PART 3 – LRH MOVES TO THE US 1975 to end of 1976
One of the things that really surprised me while writing this part is everything happened in such a short amount of time. While living it, it seemed to take forever, but now being older…boy it all went so fast. It was just over a year.
I started writing quite prolifically to my mother once we moved to the US. I had more time due to the circumstances and I wrote all the way from 1975 until the middle of 1981. I have only recently been able to read these letters and the one underlying theme throughout, with every letter, was how much I desperately loved my family and missed them so much. All of these letters were “security checked” so there was no info about where I was (other than Florida), and no “secret” info about LRH, but I alluded to things and was therefore able to remember what was going on at that time. Here are a few quotes from the end of my letters. Reading these letters brought me to tears.
“If you can’t buy a sewing machine for me, you can buy me some clothes or shoes, my shoes are getting scarce”
“Mom is there any possible way you could send me some goodies, pantyhose, undies, bras. I’m sort of running out of those”
“I luv you both so much, and miss you lots & lots & lots.”
“Sorry I haven’t written for so long. Yes, we are landbased and boy is it great, I mean it is 100x better than any other sea org house or org at all. We have a huge building with a swimming pool, gymnasium, about 300 bedrooms, ballrooms, huge lecture rooms. I mean it is so fantastic, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I have a room with one other messenger, wall to wall carpeting, dressing table etc. etc.….”
“Anyway, I must sign off now, and go to bed as I am very tired and just got off watch. It is 0600 in the early morning. So goodnight. I love you lots and lots and miss you lots. It’s going to be another year until I see you all. LOTS & LOTS of LOVE, Your Eldest Daughter, Lois”
“Well Mommy I must go now, and I love you very very very much, please write soon. Tons of Love, Lowie”
“Well, Mom I have chatted and chatted, but I feel like talking to you lots!! And I love you so much; I have no words to explain it. I feel so close to you, like never before and one day I would love to have you to myself for a day or two and we can talk, miss you tons and love you forever, my love forever, Lowie”
“Scot, Doranne and Louveigne – Hi my babies (my big babies) – I love and miss all of you so very much and I have a feeling that I may be able to visit you all soon and I can’t wait!!! You are all growing up so fast!!”
“Thanks so much for the wonderful letter you sent me; it puts me on Cloud 30!!! It really makes me feel like I am with you and that neat stuff.”
“Would you please send me your phone number, I really would like to call you someday, it would be so nice, as I really miss you Mommy. I just can’t explain the amount of affinity for you.”
DAYTONA BEACH 1975
I was not physically with LRH when he left the ship and arrived in Daytona Beach, Fla in 1975. I was already there and met up with him in Daytona. The plan was for the management staff, external communications etc. to be in New York which was called RONY – (Relay Office NY); ship crew to stay with the ship to wherever its destination was and then for all NON-US citizens and those under 16 years of age to go to Daytona. I was in 2 of those categories – underage and non-US – so ended up in Daytona Beach. Not all the messengers were in Daytona, some may have gone to Rony (Relay Office New York) and some with the ship.
The Neptune motel on Daytona Beach was taken over by us and that is where the Daytona crew lived and worked. LRH got an apartment close by. I remember being very excited to arrive in the US. I especially remember the great food (coming from the ship this was a HUGE deal) and for me, who had never seen TV, TV was amazing. I spent most of my time after standing watch, watching TV and especially cartoons…..I was so enthralled and had loved comic books as a kid, so seeing my comic characters come alive was amazing. Can you imagine that someone in 1975 had never seen cartoons on TV…..?
We were at the motel in secret, so we acted like we were tourists, there were no uniforms and for a certain amount of hours during the day, we would be at the pool or the beach and acting like tourists. I actually never again wore an SO uniform other than if I was sent on a Mission, in the years after this. I was with LRH almost all the time and he was in secret locations all of those years. Security was important as we were undercover.
The messengers again stood their normal watches of 6 hours and maybe 9 at times. Now we had fewer messengers so we did not have 3 on watch at once. When we were off watch we had to be “tourists” but also started to do typing for LRH, this was now the start of our typing and taking dictation from him. This would become important as a messenger as from this time forward we did not have a large amount of people to “run” messages to. I had never learnt how to type in my life, and to this day I type very fast with only a few fingers. Management was never again going to be with LRH it was always going to be far from wherever he was.
The apartment where LRH lived was quite a high building (10 stories) and he had magnificent views of the ocean from his apartment. I loved going there. He would also take daily walks on the beach and would walk right past the motel, yet the crew at the motel was not supposed to know he was so close by……but he would still walk past and I know people saw him. I think he was invigorated to be in the US so there was some excitement about him during this time period.
At one point while we were in Daytona a bunch of outer-Org staff were sent to the motel for “training”, little did they know that LRH would be training them. These were the last lectures he ever gave and it was during this time that he noted that the TR’s and Metering were not good and he started to overhaul things. I was involved whenever these training sessions went on and would help record them. He would get quite angry at times as the tech was not in. From what I remember this was to be the start of the training of Super Power which he had been working on, but due to the out-tech it ended up being an overhaul of the basics of auditing. As a result Super Power went on the back burner, but really went on the back burner until only recently.
CLEARWATER & DUNEDIN 1975-1976
LRH and his staff moved to Dunedin, the next town north of Clearwater (they had rented a few apartments) at the time the rest of the crew all moved to the Fort Harrison. One of the first things I remembering happening is that the GO had told LRH that everyone under 16 years of age had to be in school. I was so upset by this because it meant I would no longer be able to stand watch and, I was terrified of going to a US school. I had not been in school for more than 2 years and therefore missed all that time and also our curriculum in South Africa was obviously different.
I spoke to LRH about this and asked him not to send me to school. I was going to turn 16 in under 6 months anyway so what was the point……he fully agreed with me, so I got out of having to go to school. The younger CMO staff which included some junior messengers did end up going to school. He told the GO that I was not going to go. I was so relieved.
Christmas 1975 would go down in SO history as the Out-2D Xmas Party – by December most of the crew from the Apollo were now all in one place and people had not seen each other for a few months. Now there were also other staff there, like outer-org students and some public. There was a huge party held in the FH. I remember us messengers all getting ready to go to the party with our fashionable long dresses of the time. It was fun getting ready. We went over to the FH Ballroom and there was music and a lot of dancing and alcohol but it ended up that a lot of out-2D amongst many of the crew and some crew with outer org students and paying public. When LRH found out about this a day or two later there were a lot of people who were in big trouble. I cannot remember if the RPF started up again or if it was a while later, but a number of the SO crew were busted at all levels.
Other than standing watch in Dunedin, some of us also had LRH projects to do with the setting up of the Fort Harrison and at some point, from my letters, I started handling telexes.
Here are some quotes of my letters to my Mom about this era:
Dec 9th 1975
“Since we moved, Flag is really booming, we have 90 FCCI’s (public) on auditing and about 100 outer org students. Also we just got 42 new recruits all in one day sooooo things are sure rolling.”
“LRH let us buy a sewing machine (CMO) and it does all kinds of stitches it really is nice. So we are all sewing.”
Dec. 26th, 1975
“LRH is looking fantastic and he really got some great Xmas presents. We spent 7 hours unwrapping them all.”
“Cathy Rubio (eventually to be Rinder) has been ranting and raving as to how well both of you are doing at the Franchise, she is very happy with you, and I am proud and happy for you both because you’re doing what you want to do and are doing it like real staff members.”
Jan 31st, 1976
“Int stats are doing very well and LRH is very pleased. There are a lot of good missions, going to AF, some to the Folo and a few individual orgs.”
Feb 2nd, 76
“It is 0527 in the morning and I have just finished handling a whole lot of telex admin. I am now in PT so I decided to write. LRH secured about 2 hours ago in a very good mood; he was in such a good mood this evening and was joking a lot.”
Feb 17th, 1976
“Since we have been land based, the FSO has boomed and is “THE” org on the planet, they are making over ½ a million dollars a week!!. The Commodore is so proud of them. We have got about 150-200 paying public”
March 18th, 76
Today our first baby is going to be born on the Flag Landbase)!!! Everyone is so excited. The mother went into labor early this morning and should have it in a couple of hours. Peggy Eastman will be having hers in a few days. There are so many preggies, its really great.”
One point I would like to make here and clear up any misunderstanding. LRH never advocated for abortions. As far as I know he never wrote any orders or Flag Orders regarding SO members having abortions. Only what he wrote in DMSMH. I know of 1 messenger on the ship who had to have an abortion and she made that decision herself, no-one sent her to ethics for handling on this or made her wrong. There were also some couples who left the ship because they decided to keep the baby. Maybe he wrote something before he died when I was not around. If there had been such a “culture” we would not have had the baby boom when we arrived at Flag in the 70’s……..however, I also do know that the cadet org set-up and the way children were treated at all the SO bases in later years, was also very wrong and a real disaster.
Things started to get really hairy in CW, with the local press figuring out who we were (we had a “shore story” when we moved to Clearwater that we were not the Church of Scientology). This was a huge disappointment for LRH. He really did want to settle down in one place (I don’t mean settle to relax, I mean for him to have a stable place) and be able to operate without being found out that he was there. Plans were being made to renovate and set-up the Penthouse in the FH for him and Mary Sue. In addition to that there were other problems i.e. the Paulette Cooper situation. All I really knew about this is that she had written a book and was the “biggest SP in the world”. Her name was bandied about a lot but I cannot remember the details and if I did, I did not understand them. This had obviously already started when we were on the ship. The local press was now also becoming nosy. The pressure was on the GO. When I think about all of this, I am sure the GO were not happy with him coming to the US and settling here, I am pretty sure they would have been happier if he had stayed on the ship, but obviously what he wanted to do, he would do.
LRH had been in pretty good moods through Daytona and now Dunedin, but now all of sudden things were getting “hot” and something happened with a reporter finding out about whom we were. There was an incident about a reporter knocking on a door or managing to get into the FH. Not sure of the details on this but this is when LRH decided to run off to DC (early 1976), with Kima and Mike Douglas, Jim Dincalci (Medical Officer) and eventually Gale Reisdorf Irwin. He had no messengers with him during this short period,though David and Claire Rossouw were handling telexes and mail for him at the DC Org but were not in the same location. Gale had been part of the Household Unit (and Kima’s junior) and had to bring an air conditioner from Florida to DC (seems like one could have been bought in DC). Gail asked LRH while in D.C if she could be a messenger when they returned and he agreed. More about her in later chapters.
Soon after LRH left Dunedin and relocated to D.C. we continued on with our projects and also got involved with handling his telexes. LRH actually asked us messengers to write letters to him as he missed us. Below are two of the answers he sent to me. Please understand these are not SO#1 letters but actual letters typed by him, there were only 3 people with him and they certainly were not SO#1. These are personal letters. You may not understand most of what he is saying. But they are to a 15 year old.
April/May 1976 – In my letters to my Mom I talk about how I was holding the post of Personnel in the CMO Org (HCO), how I was quite good at this! I was in charge of recruitment & training of future messengers. Well, one of the people I recruited into the CMO in 1976 was a young guy named David Miscavige. He had joined the SO and was on the Flag EPF and was going to be on the TTC at Flag to become a trained auditor. He was already an auditor but the plan was for him to train further, if I remember correctly. He is the same age as me, in fact born the same month and year. He was extremely well qualified, correct age, already an auditor which was a huge plus as most messengers were not tech trained and had good character and “spunk”. I remember meeting with him and his Dad, Ron Sr. in an office in the FH. I was waiting for them to come in, and had a large Styrofoam cup of coffee, which I put on the floor next to me. They came in and we sat down for the interview. Before I even started talking, Ron Sr. with a big smile on his face indicated to me that my very high heel was now in the cup of coffee….I was so embarrassed. It was just a funny anecdote that I remember. Dave was very excited of the possibility of working with LRH.
So David was routed onto the CMO EPF in Clearwater. I would not see him again until he eventually made it to La Quinta. Of course, there is way more to this story……..soon after this I disappeared from Fla….
BETA AND ASTRA
LRH thereafter moved to Culver City in LA from D.C. (this would now be called ASTRA). A few messengers were sent to be with him at Astra. It was a few apartments in a larger complex. I was called to LA from Clewarwater and became part of BETA. Beta was a secret communication unit for LRH. Beta would receive and send telexes to LRH. This unit was manned with messengers: Janis Gillham, Jill Goodman, and me. We worked in the External Communications office of the US GO. We were “undercover”, no-one was supposed to know who or what we were. A small studio apartment was found for us across the road from the Manor and that is where we lived for maybe a month. Janis and Jill were already there when I arrived. It was weird as none of us had ever lived on our own, ever. I was now 16 and Janis and Jill were about 19/20. We had been little girls when we went to the ship and now we had to live by ourselves and also cook our own food etc. One of the things which stuck in my mind is cooking dinner one night for the 3 of us and burning the steaks on the stove, there was smoke everywhere! I also remember getting the most extreme callouses on my feet due to the high heeled shoes I was wearing. It became very painful, so my handling for this was to take a blade and try and “shave” off the callouses. All that got me was bloody feet and I battled to walk for about a week. Our jobs were to code and send and receive telexes and mail for LRH. Jill was the one who mainly did the mail “drops”, whereby she would meet one of the guys from Astra in a parking lot and swap mail packages. Janis and I mainly typed and coded telexes in the US GO Office.
Meanwhile, a communication center was set-up at Astra with Gary Reisdorf and Gerri Armstrong and Mike Douglas. Once they were up and running, Beta was disbanded as no longer needed. I was then sent to Astra joining the other messengers already with LRH. Janis and Jill returned to Clearwater where Janis later became the CO CMO CW.
At Astra we would stand our watches with LRH and also be involved with external comm. We typed and coded telexes. Our codes used an obscure dictionary (which both sides would have) and if the word you wished to use was the 30th word down and 5th word across on page 100 then that word became “100-30-5”. The key to this coding system was to have a very uncommon dictionary in use on both ends. We only coded key words, but even so it was very time consuming and one could spend hours doing this and then typing the telexes. Same thing would be done with the receiving of telexes, decode and then type up for LRH. He was very active on management lines during this time.
Culver City 1976 – photo by Claire Rossouw
One day (around July/Aug of 76) LRH decided he wanted to see “All The Presidents Men”, with Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway and Dustin Hoffman. We got him into some sort of a disguise but the funny thing about his disguises was that he stood out as being a weirdo, with a funny long haired wig and fake mustache. Anyway, we watched it at the Chinese Mann Theater in LA, right near a bunch of Scn buildings. He went incognito to not be recognized by Scientologists but he certainly did not look disguised. It was a bit nerve wracking for us who went with him, but he didn’t seem fazed. I got very embarrassed during the love scene of Redford and Dunaway….sitting right next to LRH was like watching it next to your Grandfather.
During the Astra period I remember one incident quiet clearly. I was on watch by myself with LRH in his apartment. Kima Douglas had been out driving around, maybe shopping, and she rushed into his apt. in a state and crying because she had witnessed a very bad accident and she was traumatized. LRH had her recount the incident a number of times in a very casual way and then told her he was going to give her a touch assist. I asked if I should leave and he said no, it is fine that I stay. He started the touch assist but his command was: “Look at My Finger” (with Kima’s eyes being closed). Up until that point, it had always been “Feel My Finger”……..I had thoughts going through my head, like what is going on here?? Once he was done, both Kima and I told him that we had never heard of that command; he momentarily had a confused look on his face (very brief) and then said Oh that is because you would give that command to an OT and the other one to someone who was not yet OT. We told him that no HCOB exists where it states that, so immediately he wrote the HCOB on this very thing.
LA QUINTA
The purchase of our La Quinta properties (in the desert near Palm Springs) were progressing and we were all looking forward to our new home as it was quite stifling in the few apartments we had in Culver City. I was one of the people who was sent ahead to help set-up the properties. The houses were: Palms – to be crew eating and berthing; Olives – a beautiful house for more berthing, the CMO office and LRH External Comm, this house had a gorgeous pool with a palm tree in the middle and then LRH house – Rifle. There were also a few other buildings such as the Stables. My task was to help set-up Rifle for LRH. These properties were across the road from the La Quinta Golf Resort – they eventually bought our properties (except for Rifle which was privately owned). They expanded the resort and today it is a beautiful golfing location with all those houses still part of the property. I visited in recent years to look at our old houses.
LRH, and then a little while later Mary Su,e arrived to their new home and the next 2 months was one of the best times. Things were quite mellow and LRH was involved in doing various projects: setting up pathways around the properties and getting date and citrus trees growing well. We were all so excited to be there. There were many rattlesnakes around and that was when he instituted that if any crew member could kill a rattlesnake they would make a bonus, which many did.
The messengers were given bicycles as well as the LRH Ext Comm people, so we could easily get from one house to the next. Due to the rattle snake situation, LRH ordered us to wear real high leather cowboy boots when we were going from one property to the next, that way if there was a snake and it tried to bite, the leather would protect us.
The LRH external Comm Unit was now well staffed and we no longer had to be involved with the coding/typing and sending/receiving of his telexes.
Towards the end of 76, in November — it was a morning — a GO guy, I think it was either Henning Heldt or Duke Snider, just arrived at LRH’s house, which was highly unusual. I think he was the Guardian US. All of a sudden him and Nikki Freeman (Mary Sue’s Assistant) were in our messenger office (which adjoined LRH’s) and they had to go in to see LRH immediately. We tried to stop them as no-one other than MSH or Kima could just walk into his office. They were in a panic. The GO guy went into the office. I was not present but once he left I went in with another messenger and LRH told us that Quentin was found dead in a car outside of Las Vegas. Possibility was suicide. LRH was furious, swearing at Quentin that he had F.…ed things up and what had he (Quentin) done to him (LRH). (Please note that LRH would hardly ever swear in front of us messengers and definitely did not say the F word in front of us, so that was also shocking to me. ) He was not sad and did not cry or have any of those emotions. It was one of the most terrible days for all of us. Quentin had been missing a week or two prior and no-one had known where he was. LRH then went to tell Mary Sue what had happened, no-one was in the room when he told her, but she just wailed and wailed and in fact the wailing lasted what seemed like days and weeks to me. It was so terribly sad and she was truly devastated. It was just one of those “big” things in your life that you will never forget. Quentin was such a lovely guy and I always liked him – and yes, he was obsessed with flying and planes.
Next up……1977 – A pivotal year when all hell breaks loose – FBI Raid; LRH leaves; Revolt In The Stars; and that little kid I recruited in CW arrives named David Miscavige; and I get married to Gary Reisdorf.
I keep thinking of Axiom 10, “Axiom 10 The highest purpose in the universe is the creation of an effect.” And he certainly accomplished that!
Hi Lois, Could you fill in about LRH’s knowledge of and/or direct participation with Paulette Cooper’s fair gaming?
Thank you SO MUCH for writing your recollections!
Nomnom, I knew about Paulette Cooper but had no idea what the GO was doing during that period. LRH would have private dinners with MSH and I think it was during those times when they would discuss such things. In La Quinta he would go into her office and discuss things, but I never knew what it was about. So to answer your question – I have no idea. It was the same Operation Snow White – no data. All the GO stuff was confidential and I certainly believe that he did not want his fingerprints on any of that.
Thanks Lois.
I love the black and white picture of you. I was at the FH in 1976 and you look so familiar.
I remember Quentin walking down the hallways with his arms extended ‘being’ an airplane!
For a time I was working with Unimedia.
When I audited some of them, I started hearing some very odd stories about life on the Apollo. Kali ceremony, wild 2d, the rock concert, etc. Being a true believer then, I just set aside my questions.
Yes there were a lot weird things that happened, the Kali thing (that was the weirdest!)was before I was there and also the out-2D which was quite rampant. Things calmed down a bit when I was on the Apollo but I heard of those stories too.
One moment I remember was watching a group of messengers standing around in the FH lobby, all dressed in white, and looking very special.
Tonja Burden, a very attractive meesenger then, had a white parakeet on her shoulder. Next to her was a young Mark Yaeger and also a very short, surly looking teenager – DM.
Sorry DM was never a messenger on the ship.
This was in the Fort Harrison. I’m not 100% positive (40 years!) but I thought it was him – looked just like the photo where he’s behind the camera with LRH and the other cine crew.
Oh boy,thank you,your comment made me recall with laughter Quentin’s airplane sounds.Just such a glowing person.But what I suddenly remembered @ Asho F,the worst years 77-78 for me in Sea Org with the GO.I was told by a GO staffer darn cannot get the name,that the reason I was under such scrutiny by them was 1) I was a land for the LA Times ? & 2) I had been sucked unknowingly into a Shiva ceremony being done at Asho,where I have no clue,and that this evil which some lady was attempting affected me greatly.I was pretty fed up with my treatment by then,so thought I might have dreamed this.No,it was said to me more than once.Spooky.?
Edit,a plant for the LA Times…
At an educated guess some 2000 women alleged their child was Quentin Hubbard in the 1970s/early 1980s. It was known as the Quentin scam because some people wanted money $$$$ as they stated the baby would be the son of L Ron Hubbard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwQlr06vyzQ
Thank you Karen.Fills in the holes of the Quentin return for me.I loved him,so many loved him.May he be at peace.?
Thank you for the that video Karen.
I wonder how many ladies had blips on the meter verifying this “truth.”
When I was a cult member I remember that a few folks discovered they were Mozart in session.
The emeter can be a source for delusional thinking.
There ought to be a “new” Meter Read in EM Drill 19.
…..
r) Wishful False Read
And there ought to be a “Wishful False Read” drill.
On second thoughts, skip it all, like LRH said to Sarge, he failed at it all, so everyone ought to just go home like the followers in “The Path” TV show were given the info that the leader wanted all the followers to move on with their lives, and instead, “The Path” leaders kept “The Path” going for their own motives, and even one of the former skeptical members had a vision to keep “The Path” going.
Wishful thinking keeps a lot of things going when people ought to quit it.
There ought to be a NEW EM Drill,
“Quit Fast Read”
If you read on the “Quit Fast” question, it means you should quit fast.
And everyone should get the “Quit Fast Rundown” and get the “Quit Fast Read” and quit fast.
OMG, you stated this, and it connects dots for me:
“During the Astra period I remember one incident quiet clearly. I was on watch by myself with LRH in his apartment. Kima Douglas had been out driving around, maybe shopping, and she rushed into his apt. in a state and crying because she had witnessed a very bad accident and she was traumatized. LRH had her recount the incident a number of times in a very casual way and then told her he was going to give her a touch assist. I asked if I should leave and he said no, it is fine that I stay. He started the touch assist but his command was: “Look at My Finger” (with Kima’s eyes being closed). Up until that point, it had always been “Feel My Finger”……..I had thoughts going through my head, like what is going on here?? Once he was done, both Kima and I told him that we had never heard of that command; he momentarily had a confused look on his face (very brief) and then said Oh that is because you would give that command to an OT and the other one to someone who was not yet OT. We told him that no HCOB exists where it states that, so immediately he wrote the HCOB on this very thing.”
I remember in my beginning years, auditors would use the command “feel my finger” when I was C/S’d to get a touch assist, had a cold, or hurt some body part. One day an auditor used the command “look at my finger” and I was dumbfounded. So I looked up the HCOB, and I was a noob at the time, and there it said use “look” for OT’s or something like that.
I have to tell you when I read that HCOB I got all warm and fuzzy, thinking, wow, I’m a pre-clear and the auditor used the “look” command, I was like am I OT?
oh that Ron, he sure could think on his feet.
UTR, classic P.T. Barnum skills
Catching up on all parts of your story, Lois. Reminds me what a small, ironic world Scientology really was even though for those of us in the Sea Org, it seemed to loom so logic and large in our minds. I don’t think my husband or I knew Duke Snider was one of the GO who had personally notified Hubbard of Quentin’s passing.
Duke was still HAS, (Ethics area) in St Louis where Mr Hole was on lines. He had already moved over to GO of course by ’76. He and just about everyone else would have been very surprised where Quentin was those missing weeks. Well, at least one day in that time frame. I shared this story last year only because I wanted those who knew him well to know that he had at least one day in his very happy, fun day and even got to fly. If Quentin gave Mr Hole’s father any kind of clues as to what was really going on, he never shared it with us. Anyway, someone told me about your story, and I wanted to share you one day of mine. I hope my sharing helps in some small way. Thank you for sharing yours.
http://tonyortega.org/2015/01/01/
Yes I read your story and it was interesting and described Quentin perfectly. A very nice guy and I got along with him very well. Thank you.
These recollections are great. I think as an ex, there’s a desire to paint a sordid picture of Ron, a textbook narcissist doing whatever crazy things to degrade you. In truth, per your recollections, he was quite lucid and human with splashes of brilliance and normalcy which occasionally went awry.
Great stories, Lowie!
Keep going!
Go! Go! Go!
Alanzo
Thanks Alanzo. Working hard to get the stories straight and correct.
Hey Lowie,
Good stuff. :0)
I was at Rony..all the Aides – Cs’s1 -7, a cook and a reg, David Light. I don’t recall there being any messengers though, at Rony. I then moved to the FH in Dec of 1975.. can’t recall how long it took for the rest of the crew to pack up the house and leave, as they were still actively running the show from there in early December.
While LRH never ordered abortions, Jim Din has told of the many times he drove the gals to clinis etc… to have the procedure done. Both on the ship and elsewhere. So it just may not have been something LRH spoke about in front of the young messengers.. dunno.
“clinics”, not clinis
I was at RONY also. I don’t recall any messengers there either.
It was such a joy though to be off of that barge and back in the US. I remember my favorite thing was to watch Monday Night Football at a local bar in Queens. Paul Davis and I would try to get there by 8pm and have a few beers and watch what was then, my favorite sport.
Madge, you may remember a bit of fun a number of the people got up to – we’d take a rubber band and shoot it across the room at anyone having a cigarette hanging out of their mouths and try to knock it onto the ground. That is pretty bad when that is your idea of office entertainment. I guess we were easily entertained.
Madge, yes there were most probably not any messengers at Rony. I have no idea what Jim Din is talking about re the abortions…….LRH pretty much spoke to us about everything except confidential GO stuff.
O/T but EXTREMELY IMPORTANT
This is actually Karen Pouw. I forgot to add one other comment regarding the bitter apostate known as Leah Remini.
Leah you’re a great big poopy head!
ML,
Karen MisPouwage
Lois, I’m thoroughly enjoying these articles of yours – thanks for taking the time. Definitely worth collating it all into a book one day – perhaps the old messenger crew could do a collaborative work? Would be awesome.
Thank you Lois for sharing your story. Can’t wait for the next segment.
Thanks for the memories Lois! What was the result of the process LRH ran on Kima Douglas, how was her condition after it?
Also the 2 scenarios of Quentins death are suicide or murder. The shore story, or the conspiracy. I would be interested to know what the FACTS were leading up to his death. His state of mind, how he was doing on post, how he got on with LRH etc. There are rumors about him on the internet but these can be easily manufactured, any info you have would be appreciated.
Penny, Kima was much calmer after running through the incident a few times and the touch assist. At least that was what she said. I do not have much data on Quentin’s state prior to his suicide. I do know that he was not a happy person and I believe he had been in some trouble.
Dear Lois. Thank you for sharing your stories on Mike’s Blog. It’s personal and touching as well, unlike most publishing their opinions, interpretations and snide remarks. Very refreshing. Would love to hear more. Is there Part 2, I have missed?
Yossi, look on Mike’s main page and then scroll down. Last Saturday was Part II and then a week before that was Part 1. Glad you are enjoying the stories.
Thank you. Found it and again fascinated. You have great courage.
I guess the only question I have at this point now that I’ve thought about it a bit is, when LRH was informed about Quentin’s death was there any instant reaction or questioning from LRH of how and where he died? Or was it just as it is written above. Hubbard was a stickler for details. Something doesn’t sit right apart from the general misemotion that doesn’t align with the expected sadness from the loss of one’s child. Missing, evasive and set up info abounds within Scientology. The fact he had messengers around him constantly gives a good measure of historic possibility as well as witness alignment. Is there any possibility he already knew or it wasn’t such a shock to him as he may have had an inkling something had happened to him. Quentin being missing in such a security paranoid organisation which was doing all sorts of make believe things to misguide observers does not sit all that well imo. Something isn’t right here (ain’t that the truth – it’s Scientology!)
Just thinking aloud in front of the keyboard.
LRH was with the GO guy and Nikki Freeman when he was told, there were no messengers in the office. His comments were to us messengers when the others had left and we then came in. I am sure he was properly briefed on everything. He knew Quentin had been missing and we all did, for about a week or so. So to answer your question he knew all the details for sure.
Your proximity and willingness to tell your story of LRH is invaluable in piecing the puzzle of Scientology together. Yes indeed, I’m sure he would have instantly got the info from the people informing him. Grizzly affair and it’s hard to get your head around what happened to Quentin.
So in essence his reaction was only observed by the GO guy and Nikki Freeman and he did say the words “possibly suicide” to you and another messenger a bit later.
Thank you.
Lois
Joe Lisa was the GO guy who reported the details of Quentin’s death to LRH. The GO at Flag had sent hin to Vegas to “investigate” the matter. I ard about it all when he returned to the Flag GO when it was all over.
I remember you from Dunedin and am very glad to read your wonderful accounts of many people and periods that are familiar to me.
With much love,
Thanks for the name Joe Lisa, I am sure you are correct as I was not able to remember the persons name. Whoever it was, was a GO person.
You’re very welcome Lois. Yes, Joe worked in the “external division” of bureau one of the GO at Flag and performed many “operations” on the outside.
Dear Lois,
Your letters are really important, I hope you have them copied, and send copies to Professor Steven Kent’s University of Alberta, and to his private collection on Scientology.
Your letters would be evidence of the LACK of censoring for someone who was so directly on LRH’s lines, compared to the censoring that is done today.
I urge ALL the firsthand participants to LRH’s life, to please copy their most important history stuff, and spread it around to the Universities that do keep important historical material on Scientology.
Especially you persons who were directly living day to day, with LRH in Hubbard’s final years!
http://webapps.srv.ualberta.ca/search/?type=simple&uid=true&t=2972&c=skent
Dr Stephen Kent
Professor
Sociology
5-21 Tory Building, HM
Edmonton, AB
Canada T6G 2H4
Tel: 780-492-2204
steve.kent@ualberta.ca
Thanks Chuck. I have a lot of stuff from when my mom worked with LRH in the 50’s including a whole lot of personally handwritten letters to her for years after they parted. Also all her certs and awards with the beautiful seals and calligraphy – quite a treasure-trove. Would be nice to know they were memorialized somewhere. Of course I’ll never let go of the originals…… 🙂
I agree with LRH on Quintin’s death. When I arrived at Flag in 76 Quintin greeted me along with Author and Diana. He was the face of Flag and the public loved him. Quintin was the future of Scientology and he threw it all away.
You are mad at Quintin and think he f’ed LRH?
Bookmark this one people
Different opinions are always good in the mix.I have a different viewpoint but I respect yours.?
I think the fact that Quentin was gay may have interfered with him being the future of Scientology
Sounds like he was a kind person. He would not have been able to control with an iron fist the way his father and Miscavige have done
Let’s face it, if disconnection did not exist, most people would have fled Scientology by now
Disconnection was created for a reason. LRH needed to keep the sheep in order
But I understand why someone would be angry with someone for suicide (instead of grief). I’m sure there are all kinds of emotions one goes through. I think LRH proved himself very human in that situation. And telling Mary Sue privately was a kind thing to do (instead of sending a messenger to do it)
My heart breaks for Mary Sue as well. As nasty a person as many claimed she was, she was his mother and her pain must have been overwhelmed.
Quentin loved FLYING! It was his great ambition. If one has that kind of dream, it has to be incredibly frustrating to be forced into something else. That said, he was one of the very best auditors I ever had.
Are you being facetious there?
Which part ….but no
Sorry, that question was directed to Willie Boy. Your post made perfect sense 😉
Lois, thanks for another addition to your remarkable story.
There is a later story about Quentin that apparently came from a former tech terminal at Flag. The idea was that somewhere in the early 2000s “Quentin” (in a new body with a new name), had come to Flag for services. He knew who he had been the previous lifetime and said that LRH had communicated with him sometime after he died. He said LRH expressed remorse and apologized about not having been a better father to him, and they apparently mended the comm line.
I debated whether I should post this data and decided that even if the person who claimed to have been Quentin was deluded, the fact that this story about him exists is part of the history.
This is not something I have ever heard, and I suspect if it had ever happened I would have.
This is double or triple hearsay that “apparently” comes from an unnamed “tech terminal at Flag.”
I heard once that someone said that apparently someone in the know saw Mike Rinder sucking cock on Hollywood Blvd, so I just wanted to pass that on as the “fact” this story about him exists is “part of the history.”
Sheer idiocy.
Okay, got it. I was curious if anyone else had heard this, so thanks for giving your view.
Just a thought:
If someone wanted to kill themselves to get away from abuse, why would they then want to be born back into that abuse?
It does not make sense.
Oh, was that you, Mike? 🙂
Yes, it’s assumed history so I cannot deny it.
Thank you Mike.?
Mike – I’m someone in the know, and I thought that might have been you!!!!! I’m shattered, it wasn’t as now it can’t go down in history.
Well, don’t get too upset Janni. I heard it on good authority it was me.
That Mike Rinder gets around!
Mike wrote:
“I heard once that someone said that apparently someone in the know saw Mike Rinder sucking cock on Hollywood Blvd, so I just wanted to pass that on as the “fact” this story about him exists is “part of the history.”
This can’t be true. Mike Rinder would take it over to Ivar or some other side street at least. 🙂
Alanzo
Marilidi, the problem is whether or not one believes in past lives, LRH was completely off lines by 1980 and really did not have comm with anyone, other than the people with him, and “Quentin in another body” would have been 4 years old or 9 or 10 years old by the time LRH died. Just a bunch of balderdash.
Lois, thanks for your reply. It was unclear as to whose death I was referring to – I meant that it was soon after Quentin’s death (not LRH’s) that LRH supposedly got in comm with Quentin.
That is funny…..I doubt it very much.
Okay, thanks.
It would be fun to chase it down and examine its provenance!
Quentin certainly did deserve an apology, but one wonders how Elron managed to acquire after death the conscience that he didn’t have while alive!? Perhaps “growing a conscience” is one of the abilities that can only be achieved when auditing on those highest of high OaTy levels, where the body is just an encumbrance to further gains.
The story does open out onto a much wider and more pivotal question, though: If folks really have achieved some sort of advanced suppa powerz and can now be at cause over their own next lifetime, then where ARE all these dead-but-now-reincarnated OaTys!? It’s a very central question, isn’t it? I mean, unless I really have achieved causal control over the time, place and circumstances of my next reincarnation, and can maintain continuity of consciousness from my last lifetime to the next, then I really haven’t transferred my OaTy suppa powerz at all and I would have no actual “Eternity” unless I could recall my past existences in the same way as if I just woke up from a good night’s sleep.I’d just be as clueless as the next poor schmoe unless I was lucky enough to stumble back into $cn and re-discover who I was.
So, if all these very extraordinary claims were true, then as an OaTy super being, the very direct implications for my next lifetime ability to recall my past existences and wield my previously attained suppa powerz is very obvious, yet NO ONE has as yet stepped forward in their next life to do just that. So, after the death of quite a few OaTys, and after a considerable amount of time has passes since they checked out, one has to wonder: Where the hell are they!!!?
There appears to be only three possible ways to explain their absence: Either they went floating off to another realm and reincarnated on Zenon or some such; they all chose to remain disincarnate after going OaTy and dying; or Elron’s whole vast cosmology is just complete and utter bullshit. The third possibility seems most likely to me because the first two would entail abandoning the job of clearing the planet by failing to report back to earth to get the job done.
HF, you keep repeating the false data that those who have done OT levels were expected to have achieved full OT – cause over matter, energy, space, time, form and life – even though that is not the EP of any OT level. It’s just a description of the ability LRH envisioned a full OT would have, and he hoped to develop the tech to achieve it.
The problem here is that anything LRH says is gospel in scientology and cannot be altered. So, he says this is what OT is and this is what is STILL promoted as “here is what the OT Levels give you.” Don’t believe this? Look at the Thursday Funnies. The claims are legion.
The usual response to this is “this is not what LRH said” and that is somewhat true, but frankly irrelevant. It is he who said his words may not be altered. It is who said “Dianetics” is the book everyone must read (and did NOT ever revise it to make it accurate to match “current research”) and is the “Book One”/bible of scientology. And kept pushing the PDC and Creation of Human Ability and there are a lot of outrageous claims in there. You cannot have it both ways on this.
If you surveyed 100 scientologists, 97.5 of them would respond to the question “Do the OT levels make you OT” with YES.
And when asked, “What does OT mean” they would answer “Knowing cause over matter, energy, space and time etc etc”
This IS what scientology promotes. This IS scientology.
And it is no different than it was when Hubbard was around. The serial promises of unattainable states began in 1950 and ended with OT VIII and Super Power with MANY stops along the way to make new claims about amazing abilities to be gained….
“However, I have a very distinct memory of the grade chart that was in use at the time I was a $cilon, circa the late 70’s, which described the pinnacle of the grade chart at that time as ‘the ability to be cause over matter, energy, space and time on all dynamics’ or something similar.”
HP, you are right that OT VIII was on the grade chart in the ’70s and stated the ability you described – basically, full OT. However, that was in reference to “old” (original) OT VIII – which was never released. In the late ’80s, “New” OT VIII was released but had a completely different “ability gained”. A new grade chart also came out, stating that ability, and the same grade chart has been in use since then. This was why I objected to what you have been saying in previous comments about what we should expect of “reincarnated OaTys.”
I can understand why you and your friends might have gotten the impression that anyone who has done the OT levels should have full OT powers. But I personally never had that consideration, and I don’t think others I knew did either. However, Mike may be right that people get that idea from church promo – or from reg’s, and the verbal data spreads.
Mike may be right that people get that idea from church promo – or from reg’s, and the verbal data spreads.
You seem to be missing one element here. L. Ron Hubbard.
He perfected the carrot on a stick. He would put it out there, offer it with such certainty, describe EXACTLY what it was and what powers it would give you — until it didn’t. Then the goalpost shifted. A fresh carrot was hung on the end of the stick — “that was just postulated, but further breakthroughs and NOW we have our first Clear.” A while later, all of them are just “keyed out Clears” but then we have…. on and on. Then finally the Clearing Course and John McMaster REALLY the first Clear. Until he wasn’t. And it wasn’t. The same story with OT Levels. OT III was the single greatest breakthrough in the history of mankind. Until it wasn’t. Then it was OT IIIX. Then NOTs. Not old OT V, VI and VII any more that promised various miracles. Now they feel into the category of 3GXX, Creative Processing, Goals Listing etc etc.
None of these things were EVER “I have developed a new process, let’s see what it does and whether it produces results” – no, every one of them was “I have made a magnificent breakthrough. You will have perfect recall. Perfect eyesight.” “You will be cause over matter, energy, space and time”. “You will be free from overwhelm.” “You will be able to communicate with anyone about anything at any time.” etc etc Every one of them asserted with amazing claims. Key to Life is the breakthrough that will Clear the planet. Really? “Super Power” guarantees society will be cleared.
The regges and marketing people learned from LRH. Nowhere else.
? Great comment Mike.Thank you.
Mike, your point about all the changes by LRH is valid. I was basically trying to make the point that one of those changes was to the stated EP of OT VIII – or two different actions, both called “OT VIII.”
marildi, the LRH stated (on tape no less) ability gained for the OT 8 that was released was no more amnesia on the whole track. Not a SINGLE person got that one either.
Also, where is the LRH stated L-12 ability? (STABLY exterior with FULL perceptions) Never happened either.
So, more of the same lies from L Con.
Marildi, thanks for clarifying that point. I don’t have eidetic recall for most things, but I was pretty sure that I was remembering correctly what that old grade chart had written at its top. It was the source of much fantasizing and, for a time, everyone that I knew, both staff and public, were eagerly looking forward to achieving that state.
It was my understanding the “old” OTVlll WAS released, but then quickly retracted, due to outrage over Jesus being characterized as a pedophile, or some such.
HP: “It was my understanding the ‘old’ OTVlll WAS released, but then quickly retracted, due to outrage over Jesus being characterized as a pedophile, or some such.”
You’re talking about New OT VIII. I happen to know someone who did it soon after it was released in 1988. He was on the second voyage after the release and did the original version, but it was only delivered for a few months before it was changed to a different version. According to him, it wasn’t so much that people were having a problem with what was said about Jesus but that they were having a lot of trouble with the auditing on it. He feels the reason he himself did well was that he had done a lot of study of LRH materials and thus was well prepared.
Mike you have said exactly what I have been saying. L Ron Hubbard said in dianetics that he made a very specific ‘clear’. He said that he witnessed perfect recall, perfect vision, and all kinds of other bullshit claims. And not a bit of it was true. How can you trust a person like this? The only time he ever told the truth was when he said his name. Everything else is suspect.
Marildi, it’s been decades since I was immersed in the tech, so I certainly don’t claim to have it all down pat anymore. However, I have a very distinct memory of the grade chart that was in use at the time I was a $cilon, circa the late 70’s, which described the pinnacle of the grade chart at that time as “the ability to be cause over matter, energy, space and time on all dynamics” or something similar.
It made a really big impression on me at the time and all my young $cilon friends as well. We discussed it endlessly, imagining what we’d be able to achieve in an exterior state once we finally went OaTy. So I don’t think that I got that part too far wrong, did I? Perhaps they changed it later on, like they did with clear, and toned down the claims for OaTy as well.
Is that not what people are still shooting for in $cn? When they speak of their “Eternity,” isn’t that where you finally because over your next lifetime choice and retain continuity of consciousness and your OaTy suppa powerz from this life to the next? If not, then what else worthwhile could it mean?
?
marildi, who told you that “story”? Should be easy to pull down. Just ask the person who told you who told them and go back down the line.
Mike, it traces back to the tech terminal who claims to have been directly on the line. But as Mike Rinder stated, this is no more than hearsay – unless someone at some point comes forward with credible evidence.
Thanks marildi. Yes this story sounds like all the other FSO stories of a scientologists coming back in a new body to get services. You can only hear about it 3rd hand.
For what it’s worth, Mike, I personally know several people who have recall of having been in Scientology in their previous life. Not that this proves anything, but here again there could be scientific studies done on the matter. And some day there might be. 😉
I too knew several people who said the same. I tried questioning a couple of them about their ID and detailed knowledge an adult of that time period would have. No dice. They both clammed up when specific questions that only a real “returnee” were asked.
Thankyou so much Lois Reisdorf.
I joined Sea Org Flag Service Org TTC in December 1975 at the Fort Harrison, and lived through this time period and your detailing this history behind the scenes is so good to know.
I guess Cathy Rubio then was sister to Mike Rubio, who himself was HAS FSO for a time there.
So many, hundreds of Apollo vets at all echelons, were living through these times you write about, and I hope they too get to hear the details of what life was for LRH on the run in this time period.
This is such good insider history.
A book ought to be compiled of all of the great firsthand accounts of people’s lives near LRH and the events of LRH’s final years.
Your articles here are just huge great new info for us lower down the totem pole persons who were in and around the Sea Org and I for one was highly curious what life was like on LRH’s lines that the top messengers and top “HU” (Household Unit) persons, both LRH’s and MSH’s “household unit” personel, and ALL of the management persons who received all that traffic that you and the LRH External Comm personnel were typing and coding and transmitting.
I in my Sea Org career got to read a quite extensive amount of that traffic, and later when I was in the INCOMM computer branch, the “SIR” (Source Information Retrieval) was an extensive online inhouse computer data bases so staff with the access could read all of LRH’s final years of traffic, all categorized neatly. ASI (Author Services Inc) I later was the computer guy there, and got to skim read all of his traffic to ASI staffers, I had to proofread it on a project once. I read “Revolt In the Stars” there, in 1992-95 when I worked at ASI, and one thing I noted was LRH didn’t mention “body thetans” and that “case” aspect of the Xenu story, but the script “Revolt In The Stars” is more the story of the “engram” in a drawn out soap opera story fashion. The “body thetan” ramifications and “mental case” damage though isn’t spelled out in that story by LRH.
Ah, these essay chapters you are doing are just so satifying to hear those insider details.
I hope some of the ex members decide to edit a big book of the firsthand stories of LRH, and have it peer reviewed by those still alive who were also there, to neatly cover all the details.
Can you confirm that Gary’s face is in the original edition Tech Dictionary, he’s got his hand to his chin and he’s looking kind of dejected, and I think his photo is under the “Bad Indicators” definition? Not that he was bad indicators, but it was the case in that first edition of the Tech Dictionary, all sorts of Apollo vets and no declared SP people were in those original ediction caption photos for many of the Tech Dictionary definitions?
No, Cathy Rubio was married to Mike Rubio before she was married to me.
Mike, You used to be in External Comm too, did you have to do that decoding at the Flag Bu end of things? I so wish that all of the whole SIR libraries of all of LRH’s traffic were publicly available.
It shows how prolific and how many fingers in the pie LRH had going on.
When I was first at Flag, LRH’s traffic just was all over the place, people running around with their cut up pieces of paper with their “orders” that related to them.
On people’s Hat Checksheets, were entries for the advices that related to their jobs.
Then later, in the late 1980s, the Gold Hats Project followed a few years of Compilations Projects to turn all of LRH’s final years of despatches/advices into the “timeless tech” issues for the various units, so that the designated top echelons of the movement had their “timeless tech”.
I so wish Dan would write up those years of compliations projects that preceded the Gold Hats Project.
Even at ASI, when in 1993ish, I was doing a redo of a redo of the ASI Hats Project, which the initial steps were to proofread the ASI traffic to then have someone else, like Maria Starkey or some other early ASI staffer had the job to turn LRH’s ASI traffic into the “Prosperity Bulletins” which were to be the issue type issues for ASI. That “timeless tech” idea was LRH’s, it’s an order to ASI staff in the early 1980s to take his ASI advices and pluck out the “timeless tech” and turn that into ASI’s issues for the staff hats. That is what was behind the Gold Hats Project.
Ah well, there is just so much history.
LRH’s writings though, are a square zero place though, for so many of whoever is researching Scientology.
It’s all fascinating to me.
YEs, when I was Ext Comm Aide in 1976 we had coded telexes. They had to be decoded by hand. Not a “dictionary” code, just a list of words that were coded, sheets of the code words were sent out to Ext Comms. Prevented casual reading of the traffic.
Gee Mike, I didn’t know you were in Ext Comm. Mike was LECA (LRH Ext Comm Aide) and I was DLECA at that time I think out of La Quinta. Did you work with Witcher out of CW or Chuck Adams (RIP) in PAC?
We eventually got a coding machine which we would run normal text telex tape thru and it would come out as jumbled telexes. We had a unique code tape that we would run thru the device daily, changing the random sequence being generated for that day.
Once Gilman’s cover was blown and we were known as a Scientology base, I made the executive decision to no longer use the coding device. That was probably about 79 or 80. I can guaranty that years later I would have been some “who” in an eval as to why we no longer coded our telexes. Sniff….Maybe I screwed things up for their security. I guess I might lose one minute of sleep over that thought tonight.
I was Ext Comm Aide FB when we first arrived in CW. I had been handling the comm at Ft Harrison before the main crew arrived (I was sent on a project to establish the telex and freight lines). When the RONY crew arrived, I went back to my “post” as CO FB Comm (Kerr Gleeson was CO FB). Ext Comm began to backlog badly. It turned into a big flap. LRH ordered that I go back into Ext Comm with Foster Tompkins as my deputy, straighten out the lines and get the telexes and mail being delivered timely. I did that and he issued a personal commendation on me for bringing an area out of a State of Emergency. I then became Supercargo FB and D/Staff Captain before going into the CMO.
I remember Mike when you were promoted to Supercargo, and then sometime in 1977 or maybe early 1978 you were given some training order to come do the OEC, and I recall you were in progress on OEC Volume 2, and did that for a week until you got pulled back onto post in the FB.
That whole time period from 1976 til 1983 was just packed with changes of Sea Org top management units and personnel changes just non-stop.
Things died down in the mid 1980s and 1990s compared to the personnel ups and downs of top management from 1975 to 1983ish.
I’d read any book anyone writes of their years in the Sea Org “top management” ranks, especially the LRH years and transition periods when whole new echelons and units were created and expanded.
But I wonder if doing all sorts of in depth coverage of all of LRH’s management running years would have unintended consequences historically in any way.
I think though, the outside world history is on the side of communicating all history details, no matter what.
Flag must be like Peyton Place!
Either that or the fact that the spouse choice is limited (since you have to marry another scientologist if you want it to last) guarantees you will be married to someone else (that you know) former spouse
I’ve never heard of a place where people marry so often. It’s kind of like polygamist circles….only so many choices.
Yes, Chuck that is Gary in the Tech Dictionary under “bad indicators”. That is the one Scn book we have kept. Apparently new dictionaries are coming out soon so everyone will have to throw the old one out….hahaha
You are correct, Revolt did not have any BT data in it, just the “whole story” I guess. I will talk about this later.
Hello Lois
My Email address Is:
Moretti.Jeanette@gmail.com
Mike Moretti
Lois, your articles are very important and contribute to the historical record. In a hundred years, Scn may or may not be around, however, I am certain scholars will be analyzing Scn and Hubbard’s history. Your personal accounts may very well end up in someone’s thesis.
What I am particularly enjoying are the “human” touches that you have written about LRH. It makes him so much more “human” than the exclusively “he was a criminal and devil” theme which has been so much a part of the various reports, blogs, films, etc. Your day to day touches are most welcome and certainly should be a part of scio history.
Lowie, thanks for putting down your memories of life in the SO. Very educational and very appreciated. One small correction: those lectures in Daytona were the New Vitality Rundown, not Super Power. That came later in 1978 after the disastrous L1 Project, originally called the Humongous Rundown.
Thanks Dan.
Yes, remember it being called the Humongous Rundown – it was a funny name and then changed to Super Power. I will correct this in the following parts when I get to the horrific List 1 R/S era – what a terrible time.
I had to stay up all night going over the fact that I had to sell something called the Ls if I came across the right target.I actually managed to convince Doris Duke to purchase all three at Flag.She knew about them,but had not sent in her $.So I had found her in CF & I wrote about how much I loved Hawaii & if she did the Ls she would love the Islands even more!Ann butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth,anyway she bought the convoluted bunch & Ron sent me a personal Very Well Done Love R note down the lines.Never knew if she went to do them.I rather think not.?
Ditto. Dan, I hope you write a book! On anything to do with your years at Int.
?to you Lois.Revolting in The Stars,one of my favorites.Thank you from my heart for your story of your amazing journey.I knew Ron used R on a few letters to me.Thank you for sparking another memory for me.?
Lois, thank indeed for sharing your thought, memories and experiences. All very well written by the way.
Interesting notes regarding ‘being undercover’, in fact – like you said – LRH had been running and hiding away for years on end and he only wanted a stable location. It seems he never achieved that wish.
But also he had priorly done some things that caused some governments to ‘chase’ him – tax evasion and whatever else. So the fault was that the governments were bad, communists, allied with psychiatry and that is why they were trying to catch him; never though he accepted that he had something to do to deserve that condition.
Then, it seems he cared for the staff, like the story of the rattlesnakes and the exchange of personal letters, but then, when his own son dies he swears at him for what was ‘done to him’.
Dichotomies like these are the ones that don’t align with what he was claiming about scientology – is like he never really used or did scientology. Hard to describe it.
Again thank you Lois for your write up.
If LRH wasn’t so boneheaded about not paying taxes he probably never would have needed to be on the run. He pulled it in!
“Then, it seems he [lrh] cared for the staff,”
Except his Watch Messengers are having to write home for underwear and shoes. Which shows systemic neglect. smh
Thank you Lois.
Very compelling story. I appreciate your telling of it. Curious… did I miss part 2? I can’t find it.
Part 2 was last Saturday so just scroll down the home page and you will see it.
Thank you for your story. It fills in so many details and dates.
BTW, I’ve been looking for someone who was in Clearwater in the spring of 1977, when a psycho-killer entered the Fort Harrison with a blade and rifle and fired one shot before being subdued. He had no connection with Scientology, just drawn to it. A year later, he killed himself in prison with a toothbrush. There’s little mention of it in the press, and I’ve wondered what kind of flap it generated inside Flag.
Clearwater woman killed in bizarre stabbing; ex-mental patient charged March 9, 1977, David Smith, St. Petersburg Times
Wasn’t it Steve Nichols that tackled the guy. Helter Skelter symbols were painted on his apartment’s walls which were found during the investigation. Wasn’t the dead woman found in his apartment?
The “shore story” I was told regarding the death of Quinton was that he was murdered by the FBI. Like so many things regarding Scientology, true information was only available once I left Scientology.
Yes there were many shore stories floating around about Quentin peace forever,but in my case Qual and then ethics and then GO told me flat out never to speak or write his name again and never speak of my vision to anyone,or I knew where I would be going.So sad.He was loved by all who were touched by him.❤️
Amen to that, AnnB! A sweeter guy would be hard to find in or out of the czerch. And a quite brilliant ClX11.
? you thegman77.
“Like so many things regarding Scientology, true information was only available once I left Scientology.” …………so universally true…..funny how that works huh.
The contagion of aberration is alive and well within the corridors of Scientology. It is now more than expected that if you ran into a card carrying member of the Cof$ you know exactly what their mindset has to be…
Crazy game Scientology, it’s only available from the outside!
I love your story. Thank you.
Phenomenal, riveting writing, Lois!
Thank you so much for sharing these remarkable experiences.
A very minor point of correction is that Faye Dunaway and Robert Redford had a love scene in “Three Days of the Condor” which was released in ’75. All the Presidents Men, with Redford and Hoffman, was released the following year.
(My apologies for being such a stickler:)
Must have been Day of the Condor, thanks for the correction.
I must tell you Lois that I must by some degree have influenced your mother to look and start Scientology when she did.
Very very often used to see her at work, she worked for Dunlop SA, and I used to go there to look after their machines, and for a time was stationed there by the company I worked for (which eventually became known as ICL International computers limited) competing to some degree with IBM.
She worked in the accounts department, and often used to ask me about Scientology, she danced at Kinrade and Potter stationed at Bigden House Smith Street.
But… and its ALWAYS along story…….. busted with my (then) girlfriend…….. (which 25 years later I married etc. etc.) Moved to Capetown, and for a time we lost track ……… But every body knew everybody else in Scientology….. and through the grapevine more or less knew about Brian and then Neville.
Like Neville I was sort of invited to do the First class 8 course given by none other then LRH….. but….. I did not do it as I was not prepared to sign a 5 year contract with any Org.
I know you would have liked to have known more from me well here it is.
I live in Durban at 146 Evans Rd Glenwood.
Ph 031 2059762
Cell 0835738206
Wow Mike, that is amazing! I will get your email from Mike so I can contact you. I am in the US living in San Diego. I would love to hear about her before I was born. She told me that she worked for Dunlop. This was before she even met Bryan my Dad. Did you ever know him? He actually lived in Glenwood but has now moved to Hillcrest, I visited him last year. Fascinating……..
Many thanks…
Thank you, Lois, for continuing your story. I always think children should be with their parents and/or people who will love and nurture them into adulthood; so, I found the letters to your mother profoundly sad with their not-so-subtle undertones of loneliness and the intense desire to see your mother. Some people crumble under the weight of that but you seem to have parlayed it into a great strength and strong appreciation and love of family.
I have to admit, a lot of this I just could not read because of the “days gone by” aspect of a time for me in the church that was good and kind. Knowing what it has become… so cruel and controlling…. Whether this was due to LRH or miscavige is irrelevant.
Your account of LRH when he found out about Quentin’s suicide – wow – just, wow – a story that makes me beseech God for a do-over.
Your story needs to be told and understood by anybody who is considering belonging to the church of scientology.
Thank you again for telling it. I really admire you and your mettle.
Thank you for the story. Fascinating times and insights into LRH.
I have children and I just cannot imagine how sad I’d be if one died. Much less committed suicide. But being mad at them for “f’ing things up” and feeling “done in” by the child is quite insane and the reaction of a true sociopath.
I’ve thought about this regarding Quentin. The mind that experienced anger and rage towards Quentin’s suicide, his son, was the same mind that put sympathy below hate and anger on the tone scale.
No sympathy for his son’s death. No empathy for Quentin’s emotional pain.
Instead of Ron asking what normal people ask,”what did we, as parents, do wrong?”; L Ron Hubbard’s narcissism saw his own son’s death as an attack on his PR; totally disassociated from reality. Totally narcissistic!
Just like the elephant in the room of Ron wishing for suicide while running BTs (or if you are a “Ron says” person a heroic wiseman sacrificing his body for OT research), Ron’s reaction to his son’s suicide was about Ron and his damaged PR.
If L Ron Hubbard can disassociate his emotions from the death of a son, no wonder it was easy for him to write Fair Game.
I believe what acts as a smoke screen for seeing Ron “as he is” is his dynamic magnetism. I believe we mistake wisdom for dynamic magnetism.
L Ron Hubbard never said, “I’m sorry.” The failure of his life was always blamed on some outside agency.
Fancying himself Johnny Good Boy, savior of the universe; sons, daughters, wives and friends were expendable people with the only value of serving his narcissism.
WHY WOULD RON PUT SYMPATHY BELOW HATE ON THE TONE SCALE?
I BELIEVE IT IS BECAUSE L RON HUBBARD COMPARTMENTALIZED HIS EMOTIONS.
I forgot his name, but an old old timer who knew Ron in the old days said,” Ron didn’t talk to people, he confronted them.
Ron was emotionally shut down; a damaged figure.
I believe he considered sympathy and empathy a weakness;
thus anger instead of grief for his son’s suicide
thus with great ease Ron could throw Mary Sue away like a used up rag
thus Ron could throw away his great friend and supporter Mayo
thus Ron could orchestrate a program to attempt to have Paulette Cooper commit suicide.
Ron did not survive across the dynamics. What he really meant was surviving for the goal of planetary takeover.
It’s possible he was a sociopath as he never felt for those he harmed. Instead, all the people he attacked “deserved” it and pulled it in.
And Quentin’s suicide was not about the pain and anguish in his son’s heart about concluding that death was better than a life with “mankind’s best friend”, Quentin’s suicide was about how bad it made Ron look.
If you are a parent, ask yourself,”what kind of person would think like this?”
Hey “Ron says” people, what type of person would see a son’s suicide as an attack on one’s PR???
Would love to know.
Only a Scientologist and more importantly one that has done those glittering OTs.And can’t ever see outside the bubble.Great post Brian.?
HI Ann! I hope all is well in your world. Though I don’t always respond to your response to my posts I always enjoy it when I see your name.
Be well!!
Love,
B
Hi Brian,I love to see your name,Always.In my world I have been doing alot of reading.Not only the book you recommended which I go back to alot,but Fair Game,I loved all I learnt there & Jon Atack’s new one Opening Minds.From my heart,thank you for Be Well.I have the last of a Big scan 11/28/16 for cancer,every six months.All the other ones were good,like liver tests for that lovely blue dust.I am trying hard to be Positive about it all.????
Brian, study scientific data about sociopaths and you will find that type of reaction…
I shared your thoughts Brian. Reading his affirmations … well by the 3rd time I ran across them anyway, I finally felt I understand ron the best I could for now. I quit making excuses for him. There is probaby one but it would be between himself and whatever I will likley never know. All that matters is I can figure him out at least a heck of a lot better then he figured out me. I dont believe he could ever figure out himself or if he was truly trying. He did manage to leave me with valuable wisdom by default. Haha. I love it when you chime in. Thought of you when Cohen died.
Hubbard was at war and was technically the first casualty since its declaration. Since the first moment KSW 1 entered his head he’s never been doing anything else except fighting. Trying to befriend him and hence defend him is misguided in actuality. I don’t think he ever expected anything else except for you to jump in the trenches with him. His never ending research, never ending auditing resulted in a muddled up life of which he could no more alter doing what he was doing than anyone of us could stop paying taxes.
His organisation really had nowhere else to go except where it went. There’s no shortage of people like Miscavige but there sure is of people like Quentin and the generosity of the auditor’s mindset and the supporters of a better life. They have all now been thrown under the Scientology bus.
The Scientology lifestyle is an enigma. It’s based solely on what you want to know, yet is an ever expanding attack on the dynamics. Trying to make sense of it sure ain’t easy, it parallels a number of fucked things we contend with as a species.
Like most high-functioning, malignant narcissists with sociopathic tendencies, Elron was keenly aware of the need to hide his lack of empathy and caring regard for anyone but himself, so that folks wouldn’t see through him and turn away in shock and disgust. However, completely unanticipated occurrences, such as finding out that your son has committed suicide, tend to reveal folks for what they truly are, if only for a moment.
In Elron’s case that tragedy was all about him and how his son’s thoughtless actions had affected him…not sadness, grief, shock, remorse, contrition or concern about how the news would affect his wife or Quentin’s siblings. In short, not a normal human response at all.
You can’t genuinely love and care for all of humanity if you could care less about what happens to your own family. And Elron demonstrated over and over throughout all three of his marriages and with all of his children that they mattered not much at all. In the end, he died isolated from his family and unloved by those around him..a karmatically fitting end, but sad and poignant nonetheles.
Sad & poignant are true words to describe Ron’s last days.Yet Harpoona I still recall the very black hat he wore.He was expert at switching from white to black and back in a nano second,from what I knew.You are so right,not a normal human response at all.And Miscavige takes it to a new level of abuse.?
Hate to point out that “normal human response” seems sadly missing in the world in general. As a sample, just look at the last year in US politics!!
Apples and Turds thegman77. (aka Strawman argument)
Harpoona is talking about the normal human response of losing a CHILD! Not the human response to a political opponent defeating you.
Well said Harpoona.
I wonder from time to time what Ron’s early childhood was like.
There are no stories save Ron’s made up ones.
Mom was high class, I rode broncos while still attached to the ambilical chord etc etc.
I wonder if he was an abused kid?
His emotional disconnection and seeming inability to have intimate long lasting close relations suggests that he did not have a great childhood. It’s parent’s love that bestows mental health on kids.
Ron was kind-a feral. Shut down emotions for the pain of others. It seems Ron had no remorse for his affects on others.
The very fact that he felt he had to lie about his life story also suggests that he had a very bad self image. That deep down he wasn’t good enough to be accepted. So lying worked for him. It gained him acceptance.
“I’m no good, so I have to make up an identity. An identity that gives me “altitude” over others.
Thus the need to promote himself as:
Man’s “best” friend
Man’s “last chance”
The “only one” to find a workable truth
I, L Ron Hubbard, am the wisest man in the universe.
I wish him well and pray he is evolving.
There are plenty of “stories” from other family members. Read Russell Miller’s excellent Bare-Faced Messiah.
Thanks Mike, I’ll check it out.
You should definitely take a look at LRH’s “affirmations”. They’re enlightening.
If they’re real, they provide a good insight into his thinking and being a victim of physical or sexual abuse or neglect may very well have done damage that he never got over.
Thanks Lois.You desribe LRH as more balanced than I previously I magined him to be in 75 and 76.Certainly more balanced than say1967 and 1984.