Read Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief Online

Authors: Lawrence Wright

Tags: #Social Science, #Scientology, #Christianity, #Religion, #Sociology of Religion, #History

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief (68 page)

96
“He lived a very quiet, normal life”:
Joe Childs, Thomas C. Tobin, and Maurice Rivenbark, “Spying on Pat Broeker,” video interview,
Tampa Bay Times
, Sept. 30, 2012.

97
Happy Valley:
Robert Vaughn Young, “RVY Update by RVY,” Sept. 2, 1998.

98
an order of nuns:
Interviews with John Brousseau and Mareka James.

99
An armed guard:
Peggy Daroesman, personal correspondence.

100
Dogs were trained:
Interview with Guy White. Happy Valley was closed down in 2000 when a German documentary crew revealed its location. Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 331.

6. IN SERVICE TO THE STARS

1
“He is one of the few”:
“Celebrity Interview: Executive Producer—Paul Haggis,”
Celebrity
, unnumbered, undated, p. 7.

2
“What excited me”:
Ibid.

3
deserved a Nobel Prize:
Church of Scientology of California vs. Gerald Armstrong
, p. 1503.

4
The Purification Rundown:
International Association of Scientologists, 21st Anniversary event, Impact 112, 2006.

5
“the most effective rehabilitation”:
What Is Scientology?
p. 412.

6
“the heart and soul”:
Vernon Scott, “ ‘Narconon Salvaged My Life’—Kirstie Alley,” UPI, May 3, 1990.

7
“Hubbard Detoxification Day”:
“New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project,” undated Scientology publication.

8
“Starting in the schools”:
Celebrity Interview: Kelly Preston,
Celebrity
, #376, undated, p. 13.

9
The church claims that:
Tommy Davis on
Today
, Jan. 8, 2009.

10
Hubbard himself denounced:
Hubbard, “Expanded Dianetics Lecture No. 2,” April 7, 1972.

11
“With Jett, you started him”:
“Kelly Preston: A Mother’s Crusade,”
Montel Williams Show
, Mar. 12, 2003.

12
“thought, life, form, matter”:
“Classification Gradation and Awareness Chart of Levels and Certificates,” Issue 1,
Flag
, June, 1970.

13
“I love the fact that you guys”:
Interviews with Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz.

14
He agreed to teach:
Interview with Larry Anderson.

15
B. Dalton ordered 65,000:
Interview with Bill Dendiu. The church disputes the sales figures but does not provide alternative numbers. By 1990, more than twenty of Hubbard’s books—both novels and nonfiction—had become national best sellers, most of them after his death four years earlier. At one point, Hubbard had fourteen consecutive books on the
New York Times
best-seller lists. There were allegations that the church was sending members to buy massive quantities of Hubbard’s books to drive up the sales figures. The
Times
investigated those charges but failed to find any instances where large numbers of Hubbard books were being sold to single individuals. In any case, the booksellers were happy to sell them.

16
“He has had a string”:
Tommy Davis denies that Miscavige met Haggis at the race. “Indeed, we cannot find any record that Mr. Haggis ever met Mr. Miscavige.” Both Bill Dendiu and Haggis recall the conversation, however. Jefferson Hawkins has written that Miscavige and other Scientology executives were at the race;
Counterfeit Dreams
, p. 174. David Miscavige refused many requests to speak to me.

17
Travolta himself at the controls:
Interview with Paul Haggis. Travolta’s attorney agrees that his client was at the race.

18
RPF running program:
Interview with Guy White.

19
“Have you ever been”:
Ibid.

20
“People could see”:
Ibid.

21
“Is he? Is he?”:
Ibid.

22
His vehicles are still:
Interview with Marc Headley.

23
On his nightstand is:
Sue Lindsay, “Studio’s Ready for Man Who Never Came, Never Will,”
Rocky Mountain News
, Feb. 16, 1986; interview with Tom De Vocht.

24
“for the next 20–25 years”:
David Mayo, “An Open Letter to All Scientologists,”
www.freezone.org/reports/e_mayool.htm
.

25
Arthur blew:
Interview with Guy White.

26
“a functional illiterate”:
Morton,
Tom Cruise
, p. 41.

27
an amateur troupe:
Ibid., p. 9.

28
We felt like fugitives”:
Ibid., p. 18.

29
a year in seminary:
Ibid., p. 25.

30
Cruise’s first wife … introduced:
Rogers denies this, although her father, Philip Spickler, confirms this often published account.

31
Using his birth name:
Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 273.

32
Rogers’s close friend:
Ibid.

33
Cruise would later credit:
Luchina Fisher, “Celebrities with Dyslexia Who Made It Big,”
ABC Good Morning America
, Sept. 28, 2012,
abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/celebrities-dyslexia-made-big/story?id=17338379#2
.

34
But Mimi’s parents had:
Interview with Philip Spickler.

35
When Miscavige learned:
Morton,
Tom Cruise
, p. 138.

36
Cruise arrived wearing:
Interview with Sinar Parman.

37
“I told her”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

38
“He thought he had to be celibate”:
Michael Angeli, “Screaming Mimi,”
Playboy
, March 1993.

39
After two years, Annie:
Interview with Jim Logan. Headley,
Blown for Good
, pp. 98–99; and Thomas C. Tobin and Joe Childs, “Caught Between Scientology and Her Husband, Annie Tidman Chose the Church,”
St. Petersburg Times
, Nov. 14, 2009.

40
church funds were used to purchase:
Affidavit of Andre Tabayoyon, Aug. 19, 1994.

41
Surrounded by a security:
Interviews with Claire Headley, Mark “Marty” Rathbun, and Jesse Prince.

42
“like one would find in a convent”:
Church of Scientology responses to queries.

43
continuously under guard:
Thomas C. Tobin and Joe Childs, “Caught Between Scientology and Her Husband, Annie Tidman Chose the Church,”
St. Petersburg Times
, Nov. 14, 2009. Tidman’s lawyer denied to the newspaper that she had been held against her will.

44
“non-enturbulation order”:
Interview with Jim Logan.

45
“They can’t make me divorce you”:
Thomas C. Tobin and Joe Childs, “Caught Between Scientology and Her Husband, Annie Tidman Chose the Church,”
St. Petersburg Times
, Nov. 14, 2009.

46
“doomsday machine”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

47
Those who had cell phones:
Declaration of Robert V. Levine,
Marc Headley vs. Church of Scientology International
, and
Claire Headley vs. Church of Scientology International, et al
., updated, Jan. 21, 2010.

48
they would use force:
Interview with Gary “Jackson” Morehead.

49
The Riverside County Sheriff’s:
Sergeant Joe Borja, personal communication.

50
no one who escaped ever returned:
Gary “Jackson” Morehead, personal communication.

51
“Oh, we already have you”:
Interview with Gary “Jackson” Morehead.

52
As soon as an escapee:
Tony Ortega, “ ‘Tom Cruise Worships David Miscavige Like a God’: A Scientology Insider Gives First Full-Length Interview to the
Voice
,”
Runnin’ Scared
(blog
), The Village Voice
, July 28, 2012.

53
He never saw her again:
Interview with Jim Logan.

54
A special bungalow was:
Karen Pressley interview on
One Day One Destiny
, a French documentary produced by Magneto Presse, 2009. Affidavit of Andre Tabayoyon, Aug. 19, 1994.

55
When the couple longed:
Interview with Marc Headley.

56
Miscavige heard about the:
Affidavit of Andre Tabayoyon, Aug. 19, 1994. Also, interviews with Amy Scobee and Marc Headley.

57
When a flood triggered:
Affidavit of Andre Tabayoyon, Aug. 19, 1994.

58
At Thanksgiving, 1990:
Interview with Sinar Parman.

59
Cruise’s investments:
Mark “Marty” Rathbun, personal communication; also, Rathbun blog post,
Moving on Up a Little Higher
,
markrathbun.wordpress.com
, April 12, 2010; and Rathbun,
The Scientology Reformation
, p. 25. Interview with Sinar Parman. In 1992, having suffered massive losses, the Feshbach brothers dissolved their investment fund.

60
He was thrilled when:
Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 279.

61
He modeled his determined:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

62
Just before Christmas, 1990:
Sinar Parman, personal communication.

63
she had reached OT 11:
Interview with Bruce Hines.

64
“Hello, I am Tom”:
Headley,
Blown for Good
, pp. 116–18.

65
“Look at the wall”:
Hubbard, “Training and CCH Processes,” HCO Bulletin, June 11, 1957, reissued May 12, 1972.

66
Miscavige’s wife, Shelly, interviewed:
Interviews with Amy Scobee and John Brousseau; Mike Rinder, personal correspondence; Mark “Marty” Rathbun, personal correspondence with Lauren Wolf; Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 282.

67
Miscavige offered the couple:
Scobee,
Abuse at the Top
, p. 70. David Lingerfelter told me he installed the satellite system for the Cruise home, and two other Sea Org members installed the audio and video equipment.

68
helped design the kitchen:
Interview with Sinar Parman.

69
“A little singing”:
Interview with Alissa Haggis.

70
Nearly everyone they knew:
Interview with Lauren Haggis.

71
“study tech”:
Hubbard, “Barriers to Study,”
Word Clearing Series 3
, HCO Bulletin, June 25, 1971.

72
“Too Steep a Gradient”:
Ibid.

73
The “Undefined Word”:
Hubbard, “How to Use a Dictionary,”
Word Clearing Series 22R
, Board Technical Bulletin, Sept. 4, 1971 R, revised Dec. 15, 1973, revised July 20, 1974 as BTB.

74
“gives one a distinctly blank feeling”:
Hubbard, “Barriers to Study,”
Word Clearing Series 3
, HCO Bulletin, June 25, 1971.

75
“have him go back”:
Church of Scientology International,
Assists for Illnesses and Injuries
, p. 10.

7. THE FUTURE IS OURS

1
Miscavige hired Hill & Knowlton:
Hill & Knowlton letter of agreement with the Church of Scientology, International, quoted in Memorandum Opinion and Order,
Church of Scientology, International, v. Eli Lilly & Co., Hill & Knowlton, Inc., et al
. US District Court for the District of Columbia, March 18. 1994.

2
Robert Keith Gray:
Susan B. Trento, “Lord of the Lies: How Hill and Knowlton’s Robert Gray Pulls Washington’s Strings,”
Washington Monthly
, Sept. 1992. Trento,
The Power House
.

3
“They took the babies”:
Ted Rowse, “Kuwaitgate—Killing of Kuwaiti Babies by Iraqi Soldiers Exaggerated,”
Washington Monthly
, Sept. 1992.

4
The propaganda operation was:
Tara Weiss, “NPR Insists Funding Doesn’t Influence News,”
Hartford Courant
, March 15, 2001.

5
“mindless actor”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

6
Ted Turner’s Goodwill Games:
Behar, “Scientology: The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power,”
Time
, May 6, 1991.

7
There were full-page ads:
Hawkins,
Counterfeit Dreams
, p. 170.

8
“part storyteller, part flimflam man”:
Richard Behar, “Scientology: The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power,”
Time
, May 6, 1991.

9
“Those who criticize the church”:
Behar, “The Scientologists and Me,”
Time
, May 6, 1991.

10
He rehearsed for months:
Interviews with Mark “Marty” Rathbun and Mike Rinder.

11
“I was up in the Van Allen Belt”:
Nightline
, Nov. 18, 2006.

12
“I got Ted the Emmy”:
Marty Rathbun, personal communication. Marc Headley, personal communication.

13
“increase happiness and improve conditions”:
Douglas Franz, “An Ultra-Aggressive Use of Investigators and the Courts,” New
York Times
, Mar. 9, 1997. According to
60 Minutes
, “Now, when you call looking for information about a cult, chances are the person you’re talking to is a Scientologist.” Leslie Stahl, “The Cult Awareness Network,”
60 Minutes
, Dec. 28, 1997. Garry Scarff, a former Scientologist, told me (and has testified) that he was instructed to learn how to sever the brake line on Cynthia Kisser’s car; he says that if the resulting accident failed to kill her, he was to pretend to be a good Samaritan, then reach into the car and strangle her. The plan was never put into action, however.

14
a $3 million campaign:
David Miscavige on
Nightline
, Nov. 18, 2006. Hawkins,
Counterfeit Dreams
, pp. 208–9.

15
annual litigation budget of $20 million:
J. P. Kumar, “ ‘Fair Game’: Leveling the Playing Field in Scientology Litigation,”
Review of Litigation
, Summer 1997, vol. 16, pp. 747–72.

16
it cost
Time
more money:
John Huey, personal communication.

17
“to harass and discourage”:”
Hubbard, “The Scientologist, A Manual on the Dissemination of Material,”
Ability
, ca. 1955.

18
“If attacked on some”:
Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, “Dept of Govt Affairs,” Aug. 15, 1960.

19
“NEVER agree to an”:
Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, “Attacks on Scientology,” Feb. 25, 1966.

20
“virtually incomprehensible”:”
Douglas Frantz, “The Shadowy Story behind Scientology’s Tax-Exempt Status,”
New York Times
, Mar. 9, 1997.

21
$1 billion in arrears:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

22
Miscavige accused the:
David Miscavige, Speech to the International Association of Scientologists, Oct. 8, 1993,
http://www.xenu.net/archive/oca/speech.html
.

23
the church upped the ante:
Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 163.

24
“They didn’t even have money”:
David Miscavige, Speech to the International Association of Scientologists, Oct. 8, 1993,
www.xenu.net/archive/oca/speech.html
.

25
“All of America Loved Lucy”:
Ibid.

26
A ten-thousand-dollar reward:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun. Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 165.

27
phony news bureau:
Douglas Frantz, “The Shadowy Story behind Scientology’s Tax-Exempt Status,”
New York Times
, Mar. 9, 1997.

28
Some government workers:
Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 166.

29
religious cloaking:
Interview with Denise (Larry) Brennan.

30
“A truly Suppressive Person”:
Hubbard, HCOPL, “Cancellation of Fair Game,” Oct. 21, 1968.

31
“I was an Irishman”:
Interview with Frank Flinn.

32
“Marty and I are just going to bypass”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

33
“Is he expecting you?”:
David Miscavige, Speech to the International Association of Scientologists, Oct. 8, 1993,
http://www.xenu.net/archive/oca/speech.html
.

34
The level of distrust:
Garrison,
Playing Dirty
, p. 101.

35
“Am I lying?”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

36
Final Solution document:
David Miscavige, Speech to the International Association of Scientologists, Oct. 8, 1993,
http://www.xenu.net/archive/oca/speech.html
.

37
Two hundred Scientologists:
Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, pp. 167–88.

38
Instead of the $1 billion bill:
Elizabeth MacDonald, “Scientologists and IRS Settled for $12.5 Million,”
Wall Street Journal
, Dec. 30, 1997.

39
“I’m only doing this”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

40
began to strangle him:
Interview with Stefan Castle. “He did not hurt me physically,” Castle told me. “More psychological.” Rathbun witnessed the incident.

41
“You just want to get rid”:
Interview with Amy Scobee.

42
“You know the kind of pressure”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

43
“cease acting like a madman”:
markrathbun.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/the-joe-howard-paradigm-tech-outside-the-wall/.

44
“Because you did this”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

45
It was a title that:
Hubbard, “Kha-Khan,” HCO Policy Letter, May 25, 1982.

46
“I finally know who”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

47
Then, on December 5, 1995:
Thomas C. Tobin and Joe Childs, “Death in Slow Motion: Part 2 of 3 in a special report on the Church of Scientology,”
St. Petersburg Times
, June 22, 2009.

48
“a gopher being pulled”:
Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 201.

49

Aaaaaah! Yahoo!
”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun. Thomas C. Tobin and Joe Childs, “Death in Slow Motion: Part 2 of 3 in a special report on the Church of Scientology,”
St. Petersburg Times
, June 22, 2009.

50
the case supervisor who pronounced:
Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 227; Headley,
Blown for Good
, p. 181; Thomas C. Tobin and Joe Childs, “Death in Slow Motion: Part 2 of 3 in a special report on the Church of Scientology,”
St. Petersburg Times
, June 22, 2009.

51
When church members decided:
Detective Ron Sudler interview with Dr. David Minkoff, Florida Offense/Incident Report, April 15, 1996. Thomas C. Tobin and Joe Childs, “Death in Slow Motion: Part 2 of 3 in a special report on the Church of Scientology,”
St. Petersburg Times
, June 22, 2009.

52
She was one of nine:
Ina Brockmann and Peter Reichelt, “Missing in Happy Valley,” 1999.
Missing in Happy Valley
,
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2742505831051424517
.

53
“Why aren’t you all over”:
Thomas C. Tobin and Joe Childs, “Death in Slow Motion: Part 2 of 3 in a special report on the Church of Scientology,”
St. Petersburg Times
, June 22, 2009.

54
“Lose ’em”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

55
Embarrassing details emerged:
Thomas C. Tobin and Joe Childs, “Death in Slow Motion: Part 2 of 3 in a special report on the Church of Scientology,”
St. Petersburg Times
, June 22, 2009.

56
“silent enforcer”:
Interviews with Mark “Marty” Rathbun and Mike Rinder.

57
“This is the most severe case”:
Inside Edition
, Jan. 21, 1997.

58
loss of its tax exemption:
Interview with Mike Rinder.

59
unflappable witness:
Andrew Meacham, “Lisa McPherson Scientology Case Drove Joan Wood from Medical Examiner to Recluse,”
Tampa Bay Times
, July 30, 2011.

60
“into the Stone Age”:
Mark “Marty” Rathbun video, “Knowledge Report,”
https://whyweprotest.net/community/threads/wtsp-federal-suit-scientologist-spent-30-mil-to-cover-up-death-of-lisa-mcpherson.106523/page-3#post-2223487
. Goodis recalls that there was a suggestion of “legal jeopardy” for his client, but he doesn’t remember the quote.

61
changed her ruling:
Goodis claims that he merely provided all the information he received from the church to his client, and that she made her own decision.

62
suffered panic attacks:
Andrew Meacham, “Lisa McPherson Scientology Case Drove Joan Wood from Medical Examiner to Recluse,”
Tampa Bay Times
, July 30, 2011.

63
Repper was invited:
Interview with Mike Rinder.

64
hosting a series of dinners:
Interview with Mike Rinder, Mark “Marty” Rathbun, and Tom De Vocht; Mark “Marty” Rathbun deposition,
Kennan G. Dandar and Dandar & Dandar v. Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc., et al.
, Nov. 9, 2012.

65
Tom Cruise:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun; Times Staff Writers, “Leftovers Again? Mayor Iorio Not Tom Cruise’s Only Dinner Partner,”
St. Petersburg Times
, June 27, 2003.

66
Repper held a brunch:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

67
“This guy is really going”:
Ibid.

68
change the climate:
Mark “Marty” Rathbun, “David Miscavige the Cheater,”
http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/david-miscavige-the-cheater/
.

69
$20 to $30 million:
Mark “Marty” Rathbun deposition,
Kennan G. Dandar and Dandar & Dandar v. Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc., et al.
, Nov. 9, 2012.

70
In Hamburg, in 1992:
www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/135450wikileaks
.

71
The youth wing of the:
Testimony of John Travolta, “Religious Intolerance in Europe Today,” hearing before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission), Sept. 18, 1997.

72
The city of Stuttgart:
Testimony of Chick Corea, ibid.

73
Seventy percent of Germans:
David Hudson, “Scientology’s ‘Holocaust,’ ”
Salon Daily Clicks
, Feb. 25, 1997.

74
Journet had been influenced:
Clarke,
Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements
, pp. 472–73.

75
A year after these:
Katherine Ramsland, “The Order of the Solar Temple,”
www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/solar_temple/1.html
.

76
Aum Shinrikyo:
Lifton,
Destroying the World to Save It
, p. 6.

77
Isaac Asimov’s
Foundation Trilogy
:
Kaplan and Marshall,
The Cult at the End of the World
, pp. 30–31.

78
the source of Aum Shinrikyo’s crimes:
Nick Broadhurst,
Aum Supreme Truth
, 2000,
web.archive.org/web/20070928161556/http://www.cultawarenessnetwork.org/AUM/preamble.html
.

79
receiving guidance from the television show:
George D. Chryssides, “ ‘Come On Up, and I Will Show Thee’: Heaven’s Gate as a Postmodern Group,” in Lewis and Petersen,
Controversial New Religions
, p. 361; and Lifton,
Destroying the World to Save It
, pp. 320–21.

80
Aum’s membership:
Lifton,
Destroying the World to Save It
, p. 6.

81
with resources close to $1 billion:
Ibid., p. 37.

82
“Hitler was thinking”:
Russ Baker, “Clash of the Titans,”
George
, April 1997.

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