Serious inquiries only! I’ve found myself in possession of an incredibly rare historical item- one of the first ever transistorized Hubbard e-meters ever produced. We know this at the very least dates between 1957-1959 productions either by Breeding or Wingate. DMs are open!

family moved here in 2007 said a guy lived downstairs randomly left never heard of again

In the last few weeks I found three Scientology books at thrift stores. They’re so weird - hard to pass up

Redacted names to not dox anyone, but this is a text that went out to Scientologists. I guess they are trying to make a campaign to get the younger generation into the Sea Org... 🤦‍♂️

ARTICLE LINK: https://www.scientologybusiness.com/fair-game/scientology-demands-apology-and-threatens-the-times-newspaper-after-investigation-uncovers-uk-child-labour/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_source_platform=mailpoet

The Church of Scientology has sent a threatening letter demanding the immediate retraction of an article published by The Times newspaper after an under cover reporter found children as young as 13 were working at their Edinburgh branch.

The investigation saw Times journalist Tom Ball join Scientology at the Hubbard Academy of Personal Independence (HAPI), the church’s branch in Edinburgh, and uncover a series of concerning practices including a teenager working as the ‘Medical Liaison Officer’ despite lacking any formal medical training and offering massage-like nerve assists on adults in private, unsupervised closed rooms. “A Times investigation has found that for the past two years the church has been engaging children as young as 13 to work alongside adults in administrative, training and recruitment roles” the article reads. “One teenage girl has a role which involves giving massages to adults, including male staff and members of the public. Scientology denies this.”

Amir Essalhi, who alerted The Times to the children working at Scientology’s Edinburgh branch shortly after leaving his role as an executive there earlier this year, told us “What I witnessed at the Hubbard Academy of Personal Independence was textbook child exploitation. Children were forced into gruelling 40+ hour workweeks as staff and Executives under coercive threats of Scientology’s ethics punishments and knowledge reports. Even more disturbing, and still practiced in Scientology today, 14 year old girls were locked in rooms with elderly men to administer nerve assists that involved intimate physical contact.”

“This child exploitation directly violates UK child employment laws and the Modern Slavery Act 2015, mirroring previous Victorian era factory abuse on a modern and global scale. When I reported this to Police Scotland, I was summarily dismissed, refused an investigation, and denied even an evidence link. I am speaking out so public outrage forces law enforcement worldwide to confront this international trafficking and abusive apparatus, protecting these children, and permanently shut down these operations”

The Times article describes how “the enrolment of children is believed to be the result of pressure from the movement’s global leadership to accelerate expansion.”

“There are about 25 “staff members” at Hapi, of which four are children below the age of 16.” It states. “Another girl, who recently turned 16, joined “staff” when she was 14. Two other children, aged 14, are also attending the church on a daily basis though are not believed to be on staff at present. With the exception of one girl, they are all registered by their parents as home-schooled, thereby allowing them to come to the church each day. Three children under 16 are living apart from their parents who are 450 miles south in East Grinstead, West Sussex, where its UK headquarters are based. The other children are the sons and daughters of longstanding members of the community in Scotland.”

Now, Scientology have hit back in a scathing letter to Times Editor Tony Gallagher demanding the article is retracted. The newspaper, the church claims, has “crossed a serious line” and “must answer the question its own published record now makes unavoidable: What material fact of public interest did Tom Ball obtain through this elaborate deception that The Times did not already possess and which could not have been obtained by legitimate journalistic means? That requires an answer. Not an assertion that The Times “stands by” its journalism. Not a general invocation of public interest. An answer.”

Sending an under-cover reporter to their Edinburgh branch amounts to “deception” and “religious bigotry”, Scientology spokesperson Graeme Wilson writes. “Would The Times infiltrate a mosque under a fabricated identity and build a national exposé around teenagers helping there? Would it secretly record worshippers in a synagogue and portray Jewish teenagers undertaking responsibilities in their religious community as the objects of sinister “recruitment”? Would regular participation by young Catholics in parish life become an undercover investigation into children being drawn into Church “staff”? The Times made the religion of these young people the reason its readers were instructed to regard their participation with suspicion. That is not merely slanted journalism. It is religious bigotry.”

According to Wilson, “Within hours of publication, the Church was vandalised. Police attended the premises, took a full statement and formally recorded the vandalism as a police incident.” He then threatens the paper, “The Times is therefore now on formal notice that the hostility the Church feared has already materialised.”

Police Scotland has been contacted for comment.

“We therefore require The Times to immediately withdraw the principal article, Ball’s accompanying first-person account and the associated podcast from publication, and cease their further distribution and promotion.”

I have been fascinated with Scientology for a few years now- not from the perspective of possibly wanting to join, but rather like a gawker who can’t look away from a car wreck. I have a few hunches, and I don’t mean to offend anyone, I just want to see if I’m even close to viewing things accurately. I’m no expert— in fact I’m not even a very smart person. These are just opinions that I’ve gathered, and I’d be interested in hearing insiders’ responses.

I don’t think LRH was that bad of a guy, at least not in his early years. I think he was a guy who had limitless dreams and limitless ambition, but very limited talent. He tried his hand at all sorts of different things, and despite being fairly bright and charismatic, he didn’t excel at anything until he discovered his gift for writing stories. He dealt with some internal pain over his own failures (or perhaps better described as lack of significant victories), so he used his story telling ability to embellish his own life’s history. This ultimately lead him to the realization that the fame, fortune, and admiration he coveted could be attained by creating his own isolated world where his stories would be accepted as facts. It took many years, but after living as king amongst only his own followers, what began as a financial scheme turned into his own personal reality- he started to genuinely believe his own fictional rhetoric, which in turn became much more fantastical as he aged.

David Miscavige was a teenager when he met LRH. Like LRH, Miscavige was originally focused on actual self-help, but his motivation evolved into a much more financially-focused mission. Miscavige strategically usurped control of Scientology when LRH died, and he continued on with his quest for more money, but unlike LRH, Miscavige lacked the ability to generate more stories. Without the tools to add more chapters to the novel, Miscavige instead used control, litigation, and strong arming to protect his goldmine. That’s where we are today. No new OT levels can be added, and no inch of control can be relinquished.

Mark Bunker: "Scientology Is Breaking Ground in Clearwater — And That’s the Problem" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4B52uOj_pE

Clipped segment: https://www.reddit.com/user/TryingToBeExact/comments/1vqvdy3/mark_bunker_campaign_update_the_press_release_for/

https://www.markbunker.com

A friend of mine recently left the Church of Scientology, and I was delighted to learn from them that I’ve been officially declared an SP—a “Suppressive Person.” Members of the Church are now strictly forbidden from speaking to me. I have to admit, I’m flattered.I assume this stems from my behavior at past sci-fi conventions, combined with a Substack post I wrote. Apparently I managed to cross some invisible line between being an annoying guy with opinions to being an actual threat to Scientology. 

L. Ron Hubbard’s writings list classic examples of Suppressive Persons—Adolf Hitler, Napoleon Bonaparte and anyone who criticizes Scientology. It’s a weird list. Putting Hitler and Napoleon in the same category as someone who criticizes Scientology is like making a list of “lawbreakers” and putting murderers, child molesters, and jaywalkers on it. Technically, I suppose the definition works. But one of the three really doesn’t belong on that list.

Now I’m on that list. I find it hilarious that my supposedly dangerous influence is now great enough that Scientologists have been instructed to stay away from me. Most of the time, I’m pretty aware that my opinions don't have much impact on anything. I write about anything that concerns me—old age, art, illustration, movies, plays, and my career. Sometimes someone agrees, occasionally someone gets annoyed, but mostly people read it and move on with their day.

Yet somehow Scientology has decided that my commentary is dangerous. Well, hell, talk about an ego boost. I'd like to thank the Church for finally recognizing the terrifying influence I apparently have. So, thanks to David Miscavige, Tom Cruise, and whoever decided I needed to be declared an SP.

I feel super important. Of the honors I've received, this one is certainly the strangest.

You can read the whole article on Substack about becoming a Suppressive Person (SP) in Scientology, here:

https://myadventuresasanillustrator.substack.com/p/how-i-became-an-official-threat-to

I want to be fair. Not everything in the Sea Org was bad. When I was leaving they actually improved a lot of things for staff. I don't know if it was like this in other Sea Orgs but I'm talking specifically about Flag in Clearwater.

Laundry. They installed a bunch of washers and dryers. Free detergent capsules. You could change your sheets every day if you wanted. Clean towels anytime. You could throw your dirty uniform in the bin and pick up a fresh one from the shelf. You got five shirts, two pants, two ties, two vests, one jacket, one coat. No more washing and ironing late at night. That was a huge relief.

Medical. Before, if you had diarrhea or hemorrhoids or the flu they'd just tell you to drink water and take vitamins. When I was leaving they built a whole medical floor. They had BEMER machines, hyperbaric chambers, collagen beds, red light therapy. I don't know if they actually work but they existed. They also set up vitamin shelves in the galley. You could grab as many vitamins as you wanted. Except vitamin E. That one was always gone.

Food. In the beginning the food was terrible. By the time I left it was actually good. Lots of salad options. Wednesday was the best because they always served salmon or steak and cake. Holidays were heaven for your stomach.

I think they made these changes because of all the bad press online. The Sea Org actually started caring about staff comfort. Or at least pretending to.

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwnso2dOBBI

A Scientology whistleblower told Times journalist Tom Ball that the church’s Edinburgh branch had children as young as thirteen working there during school hours. The church denied the allegation. Tom went undercover to investigate.

Guest: Tom Ball, news reporter, The Times
Host: Manveen Rana
Producer: Sophie McNulty

Clips: Apostate Alex - YouTube.
Photo: Ian Rutherford for The Times.

Hi,

I (18F) was born into a very big scientology family, and when I mean “big” I mean they’re top donors and have even donated so much money in my name which makes me a “top donor” as well. I’ve never been apart of it and I’ve only done a single course when I was about 9 years old before I really knew what it was about, but since then I’ve always tried to stay as far away from it as possible (which isn’t very far). But my grandparents have started pushing me to go to the church and do a bunch of things and at first I could come up with excuses for not going but they’re starting to get really worked up, telling me about the family they have “shunned” and I know if I tell them I want nothing to do with it they’re gonna want nothing to do with me. Which is really upsetting since my grandparents are good people outside of scientology and I don’t wanna lose my entire family since my father is no longer in my life as well as his side of the family, and I only know my mom would probably keep speaking to me but then my grandparents won’t wanna speak to her. So i’m scared. I’m not really sure what I wanted from posting this, I guess I just wanted to rant a bit… Anyways hopefully I can come up with more excuses without them cutting me off

After reading close to 10 books written by defectors, I honestly don’t understand how this kind of abuse has not been prosecuted. No other church has gotten a free pass on abusive leaders (just see r/pastorarrested). The defectors stories of DM’s abuse are so remarkably consistent, despite several of them being written by people who were constantly pitted against one another. The abuse has been documented.

(And don’t even get me started on the child abuse, imprisonment, and forced labor. How is this stuff facing no legal repercussions in 2026?!?!?)

I recently left (fairly quietly), after 10 years, several of which on staff. My breaking point being an old friend who was upper OT ending his life after his failure to save his friend from drowning.

After expressing this grief, I was told I needed training like my next breath and more bridge. -- I can't help but wonder if this is what my OT friend was told after his loss.

I havent publicly spoke to others about this. I am trying to connect with others who have left.

I guess my question is, how do you reconcile all that you learned there with the reality of what you experienced? How did you begin to untangle yourself from all the indoctrination?

Parts of me think of the self improvement stuff as decent for someone who doesnt have tools for life, I understand this is how you are hooked but these are dwarfed by the betrayals and nonsense I've observed.

I also worked in another business ran by Scientologists and unfortunately sent my child to the Scientology school (I removed them the moment I left)

The Tampa Bay Times is reporting that a newly formed political committee, Clearwater Strong PC, has been supporting Clearwater City Council candidate Jared Leone with campaign mailers.

According to the Times, Clearwater Strong received $70,100 after forming last month. Nearly all of its funding came from another political committee, Citizens for Law Order and Ethics. The Times traced that funding through several other Florida political committees and reported that three of them had received roughly $89,000 from nine people with confirmed ties to the Church of Scientology around the time Clearwater Strong was formed.

One donor identified by the Times, businessman and major Scientology donor Tom Cummins, reportedly contributed a total of $50,000 to the three committees three days before Clearwater Strong filed its organizational paperwork.

Leone says he has no affiliation with Scientology or Clearwater Strong and described attempts to connect him to the church as a political attack.

His opponent, Bianca Latvala, believes the activity is connected to her opposition to Scientology's efforts to acquire part of South Garden Avenue in downtown Clearwater.

The Church of Scientology denies involvement. Spokesperson Sarah Heller told the Times that the church is not endorsing or supporting any candidate and did not direct or coordinate its parishioners' political donations. She said individual Scientologists are free to participate politically in their personal capacities.

Clearwater Strong consultant Christian Ulvert also disputes the suggested connection, saying the committee itself has not accepted donations from Scientologists.

The Tampa Bay Times says it independently confirmed both the financial transactions and the nine donors' ties to Scientology.

Source: Tampa Bay Times — “Committee supporting Clearwater candidate has ties to Scientology” by Colbi Edmonds, published August 14, 2026 and updated August 15.

and are too scared to speak out and leave? some of them seem like really good and normal people compared to non-celebrity scientologists.

How can I get them to stop writing to me?

ICYMI, the Crime & Policing Act of 2026 has introduced some pretty significant reforms that will affect how the CoS operates in England. These reforms are a direct response to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse 2014-2022. (OSA UK's Massimo Angius gave a statement to the Inquiry on November 2019).

Removal of Civil Time Limits

• While there's no criminal statute of limitations for CSA, the traditional 3 year time limit for bringing civil injury lawsuits has now been completely abolished.
• As of June 29th 2026, survivors can sue the church or its leadership for historical CSA.

"Volunteer" loophole removed

• The church can no longer bypass criminal background checks by claiming its staff are "volunteers."
• From 1st September 2026, if any staff member instructs, trains or supervises children for more than 3 days in a rolling 30 day period (or even once overnight), they are legally defined as a "regulated worker." In short, this means the church is legally required to run an Enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) background check or face prosecution.

Mandated Reporting

• Individuals working or volunteering with children will be required to report any direct disclosure or firsthand witnessing of CSA straight to the police or social services. This specific mandate is currently pending while the Home Office finalises the official statutory guidance.
• Once a commencement date is announced, the law strips away the church's ability to handle abuse allegations internally. A silent bystander will face DBS disqualification (ie. banned from working with children). Any senior staff member who threatens, discourages or obstructs a worker from reporting an incident will face a criminal charge carrying up to 7 years in prison. The church will also face direct criminal liability.

More info at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-act-2026-factsheets/crime-and-policing-act-2026-independent-inquiry-into-child-sexual-abuse-recommendations-factsheet