Let's Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky: Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology (66 page)

Earl Cooley joined the Church of Scientology while acting as
the Church’s attorney during the Christofferson-Tichbourne case, less than a
year before Hubbard’s death. In his talk to the assembled Scientologists who
gathered to hear the news of Hubbard’s death, Cooley maintained the doctrinaire
attitude which governs the Church: “Together you will win total victory and
achieve the ultimate goals of Scientology.”

Hubbard had been living for several years at the remote
160-acre fenced ranch near Creston, about 30 miles north east of San Luis
Obispo. Six other people lived there, among them Eugene Denk, and Pat and Anne
Broeker. Hubbard was keeping about 35 quarter horses, and there were also four
buffaloes, a pair of llamas, and several Black Angus cattle, including Hubbard’s
favorite bull, Bubba. At the time of his death Hubbard was living in one of his
several luxury motor homes, while the main house was being remodeled. The
property was guarded by six Japanese Akita dogs.

The Whispering Winds ranch was bought by Pat Broeker, under
an assumed name, in summer 1983, for $700,000. Rebuilding the house alone cost
$300,000. The Church have tried to give the image of a smiling, gregarious
Hubbard wandering around the ranch, chatting with the workers. In fact, the
locals saw very little of him, and he complained constantly about work done on
the house, and kept changing the plans. For example, a stone fireplace was
replaced with a tile one, and then ripped out altogether. That was the pattern,
so much so, that in the two and a half years that he lived on the ranch,
Hubbard never occupied the house, living instead in his $250,000 Bluebird motor
home.

Hubbard eked out his last days working on the presentation
of the OT levels beyond 7, taking photographs, designing and redesigning the house,
and watching films. “His movie favorites included Hitchcock films, Star Wars
but not the later movies in the trilogy, Diva, Citizen Kane, Slaughter House
Five and Patton. He liked Clint Eastwood and Robert Duvall,” according to one
of the Messengers.

After his death,
Rocky Mountain News
journalist Sue
Lindsay was allowed to visit both the Whispering Winds ranch and Gilman Hot
Springs. In her excellent article the truth was revealed about the luxurious
accommodation prepared for Hubbard by the Messengers. The house at Gilman,
which he never occupied, was completed in 1983, after three years work. The
Clipper ship, which cost about half-a-million dollars, has already been
mentioned, and in 1984 a 24 track recording studio was also completed for
Hubbard at Gilman
²
:

Now, although he is dead, tables throughout the
[Gilman] compound are set for one with glasses of water covered with plastic
wrap, a flexible, striped straw poking through. Each of Hubbard’s personal
bathrooms has toothbrushes and identical sets of Thom McAn black thongs ready
for him to step into after a shower or bath. Any spot where Hubbard would
conceivably sit is furnished with a yellow legal pad and pen, usually placed at
an artful slant...

His snappy black, white and chrome office in the movie
studio contains a kitchenette with a table set with fresh flowers and salt and
pepper shakers. In the adjoining bathroom, equipped as a makeup studio, Hubbard’s
red wig rests on a mannequin’s head...

He owned enough photography gear to stock a large camera
store, if not a chain of them. Hundreds of cameras are boxed with lenses ready
for use. Another 3,000 pieces of gear are in storage.

The news of Hubbard’s death was first given to a sizable
group of Scientologists, who had been peremptorily summoned to the Hollywood
Palladium. Here the elusive Pat Broeker made his first public appearance of the
1980s. The audience was told that Hubbard had decided to “leave the body,”
because it was hindering his OT research. David Miscavige assured them that
Hubbard had “moved on to his next level of OT research.” Miscavige added, “This
level is beyond anything any one of us ever imagined. This level is in fact
done in an exterior state, meaning that it is done completely exterior from the
body. At this level of OT, the body is nothing more than an impediment.” According
to Pat Broeker, “LRH expressly stated that there was to be no grief, no
mourning ... ‘They know they’re not a body. Don’t let them be confused about it’.”
³

Hubbard’s last message to his flock, dated five days before
his death, was a Flag Order entitled “The Sea Org and the Future.” In it he
assumed the rank of Admiral, and created the new rank of “Loyal Officer.” Pat
and Annie Broeker became the First and Second Loyal Officers respectively.
Hubbard ended with a cheery message to Sea Org members, speaking of taking
Scientology to other planets
⁴
: “I’ll be scouting the way and doing
the first port survey missions. I expect your continuing backup. You’ve got a
little under a billion left on your current hitch, and it is hoped you will
sign up again - veterans are valuable! ... We will meet again later.”

Heber Jentzsch, President of the Church of Scientology
International, announced Hubbard’s death to the press at 9:00 PM on Monday,
January 7, 1986. Jentzsch told the Press that “after completing his life’s work
to his full satisfaction,” Hubbard had “departed his body.” Another Scientology
spokesman said Hubbard would continue his research, having “learned how to do
it without a body.”

In March 1986, Scientologists celebrated Hubbard’s birthday
as usual. In Los Angeles, Annie Broeker made her first public appearance since
the seventies. Fumbling with her lines, looking tired and wearing too much
make-up, she told the assembled fans a story. She said that Hubbard had once
told her that “after the first tick of time” that one “Arp Cola” had invented
music. There was a strong implication that Hubbard had been Cola. He had
supposedly borrowed some of these early tunes and re-fashioned them into the
modern style. The result was an album called “The Road to Freedom,” which was
released that night.

The record was made by Scientologist musicians, with Hubbard
supervising at long-distance through taped messages. Hubbard wrote the lyrics,
which are peppered with Scientologese. They provide an insight into his state
of mind at the end: “There was a worried being who did secret acts/ He felt he
had to hide, hide, hide, hide, hide”; or, as a comment about the OT levels
perhaps, “In olden days the populace was much afraid of demons/ And paid an
awful sky high price to buy some priestly begones ... Oh now here is the why
that makes the world an evil circus/ No demons at all but just the easily
erased evil purpose.”

The last ditty on the album, sung in a rumbling growl by
Hubbard himself, uses the form of a “thank-you” to attack his detractors:
“Thank-you for listening, I write just for you/ But others hearing this may
find things they would argue./ I do not sing what I believe, I only give them
fact/ If they believe quite otherwise, it still will have impact./ For truth is
truth and if they then decide to live with lies/ That’s their concern not mine,
my friend, they’re free to fantasize.”

A reviewer at the leading British music paper, the
Melody
Maker
, finished his criticism of the album with this quip: “You’re supposed
to eat vegetables, not listen to them.”

1.
   
“International Scientology News”, issue 8;
Rocky Mountain News
,
16 February 1986; Riverside Press-Enterprise, January & February 1986; San
Jose Mercury News, 28, 30 & 31 January 1986;
St Petersburg Times
, 2
February 1986;
Clearwater Sun
, 31 January 1986;
Los Angeles Times
,
28 & 30 January 1986; Miller interview with Robert Whaley, Creston, August
1986; Hubbard death certificate; San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Office News Release,
28 January 1986.

2.
   
Rocky Mountain News
, 16 February 1986.

3.
   
“International Scientology News”, issue 8.

4.
   
Flag Order 3879, 19 January 1986.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

“Scientology is here to rescue you,”

—L.
Ron Hubbard
¹

Hubbard’s last will and testament, dated the day before his
death, held no surprises. He left an unspecified amount of money, the bulk of
his fortune, to the “Author’s Trust Fund B.” Norman Starkey, a founding Sea Org
member, became Hubbard’s executor. He had been president of Author Services Inc.,
which marketed Hubbard’s published works, since January 1983.

Hubbard disinherited his oldest son, Nibs, and his daughter
by Sara, Alexis. Both were later paid settlements, Nibs having threatened litigation.
To Scientologists Hubbard bequeathed only “my love and continued support, and
my hopes for a better world.” Secret provisions were made for his wife, Mary
Sue, whom he had chosen not to see for the last six years of his life, and for
her three surviving children. Provision was also made for Nibs’ sister,
Katherine Gillespie.
²

In July 1986, a Los Angeles jury awarded $30 million in
damages to ex-Scientologist Larry Wollersheim, who claimed that the Church had
jeopardized his mental health and deliberately ruined his business. The jury
also ruled that the Church must pay $45 million into the Court before they
would be allowed to appeal. In July 1989, the California Court of Appeal upheld
a ruling in Wollersheim’s favor, repeating the earlier court’s statement that
he had been subjected to the Fair Game Law by the Church of Scientology.
However, the award was adjusted to $2 1/2 million.
³

In a surprise move in December 1986, the Church settled
every case brought against them through Boston attorney Michael Flynn.
⁴
They also settled out of court with former Mission Holder, Martin Samuels, and
with Julie Christofferson-Titchbourne. In a secret agreement, the plaintiffs
agreed not to make any further public statements about Scientology, nor to
disclose the amount of their settlements. When the document finally leaked out,
it contained an interesting clause, saying that the amounts paid in settlement
depended in part upon the “length and degree of harassment” each plaintiff had
received. The payments amounted to almost $4 million, with Armstrong taking $800,000,
and Flynn $1,075,000. For that price the Scientologists bought the silence of
their most significant opponents. With the Armstrong settlement, the Archives
material which had been held under seal was returned to the Scientologists. The
contents of the Affirmations, the Blood Ritual, and Hubbard’s letters to his
three wives may never be broadly published; but there is enough historical
evidence now in the public record to show Hubbard for what he was. If a piece
is broken from a hologram the entire image remains in the fragment. Hubbard too
is implicit in every detail of his life, even in some of his most public
utterances.

Michael Flynn fought against the Church for seven years. In
doing so he spent a great deal of his own money, put his career in jeopardy,
faced an unceasing barrage of invective and libel, and had to defend (and
managed to win) some fourteen legal complaints brought against him by the
Church. He gave succor to many ex-Scientologists. When Flynn settled, he gave
all of his Scientology files (apart from client material) to the Church. But he
had tried to ensure that the good fight would continue.

Throughout 1986, a group of over 400 former Scientologists
gathered to create a Class Action against the Church. They called themselves
Freedom for All In Religion, or FAIR. Michael Flynn was closely involved in the
initial preparation of their Complaint.

On the last day of 1986, a few weeks after Flynn announced
his withdrawal from the fight, the FAIR suit was filed in Los Angeles. It was
filed not only against the Church of Scientology, but against its leading
executives. There were three causes in the Complaint
⁵
:

a. Fraudulent representations have been made by
defendants concerning their tax-exempt status and charitable nature, concerning
the manner in which moneys were obtained and received by L. Ron Hubbard and
defendants named herein, concerning the confidentiality of defendants’ auditing
files, and concerning L. Ron Hubbard’s background, achievements and character;

b. There has been a breach of fiduciary duty [breach
of trust] to all the members of the class;

c. Plaintiffs seek equitable relief and request that a
constructive trust be imposed on all pertinent assets of defendants.”

A constructive trust would place the Preclear, Ethics and
B-1 files of the members of FAIR into the hands of the Court until the case is
settled. The suit was filed by a group of six ex-members, and demanded a
billion dollars in relief. At the time of writing, after five amended
Complaints, FAIR have failed to have a Complaint accepted for trial.

In April 1988, the former Inspector General of the Religious
Technology Center filed a suit against various Scientology Organizations.
⁶
Vicki Aznaran was an executive during the schism, rising to become David
Miscavige’s immediate junior. She and her husband, Richard, left the Sea
Organization in April 1987.

The Aznarans’ Complaint criticized the Team Member Share
System operated at CMO headquarters, described as:

Privately issued money in exchange for food, board, pay, bonuses
and liberty. The Team Member System required that the Plaintiffs be given one
of each of these cards when the Church administration was satisfied with their
work production, and loyalty to the organization. Any dissatisfaction with the
work output or ‘attitude’ of Plaintiffs would result in revocation of the
tokens, thereby requiring Plaintiffs to work long hours with no days off, no
pay, no board (requiring them to sleep outdoors on the ground [called ‘pig
berthing’ in the Church issue]) and substandard nutrition comprised solely of
rice, beans and water. When Plaintiffs had lost all of their cards, as a matter
of course, they would be sent to the Rehabilitation Project Force for ‘attitude
adjustment,’ which was comprised of even harsher labor, deprivation of liberty,
and psychological duress forcing the submission of Plaintiffs to the power and
control of Defendants.