placebo Effect. For some reason about 70% of all medical complaints are psychosomatic in origin and can experience some degree of relief, provided that the patient has faith in the "healer" and the "treatment." There will always be a certain number who will get better simply because someone took an interest in them; and a certain number will get better on their own.

Looking up words in the dictionary can do a lot to clarify one's thinking, and spotting a few fallacies can make one feel positively enlightened -- for a while. But all these techniques simply serve to strengthen the person's faith and thereby aid the process of gathering all the emotional attachments he has made in the past and shift them over to Scientology. The procedure is set up in a series of grades, each with its own certificate and status value.

Grade I as it is advertised is supposed to enable a person to get to the root of his problems and make them vanish. However, by this time a person has already "solved" a great many of his life's problems by virtue of his joining Scientology. It has already altered his relationship to everyone he ever knew, so those problems which he has at this point are those which affect his membership in Scientology.

They consist of criteria and antagonisms which he has formed in the past and which still affect him in his current role. He is asked such questions as, "What would have to happen for you to know that Scientology works?" -- in order to get him to inspect, and hopefully discard, these criteria; "What is the problem?" leads him down a chain of events to some decision he made in the past which is responsible for his major psychological barrier to full acceptance of Scientology.

Grade II consists of getting the person to confess all the hidden past deeds for which he is feeling guilty. As long as a person is feeling guilty, he is still judging himself by standards belonging to some other group. Once he confesses, he can discharge his guilt, and along with it, the value system of the other group which demands it.

One is led from this experience to believe that one is finally released from *all* guilt and anxiety, but in fact one unknowingly commits himself to the Scientology value system in such a way that one will thereafter feel guilty and anxious for having offended any one of *its* group values. This susceptibility to guilt is used to manipulate the person further, in ways which I shall discuss later.

Since what is considered valuable will be sought after, goals and values are very connected subject matter. Grade III seeks to uncover crisis points in a person's life when the person ended up choosing or siding with a goal that was to some degree contrary to Scientology. This gives the person a sensation of greater freedom of choice over his own life, which indeed he has. But the choices one is given are whether or not to discard goals which are contrary to Scientology, hardly a choice at all considering that the person is already committed to choosing in favor of Scientology.

The rest of the levels continue in a similar vein, solidifying identification with Scientology so that any slight against it becomes personal, and removing the psychological barriers which tend to prevent the person from acting as an unquestioning instrument of the group.

The person is promised results which are "beyond his wildest dreams!" The literature and tapes refer back to times in the distant past, previous to this lifetime, when we were all masters of the universe, and offer Scientology as the "road back." The person is encouraged to fantasize, to imagine himself with extraordinary powers, and to feed the hope that the next level will get him substantially closer to his dreams.

The whole of Scientology is justified by the single claim that *it works*. But "working" as used here is a rather vague word, and conveniently so. Such advertised results as "The ability to make problems vanish" are likewise vague. What does it mean? Can the person solve his problems on just a snap inspection, or does he merely push them out of his consciousness to "make them vanish."

It suggests, that once attained, a person could sit down and rid himself of all his problems, but it is quite obvious that this is not the case. The person still has problems, and if he should complain of them, he is directed to more auditing. If the person had the ability to solve problems, why would he need further auditing?

The state of "Clear" was once defined as, "The ability to be at cause over mental matter, energy, space and time," but when Hubbard came out with the "OT Levels" above Clear it became obvious that Clears were not totally in control of their own minds, so he added "as pertains to survival of self."

In short, a Clear is a person who can think about his own survival. So who then, in this world, is *not* Clear? As it turns out, it is only those persons whom Scientology allows to believe that they are Clear, who are so. The concept is vague enough to permit this, since most people are to some degree aware that they are "cause over" their own minds.

Given the thoroughly vague results that it advertises, the faith in the procedure which it deliberately cultivates, the wild hopes that it encourages, the group support, the gullible frame of mind of the participants, and the fact that they are financially or morally committed, Scientology could not help *but* "work." Christian Science, the miracle of Lourdes, and Voodoo also work in the same way.

In May of 1970, Hubbard came out with a policy called CUTATIVES in which he complained:

In the period up to 1966 we were plagued by an occasional obsessiveness to ADD to any process or policy. Additives made things unworkable. After 1966 when I left the post of Executive Director WW, a new condition set in. Checksheets, processes, intensives, grades began to be CUT DOWN.

In 1970 a survey I have just completed has shown that this effect was so complete that the following had been broadly accomplished:

A. Training no longer included enough Scientology materials to make an effective Scientology auditor in many places.

B. Grades had been shortened from 50 hours 0 to IV to 2 1/2 minutes.

C. The End Phenomena of grades and processes were discarded.

The end result has been:

1. Few skilled auditors.

2. Shrunken and struggling Scn orgs.

3. A field that is disappointed in results -- for they think they have had grades and haven't.


However, during this five year period people were charged as much as before even though they were getting less and less. What was commonly happening was that people would buy 25 hours at $650 and be brushed off in between 20 minutes and 3 hours. What is *so* interesting is that *all* these people signed attestations that they achieved all the abilities and results pertaining to their grade, and wrote glowing testimonials to boot. The reason that "orgs" were shrunken and struggling is that these processes can easily be stretched over 150 hours and that the organizations were losing a potential $3,250 per customer.

At any rate, there were five years worth of people who were given only a fraction of what they were paying for. According to long standing policy at that time, a person who achieved his result under the amount of time he had purchased could have the credit applied to something else. Hubbard, in a briefing tape at that period, estimated the undelivered services as totalling in the millions of dollars.

But instead of informing the people they had some credit coming, Hubbard chose to launch a campaign to sell "*Expanded* Grades." These "expanded" grades were what people should have been receiving all along. People were told that they had received "quickie" grades, but that in order to get their Expanded ones, they had to sign up (and pay again) for the hours it would take.

In a directive, Hubbard told that those who complained of not getting credit for their unused hours should be answered by saying, "But you shouldn't have attested!" -- laying the entire blame on them. Partly these people *were* to blame for being so status hungry and self-deceiving as to readily attest, but they were also subject to pressure, and were told, or encouraged to believe, that their particular problem would be handled by the *next* level.

No one was completely honest either way in this, but regardless, they were still owed credit, because they were sold "Grades Intensives" consisting of 25 hours each, and the hours were only partly delivered. The public, not having access to the policies to prove their case, were in no position to argue, so they had to pay.

This same pattern was repeated about half a year later when "Power Processing" was discovered to have been routinely goofed. The remedy, which essentially consisted of running the old processes a bit longer to achieve the desired result, was sold as a *NEW* thing. Power can only be bought in 50 hour packages ($1,000 per) and it seldom takes longer than 10 hours to complete. Instead of letting people use their credit to get the auditing that they paid for, they were led to believe that they already got it, and had to buy something new. Hubbard states his attitude on this:

To claim a pc 'lost time' in auditing because of an error in choosing processes or having to reflatten one, is highly fallacious. Sometimes a pc throws us a curve with a rough case, bad between session behavior, roughing up auditors ... It is natural that goofs occur on such cases.

We are selling hours of auditing and what that is is for us to judge. We are selling actual salvage from Death itself.

Rebate. How silly. The person was lucky we were around at all and took an interest. We don't *have* to do anything for anybody. Remember that. We can lose interest in certain people, too, you know.

(HCO PL 23 May 65)


You see, it's all the customer's fault, because he is a "rough case" (someone who isn't easily pleased), or because he is "bad" between sessions, whatever that means. And if a person is openly critical of his poor handling, it only goes to prove what a rotten guy he is for "roughing up" the poor tender feelings of his saviors.

The fact that Hubbard could have been fooled for *five years* about the results of processing -- considering that he routinely and thoroughly supervised the auditing in whatever organization he was in -- is amazing. His claim that "We are selling actual salvage from Death itself" seems quite far fetched, since *how would he ever know* that people were being saved from death, when he couldn't tell if people were getting their full gains when looking right at both the auditing records and the people they belonged to in the course of his every day work!

Quite obviously Hubbard's perceptions are very much affected by money. When the money is rolling in, he sees nothing but gains, but when money gets slow, he sees errors everywhere, and comes up with something new to buy to remedy it.

The idea that Scientology is God's gift to mankind is quite common among Scientologists. In the Spring of 1971 a group of officers in the Sea Organization decided to distinguish themselves by becoming especially aggressive in getting people to pay money in advance for services. Their technique eventually became known as "Crush Sell." It consisted of ruthlessly browbeating potential customers into liquidating all their assets and paying the cash over to Scientology.

A Scientologist would be assigned to a person who was known to have some money. He would stick with him, phoning him four or more times a day, and even helping him sell his home, his car or stocks, while making him feel that he was committing the worst possible crime by clinging to mere possessions when spiritual freedom was so close at hand.

They raked in several hundred thousand dollars, and it was suggested that they teach the local organization personnel how to do it. So, one of their number made a tape on which he described the proper frame of mind as being absolutely certain that getting the person to pay was the only thing that mattered, no matter what the means, because the end was the person's salvation.

For an example, he told how he squeezed an old lady's knuckles until she signed a check. There were other tapes made, one of which described how a young lady was locked in a room with three gangsterish looking guys, complete with black shirts and white ties, until she parted with $10,000. People would be visited late at night, and the visitors would stay and stay till they were given a check.

As long as the money was coming in, Hubbard looked the other way. His personal aides were skeptical from the very first and advised him of gross irregularities, but he promoted all the major personnel involved, and heaped them with honors till no one dared say anything against them. After 6 months the area had been wrung dry, the income declined and it was then time to take a look.

The officers were hauled before a Scientology tribunal and found guilty of vast and serious breaches of policy for which they were stripped of rank and sent to a remote organization to salvage it. But this move was merely to satisfy public rancor against them. In hardly a year, their sentence was cancelled and they are back in good graces, eager to do another service for Hubbard.

The disturbing thing to contemplate is what services this group and others like it would be willing to render for the glory of Scientology. Would they stop at just extortion? Would they be able to justify a murder on the grounds that the person they did not see eye to eye with was a "Suppressive Person" -- that is, less than human? Who knows?

In Scientology there is what is known as THE FAIR GAME LAW.

A Suppressive person becomes "fair game."

By FAIR GAME is meant, may not be further protected by the codes and disciplines of Scientology or the rights of a Scientologist ... they cannot be granted the rights and beingness ordinarily accorded rational beings and so place themselves beyond any consideration for their feelings or well being. The homes, property, places and abodes of persons who have been active in attempting to suppress Scientology or Scientologists are all beyond any protection of Scientology Ethics.

(HCO PL 25 Dec 65)


In effect, the person may be lied to, cheated, or destroyed with complete impunity as far as Scientology is concerned. One becomes a Suppressive Person by committing a Suppressive Act.

Suppressive acts are defined as actions or omissions undertaken to knowingly suppress, reduce or impede Scientology or Scientologists.


Notice that this is conveniently broad and vague enough to include any act, regardless of severity, that may seem to besmirch the name of Scientology.

Such Acts include public disavowal of Scientology or Scientologists ... public statements against Scientology ... voting for legislation directed toward the Suppression of Scientology ... bringing civil suit against any Scientology organization or Scientologist including for non-payment of bills ... demanding the return of any or all fees paid for standard training or processing actually received or received in part but still available ... writing anti-Scientology letters to the press or giving anti-Scientology evidence to the press ... continued membership in a divergent group; continued adherence to a person or group pronounced a Suppressive Person or Group ... sexual or sexually perverted conduct contrary to the well being or good state of mind of a Scientologist in good standing ...


Many people are under the impression that this policy was cancelled in 1968, but in fact, only the practice of *declaring* people FAIR GAME was abandoned, because "It causes bad public relations." The policy did not cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of such persons.

The extent that Scientology intends to prosecute its detractors can be borne out by the fact that it has a branch called The Guardian's Office for the express purpose of handling troublesome elements in the environment. It has an Intelligence section which sends private investigators into groups which are either hostile to Scientology, or are potential competitors. The investigators are supposed to gather information the group's individual members and see "that the results get adequate legal action and publicity."

The mechanism employed is very straightforward. We never use the data to threaten to expose. We simply collect it and expose.

(HCO PL 17 Feb 66)


If the person is an ex-Scientologist, or Suppressive Person (the two being the same), there is no policy preventing his auditing records from being used against him. These folders contain a great deal of personal information, some of which can be highly embarrassing. It is conceivable that minor crimes, psychiatric histories, drug use, or details of the person's sex life could be presented to his employer to discredit him.

Such systematic harassment is generally impractical against the rather large number of people that either drop out, or are kicked out of Scientology. Generally such tactics are reserved for the especially vociferous, or those that attempt to form groups.

The office routinely sues newspapers who print stories that make Scientology appear in a bad light. Another concern is the suppression of books which might be critical of Scientology, by putting pressure on the publisher. Also, they circulate pamphlets and conduct letter writing campaigns to members in government to incur bad feelings against their rivals.

What is so odd about the Scientology method of defense, and much of their public relations policy, is that they never confront or answer any charge brought against Scientology, no matter how true it is. They simply accuse the person, or attempt to discredit *him*. If the question is, "Is it true that Scientology has 20 million dollars in Swiss Francs deposited in Zurich?" -- it is true -- the answer is apt to be something like, "Why are you in favor of psychiatric Death Camps?"

"Turnabout is fair play" is a quote from their public relations policy. The object is to always attack the "enemy" on his ground, never on yours. Anyone who unduly resists conversion, usually the parents of a recent convert, or anyone who is simply in the way, like a naturally antagonistic TV interviewer, is viewed to some extent as an enemy.

Scientology is viewed as man's last chance for salvation, the only decent and effective movement trying desperately to win freedom and sanity for mankind. The technology of Scientology is the single ultimate solution to all the world's problems. And anyone who says differently, in their opinion, has got to be crazy, so they do not listen to anyone but themselves.

Scientology is fond of touting that it stands for "Total Freedom." It attacks its enemies on the grounds that since they stand for freedom, anyone who opposes them opposes freedom. But whatever "Total Freedom" means (Anarchy?), in a somewhat lesser known policy letter Hubbard states that since Scientology can bring about "Total Freedom" it also has the right to demand "total discipline."

Scientology may very well be working for a world without war (what group nowadays says that they are working *for* war?), for justice and sanity, but Scientology is also working for a world in which justice and sanity are defined to suit their own interests. For example, in the uppermost organization within Scientology, if a person merely *says* he is unhappy and wants to leave, he *must* be dismissed as a psychotic, and out the door in 24 hours. As he leaves, a document is published which declares him in a condition of Treason (a Traitor), excommunicates him from Scientology, calls him a freeloader, and generally spreads around any information handy that might discredit him.

All Scientologists are thereafter forbidden to talk to him, or he to them; and he is charged in full for any services he might have taken, the time *he* spent working for *them* not being taken into account. Clearly, "sanity" is the measure of how enthusiastically a person allows himself to be used for the advancement of Scientology, and "justice" has come to mean the squashing down and shutting up of anyone who is of no further use to the organization.

The question arises as to what would happen if Scientology were to become government subsidized, or political powers disintegrated to an extent that Scientology could shake off local restraints and engage in direct violence. To what lengths would they go to impose their system on others, and how would they handle dissidents? Perhaps, even more importantly, it should be asked what are they doing to bring the point closer to when they are in domination?

The main focus of this effort is an attempt to attack and discredit what they view as their chief competitors, namely, the National Association of Mental Health, and Psychiatric organizations. One of their main points of contention is that a person can be locked up and deprived of civil rights on simply the opinion of two psychiatrists that the person might be a menace to himself or to society. They have been digging into cases to find instances of abuse, where the psychiatrists were bribed, and a person was committed and subsequently brutalized with electroshock or lobotomy. In this sense they are doing everyone a real service by pointing out the depersonalization that exists in psychiatric institutions.

But Scientology is not doing this good deed out of the goodness of its heart, no matter what their public relations material might lead one to believe. The fact is that Psychiatrists are the only ones in this society whose opinion is legally trusted as to whether a person is sane or not. Their opinion rests on the belief of the public that they are the experts in this matter. If Scientology can dredge up and publish enough information to discredit this belief, Scientologists hope that they can get themselves certified as experts in this regard.

Once Scientology is the recognized expert on who is sane or insane, they will be able to legally dispose of people that appear to be threatening to them. Further they can get themselves appointed to advisory boards in government agencies and have a decisive voice in deciding policy. Governments could be gotten to appropriate large sums of money for "research" or Scientologists could be invited in on some big population control project.

According to one tape, the Guardian's Office in South Africa helped the South African government quell the Mau Mau uprisings by advising them to arrest the apparent ring leaders in the riots. After arrest these people were strapped to a table and electrodes were taped to their feet and connected to a Scientology "E meter". The E meter is an ohm meter which is one of the components of a polygraph. The prisoners were interrogated against their will when they would not confess freely.

Letters of the alphabet were called out and the meter reactions observed until they had the names and addresses of the real ringleaders of the uprising. These people were arrested and similarly interrogated until the true perpetrators were discovered. They, as the story goes, by that time had left the country.

But the interesting thing about this example is that it shows that the "Church" of Scientology, which professes in its Creed, "That all men of whatever race, colour or creed were created with equal rights ..." is perfectly willing to assist the racist government of South Africa in keeping the blacks in an inferior status. So one wonders if the Scientologist who gets into power would behave any more scrupulously than this.

It is also part of the Creed of the Church "That all men have inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others." But as I have pointed out, free speech is not advocated in cases where it does not serve the interests of Scientology. People are excommunicated, defamed and sued for their statements.

This willingness to compromise their ideals leaves them in the very dangerous position of becoming the unwitting tool of some fascistic government which could easily capitalize on their eagerness to "get in good" with the local government. No doubt, there would be no objection among Scientologists if some government suddenly turned over all its mental hospitals to Scientology. And, I am sure, they would be glad to certify anyone who opposed the local regime as being insane.

But so far there haven't been any governments so desperate or incautious to make such a move. For one thing, they could never be sure that Scientology couldn't withdraw it support if it appeared in its interest to do so. For another, it is very difficult to tell what Scientology's real interests are.

The inner core of Scientology is The Sea Organization. It has roughly 2,000 members, which is about equal to the number of members in the other Scientology organizations combined. It is called the Sea Org for short, and it is the most militant, secretive and arrogant of all the Scientology organizations. It is the organization "three feet behind the head of Scientology." That is, it runs the show. It has military ranks corresponding to the Navy, and Hubbard is "The Commodore," the absolute head of the whole thing. (He's supposed to be retired from Scientology and living in seclusion.)

In many ways it looks like a James Bond operation -- without the guns. In fact they do look upon themselves as being sort of "Man from Uncle" types, fighting against "SMERSH" as they are fond of calling the National Association of Mental Health.

The headquarters of the Sea Org, and hence, for all of Scientology, is aboard the Yacht Apollo, whose location is supposed to remain secret. It is called "Flag." It can only be reached by Scientologists through a secret outpost in Madrid. From there one is directed to any one of the following ports: Agadir, Safi (the sardine capital of the world), Casablanca, Tangier (all in Morocco), Maderia, in the Canaries, and Lisbon and Setubal, Portugal.

Generally, it only stays in one port for a few weeks at a time and then moves on. The Apollo is over 350 feet long and can carry 300 persons easily, 400 somewhat less easily. It operates under the cover name of Operation Transport Corporation, Ltd., of Panama, and tells the port authorities that it is a traveling management consultant school.

Very strict precautions are taken to ensure that no scrap of paper is left lying around that might hint that the ship was connected with Scientology. Even the garbage is shredded. The penalty for spilling the cover is an immediate assignment of Treason, so they tend to watch it rather closely. When shore persons come aboard, the whole ship's crew is briefed as to what to say and the ship is stripped of any tokens of Scientology.

The central hub of Flag is the CIC, which is a term borrowed from military jargon, which stands for "Command Information Center." It is a large room filled with graphs, files, and maps, complete with pins and colored arrows. It is from this room that all the information from the various Scientology organizations is compiled and decided upon. When the "clean ship" drill is sounded, all these maps can be flipped over, and the boards against the walls can be turned around to make the room look like a very innocent looking office space.

The way in which the Sea Org runs the rest of Scientology is through a command network which has bases on each of the continental areas. Formerly the Continental Liaison Offices oversaw part of this management, but currently they only relay information to and from Flag. When an emergency arises, and this channel is too slow, Flag will send out a mission, a team of personnel to carry out some task which is usually confidential in nature. If they are too short on personnel, they may send the Mission Orders to the Continental Office and have the mission personnel briefed and "fired" from there.

Originally the missions were designed "to get in Ethics." Someone would arrive from Flag dressed up like an SS officer, complete with German accent, declare a dozen or so people in Treason, and keep the entire organization's staff up day and night washing walls. He would generally leave everyone in such a state of shock, that no one dared so much as breathe, out of terror that he might come back. While most of the missions still carry some flavor of this "old glory" generally they are much more routine and dull tasks. They are still kept strictly confidential as a measure to keep from advertising the failures that necessitate such drastic intervention, and also, to preserve an aura of mystique.

A person is lured into the Sea Organization primarily on its mystique and elitist reputation, but also heavily on the fact that members can get their training and processing there as quickly as they can, without charge. All one has to do is sign the following contract.

I, ____________, DO HEREBY AGREE to enter into employment with the SEA ORGANIZATION and, being of sound mind, do fully realize and agree to abide by its purpose ... and, fully and without reservation, subscribe to the discipline, mores and conditions of this group and pledge to abide by them.

THEREFORE, I CONTRACT MYSELF TO THE SEA ORGANIZATION FOR THE NEXT BILLION YEARS.

(FO232)


Notice that this contract in no way commits *them* to anything. As long as one respects (or fears) their authority, one is owned by them body and soul.

No one gets to see the contract until he is already committed to sign it and ready to sign, the contract itself being a confidential Flag Order. As soon as the contract is signed, the person is not given time to think about regretting his choice. He is immediately packed off to a remote base, usually on a ship operating off the coast of the continental area. There he is completely cut off from the outside world and he is put to work and indoctrinated into becoming a Sea Org member.

The new recruit works seven days a week, up to 12 hours a day, including compulsory study time, and may receive 6 to 12 hours of liberty a week, from there on out. He is paid $10 per week, and up till recently, he was fed on $8.20 per week.

Housing in the Sea Org has always been chronically substandard, partly due to habits of close living acquired on the ships, but mostly because the Sea Org *will not spend* more than about $15 per month per member, and no Sea Org member has the right to complain about it. In Copenhagen, overcrowding was so bad that the personnel stationed in one organization there had to dismantle their beds each day and hide them so they wouldn't be discovered in the event of a surprise inspection by the local housing authorities.

The same had to be done in the Los Angeles area, where one of the chief sources of complaints was from the public being audited in staff quarters which were variously described as "squalid" and "filthy."

The atmosphere of the Sea Org is one of furious coping and "making do." Most of this is blamed on the insufficient training of the staff, which to a large extent is true, but there are more basic economic reasons which prevent the staff from ever getting trained. Their economic policy is very straightforward. It is simply a matter of getting the maximum return for the minimum investment.

Rather than buying a typewriter, letters are written by hand. For lack of a few hundred dollar piece of addressing equipment, the whole staff has to stay up till 2 a.m. three nights a month to prepare a mailing. Rather than renting power tools, a whole ship's company may have to chip paint by hand. And rather than buying a restaurant type stove, meals for 100 have to be prepared on a light 4-burner kitchen stove, in pots and pans bought out of the food money.

It is quite common for a Sea Org member to have to buy his own pens and paper if he has an office job, and such things as shoes, clothing, and transportation, all of which are supposed to be provided, seldom are. Consequently, there are continual emergencies which result in dismissals and demotions, and a new person has to either be recruited or transferred over from some other area. In either case, the person is untrained.

Six months is the longest one usually spends on any given post, especially in its lower echelons, where personnel are promoted as they acquire expertise, or are sent out on missions, or get kicked out or leave. No one is left in a position long enough to feel absolutely secure in it, and always there is the pervading fear that one might be demoted to the deck force, or dismissed for some trivial offence. In addition, there are rapid and drastic changes in policy which are either originated or approved by Hubbard and add significantly to the turmoil.

In 1969 Hubbard published a Base Order (8) which declared that the Pacific branch of the Sea Org had been financially extravagant and wasteful and he severely cut back the amount of money that they could spend to less than half of what it cost for basic necessities such as rent and staff salaries. Further, he ordered that the area be put totally in order, the staff housed and uniformed and pressing debts paid.

As might be expected, none of his orders were carried out and the organizations could barely feed themselves and have enough left over to pay the electric and postage bills. No one even dared to think that it might have been Hubbard's policy that was responsible for the disaster. To even suggest it would have been Treason, so all sorts of people were blamed, transferred or dismissed none of which remedied the situation, but only made it worse.

At least once a year there is a major change in the command setup, each of which is the ultimate solution to some previous failure. In addition there are many minor changes. For example, in 1971 the post of Public Registrar was moved back and forth between Division II and VI so many times that most people lost count.

In addition to this there is a constant stream of projects and programs being issued by Hubbard and his Aides. Each one is a major affair requiring personnel which don't exist to do a job for which money will not be allocated.

No excuses of lack of personnel or financial approval are tolerated. Anyone who is prone to such complaints is told that he is just covering up for his incompetence, and he may be charged for "Making seniors wrong" a sort of misdemeanor in Scientology. Likewise lack of training is no excuse. "Everyone is expected to be able to do any job at any time."

If a project fails or a person's statistic declines, it is his fault *no matter what*. If a person's statistic is letters received or letters sent and there is a postal strike, if he wants to save his neck he might have to cough up his own money to send telegrams or make phone calls.

Questioning the system is taboo, so one does not even think about it. In any Scientology organization, and especially in the Sea Org, it will not be out of place to see any number of unusual solutions, or personal sacrifices to get the basic necessities done. Working till 3 a.m. in the morning is very common, and the loan of a car, if one owns one, is expected "to keep the stats up."

The discipline varies along with this from mild to very severe, depending on the mood of the times. During periods of economic depression tempers run short and everyone looks pretty treasonish to everyone else. A critical remark can easily be interpreted as a mutiny, and there are, of course, witch hunts to find the "suppressive person" who is causing the downfall of the organization.

And there are *purges* ordered from time to time. In 1969 there was one to get rid of anyone who had ever taken LSD, and another one in 1971 to get rid of anyone who had received electric shock treatment, or was ever treated by a psychiatrist. This latter criterion was even being stretched to include people who had ever *talked* to a psychiatrist or psychologist. Of course, "psychotics" are purged whenever they are found.

Discipline revolves around what is known as "The Conditions Formulae" in the Scientology "justice" system. If a person's statistic declines too much, or if he does something which impresses his senior as showing personal "uselessness," or he doesn't appear to be performing any function for the organization, he may be assigned a condition of "Non Existence." Anyone can assign a person below him in the organization a condition, provided he shows "reason" for it. What passes for "reason," again, depends on the mood of the times. Conditions can also be assigned to whole organizations or departments.

A person, portion or ship in Non Existence has no rights whatsoever.

In actual practice any person is allowed some sleep and at least a few minutes eating time and drinking water in any condition.

A ship, portion or person in Non Existence is also subject to reduction of ration allowance, curtailment of Purchase Orders and withdrawal of uniforms.


There are lower conditions than Non Existence, such as "Liability." In this condition all the above penalties apply, and in addition the person's pay is suspended and he is fined. He can be required to work at hard labor (usually non stop for about 24 hours), and after which he must take a petition around asking to be let back into the group. He must wear a dirty grey rag tied around his arm to signify his condition. A person may be assigned Liability for any number of vague charges, such as reporting late, or "looking stupid."

Below Liability is the condition of "Doubt" in which all the above penalties apply, with the addition that no one may speak to him, and that he may be required to work 48 hours before being *upgraded* to Liability. A person may be assigned Doubt if he fails to turn in a required report, or if it is discovered that there is an error in the one he submitted.

Doubt is just what the name implies, so any time a Scientologist waivers from total conviction, the condition is applicable. Naturally, Doubt is only assigned when it is expressed, which has at times been in the process of therapeutic counselling when the person was not guarding his comments.

"Enemy" is below Doubt, yet above Treason. In 1968 a person who was assigned Enemy aboard Flag would be locked in the chain locker, a small, damp, uncomfortable compartment which is used to store the anchor chain. They would be fed on bread and water until they had complied with the Enemy formula, which is, "Find out who you really are." The practice was continued and spread to other Sea Org bases, where people were locked in rooms and basements, or chained to immovable objects.

A written confession was also required of all the harmful acts that one had committed in his lifetime, which often had to be redone again and again, to get the person "to tell all." In one extreme case a person was locked up for 27 days. Needless to say, he wrote a success story on the experience when he got out.

(For those of you who have not read 1984 by George Orwell, there is a scene at the very end where the main character, after going through a long ordeal of interrogations, brainwashing, and beatings, becomes reconstituted as a person; all the torture is behind him, and as he sits on a desolate park bench, he reflects that he *loves* Big Brother.)

In 1970 the practice of confining people was abolished, but hardly a year later the practice was applied to "psychotics" who, of course, had to be restrained, and could be "under the medical authority of the Captain."

There was also another practice called "Overboards" where for some slight goof the person would be thrown over the side of the ship and left to paddle around in the waste pouring from the ship until he had completed repeating some humiliating statement, or singing The Best Things in Life are Free.

The practice spread to the other bases, but since they did not have the ocean nearby they improvised a firing squad, which lined offenders up against a garage wall and shot them with a fire hose. Of course this became done to excess and finally had to be abolished to keep from endangering relations with the community. But Overboards were revived for special cases in 1971, and there is no guarantee that they will not be used again extensively.

If a single Sea Org member could compile enough information to see the whole pattern of affairs in the Sea Org, he would realize that he was up against a hopeless situation. The emergency situations continue year in and year out, not because so much incompetence causes them, but that essential money which could solve them is diverted instead to a Swiss bank in Zurich.

The hundreds of projects which go uncomplied with are only necessary because the main problem is never handled at its source. They are a screen behind which Hubbard and his Aides can say, "Of course you're having trouble, *you* didn't comply with our order to ..."

The harsh "justice" measures are also screens. They permit an opportunity to take out the frustrations one builds up in handling an impossible situation. They allow a group to get their hands on someone that is allegedly responsible for their condition. But all this confusion and internal friction is, above all, absorbing. It keeps a person from effectively thinking about anything else.

When a person's world is constructed of fear of being named the culprit in some disaster (which is only more likely if one is not highly involved in his work), and has every occurrence neatly explained for him, -- i.e., "The reason you only got 9 cents this week is because Josie Schwartz is a Suppressive and she used to work in Treasury -- but you needn't worry about that, because we got rid of her. See, she's in Treason and debarred from Scientology forever. Doesn't that make you feel better?" -- he is very likely to agree simply to keep the finger from coming back and pointing at him.

Mainly, however, he is just too busy to demand a better answer, and usually he is so tied to his task that he can not check matters out on his own. Since no excuse is admissible the person is always open to accusation unless his area is flawless. But under the economically deprived circumstances there is hardly anyone that has such an area, so no one gets very nosey outside his area, except the Ethics Officer, whose job it is to roam around the organization and "catch suppressives."

There is a document which mentions the political objectives of the Sea Org. It says, the political objective of the Sea Org is to "audit out the 4th Dynamic Engram." This is Scientology terminology which roughly translates that they want to get mankind (the 4th Dynamic) in a position where they are in sufficient control over it that they can get rid of (audit out) insanity as Scientology chooses to define it.

As I mentioned before, this is vague enough to mean anything, but the intention is clear that they intend to work toward some kind of control over the human race. How much of this is real and how much is just put out by Hubbard to con his higher executives, I do not know. Perhaps Hubbard sincerely has these ambitions, but the fact that he chooses to fatten his bank account instead of using it on his forces tends to cast doubt on this. But, on the other hand, he may just be saving up for the right moment.

Either way, his means are highly questionable. Even though Scientology professes religious ideals, they are seriously contradicted in practice. Scientology *is* a profit-making organization. The individuals that work in their organizations have no more rights than slaves, especially in the Sea Org. Scientology respects no nation, and refers to any established power as "the alleged government." It is arrogant and high handed beyond belief, and its technology works no better than ordinary medicine. The fact that it exists at all is a sad testament to the spiritual poverty of our age, in which people can become so alienated and starved for purpose that they will attach themselves to such a cause.

Despite all that I have mentioned about how harsh Scientology is with its critics, it really cannot afford to persecute everyone who disagrees with it. Such treatment is reserved for those who seriously threaten to damage business. The attrition rate is so high that there are more declared "suppressives" running around than all their staff members combined.

Just as they will not "save" you if you walk into one of their organizations without any money, they will not persecute you unless you appear to be an impediment to the money flowing in. If you've been treated badly by them, you have a right to speak your opinion. It is an inalienable right according to their own Church Creed! And besides, persecutions cost money.
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Re: Journalism: Scientology - L. Ron Hubbard's Brainchild

Postby admin » Tue Jul 23, 2019 12:35 am

The Bridge to Total Freedom
by Scientology.org

"If you really want to enslave people, tell them that you are going to give them total freedom."

-- L. Ron Hubbard


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That man could improve and better himself is a traditionally held belief. This idea tended to become obscured by the nineteenth-century theories of psychology which claimed otherwise — that we remain as we were born. More than that, psychology offered the novel but utterly false idea that man was only an animal and therefore could not improve his ability, could not improve his behavior and could not improve his intelligence.

Because of this, man in general now finds it rather hard to grasp the older and truer idea that man is a spirit and that he can reach for and attain higher states.

Yet betterment is a reality. Many higher states of existence are available to man, and these are attainable through Scientology. L. Ron Hubbard provided a precise delineation of these states, and then clarified how they could be attained by arranging them on a chart which graphically showed each step of the route upward.

Life is improved on a gradient. It is improved a little and then it is improved a little more and then a little more. It does not happen all at once. One cannot expect to be handed a totality of improvement in an instant, like being injected with a syringe that magically cures everything, unless of course one subscribes to the nonsensical idea that a living being has nothing to do with life. What is improved in Scientology is the individual and his awareness. It is not his body, his credit cards, his automobiles or other attendant and appendant machinery surrounding him. The individual himself is improved.

If one had a person with a very serious illness, his mind would be so thoroughly occupied with that condition that he could envision little more than recovery. If in this state someone were to propose the idea he might return to his job and play for the company football team within a week, it is doubtful he would even listen. When the pain subsided and he began to contemplate sitting up, this would be a substantial gain; after which he might even entertain the idea of going downstairs. But if at any point of improvement he were asked to consider the rigors of his job or the company team, it would constitute too big an improvement in too short a time.

Similarly, spiritual advance occurs a bit at a time and one cannot expect someone to immediately leap to the highest levels. The chart Mr. Hubbard devised indicates not only attainable improvements, but also the proper progression, thus avoiding the inevitable setback when attempting to attain too much too soon. An orderly progression, one improvement at a time, as Mr. Hubbard laid out, enables one to ascend at a satisfactory pace to a very high state indeed.

The chart which shows these gradations to betterment is called the Classification, Gradation and Awareness Chart of Levels and Certificates. It is divided into two sides—the left-hand side showing training steps one takes in Scientology, and the right-hand side showing the auditing steps.

Classification refers to training in Scientology and the fact that certain actions are required, or skills attained, before an individual is classified as an auditor at any particular level and allowed onto the next class.

Gradation refers to the gradual improvement that occurs in Scientology auditing. There are grades to a road and there are grades to steps. There can be shallow or steep steps, or even a vertical ascent, which is not a gradient.

One’s spiritual awareness improves as one progresses in Scientology. By receiving both training and auditing, each equally necessary, one’s awareness increases. The levels of awareness are listed in the center of the chart and correspond precisely to one’s progress in training and auditing.

Man, in his religious heritage, has long imagined a bridge across the chasm between where one is now and a higher plateau of existence. Unfortunately, many of those attempting to cross that chasm fell into the abyss.

Employing this metaphor, the Classification, Gradation and Awareness Chart represents, in fact, the bridge which spans the chasm and brings one to the higher plateau. This is the vision man has cherished for at least ten thousand years, and it is now attainable by following the steps as laid out on the chart. It is an exact route with precise procedures providing uniformly predictable spiritual gains when correctly applied. The bridge is complete and can be walked with certainty.

The series of awareness levels running up the center of the Classification, Gradation and Awareness Chart include, for example, unexistence, disconnection, need of change, demand for improvement, hope and ability, to name but a few. These levels represent what the individual person is aware of in his or her life. Everyone is somewhere on these levels of awareness. The goal of Scientology is to assist the individual to raise his awareness. Each rise in awareness is accompanied by increased ability, intelligence and survival potential.

The chart is a map of what one individual can become aware of. It is, however, important to note that the chart stresses one’s personal awareness, not what others may have observed about his behavior. Thus, again, we find that what matters is the individual, for that is what is addressed and improved. Scientology is for the person who sincerely wants change, wants to become better and more able. Scientology thus helps the able to become more able.

As one moves up this bridge, he becomes a trained auditor and learns to help another as well as receive his own auditing. He achieves the state of Clear, advances to the highest levels of auditor training and the highest states of awareness as a spiritual being. The awareness levels are paralleled by the various techniques and activities which approximate them and bring about further improvements as one progresses.

To enjoy the full spiritual gains from Scientology, one must move up both sides, training and auditing, if one is to make it all the way. One must learn the axioms of existence by training in Scientology if one is to attain a higher awareness of life. One must experience how these axioms relate to himself through auditing if he is to fully understand himself and his relationship to life. Attempting to walk only one side of the Bridge is like trying to climb a hill by hopping on one leg. But an individual moving up both sides of this chart, one step after another, will arrive at the top.

The chart is a guide for the individual from his first awareness of Scientology to each higher state. Man has never before had such a map. It is the Bridge to Total Freedom. It is the route. It is exact and has a standard progression. One walks it and one becomes free.

THE GOAL OF SCIENTOLOGY

The goal of Scientology is making the individual capable of living a better life in his own estimation and with his fellows.

Although such a statement may seem simple and modest, the ramifications are immense and embody the dream of every religion: the attainment of complete and total rehabilitation of man’s native but long-obscured abilities that place him at knowing cause over matter, energy, space, time, form, thought and life.

Yet even well before one reaches this state, the changes Scientology can bring are profound. Personal relationships can be repaired or revitalized. Personal goals can be realized and happiness restored. Where once there were doubts and inhibitions, there can be certainty and self-confidence. Where once there had been unhappiness and confusion, there can be joy and clarity.

Those who have seen Scientology at work today cannot easily close their eyes to the results or fail to acknowledge that it truly does work. For Scientology has taught that a man is his own immortal soul. In Scientology, the riddle has been solved and the answer found simple.
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Re: Journalism: Scientology - L. Ron Hubbard's Brainchild

Postby admin » Tue Jul 23, 2019 12:37 am

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Re: Journalism: Scientology - L. Ron Hubbard's Brainchild

Postby admin » Tue Jul 23, 2019 12:41 am

The Death of Susan Meister
by Scientology-kills.org

Susan Meister was introduced to Scientology in San Francisco in the autumn of 1970. By November, she was working at the San Francisco Org. She was an eager convert, and tried to persuade her parents to become Scientologists. She wanted to be close to the "Founder," and contribute to "Clearing the Planet," so in February 1971 she joined the Sea Org. By the end of the month she was aboard the "Flagship" Apollo. Her stay there was brief and tragic. On May 8, she wrote to her mother:

Mother,

Do you recall talking to me about WW Ill--and where it would start if it were to start--father and most everyone else maintained that it would start in either China or Russia vs. U.S. and you said--oh no-~it would originate in Germany--that the Nazis hadn't given up yet--? Well babe, you were right--there is a new Nazi resurgence taking place in Germany--so now it's a race between the good guys in the white hats (Scientologists) [sic] and the Leipzig death camp (Nazis) [sic] the bad guys in the black hats--we'll win of course--but the game is exciting. Truth is stranger than fiction. As Alice [in Wonderland] says "Things get curiouser and curiouser!" Get into Scientology now. It's fantastic.

Love, Susan


Four days later, Susan Meister wrote this letter:

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Her last letter to her parents from the Apollo was dated June 1971. In it she thanked them for a birthday card, and a variety of gifts, including a new dress. She continued, showing the effect upon a young and impressionable mind Hubbard's obsession with the "great conspiracy" against him:

I can't tell you exactly where we are. We have enemies who are profiring from peoples' ignorance and lack of self-determinism and do not wish to see us succeed in restoring freedom and self- determinism to this planet's people. If these people were to find out where we are located--they would attempt to destroy us. Therefore, we are not allowed to say where this ship is located.

She once more urged her mother to read Hubbard's books, and take Scientology courses. Ten days after writing the letter, Susanwas dead. George Meister, Susan's father, was away from his Colorado home on a business trip when Guardian's Office Public Relations man Artie Maren phoned. George Meister met Maren the next day, and was presented with an unsigned "fact sheet" giving the Scientologists' account of events as a series of numbered statements. Meister told Aflie March that he wanted the body to be flown back to the U.S. for burial. Meister received a letter from Bob Thomas at the Church of Scientology in Los Angeles explaining that the "Panamanian" owners of the Apollo were not obliged to give information to the Church of Scientology. However,/he Apollo's captain, Norman Starkey, had offered to pay for a Christian burial in Morocco, but regretted that they would not pay for the body to be returned to the United States. George Meister, dazed by the news, decided to go to Morocco to try and verify the circumstances of his daughter's death. He was told he would be able to see the body in the morgue in Safi.

He left for Morocco on July 14. Meister was met at the airport in Casablanca by Sea Org member Peter Warren, who escorted him to the Marhaba Hotel. Meister met the U.S. vice-consul, Jack Galbraith, and explained the purpose of his mission. During this meeting with Gaibraith, Warren phoned to say he would drive Meister the 120 miles to Sail. Warren said the Apollo was already past its scheduled departure date, but would wait a little longer, because of Meister's presence. Meister arranged to leave the following morning at 6:00 a.m., accompanied by Galbraith, Warren and a Sea Org girl called Joni.

Their first stop in Sail was the police station. Meister says the police official he spoke to genuinely tried to help. He showed Meister a photograph taken aboard the Apollo, showing the dead girl. According to her father, Susan was "lying on a bunk, wearing the new dress her mother had made for her, her arms crossed with a long barreled revolver on her breast. A bullet hole was in the center of her forehead and blood was running out of the corners of her mouth. I began to wonder how Susan could possibly shoot herself in the center of her forehead with the long barreled revolver. She would have had to hold it with both hands at arms length. There were no powder burns on her forehead, which certainly would have been the case if the gun was against her forehead as it would have to be to shoot herself as the photograph appeared." The police said the revolver was not available for inspection. Meister was shown the police report, but it was in French, which neither he nor Galbraith spoke. Meister was told that the police were unwilling to release copies of either the report or their photographs. Meister and Galbraith went on to the hospital where Susan's body had been taken. During the autopsy her intestines and her brains had been removed. Meister says that Warren admitted that he had given permission, believing that Susan might have been on drugs. Meister asked to see the body, which he had been told was in a refrigerated morgue. To his amazement, he was told by a doctor that they did not know where the body was. The next day, with Warren and Joni still in attendance, they had an audience with the Pasha of Safi. The Pasha told Meister he could not have copies of the police report, or the photographs. He said he had transferred the records to the provincial capital, Marrakesh.

When Meister pressed him to find the whereabouts of Susan's body, the Pasha told him the interview was over.Meister asked Warren if he could see Ron Hubbard. He knew that Hubbard's daughter, Diana, was about Susan's age. In Meister's own words:

'Passing the guarded gates into the port compound, we had our first look at Hubbard's ship, Apollo. It appeared to be old, and as we boarded it, the girls manning the deck gave us a hand salute. All were dressed in work type clothing of civilian origin. Most appeared to be young. Upon boarding we were shown the stern of the ship, which was used as a reading room, with several people sitting in chairs reading books. The mention of Susan seemed to meet disapproval from those on board .... We were shown where Susan's quarters were in the stern of the ship below decks where it appeared fifty or so people were sleeping on shelf type bunks. Susan's letter had mentioned she shared a cabin all the way forward with one other person. Next we were shown the cabin next to the pilot house on the bridge where the alleged suicide had taken place. It was a small cabin and appeared to be one where a duty officer might catch some sleep while underway .... We were not allowed to see any more of the ship .... I requested an interview with Hubbard as he was then on board. Warren said he would ask .... He returned in about a half hour and said Hubbard had declined to see me.'

Meister and Galbraith returned to Casablanca. Meister found that the thirty or so films he had been carrying with him had disappeared, including the film he had shot of Sail and the Apollo.

As I was preparing to leave the hotel [to take the flight home], the telephone in my room rang. It was Warren who said he had to see me at once on a matter of utmost urgency. I told him I would see him in the lobby .... Warren came into the lobby a very frightened man. His face was pale and he motioned me to a chair in the corner of the lobby... he told me he was sent to make a settlement with me in cash.

Meister was outraged by this suggestion, and told Warren to deal with his attorney. "At the airport, just prior to boarding, I was accosted by a large man in a pinstripe suit carrying a briefcase. He said, 'We are watching you and so are the CIA and the FBI.'"

After his return to the U.S., Meister found that his daughter had been buried in a Casablanca cemetery, wrapped in a burlap sack, before his visit to Morocco. He arranged to have the body exhumed and shipped to the U.S. in a sealed tin coffin. His local Health Authority, in Colorado, received an anonymous letter before the body was returned. It said in part: There has been a Cholera epidemic in Morocco... there have been a recorded two to three hundred deaths. And it's been brought to my attention that the daughter of one George Meister died in Morocco, either by accident or from cholera, probably the latter.

The Los Angeles Times picked up the story: "According to a Nov. 11, 1971, letter from Assistant Secretary of State David M. Abshire to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee--the Apollo's Port Captain threatened in the presence of the American Vice Consul from Casablanca, William J. Galbraith, that he had enough material, including compromising photographs of Miss Meister, to smear Mr. Meister. z . . Meister is said to have left Morocco the day before the threat was made." The Scientologists then launched a campaign against Galbraith, with little success; for example, telling newspaper men that he had threatened that the CIA would sink the Apollo! Meister received anonymous letters saying that his daughter had made pornographic films, and that she had been a drug addict. Meister says he continued to be harassed for six years. The harassment stopped around the time of the FBI raids on the Guardian's Office, in the Summer of 1977.

If Susan Meister did commit suicide, several questions remain. She had been aboard the Apollo for four months. During that time, she sent consistently enthusiastic letters to her parents. To commit suicide, she must have undergone a very rapid mood change. She must also have lost her faith in the efficacy of Scientology. If this was so, what had caused this sudden shift of opinion, and why didn't she leave the Apollo? Letters were censored before leaving the Apollo, and the passports of those aboard were held by the Ethics Office. So perhaps she was unable to write the truth of what she had discovered, and unable to leave the ship. Perhaps. There is no concrete evidence to show that Susan Meister's death was not suicide. But the whole affair is compounded by the events which followed. By creating the Sea Org, and taking to the sea, Hubbard had successfully put himself beyond the law. There was no coroner's investigation into the death. It is likely that a verdict at least of foul play would have been returned if there had been such an investigation.
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Re: Journalism: Scientology - L. Ron Hubbard's Brainchild

Postby admin » Tue Jul 23, 2019 12:42 am

The Good Ship Scientology
by The Observer
August 1968

IF RON HUBBARD, founder and leader of the Scientologists, lives at all, then he is well and aboard a rusting and singularly grubby ex-Irish Sea ferry undergoing repairs in the harbour here in Corfu.

The Royal Scot Man, no port of registration upon her stern, flying the flag of Sierra Leone, and the initials LRH floridly painted on her black and white funnel, arrived here from Tunis a week ago. Her owner, said his lieutenants, when they came ashore, was a millionaire named Hubbard, who was also something of a philosopher. The Scot Man was a floating college where he taught that science and love could achieve all. This an explanation the authorities here seem to have accepted happily.

For this week the Scot Man moved into harbour for the £25,000 worth of repairs, including resurfacing of the decaying lower deck, building of cabins, and conversion of the sea-water ballast tanks into fresh water ones to increase her range.

And now a few select "sightseers" come gaily ashore with written orders to "spread the instruction of LRH" and expressing particular interest in the remoter parts of the island. But most of the 220 Scientologists never step ashore or pass through Greek passport control.

The largest national group is 'the Americans, followed by the British and South Africans. Many have wives and children on board. All have been with the ship for several months.

Visitors are discouraged. When I applied to see Hubbard I was, after a few moments' hesitation, hustled firmly down the gangway which is constantly guarded by an intercom-equipped quartermaster and whatever crew happen to he in the vicinity. The few visitors who pass a careful vetting must sign a visitors' book when arriving and leaving.

The captain of the ship is Hubbard himself. The "students," who, like the "officers" wear dark blue shirts and trousers, with white cords around their necks, say they never see him. Some officers, however, have said that they have frequent consultations with him upon written request. Certainly written orders are issued daily in buff envelopes to officers, probably by Hubbard. All official correspondence is on headed notepaper of the Hubbard Explorational Company Limited. No address is given.

Where exactly Hubbard's quarters are on board is difficult to establish, but, in the middle of the upper deck a corridor leads to what few cabins there are with a notice forbidding entry.

On the lower deck, which is even rustier and dirtier than the rest of the ship, there are two cars out of sight in the stern, both registered in Britain and believed by some students to belong to Hubbard. One is a Morris 1100, the other an American make.

On the starboard side of this deck rows of desks stretch along the promenade from bow to stern. Here "officers" are engaged in feverish paperwork, and shouting to messengers. They seem obsessed by paperwork, permits and memos. Even the messengers, before they graduated from the nursery on the upper deck, had to put in formal applications and receive formal permission to undertake "tasks" which would prove them worthy or otherwise of joining in the full life of the ship as "students" .

Opposite the desks is the impressive machinery of paper moving: batteries of baskets continually emptied by these messenger boys and girls aged about 8 to 10. Even the children in the nursery seem possessed by this grim fixity of purpose. Once a day a crocodile of then set off for a walk in town, accompanied by two women, and with an orderliness never before seen in so many children on a Greek island. There is no set graduation from nursery to student or student to officer, just the ability, to perform the set tasks - just as a Boy Scout might win a star.

The crew normally work an eight hour day, spending the evenings studying Scientology. What might have once been the holds are now rudimentary lecture theatres and study rooms with desks and armchairs. There seems no time for frivolous diversions, although occasionally small parties are held.

Those who had a relevant occupation before joining the ship (such as welding, engineering or mathematics) continue to practise it. The rest apply themselves with almost fanatical perseverance to learning skills necessary for running the ship. Few, if any; appear been professional seamen. Some have a tendency to talk in the exaggerated nautical parlance of those who are not nautical.

Yet there is something unnerving about this floating city state. Something almost dreamlike. Perhaps it is the inscrutability of its busy inhabitants; even their eyes seem devoid of any expression. Many seem like rather bad actors using language they do not understand, talking only on cue. Even this small community manages to resemble rush hour on the Underground as they pass one another purpose bent, with minimum conversation, or light of recognition.

Yet, beneath this dedicated veneer, there is a shambolic element: quite a few would pass as summer beatniks.

The exact nature of all this activity is difficult to discover. Some of it is certainly directed towards the organisation of the general meeting which should have taken place in Britain. The most likely spot for it now is the Scot Man herself - which could explain the sudden need for extra cabins: most of the crew sleep in dormitories. It is possible that most of the Scientologists themselves do not know exactly what they are doing. Despite all the rigid paperwork. the channels of power and decision-making evaporate into a haze somewhere near the top.

Hubbard plays things very close to the chest. Only he, and possibly one or two officers, knew that they were bound for Greece before they arrived here. The rest only heard that they were bound for Greece, so that their leader could "study ancient Greek civilisation".
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Re: Journalism: Scientology - L. Ron Hubbard's Brainchild

Postby admin » Tue Jul 23, 2019 12:47 am

The Life and Death of a Scientologist: 13 Years and Thousands Of Dollars, Lisa McPherson Finally Went 'Clear.' Then She Went Insane.
by Richard Leiby
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 6, 1998; Page F01

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Dec 6, 1998 - "I am L. Ron Hubbard," the woman on the hotel room bed announced in a robotic voice. "I created time 3 billion years ago." She rambled on and on, every outburst dutifully scribbled down by those assigned to watch her.

"I can't confront force ... I need my auditor ... I want to take a toothbrush and brush the floor until I have a cognition."

The jargon of Scientology was instantly familiar to anyone who entered the room in the Fort Harrison Hotel, part of an elite training center and retreat established here by Hubbard, the science fiction writer and self-styled religious leader. It was also obvious to her fellow Scientologists that Lisa McPherson had cracked up.

"Out of control," one wrote.

Beginning Nov. 18, 1995, Scientology staffers -- following Hubbard's regimen for dealing with psychotic members -- kept McPherson isolated in that room 24 hours a day, refusing to speak to her, trying to force-feed her, plying her with vitamins and herbal concoctions and injecting her with sedatives, according to several accounts that are now part of court records. She furiously resisted: She pounded the walls, tried to escape, attacked a staffer with a potted plant. In her delirium, records say, she defecated on herself and drank her own urine.

Within 17 days, McPherson -- who'd spent most of her adult life and tens of thousands of dollars as a devotee of Hubbard's teachings -- would be dead. The once-voluptuous 36-year-old -- she stood 5 feet 9 and wore a size 12 dress -- lost an estimated 40 to 50 pounds during the ordeal, dropping to 108, her bruised body pocked by insect bites and scabs.

She was never seen by a licensed physician during that time. An autopsy attributed her death to a blood clot that developed due to "severe dehydration" and "bed rest."

Last month, after more than two years of investigation, the state attorney here filed two felony counts against the Scientology organization, alleging abuse or neglect of a disabled adult and the practice of medicine without a license. (No individuals were charged; to obtain their testimony, all Scientology witnesses were given immunity by prosecutors.) A criminal conviction would only bring fines of up to $15,000, but also would allow a court to order restitution to the victim's family and payment of law enforcement investigation costs.

The church has pleaded not guilty. Mike Rinder, senior spokesman for Scientology, would not respond to any questions about McPherson, but issued a statement calling the "circumstances" of her death "unfortunate," and contending that the church had no "intent to do any harm" to its devotee.

Church lawyers would not comment.

Meanwhile, McPherson's aunt has filed a wrongful death suit against the church, saying McPherson suffered "extreme torture" as "a prisoner of Scientology."

Church officials have said they were honoring McPherson's religious preferences; Scientology vehemently denounces all forms of psychotherapy.

This weekend, to mark the anniversary of McPherson's death, Scientology defectors and other activists picketed near the Fort Harrison Hotel. Since its founding 45 years ago, the Church of Scientology has endured more than its share of bad publicity, but the McPherson case puts on stark display a side of the religion far removed from the glowing testimonials it receives from Hollywood adherents like John Travolta, Tom Cruise and Isaac Hayes.

If, as Hubbard decreed, the ultimate aim of Scientology is its adherents' "total freedom" and "survival," then what went wrong in the case of Lisa McPherson?

"At last, here is a book ... which provides the answers to the problems of the human mind," pledged Hubbard's 1950 bestseller, "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health." It was the cornerstone of the religion he later founded. Once "cleared" of their troublesome brain "engrams," followers would be happy and healthier, have higher IQs and become "stable mentally," Hubbard believed.

In September 1995, Lisa McPherson proudly attested to reaching the state of "clear" at a Scientology ceremony. Within a few weeks, her mind began to unravel. After 13 years of intensive study, she was still failing as a Scientologist; indeed, she had become one of the worst kinds of problems -- in church lingo, a "Potential Trouble Source Type III," or what Hubbard also called an "insane being."

Out in the real world, around non-Scientologists, McPherson was dramatically breaking down, becoming a public embarrassment. Scientologists weren't supposed to do that.

The Founder, a flame-haired, swashbuckling figure, died in 1986, but his every utterance and writing is viewed by Scientologists as consecrated, immutable scripture. Hubbard seemed to take a dim view of those who suffered breakdowns.

"We have nothing to do with the insane whatsoever. The insane, well, they're insane!" he once declared in a rare television interview. Little could be done for psychotics. "Provide a relatively safe environment and quiet and rest and no treatment of a mental nature at all," he wrote in a 1965 policy letter.

"There will always be some failures," he continued, and "sometimes [they] can't be kept alive."

McPherson grew up in Dallas, the daughter of an insurance man and his homemaker wife, attending Baptist churches. She had an older brother she loved, named Steve.

When Steve was 16 he shot himself in the head in a gas station rest room. Lisa was 14. The suicide was apparently connected to a dispute with another teen, although the details remain vague to Lisa's aunt and closest living relative, Dell Liebreich. But Liebreich knows one thing: "I'm sure it had a traumatizing effect on Lisa. Her father never recovered from it. He committed suicide 10 years later." He too used a pistol.

After high school, McPherson went to work at Southwestern Bell, where her family says a supervisor recruited her into Scientology. A vivacious brown-eyed blonde, fond of frosting her hair, McPherson had an early, troubled marriage that lasted only a few years. But she did well at the phone company, and she avidly studied Hubbard's techniques. "She was always going to the mission, taking courses," recalls Liebreich, who signed on to the lawsuit against Scientology after Lisa's mother, Fannie, died last year.

The church's account of McPherson's tenure has required criminal investigators and civil case lawyers to learn another language -- Hubbard-speak. For example, a Scientology-prepared report on McPherson says that in "Dec. 86/Jan. 87 she had a PTS Rundown (items were Mom, Don and Theresa)... . This was followed by a large amount of wordclearing, False Data Stripping and O/W write ups."

Translation:

Using an E-meter, a lie detector-like device that Hubbard invented, a counselor discovered that McPherson was a "potential trouble source" in Scientology because of her connection to three "suppressive" people, including her mother.


In confessional rituals, a parishioner must declare his O/Ws -- "overts and withholds" -- immoral acts that include harmful, undisclosed transgressions against Scientology. Any miscomprehensions about anything -- including the church and its teachings -- are "false data" that must be stripped away.

In Hubbard's cosmology, traumas in past lifetimes, contact with alien beings, drug use and involvement with "suppressive persons" (who include enemies of the church) all can be impediments to a "pre-clear's" success. They must be located and removed by "auditing."

According to the church, McPherson took her first courses in 1982, when she was 23, and tried but failed to go "clear" in 1986. She took a staff job and married a member of the church. In 1989, she also committed herself to serving Scientology for a "billion years," signing up for its Sea Organization, an elite group whose members wear nautical uniforms and follow a militaristic command structure, working long hours for salaries of $50 a week.

A World War II Navy lieutenant, Hubbard ran his sect for several years from aboard a 320-foot converted cattle ferry, sailing the world before establishing what he called the Flag Land Base at Clearwater, a placid town of white sand beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. The Commodore, as Hubbard was known, lived nearby briefly in the mid-1970s. He told aides he planned to pose as a photographer in the tourist industry.

Today, about 6,000 Scientology followers and staffers live in the Clearwater area -- many based at the campus of former hotels where Hubbard's "religious technology" is offered at the most advanced (and expensive) levels. Several Scientologist-operated businesses also maintain headquarters here.

McPherson migrated to Clearwater in the early '90s after her new Scientology employers relocated their publishing firm here. She'd divorced again, and had left the Sea Organization. But she kept attempting to reach "clear." Records show she was thwarted again in 1991 and 1994 because she was a "potential trouble source" -- the E-meter sessions revealed she'd been in contact with suppressive, anti-Scientology elements.

At first McPherson flourished as a sales rep at AMC Publishing; she made $136,721 in 1994, according to her tax returns, spending more than $55,000 on Scientology courses and taking deductions for them. (The IRS, after fighting hundreds of lawsuits filed by Scientology, granted the church tax-exempt status in 1993.)

Then, turmoil. "In June 1995, Lisa caved in and actually went into a spin (psychotic break)," says the church report. This forced a brief recuperation at the Fort Harrison Hotel and a slowdown in her work. She was put into "ethics handling" -- a regimen that includes writing up "overts and withholds."

Her aunt, an old high school friend and others believe McPherson was on the verge of quitting the church -- and that was her undisclosed crime against Scientology.

"She was roller-coastering: up and down, up and down, high emotions and low emotions," says Michael Pattinson, a painter and recent Scientology defector who got to know McPherson in the months before her death. "She wanted to do something more artistic in her life, and the group's power and pressure were too much for her.

"She was having a very, very rough time at work keeping up with the quotas for sales," Pattinson recalls. "She asked for my advice. I said, 'Lisa, follow your own goals, not someone else's, or you'll end up in the soup.'"

Scientology officials say McPherson was a devoted member. And on Sept. 7, she finally reached her cherished goal: "I'm from Texas and I'm Clear!" she announced to a roomful of fellow members, reading from a script now in court files.

"Being Clear is more exciting than anything I've ever experienced. I am so thrilled about life and living that I can hardly stand it!"

McPherson's final hurdle to Clear was an incident from a past life. A saber-toothed tiger kept attacking and eating her: "Not only did I see him, I was in a cage with him for six months."

Auditing "handled" that problem, McPherson told her audience. But other problems arose.

By mid-October, church records show that officials had declared her a "liability" to Scientology, apparently after her production dropped off at her publishing job. In Hubbard's jargon, that meant McPherson had "taken on the color of an enemy" and could not be trusted. In a memo, she said she was making "amends," and working seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., in part to raise money for the church's "Winter Wonderland" holiday event.

By November, she began to act out in bizarre ways: At a business conference in Orlando, she insisted to strangers that they had to read L. Ron Hubbard's "Dianetics." She interrogated a co-worker about "suppressive people." She rousted the colleague in the middle of the night, raving about "something going on on this planet that I didn't know about."

"When I woke up at 7 a.m. I found her still in the bathroom reading" Hubbard's works, the woman wrote in a report to church officials. "She looked like hell."

One year ago, on the sidewalk in front of the Fort Harrison Hotel, Scientology critics lit candles in a memorial to McPherson. Their signs bore her grisly autopsy photos. Their T-shirts said "Scientology Kills."

A few blocks away in a counterdemonstration, thousands of church members staged a "civil rights" march on the Clearwater Police Department and the local office of the St. Petersburg Times, charging that police and media investigations of the McPherson case amounted to a hate campaign.

For many residents, the long-running McPherson case has revived unwelcome memories of Scientology's controversial past here -- in the mid-'70s the town's political, business and media establishment were targeted for what Hubbard memos termed "takeover" and "control." In 1975, Hubbard moved his sect ashore, secretly purchasing downtown properties under the guise of a group called United Churches of Florida.

The guru's plan to create a Scientology-run city -- part of an even more grandiose scheme for global domination -- foundered after FBI raids and news reports exposed his goals. Prosecutors used internal church documents to help convict Hubbard's wife and 10 other top Scientologists in a conspiracy to infiltrate, bug and burglarize federal agencies. Hubbard was named an unindicted co-conspirator in that case.

Scientology leaders, who say they purged the church of criminals 15 years ago, claim it enjoys excellent relations with the city. Last month, ground was broken for a $45 million Scientology center in the faded downtown; at 370,000 square feet, it's the largest construction project in the church's history.

Only a few bigots and "rednecks" oppose its presence here, church officials say.

"The sun never sets on Scientology," church leader David Miscavige, quoting Hubbard, said at the glitzy groundbreaking, which included a laser light show.

"Scientology now, tomorrow and forever."

The dueling demonstrations over the McPherson case coincided with the opening of "Winter Wonderland," an annual holiday display erected by the church to collect food and toys for the poor. Rocker Edgar Winter, a Scientologist, welcomed the crowd and praised "this wonderful gift to the community."

Bennetta Slaughter, owner of AMC Publishing and a Scientologist for nearly 20 years, spoke of the church's dedication to children. She pointed out that a $3,400 donation by her deceased employee, Lisa McPherson, helped make it all possible.

"She was one of my very good friends and I loved her very much," Slaughter said later, bracing against the breeze in a Christmas sweater and red velvet skirt.

"It's a farce that they're demonstrating [against the church]. They're desecrating her memory, not honoring her memory."

Slaughter and her company were initially named as defendants in McPherson's aunt's suit, but were later dropped from the action. "I absolutely know that what occurred with Lisa -- " Slaughter began. She paused. "She was not denied anything. The things that have been said are complete misrepresentations on the part of those who would attack the church. They're falsehoods."

And why would people criticize her church?

"No data," she quickly replied. "Obviously there's an agenda."

"The real and inexcusable danger in Dianetics lies in its conception of the amoral, detached, 100 percent mechanical man. This is the authoritarian dream, a population of zombies, free to be manipulated by the great brains of the founder, the leader of an inner manipulative clique."

-- A review of "Dianetics" in The Nation, 1950


From the very beginning, the therapies of L. Ron Hubbard have been denounced by medical authorities as quackery, hypnotism and brainwashing. One of the first judicial investigations of Scientology, conducted in Australia in the 1960s, deemed the auditing process a form of "mental torture" and resulted in a ban on Scientology practices.

"Sometimes preclears are so distraught that they scream, develop murderous feelings, have bouts of anger, grief ... their sexual passions are aroused, they act insanely, laugh hysterically ... they become violent and try to escape and have to be restrained," the report said.

"In Scientology parlance, when such manifestations as these occur, the preclear is being 'restimulated'; in fact he is being debased and mentally crippled."


(By 1982, Australia overturned its ban and recognized Scientology as a religion. But an official commission of top legal experts recently recommended that significant psychological harm inflicted by any religious group, including Scientology, be made a crime.)

In 1978, a French court tried Hubbard in absentia for fraud and sentenced him to four years' imprisonment.

In 1986, a California jury awarded $30 million to a former Sea Organization member who said the church's advanced regimens caused him to become psychotic and actively plan suicide. (The award, later reduced to $2.5 million, has been upheld by the Supreme Court, but the former member has yet to collect because of exhaustive litigation by the church.)

In a 1984 decision, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Paul G. Breckenridge said Scientology "is nothing in reality but a vast enterprise to extract the maximum amount of money from its adepts by pseudo-scientific theories ... and to exercise a kind of blackmail against persons who do not wish to continue with their sect.... The organization clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and this bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder."

Such conclusions strike especially close to the heart of Scientology, a belief system whose strongest rhetoric is reserved for its criticism of psychiatry.

Hubbard said he wanted to control "absolutely the field of mental healing on this planet in all forms." He denounced shrinks as crackpots and butchers who killed patients' souls with electroshock therapy and drugs.

But there may have been a deeper source of the Founder's ire. His eldest son, L. Ron Hubbard Jr., once swore an affidavit saying his father "ended up in psychiatric hospital at the end of the war." (Hubbard Jr. is dead; the church says the Founder never received treatment and that the son recanted his criticism.)

In a letter written to the Veterans Administration in 1947, Hubbard senior admitted to suicidal tendencies and asked for psychiatric help.

Denouncing doctors, Hubbard claimed his research revealed the true nature of the mind. "All of these things are scientific facts, tested and rechecked and tested again," he wrote in "Dianetics." But his son said the findings -- initially published in the pulp magazine Astounding Science Fiction -- was without scientific merit: "My father wrote his books off the top of his head based on his imagination. There were no case studies."

"He audited me and it didn't help," says Richard de Mille, a Dianetics believer from 1950 to 1953. "I came to understand that it was all his imagination, just a story he was telling."

De Mille, 76, son of the famous director, says Hubbard transformed his self-help discoveries into a religion to avoid having to prove them: "It became a religion very suddenly and all his magical ideas jumped back into it."

The apex of Scientology spiritual counseling is at the secret, so-called OT Levels, which promise superhuman powers. Here, members pass through what Hubbard described as the Wall of Fire. Parishioners -- who have already spent thousands to go clear -- pay several thousand more to learn that their spiritual traumas stem from an intergalactic holocaust perpetrated 75 million years ago by an alien overlord named Xenu.

During a space battle, Hubbard teaches, our spirits became infested with evil alien spirits, called "body thetans." There could be untold numbers of such bad thetans fomenting problems in each of our minds. Only through rigorous auditing can they be removed -- allowing the untormented Operating Thetan -- the OT -- to emerge.

In 1995, church financial records show, McPherson paid nearly $42,000 in "donations" for top-level courses -- including "Wall of Fire," the "Flag OT Executive Rundown" and "OT Preparations and Eligibility."

On Nov. 10, 1995, court records show, the devotee purchased her last religious item from the Church of Scientology. It was a 1996 calendar featuring L. Ron Hubbard. Price: $100.

"No one told me I was a prisoner, but I knew that I wouldn't just walk out the door.... It's embedded over the years that, once you're a Scientologist, there's nowhere to go; you just don't leave." -- Former church staff member Lori Taverna, testifying to the Clearwater City Commission in 1982.

After a minor traffic accident, McPherson stripped off her clothes and walked naked down well-traveled Belleview Boulevard. She told stunned paramedics she wasn't crazy but just wanted to get their attention: "I need help. I need to talk to someone." She spoke in a monotone, as if programmed, and said she didn't need a body to live.

"I'm an OT," she said. An Operating Thetan.

It was shortly after 6 p.m. on Nov. 18, 1995. McPherson had driven her '93 Jeep Cherokee into a boat being towed on a trailer. She wasn't hurt.

The paramedics took her to nearby Morton Plant Hospital. Nurses there said she looked calm, but they noticed her fixed stare. McPherson disclosed that her brother and father had committed suicide, but denied she wanted to kill herself or anyone else.

By 6:50, a group of Scientologists had arrived. By the church's account, McPherson had phoned her friend and boss, Bennetta Slaughter. (Hospital records contain no mention of McPherson making any calls.) The Scientologists explained that a psychiatric consultation would violate McPherson's religion.

At 7:30, a psychiatric nurse went to McPherson's bedside, where she was surrounded by church members. Again she spoke in that monotone, telling the nurse, "I want to go home with my friends from the congregation."

An emergency room doctor decided, after talking by phone with a psychiatrist, that the patient could not be involuntarily committed. "Her friends at scientology will watch her 24 hours and be sure that she gets the care that they want her to have and the patient wants to have," the doctor typed in his report. But he seemed uneasy, adding: "I told her I could not be responsible ... I will have the patient sign out against medical advice."

Around 8:30, she was taken to the Fort Harrison Hotel and put in Room 174. She would not leave again until the night of Dec. 5.

Scientologists loaded McPherson's nearly lifeless body into a church van.

Instead of calling an ambulance or driving her to Morton Plant, five minutes away, she was taken 45 minutes north to Columbia/HCA New Port Richey Hospital.

Her watchers had decided it would be best if McPherson were treated by a Scientology doctor -- an OT-course graduate named David Minkoff who worked in the emergency room at the New Port Richey hospital. Minkoff had earlier prescribed Valium for McPherson without seeing her, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement affidavit. (Minkoff, initially named in the wrongful death suit, authorized his insurers to settle with McPherson's estate for $100,000 -- what his attorney called a "pittance in comparison with the millions and millions they were asking for.")

McPherson never got the Valium. Staffers told investigators that they feared any drug might interfere with her future auditing. So instead they loaded aspirin and Benadryl into a syringe and forced it down her throat. McPherson's "case supervisor" believed the aspirin "might assist in blocking Lisa's formation of mental images," the prosecution affidavit says.

Through the 17 days since her naked stroll down Belleview Boulevard, McPherson had been attended by Janis Johnson, an unlicensed anesthesiologist who served as the Flag base medical liaison officer, by a dentist and by staffers with no medical training, including a 17-year-old. One woman assigned to McPherson's room broke down, sat in a corner and cried, records show.

The Scientologists injected McPherson with magnesium chloride and gave her the sedative chloral hydrate -- both substances apparently endorsed by Hubbard. By Dec. 1, she was so dehydrated that she needed two liters of fluid, according to Johnson's notes. The medical examiner later said it appeared that she'd gone without water for at least five days. The watchers' records are spotty, and church logs of her final 53 hours were lost or destroyed, according to the prosecution affidavit.

A reconstruction of events that Scientology turned over to lawyers for McPherson's estate, as well as prosecutors' findings, describe McPherson's final day:

By Dec. 5, she couldn't walk. She'd been lapsing in and out of consciousness, barely moving. That morning, Johnson thought McPherson looked "septic," as if suffering from a massive infection. Around 7 p.m., Johnson called Minkoff, requesting he issue a prescription for penicillin.

Minkoff says he refused and advised that the patient be taken to the nearest hospital. But Johnson said, "Lisa was not that sick." She would transport McPherson 24 miles to New Port Richey instead.

McPherson's breathing grew heavy and labored on the trip. She was loaded into a wheelchair when they reached the hospital around 9:30. Minkoff said he was shocked by her "horrific" appearance.

He pronounced her dead on arrival.

According to the charging document, "This inexcusable delay in seeking emergency help ... deprived Lisa of her only opportunity for survival."

A Scientology report on the incident begins this way: "Lisa McPherson, Flag public living in Clearwater, FL., dropped her body this evening while being taken to a hospital."

On Aug. 6, 1996, eight months after she died, the church mailed Lisa McPherson a statement showing a credit of $3,000. Her next course, called "OT Debug Service," was paid for and waiting.


© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
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Re: Journalism: Scientology - L. Ron Hubbard's Brainchild

Postby admin » Tue Jul 23, 2019 12:50 am

The Process Church of the Final Judgment
by Wikipedia

The Process, or in full, The Process Church of the Final Judgment, commonly known by non-members as the Process Church, was a religious group that flourished in the 1960s and 1970s, founded by the Englishman Robert DeGrimston (originally, Robert Moor) and Mary Anne MacLean. It originally developed as a splinter client cult group from Scientology,[1] so that they were declared "suppressive persons" by L. Ron Hubbard in December 1965. In 1966 the members of the group underwent a social implosion and moved to Xtul on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, where they developed "processean" theology (which differs from, and is unrelated to process theology). They later established a base of operations in the United States in New Orleans.

They were often viewed as Satanic on the grounds that they worshipped both Christ and Satan. Their belief is that Satan will become reconciled to Christ, and together will come at the end of the world to judge humanity, Christ to judge and Satan to execute judgment. Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor of the Charles Manson Family trial, comments in his book Helter Skelter that there may be evidence Manson borrowed philosophically from the Process Church, and that representatives of the Church visited him in jail after his arrest. According to one of these representatives, the purpose of the visit was to interview Manson about whether he had ever had any contact with Church members or ever received any literature about the Church. As a result of a lawsuit, the publisher of Ed Sanders' book The Family agreed to remove the chapter about the Process from this book.

In April, 1974 Robert DeGrimston was removed by the Council of Masters as Teacher. They renounced The Unity, his exposition of the above-noted doctrines, and most of his other teachings. DeGrimston attempted to restart the Process Church several times, but he could never replace his original following. Following DeGrimston's removal, the group underwent a significant change in orientation and renamed itself the Foundation Faith of the Millennium. Further changes in both name and focus followed, and the organization eventually became the Best Friends Animal Society, which is now one of America's best known animal welfare rescue groups.

A detailed account of the history of and life within the Process Church as told by a participant-observer is contained in William S. Bainbridge's book Satan's Power. (He employed a pseudonym for the name of the group, referring to it as "The Power", and disguised the names of people to preserve their identities, a procedure used for sociological studies of living groups to ensure privacy.)

Processean theology

The term "processean theology" distinguishes these ideas from the process theology derived from the thoughts of Alfred North Whitehead.

At Xtul was the first 'channeling' of God. After Xtul, Jehovah was the only recognised God. Later, with Jehovah, Lucifer and Satan were recognised as "The Three Great Gods of the Universe" and Christ as the Emissary to the Gods. The Three Great Gods represent three basic human patterns of reality:

• Jehovah, the wrathful God of vengeance and retribution, demands discipline, courage and ruthlessness, and a single-minded dedication to duty, purity and self-denial.
• Lucifer, the Light Bearer, urges us to enjoy life to the full, to value success in human terms, to be gentle and kind and loving, and to live in peace and harmony with one another. Man's apparent inability to value success without descending into greed, jealousy and an exaggerated sense of his own importance, has brought the God Lucifer into disrepute. He has become mistakenly identified with Satan.
• Satan, the receiver of transcendent souls and corrupted bodies, instills in us two directly opposite qualities; at one end an urge to rise above all human and physical needs and appetites, to become all soul and no body, all spirit and no mind, and at the other end a desire to sink beneath all human codes of behavior, and to wallow in a morass of violence, lunacy and excessive physical indulgence. But it is the lower end of Satan's nature that men fear, which is why Satan, by whatever name, is seen as the Adversary.

In between these Three Great Gods and man, is an entire hierarchy of Gods, beings and superbeings, angels and archangels, demons and archdemons, elementals and guides, and fallen angels and watchers.

There is all this and more too, in heaven and in hell and on Earth.

The Process believes that, to varying degrees, these "God-patterns" exist within all of us. The main doctrine of The Process is the unity of Christ and Satan, who exist as opposites. Jehovah and Lucifer exist as opposites and when Christ and Satan are united this will unite Jehovah and Lucifer.

In the original 1960s literature of the church, Christ, Lucifer, Satan, and Jehovah were all arranged on a mandala, with Christ at the top opposite Satan on the bottom and Jehovah on the left opposite Lucifer on the right.

(The descriptions of the Gods comes from a teaching called "The Hierarchy" published in December 1967, as a part of "The Tide of the End".)

Notes

1. Clarke, Nick (October 20, 1999). "'It is dreadful to be an onlooking parent, for the loved child is lost'". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,259531,00.html. Retrieved June 23, 2008.

Further reading

Bainbridge, William Sims (1978). Satan's Power: A Deviant Psychotherapy Cult., Univ of California Press. ISBN 0-5200-3546-1
Rowlett, Curt (2006). Labyrinth13: True Tales of the Occult, Crime & Conspiracy, Chapter 10, Charles Manson, Son of Sam and the Process Church of the Final Judgment: Exploring the Alleged Connections. Lulu Press. ISBN 1-4116-6083-8.
Wyllie, Timothy (1991). Dolphins, Extraterrestrials and Angels.
Wyllie, Timothy and Adam Parfrey (2009). Love, Sex, Fear, Death: The Inside Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment. Feral House.
Terry, Maury (1987). The Ultimate Evil. Doubleday & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-38523452-X.
[edit] External links
Book Review of 'Love, Sex, Fear, Death: The Inside Story of the Process Church of the Final Judgment', Tina Estlin Page, ChuckPalahniuk.net.
Religious Movements, Kathryn L. Duvall, University of Virginia.
A profile of The Process, Gary Lachman
MaryAnne Moore - Obituary, The Skepticaltheurgist
Friends find their calling, Lou Kilzer, Rocky Mountain News
Preparing for the Fiery End: Process, Bill Beckett, Harvard Crimson
Chapter from Ed Sander's book "The Family", CharlesManson.com
Writings by Robert deGrimston
Interview about The Process Church & 4p2 on Alterati.com
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David Berkowitz
by Wikipedia

Image
2003 New York State Department of Corrections mugshot

David Richard Berkowitz (born Richard David Falco, June 1, 1953), also known as Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer and arsonist whose crimes terrorized New York City from July 1976 until his arrest in August 1977.

Shortly after his arrest in August 1977, Berkowitz confessed to killing six people and wounding seven others in the course of eight shootings in New York between 1976 and 1977; he has been imprisoned for these crimes since 1977. Berkowitz subsequently claimed that he was commanded to kill by a demon who possessed his neighbor's dog.

Berkowitz later amended his confession to claim he was the shooter in only two incidents, personally killing three people and wounding a fourth. The other victims were killed, Berkowitz claimed, by members of a violent Satanic cult of which he was a member. Though he remains the only person charged with or convicted of the shootings, some law enforcement authorities argue that Berkowitz's claims are credible: according to John Hockenberry[1] formerly of MSNBC, many officials involved in the original "Son of Sam" case suspected that more than one person was committing the murders. Hockenberry also reported that the Son of Sam case was reopened in 1996 and, as of 2004, it was still considered open.

Early life

Berkowitz was born Richard David Falco in Brooklyn, New York. His mother, Betty Broder, was married to Anthony Falco, with whom she had a daughter before the couple separated without legally divorcing. After this, she had an affair with the married Joseph Kleinman,[2] who fathered a son. Kleinman suggested she abort the child, but she gave birth to a boy and listed Falco as the father.

Before he was a week old, the baby was adopted by hardware store owners Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz, who reversed the order of his first and middle names in addition to giving him their own surname.[2]

John Vincent Sanders wrote that Berkowitz's childhood was "somewhat troubled. Although of above-average intelligence, he lost interest in learning at an early age and began an infatuation with petty larceny and pyromania."[3] Berkowitz's adoptive mother died of breast cancer when he was thirteen, and his home life became strained in later years, particularly because he disliked his adoptive father's second wife. He later claimed his new step-sister was interested in witchcraft, sparking an interest in the occult he would later pursue more actively.

In 1969, the 16-year-old Berkowitz attended the Woodstock Festival. He joined the United States Army in 1971, and served on active duty until his honorable discharge in 1974. He avoided service in the Vietnam War, instead serving in both the United States and South Korea.

In 1974 Berkowitz located his birth mother, Betty Falco. After a few visits, she disclosed the details of his illegitimate conception and birth, which greatly disturbed him. They fell out of contact, but Berkowitz did stay in touch with his half-sister, Roslyn.[2]

After leaving the Army, Berkowitz held several blue collar jobs. At the time of his arrest, he was employed by the U.S. Postal Service.

Cult claims

Berkowitz claims that he joined a cult in the spring of 1975. Initially, he said, the group was involved in harmless activities, such as séances and fortune telling. Gradually, however, Berkowitz claimed that the group introduced him to drug use, sadistic pornography and violent crime. They began, he claims, by killing dogs, mostly German Shepherds. Over a dozen mutilated dog corpses were discovered in Yonkers, especially near Untermeyer Park, which Berkowitz claimed was a frequent meeting place for the cult.

Crimes begin

First attacks


Berkowitz claimed that his first attacks on women occurred in late 1975, when he attacked two women with a knife on Christmas Eve. One alleged victim was never identified, but the other victim, Michelle Forman, was injured seriously enough to put her in the hospital.[4] Not long afterward, Berkowitz moved to an apartment in Yonkers.

Donna Lauria and Jody Valenti shooting

Police composite sketch of the Lauria-Valenti shooter juxtaposed with a mugshot of David Berkowitz.At about 1:10 a.m. on July 29, 1976, Mike and Rose Lauria returned to their apartment in Pelham Bay after dining out. Their daughter Donna, 18, and her friend Jody Valenti, 19, were sitting in Valenti's Oldsmobile, parked outside the apartment, discussing their evening at the Peachtree, a New Rochelle discotheque. As Valenti was about to leave, Mike Lauria agreed to his daughter's suggestion that they walk the family's dog together. Before he went inside to retrieve the poodle, Lauria noticed a man sleeping in a yellow compact car parked across the street and about sixty feet behind his own car. Neighbors would report to police that an unfamiliar yellow compact car had been cruising the area for hours before the shooting.[5]

After her parents were inside, Donna Lauria opened the car door to depart, noticing a man quickly approaching them. Startled and angered by the man's sudden appearance, Lauria said, "Now what is this…"[5] From the paper sack he carried, the man produced a handgun and, crouching as he aimed, fired three shots. Lauria was struck in her chest by one bullet that killed her almost instantly, Valenti took a bullet in her thigh, and the third missed both girls. The shooter turned and quickly walked away.

Valenti, who survived her injuries, said she did not recognize the killer. She described him as a white male in his 30s with a fair complexion, standing about 5'9" and weighing about 160 lb (73 kg). His hair was short, dark and curly in a "mod style."[5] This description was echoed by Mike Lauria in his description of the man who was sitting in the yellow compact car parked behind Valenti and Lauria.

Detectives from the 8th Homicide precinct of the New York Police Department had little in the way of evidence. Most importantly, they were able to determine that the handgun used was a .44 caliber Charter Arms Bulldog. A high-power, five-shot revolver intended for use in close quarters, the .44 Bulldog was identified because the unusual manufacturing process of its barrel left distinctive marks on each slug.

Police followed two working hypotheses in the absence of further evidence: that the shooter was a spurned admirer of the popular Lauria or that the shooting was a mistaken assassination attempt of the wrong person. The neighborhood had seen recent mob activity, and police even hinted that Mike Lauria, a member of the Teamsters union, might be involved in organized crime.

Berkowitz later claimed that he shot Lauria and Valenti, and that several other cult members were involved in the crime, either by surveillance of the victims, or by acting as lookouts.[6]

Carl Denaro and Rosemary Keenan shooting

In the early morning of October 23, 1976, another shooting occurred, this time in Queens.

Carl Denaro, 25, and Rosemary Keenan, 38, were parked in a secluded residential area in Flushing, Queens. Keenan was driving her own Volkswagen Beetle, and Denaro was in the passenger seat. At about 1:30 a.m., the car's windows seemed to explode, and the duo dropped low in their seats as several bullets struck the car. Denaro and Keenan did not realize someone was shooting at them, even as Denaro was bleeding from a bullet wound to his head. They panicked and Keenan drove to Peck's, a bar about half a mile away. Keenan had only superficial injuries from the broken glass, but Denaro eventually needed a metal plate to replace a portion of his skull. Neither victim had seen whoever had made the attack.

Police determined that the slugs embedded in Keenan's car were .44 caliber bullets, but they were so damaged and deformed that they thought it was unlikely that they could ever be linked to a particular weapon.[7] Denaro had shoulder-length hair, and police would later speculate that the shooter had mistaken him for a girl. Keenan's father was a 20-year veteran police detective of the NYPD, spurring an in-depth investigation. As with the Lauria-Valenti shooting, however, there seemed to be no motive for the shooting, and police made little progress in the case. Though many details of the Denaro-Keenan shooting were very similar to the Lauria-Valenti case, police did not initially suspect a connection, partly because the shootings occurred in different boroughs of New York City and were investigated by different local police agencies.

Berkowitz later claimed that, while he observed and helped plan the crime, an unnamed female cult member actually shot Denaro.[8] The victims survived primarily, claimed Berkowitz, because the shooter was unfamiliar with the powerful recoil of a .44 Bulldog.[8]

Donna DeMasi and Joanne Lomino shooting

Late in the evening of November 26, 1976, Donna DeMasi, 16, and Joanne Lomino, 18, had walked home from a movie, and were chatting under a streetlight outside Lomino's home. A man approached to within about ten feet of the girls. They later described him as about 5'9", tall and slender, weighing perhaps 150 lb (68 kg) with straight, dirty blond hair and dark eyes. He wore a slim, knee-length coat reminiscent of military surplus gear.

Startled but not frightened by his sudden appearance, DeMasi and Lomino suspected the man was lost and asking directions. In a high-pitched voice he said, "Can you tell me how to get,"[8] then he produced a revolver. He shot each of the victims once, and as they fell to the ground injured, he fired several more times, striking the apartment building before running away. Having heard the gunshots, a neighbor rushed from their apartment and saw the blonde shooter rush by, gripping a pistol in his left hand.

DeMasi and Lomino were hospitalized with serious injuries: Lomino was ultimately rendered a paraplegic, but DeMasi's wounds were less serious.

Based on the testimony of DeMasi, Lomino, and their neighbor, police produced several composite sketches of the blonde shooter. Police also determined the gun was a .44, but the slugs were so deformed that linking them to a particular gun was all but ruled out.

Berkowitz later claimed that while he helped plan the DeMasi-Lomino shooting, the actual perpetrator was cult member John Carr, and that a Yonkers police officer, also a cult member, was involved in the crime.[8]

Christine Freund and John Diel shooting

The new year brought more shootings in Queens. In the early morning of January 30, 1977, an engaged couple, Christine Freund, 26, and John Diel, 30, were sitting in Diel's Pontiac Firebird, preparing to drive to a dance hall after having seen the motion picture Rocky.

Three gunshots penetrated the car at about 12:40 a.m. In a panic, Diel drove away for help. He suffered minor superficial injuries, but Freund was shot twice. She died several hours later at the hospital. Neither victim had seen their attacker(s).

Police determined the shooter had again used a .44 Bulldog. Police made the first public acknowledgment that the Freund-Diel shooting was similar to the earlier cases, and that the crimes might be connected: the earlier victims had been struck with .44 caliber bullets, if not confirmed Bulldog revolvers, and the shootings targeted young women with long, dark hair and/or young couples parked in cars.

NYPD sergeant Richard Conlon stated that police were "leaning towards a connection in all these cases."[9][10] Composite sketches of the black-haired Lauria-Valenti shooter and the blonde Lomino-DeMasi shooter were released, and Conlon noted that police were looking for multiple "suspects", not just one.[9]

Berkowitz later claimed that while "at least five" cult members were at the scene of the Freund-Diel shooting, the actual shooter was a cult associate nicknamed "Manson II", who was brought in from outside New York due to a special motive of which Berkowitz claimed to know no details.[8]

Virginia Voskerichian shooting

At about 7:30 p.m. on March 8, 1977, Columbia University student Virginia Voskerichian, 19, was walking home from school. She lived about a block from where Christine Freund was shot. The Voskerichian shooting differed from the other Son of Sam crimes in many respects. All the other victims were couples, and were shot on weekends in the late night or early morning.

There were no direct witnesses to the Voskerichian murder, which happened on the victim's own street. In a desperate move to defend herself, Voskerichian lifted her textbooks between herself and her killer, only to have the makeshift shield penetrated, the bullet striking her head and killing her.

Moments after the shooting, a neighborhood resident who had heard the gunshots was rounding the corner onto Voskerichian's street. He nearly collided with a person he described as a short, husky boy, 16 to 18 years old and clean-shaven, wearing a sweater and watch cap, who was sprinting away from the crime scene. The neighbor said the youth pulled the cap over his face and said, "Oh, Jesus!" as he passed by, sprinting.[11]

Other neighbors claimed to have seen the "teenager," and another matching Berkowitz's description, loitering separately in the area for about an hour before the shooting.[11] In the following days, the media repeated police claims that this "chubby teenager" was the suspect in the shooting.[11]

Berkowitz later claimed that he was at the Voskerichian murder scene, but the actual shooter was a "woman from Westchester."[12] Additionally, Berkowitz claimed the Voskerichian shooting was partly designed to confuse police by seeming to change the modus operandi established in earlier cult shootings.

Press and publicity

Press conference of March 10, 1977


In a March 10, 1977 press conference, NYPD officials and New York City Mayor Abraham Beame declared that the same .44 Bulldog revolver had fired the shots that killed Lauria and Voskerichian.[13] Official documents would later surface, however, saying that while police strongly suspected the same .44 Bulldog had been used in the shootings, the evidence was actually inconclusive.[13]

The same day, the Operation Omega task force made its public debut. Charged solely with investigating the .44 Caliber shootings, the task force was led by Deputy Inspector Timothy J. Dowd, composed of over 300 police officers. Police speculated that the killer had a vendetta against women, perhaps due to chronic social rejection, and also declared that the "chubby teenager" was regarded as a witness, not a suspect in the Voskerichian shooting. The police regarded the taller, black-haired male shooter in the Lauria-Valenti case as the shooter in all the .44 Caliber murders.

Publicity and political implications

The crimes earned considerable mass media publicity, with television, newspapers and radio publishing every detail and speculation of the case. Australian publisher Rupert Murdoch had recently purchased the New York Post, and the paper offered perhaps the most sensational coverage of the crimes, as a result vaulting from near-bankruptcy into profitability. Mayor Beame, meanwhile, helped funnel unprecedented amounts of money to the NYPD to help solve the case.

Another shooting

Alexander Esau and Valentina Suriani shooting


In the early morning of April 17, 1977, Alexander Esau, 20, and Valentina Suriani, 18, were in the Bronx, only a few blocks from the scene of the Lauria-Valenti shooting. At about 3:00 a.m., they were each shot twice and killed. Suriani died at the scene, and Esau died in the hospital several hours later without being able to describe his attacker(s).

In the days afterwards, police repeated their theory that only one man was responsible for the .44 murders: the chubby teenager in the Voskerichian case was still regarded as a witness, while the dark-haired man who shot Lauria and Valenti was considered the suspect.[14]

Berkowitz later claimed that he was responsible for the Esau-Suriani shootings.[12]

Letters and profiling

Son of Sam letter


In the street near the Esau-Suriani shooting, a police officer discovered a hand-written letter. Written mostly in block capital letters with some lower-case letters, it was addressed to NYPD Captain Joseph Borrelli.[15]

In full, with misspellings intact, it read:

I am deeply hurt by your calling me a wemon [sic] hater! I am not. But I am a monster. I am the "Son of Sam." I am a little brat. When father Sam gets drunk he gets mean. He beats his family. Sometimes he ties me up to the back of the house. Other times he locks me in the garage. Sam loves to drink blood. "Go out and kill," commands father Sam. Behind our house some rest. Mostly young — raped and slaughtered — their blood drained — just bones now. Papa Sam keeps me locked in the attic too. I can't get out but I look out the attic window and watch the world go by. I feel like an outsider. I am on a different wavelength then [sic] everybody else — programmed too [sic] kill. However, to stop me you must kill me. Attention all police: Shoot me first — shoot to kill or else keep out of my way or you will die! Papa Sam is old now. He needs some blood to preserve his youth. He has had too many heart attacks. "Ugh, me hoot, it hurts, sonny boy." I miss my pretty princess most of all. She's resting in our ladies house. But I'll see her soon. I am the "Monster" — "Beelzebub" — the chubby behemouth. I love to hunt. Prowling the streets looking for fair game — tasty meat. The wemon of Queens are prettyist of all. It must be the water they drink. I live for the hunt — my life. Blood for papa. Mr. Borrelli, sir, I don't want to kill anymore. No sur, no more but I must, 'honor thy father.' I want to make love to the world. I love people. I don't belong on earth. Return me to yahoos. To the people of Queens, I love you. And I want to wish all of you a happy Easter. May God bless you in this life and in the next. And for now I say goodbye and goodnight. Police: Let me haunt you with these words: I'll be back! I'll be back! To be interpreted as — bang bang bang, bank, bang — ugh!! Yours in murder, Mr. Monster[15]

Though discovery of the letter was an open secret, the contents were not made public. Only a few hints were leaked: police speculated that the letter-writer might be familiar with Scottish English. The phrase "me hoot, it hurts, sonny boy" was taken as a Scots-accented version of "my heart, it hurts, sonny boy"; and the police also hypothesized that the shooter blamed a dark-haired nurse for his father's death, due to the "too many heart attacks" phrase, and the facts that Lauria was a medical technician and Valenti was studying to be a nurse.[16] On July 28, New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin alluded to the "wemon" quirk and referred to the shooter watching the world from "his attic window."[17]

Psychological profile and other police investigations

After consulting with several psychiatrists, police released a psychological profile of their suspect on May 26, 1977. He was described as neurotic and probably suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and believed himself to be a victim of demonic possession.[17]

Police questioned the owners of 56 .44 Bulldog revolvers legally registered in New York City, and forensically tested each weapon, ruling them out as the murder weapons. Among other unsuccessful ideas, police created traps with undercover officers posed as lovers parked in isolated areas, hoping to lure the shooter.

Breslin letter

On May 30, 1977, columnist Jimmy Breslin of the New York Daily News received a hand-written letter from someone who claimed to be the .44 shooter. The letter was postmarked early on May 30 in Englewood, New Jersey. On the reverse of the envelope was hand-printed a precisely-centered quatrain:

Blood and Family/Darkness and Death/Absolute Depravity/.44

The letter read:

Hello from the gutters of N.Y.C. which are filled with dog manure, vomit, stale wine, urine and blood. Hello from the sewers of N.Y.C. which swallow up these delicacies when they are washed away by the sweeper trucks. Hello from the cracks in the sidewalks of N.Y.C. and from the ants that dwell in these cracks and feed in the dried blood of the dead that has settled into the cracks. J.B., I'm just dropping you a line to let you know that I appreciate your interest in those recent and horrendous .44 killings. I also want to tell you that I read your column daily and I find it quite informative. Tell me Jim, what will you have for July twenty-ninth? You can forget about me if you like because I don't care for publicity. However you must not forget Donna Lauria and you cannot let the people forget her either. She was a very, very sweet girl but Sam's a thirsty lad and he won't let me stop killing until he gets his fill of blood. Mr. Breslin, sir, don't think that because you haven't heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. No, rather, I am still here. Like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry, seldom stopping to rest; anxious to please Sam. I love my work. Now, the void has been filled. Perhaps we shall meet face to face someday or perhaps I will be blown away by cops with smoking .38's. Whatever, if I shall be fortunate enough to meet you I will tell you all about Sam if you like and I will introduce you to him. His name is "Sam the terrible." Not knowing the what the future holds I shall say farewell and I will see you at the next job. Or should I say you will see my handiwork at the next job? Remember Ms. Lauria. Thank you. In their blood and from the gutter "Sam's creation" .44 Here are some names to help you along. Forward them to the inspector for use by N.C.I.C: [sic] "The Duke of Death" "The Wicked King Wicker" "The Twenty Two Disciples of Hell" "John 'Wheaties' -- Rapist and Suffocator of Young Girls. PS: Please inform all the detectives working the slaying to remain. P.S: [sic] JB, Please inform all the detectives working the case that I wish them the best of luck. "Keep 'em digging, drive on, think positive, get off your butts, knock on coffins, etc." Upon my capture I promise to buy all the guys working the case a new pair of shoes if I can get up the money. Son of Sam[18]


Underneath the "Son of Sam" was a logo or sketch that combined several symbols. The writer's question, "What will you have for July 29?" was taken as an ominous threat: July 29 would be the anniversary of the first .44 Caliber shooting.

Police and public response to the Breslin letter

Breslin notified police, who thought the letter was probably from someone with knowledge of the shootings. Sophisticated in its wording and presentation, especially when compared to the crudely written first letter, police suspected the Breslin letter might have been created in an art studio or similar professional location by someone with expertise in printing, calligraphy, graphic design or architecture.[19]

Based on the "Wicked King Wicker" reference, police arranged a private screening of The Wicker Man, a 1970s horror film.

A week later, after consulting with police and agreeing to withhold portions of the text, the Daily News published the letter, and Breslin urged the killer to turn himself over to authorities. Reportedly, over 1.1 million copies of that day's paper were sold.[20]

The letter caused a panic in New York, and based on references in the publicized portions of the letter, police received thousands of tips, all of which proved baseless.[19]

As all the shooting victims so far had long, dark hair, thousands of women in New York cut or dyed their hair, and beauty supply stores had trouble meeting the demand for blond wigs.[21] Despite being one of the hottest summers on record, people stayed indoors at night, ignoring the longstanding tradition of spending sultry evenings outdoors.

Shootings resume

Sal Lupo and Judy Placido shooting


On June 26, 1977, there was another shooting. Sal Lupo, 20, and Judy Placido, 17, had left the Elephas discotheque in the Bayside section of Queens. The young couple was sitting in their car at about 3:00 a.m. when Placido said, "This Son of Sam is really scary — the way that guy comes out of nowhere. You never know where he'll hit next."[22] Moments later, three gunshots blasted through the car.

Both were struck by slugs, but their injuries were relatively minor, and both survived. Neither Lupo or Placido had seen their attacker(s),[23] but witnesses reported a tall, stocky, dark-haired man sprinting from the area, and a blonde man with a mustache who drove from the neighborhood in a Chevy Nova without turning on its headlights. Police speculated the dark-haired man was the shooter, and that the blonder man had observed the crime.[23]

Berkowitz later claimed that cult member Michael Carr shot Lupo and Placido.[24] Additionally, Berkowitz claimed that cult members had long wanted to shoot someone at the Elephas disco, thinking the site significant in light of their interest in the work of noted 19th century occultist Eliphas Levi.[24]

Stacy Moskowitz and Robert Violante shooting

It was near the one-year anniversary of the first .44 caliber shootings, and police set up a sizable dragnet, focusing on past hunting grounds of Queens and The Bronx. However, the next .44 shooting was in Brooklyn.

Early on July 31, 1977, Stacy Moskowitz and Robert Violante, both 20, were in Violante's car, which was parked under a streetlight near a city park. They were kissing when a man approached to within about three feet of the passenger side of Violante's car, fired several gunshots into the car, striking both victims in the head, before running into the park. Moskowitz died several hours later in the hospital. Violante survived, though one of his eyes was destroyed and he retained only very limited vision in the other eye. With her short, curly blonde hair, Moskowitz was a departure from the other female victims. Based on telephone calls to police within seconds of the shooting, the crime occurred at 2:35 a.m.

The Moskowitz-Violante crime produced more witnesses than any of the other Son of Sam murders, notably the only direct eyewitness who was not an intended victim. During the shooting, Tommy Zaino, 19, was parked with his date in a car three car lengths ahead of Violante's. Moments before the shooting, Zaino saw a peripheral glimpse of the shooter's approach and happened to glance in his rear view mirror just in time to see the crime occur. Due to the bright street light and full moon, Zaino clearly saw the perpetrator for several seconds, later describing him as 25 to 30 years old, of average height (5'7" to 5'9") with shaggy hair that was dark blonde or light brown — "it looked like a wig", Zaino said.[25]

About a minute after the shooting, a woman seated next to her boyfriend in his car on the other side of the city park saw a "white male [who was wearing] a light-colored, cheap nylon wig" sprint from the park and enter a "small, light-colored" auto, which drove away quickly.[25] "He looks like he just robbed a bank," said the woman, who wrote what she could see of the car's license plate: unable to determine the first two characters, she was certain the others were either 4-GUR or 4-GVR.[25]

Other witnesses included a woman who saw a light car speed away from the park about 20 seconds after the gunshots,[25] and at least two witnesses who described a yellow Volkswagen driving quickly from the neighborhood with its headlights off.[26] A neighborhood resident given the pseudonym Mary Lyons heard the gunshots and Violente's calls for help, and glancing from her apartment window, she saw a man she later positively identified as Berkowitz, who was walking casually away from the crime scene as many others were rushing towards the scene to render aid.[27]

Shortly after 2:35 a.m., a man given the pseudonym Alan Masters was passing through an intersection a few blocks from the park. Masters was nearly struck by what he described as a yellow Volkswagen Beetle that sped through the intersection, against the red light and without headlights, with the driver holding his door shut with his arm as he drove. Angered and alarmed, Masters followed the Volkswagen at high speed for several minutes before losing sight of the vehicle. Masters described the driver as a white male in his late 20s or early 30s, with a narrow face; dark, long, stringy hair; several days growth of dark whiskers on his face; and wearing a blue jacket.[28] Upset, Masters neglected to note the Volkswagen's license plate number, but he thought it might have been a New Jersey rather than a New York plate. Violante encountered a very similar man as he and Moskowitz were in the park shortly before the shooting, describing him as a "grubby-looking hippy" with whiskers, wiry hair over his forehead, dark eyes, and wearing a denim jacket.[29]

Berkowitz would later claim that the shooter in the Moskowitz-Violante case was a friend of John Carr, who had arrived from North Dakota for the occasion.[30] Additionally, Berkowitz would claim that after his Ford Galaxie, license plate 561 XLB, received a parking ticket at 2:05 a.m. for being parked too close to a fire hydrant near the city park, he tried to persuade two other cult members at the scene to postpone or relocate the crime.[31] Berkowitz claimed his suggestion was overruled, and he was ordered to remain in the area to make sure no police were nearby.

Police activities after the Moskowitz-Violente shooting

Police didn't learn of the Moskowitz-Violente shooting until about 2:50 a.m., and Dowd didn't think it was another Son of Sam shooting until an officer at the scene reported that large-caliber shells had been used.[32]

About an hour after the shooting, police set up a series of roadblocks, stopping hundreds of cars to question drivers and inspect vehicles. Based on extended interviews of Masters and others who described a Volkswagen speeding from the crime scene, police now suspected that the shooter owned or drove such a vehicle. In subsequent days, police determined there were over 900 Volkswagens in New York or New Jersey, and they made plans to track down each of these cars and their owners.[33]

Justice system

Suspicion and capture


The evening of the Moskowitz and Violante shooting, Cacilia Davis, who lived near the crime scene, saw Berkowitz loitering in the neighborhood and glaring menacingly at passersby for several hours before removing a parking ticket from his yellow Ford Galaxie, which had been parked too close to a fire hydrant. Two days after the shooting, she contacted police.

Despite their claims to the contrary, police initially thought Berkowitz a possible witness, rather than a suspect. Not until August 9, 1977, seven days after Cacilia Davis informed police about the man with the parking ticket, did NYPD Detective James Justis telephone Yonkers police to ask them to schedule an interview with Berkowitz. The Yonkers police dispatcher who first took Justis' call was Wheat Carr, the daughter of Sam Carr and sister of Berkowitz's alleged cult confederates John and Michael Carr.[34]

Justis asked "the [Yonkers] police for some help tracking [Berkowitz] down. Mike Novotny was a sergeant at the Yonkers Police Department. According to Novotny, the Yonkers police had their own suspicions about Berkowitz, in connection with other strange crimes in Yonkers, crimes they saw referenced in one of the Son of Sam letters. To the shock of the NYPD they told the New York City detective that Berkowitz might just be the Son of Sam."[1]

The next day, police investigated Berkowitz's car parked on the street outside his Pine Street apartment in Yonkers. Police saw a Commando Mark III rifle in the backseat. Searching the car, police found a duffel bag filled with ammunition, maps of the crime scenes and a letter to Sgt. Dowd of the Omega task force, threatening further murders. Police decided to wait for Berkowitz to emerge from the apartment rather than risk a violent encounter in the narrow apartment hallway.

Berkowitz emerged from the building shortly before 10:00 p.m., carrying a .44 Bulldog in a paper sack. Police arrested Berkowitz as he was starting the car outside his apartment on Pine Street in Yonkers on August 10, 1977. His first words upon arrest were reported to be, "You got me. What took you so long?"[35]

Police searched his apartment, and found it in disarray, with Satanic graffiti on the walls. They also found a diary wherein Berkowitz took credit for dozens of arsons throughout the New York area (some sources allege that this number might be as high as 1,411).[36]

After police had brought Berkowitz into custody, Mayor Beame came out to the public and said, "The people of the City of New York can rest easy because of the fact that the police have captured a man whom they believe to be the Son of Sam."[37]

Questioning

Police were worried that, if challenged in court, their initial search of Berkowitz's vehicle might be ruled unconstitutional. Police had no search warrant, and their justification for the search of Berkowitz's car might seem flimsy. They had searched initially based on the rifle visible in the back seat, though possession of such a rifle was legal in New York State, and required no special permit.

Berkowitz quickly confessed to the shootings, however, and expressed an interest in pleading guilty in exchange for receiving life imprisonment rather than facing the death penalty. Berkowitz was questioned for about 30 minutes in the early morning of August 11, 1977, and he quickly confessed to the "Son of Sam" killings.

During questioning, Berkowitz said that the "Sam" mentioned in the first letter was Sam Carr, his former neighbor. Berkowitz claimed that Carr's black labrador retriever, Harvey, was possessed by an ancient demon, and that it issued irresistible commands that Berkowitz must kill people. Berkowitz said he once tried to kill the dog, but was unsuccessful due to supernatural interference.

Sentencing

During his sentencing, Berkowitz repeatedly chanted "Stacy was a whore" at a low yet audible volume.[38] He was referring, presumably, to Stacy Moskowitz, who died in the final .44 caliber shooting. His behavior caused an uproar, and the courtroom was adjourned. Berkowitz later claimed that his statement was a response to Moskowitz's mother, who frequently opined that Berkowitz should be executed.

On June 12, 1978, he was sentenced to six life sentences in prison for the murders, making his maximum term 365 years. He was first imprisoned at the Attica Correctional Facility. He was also given additional terms for assault and attempted murder.

Berkowitz's life in prison

In 1979, there was an attempt on Berkowitz's life. He refused to identify the person(s) who had attacked him with a knife, but suggested that the act was directed by the cult he once belonged to. He bears a permanent scar from the wound that took 52 stitches to close.

In 1987, Berkowitz became a born again Christian in prison. According to his personal testimony, his moment of conversion occurred after reading Psalm 34:6 from a Gideon's Pocket Testament Bible given to him by a fellow inmate.[39] In the same testimony, he stated that his obsession with and heavy involvement in the occult played a major role in the Son of Sam murders.

In March 2002, Berkowitz sent a letter to New York Governor George Pataki asking that his parole hearing be canceled, stating: "In all honesty, I believe that I deserve to be in prison for the rest of my life. I have, with God's help, long ago come to terms with my situation and I have accepted my punishment."[39] In June 2004, he was denied a second parole hearing after he stated that he did not want one. The parole board saw that he had a good record in the prison programs, but decided that the brutality of his crimes called for him to stay imprisoned. In July 2006, the board once again denied parole on similar grounds, with Berkowitz not in attendance at the hearing. He is very involved in prison ministry and regularly counsels troubled inmates.

In June 2005, Berkowitz sued his former attorney, Hugo Harmatz, claiming he had taken possession of Berkowitz's letters and other personal belongings in order to publish a book of his own. Berkowitz stated that he would only drop the lawsuit if the attorney signed over all money he makes to the victims' families. On October 25, 2006, Berkowitz and Harmatz settled out of court, with Harmatz agreeing to return the disputed items to Berkowitz's present attorney Mark Jay Heller, and to donate part of his book profits to the New York State Crime Victims Board.

Shortly before her death in 2006, Stacy Moskowitz's mother wrote Berkowitz a letter saying she had forgiven him for his crimes.[40] Moskowitz lived her final days in a Miami co-op, surrounded by pictures of her daughters, whom she talked about constantly. "...she said she did forgive everyone," said her close friend and neighbor, Sharon Denaro. "She needed to relieve herself of anger to be able to move forward with her life. She would say things like, 'This kind of anger can make you sick. Don't let anger eat you up'."

Berkowitz is housed in Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York. His "official" website is maintained on his behalf by a church group as he is not allowed access to a computer.[39] Berkowitz's next parole hearing is slated for May 2010; he has been denied parole four times thus far.

Berkowitz plans to write a memoir, entitled Son of Hope: The Prison Journals of David Berkowitz, which will be published through Morning Star Communications. Berkowitz himself will receive no money from publication, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the New York state crime victims board for distribution to the victims of his crimes.[39]

He is also corresponding with an advocate of murder victims and working to stop the sales of memorabilia related to murderers[41]

Laws

One major side effect of Berkowitz's murder spree were the "Son of Sam laws" enacted in several states in the 1980s.

The first of these laws was enacted in New York state after rampant speculation about publishers offering Berkowitz large sums of money for his story. The new law, named for Berkowitz, authorized the state to seize all money earned from such a deal from a criminal for five years, with intentions to use the seized money to compensate victims.

Later claims

Satanic cult claims


Within a few weeks of his arrest, Berkowitz was hinting that others were involved in the .44 murders. In a letter to the New York Post dated September 19, 1977, Berkowitz repeated the possessed dog story, but closed out his missive with the warning, "There are other Sons out there, God help the world."[42]

In later years, he has discussed the cult claims in greater detail, but alleges that he cannot divulge all he knows without putting his family at risk. The cult had roughly two dozen core members in New York, the "twenty-two disciples of hell" mentioned in the Breslin letter. The cult had ties across the U.S., claimed Berkowitz, and was deeply involved in drug smuggling and other illegal activities. Berkowitz reportedly invited the former priest and exorcist Malachi Martin to visit him to discuss his past Satanic cult involvement.[43]

Hockenberry asserts that, even aside from the Satanic cult claims, many officials doubted the single-shooter theory, writing, "[w]hat most don't know about the Son of Sam case is that from the beginning, not everyone bought the idea that Berkowitz acted alone. The list of skeptics includes both the police who worked the case and the prosecutor from Queens where five of the shootings took place."[1]

Son of Sam case reopened based on cult claims

Journalist Maury Terry began investigating the Son of Sam shootings before Berkowitz was arrested. Doubtful of the single shooter theory favored by police, Terry dug deeper into the case, noting a number of unresolved questions and inconsistencies that he first publicized in a March 1978 newspaper article.

Eventually interviewing Berkowitz several times, Terry uncovered evidence that he argues strongly support the idea that a violent offshoot of the Process Church was responsible for the Son of Sam murders and many other crimes. After consulting with police and agreeing to withhold some names and other details, Terry publicized his conclusions first in a series of newspaper articles distributed by the Gannett syndicate in 1979, and later in his book The Ultimate Evil, which has been expanded several times since its initial 1987 publication.[38] Queens' district attorney John Santucci, who thought the case against Berkowitz was riddled with inconsistencies and unresolved questions, was so impressed with Terry's research that, "he agreed to reopen the Son of Sam case ... But to date no-one else has ever been charged in connection with the crimes."[22]

Arlis Perry claims

In October 1978 Berkowitz mailed a book about witchcraft and other occult subjects to police in North Dakota. He had underlined several passages, offering some marginal notes, including the phrase: "Arliss [sic] Perry, Hunted, Stalked and Slain. Followed to Calif. Stanford University."

Arlis Perry, a newlywed 19-year-old North Dakota native, had been killed in a chapel on the grounds of Stanford University on October 12, 1974. Her murder remains unsolved. Berkowitz mentioned the Perry murder in a few letters, suggesting that he heard details of the crime from "Manson II", the culprit and a member of the violent Satanic cult. In the San Jose Mercury News, Jessie Seyfer noted that "investigators interviewed him in prison and now believe he has nothing of value to offer" regarding the Perry case.[44]

Real-life sons of Sam

Berkowitz claimed that brothers John and Michael Carr, the real life sons of Yonkers resident Sam Carr, were members of the same Satanic cult. John was the "John Wheaties, rapist and suffocator of young girls" mentioned in the Breslin letter.

Both Carr brothers died within two years of Berkowitz's arrest. John Carr was discovered dead in February 1978 in his girlfriend's North Dakota home; police initially viewed his death as suspicious, but it was ultimately ruled a probable suicide. Michael Carr died in a single-car traffic accident in October 1979, on Manhattan's West Side Highway.

Berkowitz claims that both Carr brothers were probably murdered by Satanic cult members because their heavy drug use marked them as untrustworthy and likely to become informants.

Depictions

• The 1985 CBS film Out of the Darkness, the first to deal with the Son of Sam killings, was told from the point of view of Ed Zigo, one of the detectives responsible for capturing Berkowitz by poring over parking tickets given to an illegally parked car in Brooklyn near where Stacy Moskowitz was murdered. Zigo was played by Martin Sheen, and Berkowitz was played by Robert Trebor.
• The 1999 film Summer of Sam, directed by Spike Lee, depicts the tensions that develop in a Bronx neighborhood during the shootings. Berkowitz was played by Michael Badalucco.
• The 2007 ESPN mini-series The Bronx is Burning features the murders as a backdrop.
• Son of Sam is a 2008 Lionsgate film by Ulli Lommel focusing on Berkowitz's satanic cult connection.

References

1. Hockenberry, John. "Did 'Son of Sam' really act alone?". http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5351509. Retrieved May 17 2006.
2. Bardsley, Marilyn. "Son of Sam, David Berkowitz, famous serial killer - Letter 17". The Crime library. http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_kill ... er_17.html. Retrieved October 9 2007.
3. "I am the Son of Sam!". Fortean Times. August 2002. http://www.forteantimes.com/features/ar ... f_sam.html. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
4. Montaldo, Charles. "David Berkowitz - The Son of Sam". About Crime. http://crime.about.com/od/murder/p/sonofsam.htm. Retrieved September 27 2006.
5. Terry, 1999, p 23-24.
6. Terry, 1999, p 528.
7. Terry, 1999, p 27.
8. Terry, 1999, p 529
9. Terry, 1999, p 32
10. New York Daily News. February 1, 1977.
11. Terry, 1999, p 36-37
12. Terry, 1999, p 530
13. Terry, 1999, pp 38-40
14. Terry, 1999, p 43
15. Bardsley, Marilyn. "Son of Sam, David Berkowitz, famous serial killer". The Crime Library. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/seri ... ter_1.html. Retrieved March 21 2007.
16. Terry, 1999, pp 43-44
17. Terry, 1999, p 47
18. Terry, 1999, pp 48-50
19. Terry, 1999, 51
20. "Son of Sam - David Berkowitz". Altered Dimensions. http://www.altereddimensions.net/crime/SonOfSam.htm. Retrieved September 27 2006.
21. "Bath in New York". http://devibathory.tripod.com/thebloodo ... s/id3.html. Retrieved April 19 2007.
22. Summers, Chris. "Crime Case Closed - David Berkowitz". Archived from the original on 2007-02-19. http://web.archive.org/web/200702191407 ... itz1.shtml. Retrieved September 27 2006.
23. Terry, 1999, 53
24. Terry, 1999, p 539.
25. Terry, 1999, p 70
26. Terry, 1999, p 70; pp 71-72
27. Terry, 1999, pp 71-72
28. Terry, 1999, p 79
29. Terry, 1999, p 68
30. Terry, 1999, p 530-531
31. Terry, 1999, p 66
32. Terry, 1999, p 78
33. Terry, 1999, p 91
34. Terry, 1999, p 98
35. Terry, 1999, p 113
36. Scott, Shirley Lynn. "What Makes Serial Killers Tick? - Pyromania." The Crime Library. trutv.com.
37. http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review ... 3-1/#title "Son of Sam, 1977 Year in Review."
38. Terry, Maury (1987). The Ultimate Evil: An Investigation into America's Most Dangerous Satanic Cult. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-23452-X.
39. "The Official Home Page of David Berkowitz." forgivenforlife.org.
40. "A Mom Dies - Forgiving Son Of Sam". NY Post.com. September 28, 2006.
41. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02063.html
42. quoted in Terry, 1999, p. 147
43. Martin, Malachi. "An Article on Exorcism". http://www.starharbor.com/fr_martin/exorcism.html. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
44. Snyder, Jessie. "Detective searches for 1974 Stanford church killer". http://www.prisonpotpourri.com/COURTSan ... iller.html. Retrieved 2008-09-24.

Further reading

Breslin, Jimmy and Dick Schaap (1978). .44: a Novel. Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-32432-9.
Klausner, Lawrence D. (1980). Son of Sam: Based on the Authorized Transcription of the Tapes, Official Documents and Diaries of David Berkowitz. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070350272.
Newfield, Jack and Paul DuBrul (1977). The abuse of power: the permanent Government and the fall of New York. Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-10204-0.
Rowlett, Curt (2006). Labyrinth13: True Tales of the Occult, Crime & Conspiracy. Chapter 10, "Son of Sam and the Process Church of the Final Judgment: Exploring the Alleged Connections". Lulu Press. ISBN 1-4116-6083-8.
Terry, Maury (1987). The Ultimate Evil: An Investigation into America's Most Dangerous Satanic Cult. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-23452-X.

External links

David Berkowitz section from CharlieManson.com
Journal Caso abierto David Berkowitz
Arise and Shine Journals and other information about David Berkowitz
I Am the Son of Sam An article asking whether Berkowitz was the only killer using the Son of Sam MO and if he was linked to a Black Magic underground
"David Berkowitz television interview". Archived from the original on 2007-12-11. http://web.archive.org/web/200712112333 ... 65131.html. May 2007, WCBS-TV in New York
1977 Coverage of the Case from WCBS-AM in New York
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Re: Journalism: Scientology - L. Ron Hubbard's Brainchild

Postby admin » Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:20 am

The Scientology Story
by Joel Sappell and Robert W. Welkos
June 24, 1990 - June 29, 1990
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Re: Journalism: Scientology - L. Ron Hubbard's Brainchild

Postby admin » Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:21 am

The Technical Bulletins of Dianetics and Scientology
by L. Ron Hubbard
Founder of Dianetics and Scientology
Volume XIV
The O.T. Levels

Image
L. RON HUBBARD
Founder of Dianetics and Scientology


I will not always be here on guard.
The stars twinkle in the Milky Way
And the wind sighs for songs
Across the empty fields of a planet
A Galaxy away.
You won’t always be here.
But before you go,
Whisper this to your sons
And their sons —
“The work was free.
Keep it so.”

Table of Contents:

• OT Levels
o OT 1
ORIGINAL OT 1 (pdf)
 OT 1 Checksheet
 Clear And OT
 An Open Letter To All Clears
 Floating Needles
 OT 1 Instructions
 OT 1 Steps.
NEW OT 1 (pdf)
 New OT 1 Instructions
o OT 2 (pdf)
 OT 2 Course Checksheet
 Keeping Scientology Working
 Technical Degrades
 O.T. Course - Section Two Instructions
 Additional Data Re: Dates
 Clearing Course Instruction Booklet
 The State Of Clear
 Floating Needles
 Glossary Of Terms For The Section II OT Course
 The State Of Clear
 The Nature Of A Being
 The Difference Between The Comm Cycle In Regular Auditing
 And The Comm Cycle In Solo Auditing
 OT II Handwritten Additional Instructions
 Electrical GPM
 Tocky GPM
 Big Being GPM
 House GPM
 Psycho GPM
 Banky GPM
 Forerunner GPM
 Non Line Plot Incidents
 The Arrow
 Woman
 White - Black
 Hot - Cold
 Laughter - Calm
 Dance Mob
 Double Rod
 Foreign Language Caution
 Basic Basic GPM
 Basic GPM
 The One Command GPM
 Lower LP GPM
 LP GPM
 Body GPM
 Lower Bank
o OT 3
NEW OT 3 (pdf)
 OT 3 Course Checksheet
 Data
 Additional Tech Data
 Definitions, Sect III
 Character Of Body Thetans
 2nd Note
 1st Note
 The Basic On BTs
 Dianetics Forbidden On Clears And OTs
 Dianetics Deleted From OT III Materials
 Revised Instructions
 Section III Additional Data - Notes On Running
 Stuck Pictures
 Section III Running
 3RD Note
 Overt-Motivator Sequence
 Cross Auditing
 OT III
 Overrun On III
 Running OT III
 OT III Errors
 Addition To OT III Pack
 Cluster Formation
 OT III Case Supervision
 Ruds Going Out On BTs
 Dianetic Auditing And OT III
 S E C R E T
 III Completion
 EP’s
 Handling Correction Lists On OTs
 Flying Ruds On Solo OT III And Above
 Incident II
 List Of Volcanoes
 Incident I
 List Of LRH Handwritten Materials
 Auditing By R3R
 Solo & R3R
 OT III And OT III Attest
 The Green Green Form Revised
 LDN OT III RB
o OT 4
ORIGINAL OT 4 (pdf)
 OT IV Rundown
 Valence Shifter And Rudiments
 Valence Shifter
 Valence Shifter And Low TA
 OT IV Solo Instructions
NEW OT 4 (pdf)
 OT Drug Rundown
o OT 5
ORIGINAL OT 5 (pdf)
 Instructions
NEW OT 5 (pdf)
 NED For OTs - Checklist - Pre-OT Advance Pgm
o OT 6
ORIGINAL OT 6 (pdf)
 OT 6 Instructions
NEW OT 6 (pdf)
 NED For OTs Course Checksheet
 NED For OTs RD - Theory Of
 Why You Can’t Run Engrams After Clear
 Assists
 Word Clearing And Information
 Definitions
 Information For Pre-OTs
 Misconceptions
 Blowing BTs And Clusters
 Valences
 Basic Principles Upon Which The NED For OTs Rundown Is Based
 OT III And Dormant BTs
 The First Step Of NED For OTs
 Repairing And Blowing BTs And Clusters
 FESing Of Folders
 Out-Int, “Went In”, “Went On”
 The “Solidity” Of The Body
 “Exterior” Vision, BT Perception
 Prediction Factors On Length And Progress
 Session Factors
 TA And Needle Behavior
 How You Operate A Meter
 Revivication
 Anaten
 Remnant Ridges
 NED For OTs - Repair List
 Resistance To Change
 NED For OTs - Checklist - Pre-OT Advance Pgm
 “NED For OTs” - Checklist
 Stuck Flows, The Genus Of A BT
 Flow Assessment Sheet
 Rest Points
 Program Departures
 The Thetan Hand Technique
 Chronic Somatics, Missed BTs
 Perimeter Masses
 The Sequence For Handling A Physical Condition
 Notes On PTS
 Rockslams
 Collective Identities
 Basic Fear
 More On Dianetic Chain Errors
 Auditor Role
 Handling BTs Messed Up On OT III
 Repair List For Errors In OT III
 Additional Action
 Wrong Items
 Partially Blown BTs
 BTs With Misunderstood Words
 Valence Technique Addition
 Acknowledging The “Me” Answer
 NOTs OT Drug Rundown
 Audit BTs Conceptually
 NOTs What/Who L & N Step
 Clarification On Acknowledging
 Varying The Areas
 Advanced NOTs Procedure
 Handling Correction Lists On OTs
 Qual Corrective Actions On OTs
 OT III And OT III Attest
o OT 7
ORIGINAL OT 7 (pdf)
 OT 7 Instructions
NEW OT 7 (pdf)
 New OT 7 Instructions
o OT 8
ORIGINAL OT 8 (pdf)
 Why Thetans Mock Up
NEW OT 8 (pdf)
 Study And Procedure
• SPECIAL RUNDOWNS
o The L Rundowns (pdf)
Introduction (pdf)
 Set Ups
 Method 6
 Purpose Of The L’s
o L 10 (pdf)
 Class 10 Checksheet For L 10 (Export)
 L 10 Introduction
 L 10 End Phenomenon
 L 10 Basic Approach
 L 10 Rundowns
 L 10 Prior Assessment
 8 Dynamic R/D
 Overts By Dynamics R/D
 Considerations R/D
 Connections R/D
 Enemy R/D
 Greatest Overt R/D
 Muliple Flow Evil Purpose R/D
 Lie R/D
 L 10 Results Assessment
 L’s Correction List
o L 11 (pdf)
 Introduction
 L 11 Program Steps
 Justification
 C/S 37R R/D
 Harm Implant R/D
 Evil Purpose R/D
 List 9S
 Nature Of Man
o L 12 (pdf)
 Introduction
 L 12 Program Steps
 Cluster Handling
 Character List
 PTS Beam Handling
 OCA Trait Handling
 Management Words
 Admin Scale
 Group Sanity
 Simon Bolivar Policy
o New Vitality Rundown (pdf)
 Theory
 Two Way Communication Techniques
 Two Way Comming Traits
 Other Two Way Comms
 End Phenomenon
 Notes On Programming
o Bright Think Rundown (pdf)
 Revivication
 NOTs Series 21 - Revivication
 Bright Think R/D
o Super Power (pdf)
 Introduction
 Condition Below Confusion
 Eighth Dynamic Process
 Ethics Repair List
 Eighth Dynamic Viewpoint
 Actual Super Power Process
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