'Scientology, Lyoness, Herbalife, Nutrilite, Amway,' - the same lie, but with different authors and titles.

Jay Van Andel                                        Richard DeVos

Carl F. Rehnborg

Mark Hughes

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (1911-1986)

'The only way to control people is to lie to them.’

‘Somebody someday will say this is illegal...’

After recently publishing an article in which I compared the author of the kitsch 'Scientology' lie, L. Ron Hubbard, to the authors of the essentially-identical, kitsch 'Amway/Nutrilite, 'Lyoness' and 'Herbalife,' lies, I have received some puerile comments from an anonymous person who systematically assumes that I cannot possibly know what I am talking about.

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On September 8^th  2008, a decade after a series of familiar complaints were first filed, Judge Jean-Christophe Hullin (representing the people of the French Republic) finally signed the order for two American-controlled, French-registered corporate structures jointly to face a criminal charge of ‘escroquerie en bande organisée’  (literally, ‘fraud  in an organized gang’). Judge Hullin also ordered that six senior corporate officers of these structures should face the same criminal charge and other charges relating to the ‘illegal operation of a pharmacy.’ At the outset of this affair, certain of the plaintiffs suddenly withdrew after an Investigating-Judge, Marie-Paul Morracchini, had allowed a large quantity of confidential documentation to vanish from a Paris Court House. In 1998, she had apparently made the ‘mistake’ of leaving all the files relating to the case ‘unattended on a table for a clerk to collect.’ Although a police inquiry was pursued and a likely thief identified, no charges were brought. Ironically, this was due to ‘lack of evidence.’ However, these farcical events don’t explain why it then took a further decade before the original case was scheduled for trial. By 2009, this accident-prone prosecution - which certain commentators are convinced the French government wanted to disappear for reasons of Franco-American diplomacy - was considered to be so sensitive that the French Foreign Ministry felt it necessary to form a special team to deal with an expected deluge of international criticism.

When the verdict was delivered on October 27^th 2009, although an echelon of defence attorneys had steadfastly pretended their clients to be completely innocent of fraud, because they had lots of satisfied clients as witnesses, and they had voluntarily refunded the few dissatisfied clients, the two corporate structures and their respective officers were duly found guilty as charged. The structures were ordered to pay fines totalling  600 000 Euros (approximately $1.1 million).

Convicted cheat, Alain Rosenberg (left)

The most-senior officer, Alain Rosenberg, was given a two year suspended prison sentence and personally fined 30 000 Euros, whilst three others were given suspended prison sentences and the remaining two, personally fined lesser amounts. The defence attorneys immediately filed an appeal and (completely ignoring the suffering of the plaintiffs) continued to invert established-reality by indignantly portraying their clients as the victims of a witch-hunt. The trial Judge, Sophie-Helene Chateau, was unable to grant the State Prosecutor’s original request for the corporate structures to be closed down without further delay. This was due to another unbelievable ‘mistake.’ This time, a vital section of computer text had been ‘cut, but not pasted,’  by a ham-fisted clerk drafting proposed French legislation (enacted just before the case came to trial) which should have made it a simple matter of procedure to dissolve any French-registered corporate structure(s) proven to have been engaging in a chronic pattern of criminal activity. However, it had been feared that closure of these particular structures might very well have been counterproductive, in that the attempted prohibition of what they were peddling could have driven this criminal activity underground. Consequently, the lenient judgement, which still remains subject to appeal, has been described by many well-informed commentators as ‘intelligent.’

According to the evidence which made it to court, it was in 1997, that a 33 year old Frenchwoman was approached outside the Opera metro station in Paris by a group of friendly individuals. They had no authorization to be soliciting in the street and did not fully-identify themselves, but they invited her to ‘agree to participate’ in (what they insisted was) a ‘Free Personality/Stress Test.’  The woman found herself unable to refuse, but her subsequent ‘failure’ in the ‘Test’  led to her becoming convinced that she had significant  problems which could only be resolved through the purchase of an exclusive ‘Self-Betterment Course.’  She had, in fact, allowed herself to be subjected to devious techniques of social, psychological and physical persuasion (designed to identify vulnerable individuals, destabilise their self-esteem and provoke an infantile total dependence to the detriment of themselves). In this way, the woman was given the illusion that she was making free-choices, but she was effectively coerced into buying a collection of progressively more-expensive, but effectively-worthless, publications, recordings, medicines, esoteric accessories, etc. Fortunately she was able to come to come to her senses, but not before she had parted with more than 20 000 Euros.

The most-outrageously over-priced single item (approximately 4000 Euros) was a handheld gadget, labelled ‘E-meter’ (capable of detecting tiny fluctuations in natural, corporal electrical resistance), which contless victims of the 'Scientology' lie have been assured is part of a ‘proven technology’  for measuring and improving the clarity and functioning of a person’s mind and body.

 

The gang of high-pressure charlatans whom this unwary Frenchwoman had met, were from the Paris branch of ‘The Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre,’ ostensibly directed by Alain Rosenberg. The pseudo-scientific paraphernalia she’d bought, was the just the start of an potentially-limitless advance fee fraud to which certain victims have been proven to have lost amounts totalling millions of dollars over periods spanning decades. These fraudulent materials were mostly supplied in France via the privately-controlled commercial company, known as ‘The Church of Scientology Book Shop.’

Sadly, this French prosecution is just one piece of a vast and confusing puzzle, because there are thousands more corporate structures around the globe engaging in lawful, and/or unlawful enterprises, which comprise the pernicious cultic organization most-commonly referred to as ‘Scientology.’  These apparently autonomous groups have their own paramilitary hierarchy of leaders who, in reality, answer to the organization’s supreme leadership. When the wider picture is examined, ‘Scientology’ sub-groups are revealed as the spokes of a rimless wheel, all feeding cash (and intelligence) back to the central hub. This vast corporate labyrinth is neither original nor unique. The shifty ‘Scientology’ edifice has been maliciously constructed to a well-known pattern in order to prevent, and/or divert, investigation and isolate the organization’s wealthy bosses (in the USA) from liability. By its very nature, ‘Scientology’ never presents itself in its true colours. Consequently, no one ever becomes involved with the movement as a result of his/her fully-informed consent. 

However, the setting up (and sustaining) of such a criminogenic system is defined as a ‘pattern of ongoing, major racketeering activity’ by the US federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act , 1970 (clarified by subsequent US Supreme Court rulings). 

Why the French authorities (who have access to a veritable mountain of evidence stretching back decades) did not file suit against the real bosses of ‘Scientology’ in the USA under RICO, is not such a mystery when one realises the unhealthy influence ‘Scientology’  has wielded over certain thoughtless officials at the US State Dept and US Internal Revenue Service. However, the bosses of ‘Scientology’ are demonstrably committing fraud and obstructing justice, and are, thus, in flagrant violation of RICO, each time they steadfastly pretend to run the ‘World’s Fastest Growing Religion and Self-Betterment Movement, with 8 millions followers.’  In the adult world of quantifiable reality, the best available estimates (from democratically-accountable European government agencies) reveal that there are currently less than 50 000 core-‘Scientologists’ and that recruitment has been in steep decline for some time. Most people who are initially seduced by ‘Scientology,’ abandon the movement within a short period and without complaint. A significant minority (usually with access to independent funds) have remained enslaved for extended periods. It is this core-group of deluded proselytizers who perpetuate the organization, and who are (unconsciously) both victims and perpetrators of the abuse. Down the years, a growing number of courageous whistle-blowers have managed to face the ego-destroying reality that they were committing all-manner of crime by proxy, and they have faced all-manner of intimidation designed to silence their dissent. Indeed, many have been coerced into retracting their complaints. To date, for obvious reasons, the overwhelming majority of core-‘Scientology’ survivors have remained silent. When they first escape, former ‘Scientologists’ are invariably destitute and suffering from chronic psychological deterioration symptoms -  overwhelming feelings (guilt, grief, shame, fear, anger, embarrassment, etc.). Yet, interfering with witnesses to racketeering who wish to cooperate with law enforcement agencies (including the filing of malicious criminal complaints and civil lawsuits against them), is also a violation of RICO.

Nick Xenophon

 

A significant, and growing, number of traumatised former core-‘Scientologists’  have recently begun to come forward in Australia. Mainly, because an Independent Senator, Nick Xenophon, has taken-up their case along with the Australian media. Following the French trial of 2009, the Senator (who has previously campaigned against racketeering) tabled a motion in the Australian Parliament, requesting that an urgent public enquiry be held into alleged ‘Scientology’ crimes Down-Under. These include: fraud, embezzlement, covert intelligence-gathering and blackmail, intimidation, forced abortion, sexual abuse, obstruction of justice, imprisonment, assault and assassination. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMVxPzxOgKY&feature=player_embedded#!

One Australian couple (who were unquestioning ‘Scientology’ core-adherents for over 20 years) now accept that they were effectively coerced into parting with more than 1 million Aus. dollars (around US$ 900 000). The ‘Scientology’ Ministry of Truth has falsely portrayed Senator Xenophon as a ‘Fascist’ and the Australian witnesses as  ‘liars paid by the Australian media.’  However, this is hardly surprising, since from its outset, ‘Scientology’  has been run as a reality-inverting totalitarian State in microcosm, in which all free-thinking individuals, and any quantifiable evidence, challenging the authenticity of the organization’s imaginary scenario of control, were to be mercilessly repressed by first systematically categorising and condemning them as absolutely evil.

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At precisely 8pm (Eastern Standard Time) on Sunday October 30^th 1938,  Dan Seymour made the following radio announcement:

“ The ‘Columbia Broadcasting System’ and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the ‘Mercury Theatre on the Air’ in ‘The War of the Worlds’ by H.G. Wells…. Ladies and Gentleman the Director of the Mercury Theatre’, and star of these broadcasts, Orson Welles.”

Although the show that followed ended within an hour, the effect it had on broadcasting endures to this day.

We will never know for certain if L. Ron Hubbard was listening to ‘Mercury Theatre on the Air’ on the evening of October 30^th 1938. Although the programme would have been available to the future creator of the ‘Scientology’ myth via one of CBS’s affiliated stations, the likelihood is that he was far too busy to be bothered with the radio. It would, however, seem inconceivable that Hubbard remained unaware of the effect caused by Orson Welles’ production of ‘The War of the Worlds’, or of its wider implications.

In the Autumn of 1938, Hubbard was just 27 years old and living, with his first wife and their two infant children, in the small coastal community of South Colby near to the Bremerton Naval Base, Washington State. By all accounts, he was up to his eyeballs in a sea of mounting debts. Hubbard had recently taken out a loan to buy a small house and he was behind with his taxes. However, he was not only struggling to keep afloat financially, but also mentally and physically. His main source of income depended on pounding-out lurid adventure stories for pulp-magazines. 

The year before, Hubbard had completed a novel set in the wild-west, entitled ‘Buckskin Brigades.’ For this, he had negotiated an advance of $ 2 500 from a New York publisher, but (ignoring his debts) he’d bought a 30 foot ketch. Like numerous other aspiring authors, Hubbard had been drawn to the pulp genre because it was by far the easiest form of professional writing to enter. 

‘Penny Dreadfuls’, ‘Shilling Shockers’, or ‘Dime Novels’, had been popular with schoolboys since the 19^th century. During the ‘Depression’ demand for escapist pulp-stories boomed. Once you understood the simplistic good-guys versus bad guys formula, virtually anyone could produce a pulp-story. All that was required was to take any existing yarn and rewrite it using different narrators, names, locations, historical periods, etc. Most pulp writers were white males, and their readers were mainly white male teenagers. There were pulp heroes for most tastes: Cowboys; Indian Scouts; Detectives; Secret Agents; Knights of Old; Pirates; Spacemen; Scientists; Airmen; Soldiers; Sailors; Explorers; Sportsmen; etc. One thing that they had in common, was they all inhabited essentially the same two-dimensional dream world where good endlessly wrestled with evil, and boring things like bosses, babies, mortgages and taxes did not exist.

In the days before computers, pulp-writers were paid by the word and they had to work damned hard to make a decent living. Even if Hubbard had been living reasonably, it would have been difficult to keep his family. Unfortunately, he was living way above his means. Since childhood, Hubbard had himself inhabited a two-dimensional dream-world. In 1935, one of his pulp-stories, ‘The Secret of Treasure Island,’ had been bought by ‘Columbia Pictures’ to be turned into a children’s B-movie serial. As a consequence, he had visited Hollywood where he was briefly styled by Columbia’s Publicity Dept. as  ‘a famous action-writer, stunt pilot and world adventurer.’ This, in essence, was what Hubbard imagined himself to be, and Hollywood publicity agents were the last people on Earth to challenge anyone’s fantasies. However, Hubbard needed increasing amounts of cash to keep reality at bay. So, in order to maximize his pay-cheques, he had extended periods when he closed the door on the outside world and wrote obsessively; often working all night and sleeping briefly during the day. To maintain the pace, he rarely stopped to eat, but he chain-smoked cigarettes and drank huge quantities of coffee. The number of different pen-names Hubbard used at this time, illustrates the size of his self-inflicted work-load: ‘Winchester Remington Colt’; ‘René Lafayette’; ‘Kurt Von Rachen’; ‘Joe Blitz’; ‘Legionaire 148’; (and these are just a few). Indeed, his editors and fellow pulp-fiction wordsmiths were later astonished to discover the wacky explanation of Hubbard’s apparently superhuman productivity. He’d invested in one of the first electric typewriters. Instead of wasting valuable seconds introducing individual sheets of paper into this costly machine, he rigged up an ingenious system using a thick role of cheap wrapping paper which he’d had attached to the wall behind his desk. Hubbard, in full flow, was a one man pulp-fiction factory. His formulaic stories literally rolled-off his do-it-yourself production-line on continuous sheets of paper.

As 1938 came to a close, Hubbard’s narcissistic fantasies veered into disturbing waters. On a visit to New York City, he began pretending that he’d written his first philosophical book, ‘Excalibur,’ … this was going ‘to have a greater impact on people than the Bible’…it  was founded on his own ‘advancement of the theories of Darwin and Freud,’… all human behaviour was ‘based on the instinct to survive.’

At this time, Hubbard wrote a letter to his first wife, in which he stated:

‘…on the strength of the contents of Excalibur, I am going to go into politics and smash my name so violently into history that it will take on a legendary form.’

Almost 10 years later, Hubbard had abandoned his first family, but he was still faithful to his claim to have written ‘Excalibur’ or ‘The Dark Sword.’ He now pretended that the contents of his great book had come to him when he had temporarily died on an operating table during WWII. According to numerous witnesses (including fellow writer, Sam Moskowitz), in 1949, Hubbard spoke to a science-fiction group in Newark, New Jersey, and stated:

‘Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous; if a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be to start his own religion.’

Tellingly, by the time of his death, ‘Excalibur’ remained unpublished, but, although he pretended not to have earned any money for years, Hubbard had secretly acquired control of a vast fortune, estimated (by the US Internal Revenue Service) to be in excess of $600 millions. Sure enough, Hubbard had instigated a movement which he arbitrarily defined as a ‘religion.’ His fortune (much of which was hidden in overseas bank-accounts) derived from his exploiting people’s unconscious acceptance a wholly-imaginary, but nonetheless emotionally and intellectually overwhelming, narrative as total reality. Fundamental to this fraud, was a never-ending series of over-priced books about Hubbard’s life and achievements. However, the authorized version of L. Ron Hubbard’s visit to planet Earth (which all core-adherents of the ‘Scientology’ myth have been obliged to accept as fact) reads as though it was patched together from yarns selected at random from his days and nights as a manic writer of pulp-fiction. There is a very good reason for this - it was:

The founder of the ‘Church of Scientology’ was born in the ‘Wild West’. He was a descendant of the ‘Count de Loupe’ (‘a companion of William the Conqueror’). His maternal great-grandfather and grandfather were ‘Captains: I.C. DeWolfe and Lafayette Waterbury’ (two of ‘America’s greatest naval heroes’). The infant L. Ron Hubbard lived on a 35 000 square mile ranch with his paternal grandfather (‘a multi-millionaire, Montana Cattle-Baron’)… As an adolescent (when he wasn't with his Blackfoot Indian, Medicine-Man mentor, ‘Old Tom’,  becoming an expert ‘rider, hunter and explorer, blood-brother of the Blackfoot tribe’  and the ‘youngest ever American Eagle Scout’), Hubbard was an intellectual prodigy studying most of the world’s greatest authors and developing an interest in ‘religion and philosophy.’ Aged 12, Hubbard was sent to Washington where he was schooled by ‘Commander Snake Thompson’ (a ‘friend of his wealthy grandfather’ and ‘close associate of Sigmund Freud’). From 1925 to 1929, Hubbard was a ‘lone teen-age wanderer in China, India, Tibet and the Pacific’… absorbing the ‘culture and wisdom of the Orient’ (financed by his wealthy grandfather). In the early 1930s, Hubbard established himself at George Washington University as a ‘brilliant academic and sportsman’… a ‘dare-devil pilot and parachutist, renowned explorer, navigator and adventurer’… a ‘pioneering geologist, nuclear physicist, rocket scientist, philosopher, engineer and mathematician.’ When his wealthy grandfather died, he was cruelly disinherited and forced to ‘turn to writing science-fiction to finance his scientific research.’ In the late 1930s, Hubbard was a ‘renowned essayist,’ ‘best-selling novelist’ and ‘major Hollywood scriptwriter’… an ‘influential member of American artistic, and scientific, associations.’ During WW II, he was a fearless warrior (the ‘most-decorated officer in the US Navy with 28 medals collected in every theatre of operations’)… a national hero (the ‘first American serviceman wounded in the Pacific, before Pearl Harbour’) who was ‘blinded and crippled saving the crews of his various ships’… a miraculous survivor, who ‘used the power of his mind to restore his own sight, and who twice defied the medical profession to return from the dead.’ After WW II, Hubbard became an ‘agent of US Naval Intelligence’ sent to ‘infiltrate and destroy a satanic Cult in California.’ He then became the ‘world's leading nuclear physicist’… a genius in all fields of literary, philosophical, artistic and scientific, endeavour… a man who (working alone) advanced the work of ‘Aristotle, Socrates, Voltaire, Decartes, Freud, Darwin and Einstein’… he’d acquired his ‘secret wisdom in heaven during his two near-death experiences.’ In 1950, Hubbard published ‘Dianetics the Modern Science of Mental Health’ and became a medical-Messiah and revolutionary ‘psychiatric therapist.’ This was the first in a series of important ‘scientific/spiritual’ publications, in which Hubbard explained a ‘universal method to improve people’s looks, increase their intelligence and cure all known human illnesses (including ageing, and the common cold).’ These books led to Hubbard founding the ‘Church of Scientology’ in 1954. During the McCarthy era, Hubbard was a ‘fearless anti-Communist’ and ‘American patriot.’ In the 1960s, he was forced to take to the high-seas to save his ‘secret research material’ from an army of ‘Soviet spies and double agents’ (including his wife, and numerous former associates)… an innocent victim of the ‘Communist plot to take over the world’… a man pursued all over the globe by the FBI, the CIA, British intelligence services, French intelligence services, etc., all as a result of a conspiracy lies orchestrated by the medical profession (and particularly psychiatrists), who were, in fact, the secret agents of an ‘evil extraterrestrial ruler, Xenu, who wants to destroy planet Earth’. Finally, Hubbard revealed that he’d ‘discovered the truth about the nature of existence,’ his human body was only a temporary container for his ‘immortal soul,’ he was really a ‘time-travelling extraterrestrial’ (the ‘saviour of galaxies’), who keeps coming back to Earth to save humanity from destruction.

The above represents only a sample of the web of lies and half-truths which Hubbard threw up around himself. Even without access to all the evidence, it’s not that difficult to deduce that the man’s own version of his life and achievements is childish drivel. It is now generally accepted by qualified observers that, as a young man, Hubbard developed severe and inflexible Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). This psychological term was first used in 1971 by Dr. Heinz Kohut (1913-1981). NPD was recognised as the name for a form of pathological narcissism in ‘The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 1980.’ 

Narcissistic traits (where a person talks highly of himself/herself to eliminate feelings of worthlessness) are common in, and considered ‘normal’ to, human psychological development. When these traits become accentuated by a failure of the social environment and persist into adulthood, they can intensify to the level of a severe mental disorder. Severe and inflexible NPD is thought to effect less than 1% of the general adult population. It occurs more frequently in men than women. In simple terms, NPD is reality-denying, total self-worship born of its sufferers’ unconscious belief that they are flawed in a way that makes them fundamentally unacceptable to others. In order to shield themselves from the intolerable rejection and isolation which they unconsciously believe would follow if others recognised their defective nature, NPD sufferers go to almost any lengths to control others’ view of, and behaviour towards, them. NPD sufferers often choose partners, and raise children, who exhibit ‘co-narcissism’ (a co-dependent personality disorder like co-alcoholism). Co-narcissists organize themselves around the needs of others (to whom they feel responsible), they accept blame easily, are eager to please, defer to others’ opinions and fear being seen as selfish if they act assertively. NPD was observed, and apparently well-understood, in ancient times. Self-evidently, the term, ‘narcissism,’ comes from the allegorical myth of Narcissus, the beautiful Greek youth who falls in love with his own reflection. Currently, NPD has nine recognised diagnostic criteria (five of which are required for a diagnosis):

·       has a grandiose sense of self-importance.

·       is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, ideal love, etc.

·       believes that he/she is special and unique and can only be understood by other special people.

·       requires excessive admiration.

·       strong sense of self-entitlement.

·       takes advantage of others to achieve his/her own ends.

·       lacks empathy.

·       is often envious or believes that others are envious of him/her.

·       arrogant disposition.

Dr. Louis Jolyon West

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Jolyon_West

There have been many attempts to diagnose Hubbard’s exact mental disorder during the later part of his life. One of the best-informed, was made by a senior psychiatrist, cult expert, charter member of the ‘American Family Foundation’ and mental-health advisor to the US Government, the late Dr. Louis Jolyon West (UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute). He first encountered Hubbard in the 1950s, and then monitored his activities with increasing alarm. Finally, in the 1980s, Dr. West (who kept his sense of humour) described Hubbard as:

‘a paranoid Commander-in-Chief leading his forces in a war against the rest of the world, because, like Adolf Hitler, he is an atheist who suffers from psychopathic personality.’ 

(Dr. West was in rather a good position to be the judge of someone who could act the roles of a prophet and military commander, one of his closest friends was the Hollywood actor, Charlton Heston).

Despite Hubbard (and his successor’s) extraordinary efforts to maintain an absolute monopoly of information, there is probably more evidence available about the ugly reality behind the Utopian ‘Scientology’ myth, than any other latter-day cultic group. 

In 1987, Russell Miller, published ‘Bare-Faced Messiah’, ‘The True Story of L. Ron. Hubbard’ (Henry Holt & Co. New York). In the face of typically relentless threats from ‘Scientology’s’ aggressive echelon of shyster attorneys, Miller (an experienced and independent journalist from London) spent many months tracking down the truth about Hubbard, before producing a definitive account of his existence from the cradle to the crematorium. 

Miller discovered that, in January 1980, a long-time core-adherent of ‘Scientology,’ Gerald Armstrong, had already been given permission by Hubbard himself to research and write exactly the same book. 

By this stage Hubbard (aged 69) was so deluded and stuffed full of nicotine, alcohol and prescription drugs, that he actually believed his own private archive of manuscripts, photographs, diaries, etc. would corroborate the authorized version of his visit to planet Earth. What Armstrong actually uncovered, led to his being arbitrarily charged by the ‘Leadership of Scientology’ with ‘18 Crimes and High Crimes against the Church of Scientology.’ He was systematically categorized as a ‘Suppressive Person’ who was ‘Fair Game’ to be ‘Tricked, Cheated, Lied to, Sued or Destroyed by any Scientologist.’  However, Armstrong now knew that, during the 1960s, Hubbard had sustained his activities by imposing arbitrary codes and contracts (loyalty, secrecy, justice, punishment, etc.)  in order to repress any internal and external dissent.

Gerald Armstrong fled ‘Scientology,’ in fear of his life. Russell Miller quotes him as stating:

“By then, the whole thing for me had crumbled. I realized that I’d been drawn into Scientology by a web of lies, by Machiavellian mental control techniques and by fear. The betrayal of trust began with Hubbard’s lies about himself. His life was a continuing pattern of fraudulent business practises, tax evasion, flight from creditors and hiding from the law.’ … ‘He was a mixture of Adolf Hitler, Charlie Chaplin and Baron Münchhausen . In short, he was a con man.”

In 1983, the leadership of  ‘Scientology’ launched a malicious prosecution against Gerald Armstrong (in which they posed as innocent victims under attack) to recover 250 000 pages of documentation about L. Ron. Hubbard. A number of courageous, former ‘Scientology’ core-adherents were located by Armstrong’s attorney to act as defence witnesses. In May 1984, Judge Paul G. Breckenridge (Los Angeles Superior Court) decided in favour of Armstrong and delivered the following verdict on ‘Scientology’:

'The organization is clearly schizophrenic and paranoid, and this bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder. The evidence portrays a man who has been virtually a pathological liar when it comes to his history, background and achievement. The writings and documents in evidence additionally reflect his egoism, greed, avarice, lust for power, and vindictiveness and aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile.’

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was, in fact, born in the small town of Tilden Nebraska (formerly known as Burnett). He was named after his maternal grandfather, Lafayette (‘Lafe’) O. Waterbury (b. 1864 Grand Rapids, Michigan), a popular, livery stable owner and autodidact veterinarian. His father was ‘Harry’ Ross Hubbard, né Henry August Wilson (1886 Fayette, Iowa), the adopted son of James Hubbard, an Iowa farmer. Ron Hubbard’s mother was Ledora May Hubbard, né Waterbury (1885 Burnett, Nebraska), a schoolteacher and eldest of 7 sisters in a family of 8 children. At the time of his son’s birth, ‘Harry’ Hubbard was a penniless college drop-out and former yeoman in the US Navy, with literary and theatrical pretensions.

As an infant, Ron Hubbard lived amongst his mother’s family in Helena City, Montana. His happy disposition, flame red hair and green eyes (coupled with the fact that he was the only-child in a large group of loving adults) made him the focus of attention. By all accounts, the Waterbury family treated him like a little prince. When America entered WWI in 1917, ‘Harry’ Hubbard (who was trying to avoid his many creditors) went back into the Navy and served as an Ordinary Seaman. After the war, May Hubbard gave up her teaching career, and, along with young Ron, lived in the home-ports of her husband’s various ships (San Diego, New York, San Francisco and Seattle). During this period, the adolescent Hubbard joined the Boy Scouts and he acquired the habit of keeping a journal.

In 1923, Ron and May Hubbard travelled on a warship from Seattle (via the Panama Canal) to the NE coast of the USA. They were en route for Washington DC, where ‘Harry’ Hubbard (now promoted to junior grade Lieutenant) was attending a land-based training course. Ron spent 4 months in Washington, and (in connection with his Boy Scout activities) he seems to have visited the White House where he shook the hand of president Calvin Coolidge.

In 1924, ‘Harry’ Hubbard was posted to Bremerton Naval dockyard in the Pacific NW near to Seattle. Ron attended a local high-school and continued to pass his spare time in the Boy Scout movement.

In 1927, ‘Harry’ Hubbard (now a full Lieutenant) was posted to the US Naval Station on the island of Guam in the Western Pacific. Ron (aged 16) was allowed to travel there with his parents before returning (alone) to live with his grandparents and 7 aunts in Helena City. During his 6 week trip he briefly visited ports in Hawaii, Japan, China and the Philippines. At this time, his journal was filled with fantasies about ‘spies and gangsters,’ written in the first person from a contemporary racist point of view (‘Chinks’; ‘Gooks’; ‘Wogs’, ‘Coolies’, etc.). When Hubbard got home, he attended high-school in Helena City. He lied about his age to enlist in the Montana National Guard. Photos from this period reveal that he had the appearance of a much older man.

In 1928, Hubbard ran away from his aunts and grandparents. He arrived at the US Naval base in San Diego. After an interchange of telegrams, he was allowed to rejoin his parents on Guam. In the same year, he took a trip (along with his parents and a group of US Naval personnel) and visited Peking and Hong Kong. Whilst still on Guam, his father decided that Ron should attend the US National Naval Academy at Annapolis, but he failed the entrance exam.

The Hubbard family returned to live in Washington DC in 1929. Ron was sent to the ‘Swavely Preparatory School,’ Manassas, Virginia. He was persuaded to make a further attempt to enter the ‘National Naval Academy’. He was now rejected as short-sighted.

A year later, Hubbard (aged 19) was attending ‘Woodward Boys School,’ Washington DC. He again lied about his age, and enlisted in the US Marine Corps Reserve. He was subsequently made a First Sergeant. Later in 1930, he was accepted into the School of Engineering at George Washington University. Hubbard spent two years majoring in civil engineering, but there is no evidence to prove that he attended class. His grades were dreadful. He spent most of his time as a reporter writing for the University’s weekly newspaper, the ‘Hatchet’ (a reference to George Washington’s boyhood cherry-tree chopping escapade). Hubbard also developed a passion for the new sport of gliding.

In 1931, Hubbard took a holiday in the State of Michigan with a college friend. He was taught to fly a light aircraft. Although he subsequently made numerous applications, Hubbard never passed his pilot’s licence. A story then appeared in a Ohio newspaper, referring to ‘Ron Flash Hubbard, dare-devil speed-pilot and parachute artist.’

The following year, Hubbard published an article in a magazine called the ‘Sportsman Pilot.’ This was an elaborate version of his Ohio fantasies. Hubbard then chartered a 200 foot Baltimore-based schooner, the ‘Doris Hamlin,’ and announced his intention to lead 50 fellow students on a 100 day, 5000 mile voyage around the Caribbean. He called this new fantasy the ‘Caribbean Motion Picture Expedition.’  He acquired the ship without any payment by pretending to have the support of the University of Michigan, the Carnegie Institute and the Metropolitan Museum, as well a contract with the New York Times and a potential contract with either Fox Movietone or Pathé News. Hubbard’s ‘Expedition’ quickly turned into a farce. The schooner was blown off-course in a storm and ended-up in Bermuda. Then it was forced to put into Puerto Rico short of food and water. The Captain quickly realised that he’d been dealing with a dreamer. In the face of his penniless customer’s empty legal threats, he returned the ‘Doris Hamlin’ to Baltimore. Subsequently, Hubbard published a series of tales in the ‘Hatchet’ in which he pretended that the ‘Caribbean Motion Picture Expedition’ had been a ‘financial failure,’ but a ‘scientific success.’  By this stage, his University attendance record and grades were so bad that he was forced to quit his course. In desperation, ‘Harry’ Hubbard sent his wayward son to work as a Red-Cross volunteer on Puerto Rico, but, on arrival, he disappeared. He is believed to have taken a temporary job with a mining company.

In 1933, Hubbard (aged 22) returned to Washington DC and made pregnant, and married, Margaret Louise (‘Polly’) Grubb (b. 1907), a farmer’s daughter from Maryland. The couple rented a house in Maryland. When their unborn baby was lost, Hubbard was struggling to make a living writing articles about flying. A tale then appeared in the ‘Washington Daily News,’ in which ‘Ron Hubbard, a local adventurer,’ had returned from a ‘gold-prospecting trip in Puerto Rico to get married,’ and had ‘struck gold in Maryland.’  Soon, Polly Hubbard was pregnant again, but the couple were down to their last dollar. Hubbard was forced to discover his niche in life - pulp magazines. He first read as many of them as he could find (to absorb their formulaic style), and then he sent approximately 50 stereotypical pulp-stories (written in the first person) to various publications in New York city. He immediately started to earn decent money. Hubbard’s first customers included: ‘Popular Detective’; ‘Thrilling Detective’; ‘Phantom Detective’; ‘Thrilling Adventures’, etc. Shortly after the birth of his first child, Lafayette Ronald Jnr., Ron Hubbard travelled to New York. He paid a $10 subscription and joined the ‘American Fiction Guild.’

Hubbard became a father for the second time in 1936. His daughter was christened Catherine. The couple and their two children moved to South Colby, because Hubbard’s parents had recently retired there. (‘Harry’ Hubbard had achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander in 1934).

In 1938,on a visit to New York City, Hubbard began pretending that he’d written his first philosophical book, ‘Excalibur,’ … this was going ‘to have a greater impact on people than the Bible’…it  was founded on his own ‘advancement of the theories of Darwin and Freud,’… all human behaviour was ‘based on the instinct to survive.’ At this time, Hubbard wrote a letter to his first wife, in which he stated:

‘…on the strength of the contents of Excalibur, I am going to go into politics and smash my name so violently into history that it will take on a legendary form.’

Years later, Hubbard told his literary agent, Forry Ackerman, that people who had read ‘Excalibur’ had either gone mad or committed suicide. He also claimed that whilst visiting his New York publisher’s office (in a sky-scraper), a reader had come in with a copy of Excalibur and promptly jumped out of the window. Hubbard’s publisher was John W. Campbell Jnr., an intellectual,  New York-based science-fiction author and editor, who later discovered some notable science-fiction authors, including Isaac Azimov and Robert Heinlein.

When Hubbard met Campbell in 1939, he was publishing a new magazine called ‘Astounding,’ later re-titled ‘Astounding Science-Fiction.’ Hubbard’s first yarn for Campbell’s magazine was the ‘Dangerous Dimension,’ which revolved around ‘teleportation.’ This, like all Hubbard’s plots, were stereotypical of the pulp genre — goodies versus baddies , written in the first person and set in outer-space. For a while, Hubbard abandoned science-fiction and ‘philosophy,’ and began writing ‘cowboy’ yarns for ‘Western Story’ magazine. With the outbreak of WW II in Europe, he rented a small apartment in Manhattan.

In 1940, Hubbard (aged 29) was granted membership of the prestigious ‘Explorers Club of New York.’ He wangled this, after pretending that he had supplied valuable data to the US Navy Hydrographic Office and the University of Michigan, during his expedition to the Caribbean in 1932, and that he had conducted a mineralogical survey of Puerto Rico in 1933, and had made various survey flights in the USA during the 1930s. Unfortunately, no one at the club verified Hubbard’s application. He immediately began styling himself as ‘Captain’  and he gave his address as the Explorers Club, East 70^th Street, New York City. Later, in 1940, Hubbard published a series of science-fiction stories, culminating in a futuristic novel called ‘Final Blackout.’  In this, he described Britain, taken-over by a military dictatorship and then saved by a coup d’etat sponsored by the USA. Accusations followed that Hubbard was either a Fascist or Communist. At about this time, he started writing malicious letters to the FBI. In one, he denounced a hotel porter (who’d insulted him) as a ‘Nazi spy.’  Hubbard then disappeared from New York, and, along with his wife, sailed his ketch to Alaska, flying the flag of the Explorers Club and claiming that he was ‘leading the Alaskan Experimental Radio Expedition 1940 — checking data for the US Navy Hydrographic Office and the US Coast, and Geodetic, Survey.’  The ‘Magician’ was loaded with expensive equipment supplied for free by various US instrument manufacturers. They had all been fooled by the counterfeit ‘Captain’ with the authentic Explorers Club address. When Hubbard arrived in the town of Ketchican, his boat’s engine was broken, but he managed to free-load in Alaska by duping the owner of the only radio station. Hubbard was allowed virtually to take-over the Alaskan airwaves with a series of talks and interviews about his long life as an adventurer, explorer, scientist, pilot and best-selling author.

Ignoring a stack of new debts acquired in Alaska, Hubbard returned to his home in South Colby. Throughout the Spring of 1941, he hatched a plot to get himself commissioned into the US Naval Reserve. Spinning a web of typical Narcissistic fantasies about his qualifications and achievements, Hubbard persuaded various influential figures to support him; including his Congressman. He finally falsified a reference from Washington's Senator, Robert M. Ford, who had given him a signed letterhead.

Hubbard was duly commissioned as junior grade Lieutenant in July 1941. He first worked in Navy Press Relations, and then he was assigned to train as an Intelligence Officer. In December 1941 (after Pearl Harbour), Hubbard was posted to the Philippines. He got as far as Australia, but, at the start of 1942, he was sent back to the USA and branded ‘a self-important troublemaker’ by his superiors. He also left a stack of further unpaid debts. Whilst training at a Submarine-Chaser Center in Florida, Hubbard began to pretend that he had received flash burns to his eyes when he was the Gunnery Officer on a destroyer, and bullet wounds in the back when serving as a commando behind Japanese lines.

In the Spring of 1943, Hubbard was posted to Portland, Oregon, and appointed Commanding Officer of the USS PC-815 (a brand-new, 280-ton, submarine-chaser). A tale then appeared in the ‘Oregon Journal’, in which Hubbard was falsely described as ‘a veteran sub-hunter of the battles of the Pacific and Atlantic, who had commanded 3 important scientific expeditions before the war.’ On the evening of the 18th. May 1943, PC-815 put to sea from Astoria, Oregon, on a training voyage to San Diego - 5 hours later, Hubbard ordered his young crew to battle-stations. He proceeded to attack (what he later claimed to be) ‘at least two Japanese mine-laying submarines.’ For 68 hours, Hubbard continued his imaginary ‘battle;’  PC-815 dropped 100 depth-charges and fired several thousands 20 mm machine-gun rounds. Eventually, 4 other US ships attended the scene. Despite Hubbard’s 18 page report of the ‘incident’ (which graphically described ‘periscope sightings’ and ‘oil rising to the surface’), an official enquiry decided that Hubbard had ‘probably attacked a magnetic deposit.’ Amazingly, Hubbard kept his command. At the end of May 1943, PC-815 was again ordered South to San Diego. On 28th. June 1943, Hubbard allowed his ship to stray into Mexican territorial waters where a number of 3 inch shells were fired from in the vicinity of the Coronados islands. As a result Hubbard was relieved of his command and branded as ‘below average… lacking in the essential qualities of judgement, leadership and co-operation’… etc. He then spent 3 months in hospital in San Diego, pretending to be suffering from ‘malaria, back-pain and a duodenal ulcer.’ Meanwhile, he informed his family that he had ‘been wounded whilst throwing an unexploded shell over the side of a ship.’

In 1944, after briefly serving aboard the USS Algol (a newly constructed, cargo/assault ship), Hubbard (aged 33) again managed to avoid active service in the Pacific. He was sent (at his own request) on a course in ‘Military government’ at the ‘Naval Training School, Princeton.’ Whilst there, he was invited by Robert Heinlein, to join a group of science-fiction authors. They had been asked by the US Navy to put forward ideas for dealing with the problem of Japanese suicide attacks. Detailed intelligence was made available to this group describing the belief system controlling the minds, and actions, of the young Kamikaze pilots. No solution was found.

Jack Parsons

During the final year of WW II, Hubbard returned to a land-based naval post in California and reported sick. In August 1945, he took leave and visited a Bohemian commune installed in a mansion in nearby Pasedena. This was owned by an (outwardly respectable) research chemist and explosives expert, John (‘Jack’) Whiteside Parsons (1914-1952). Whilst studying at the University of Southern California in the 1930s, Parsons had learnt how to induce hypnosis. He had also become attracted to the works of Aleister Crowley a.k.a. the ‘Beast 666’. Parsons contacted Crowley, who immediately arranged for him to be initiated into ‘OTO’ (‘Ordo Templi Orientis’ or ‘Order of the Eastern Temple’), his ‘Satanic/Sex-Magic’ cult (formerly known as ‘Thelema’). When Parsons inherited his father’s mansion, he used it to create his own little kingdom based on ‘Crowleyanity’ (a belief system which rejected all traditional moral codes and permitted its adherents do anything they pleased). Parsons constructed a ‘Secret Temple’ in his private apartment (where he performed ‘Satanic/Sex-Magic’ rituals), and he began collecting all sorts of weird and wonderful people (out-of-work actors, actresses, dancers, writers, mind-readers, etc.) by renting rooms and throwing wild parties. Hubbard identified Parsons as a egomaniac, who was living in a drug-fuelled fantasy world. He stayed at the mansion for several weeks and discovered that Parson’s was sending money to Crowley. However, both Hubbard and Parsons were apparently unaware that Crowley was an undischarged bankrupt and heroine addict, living in squalor in a boarding house on the South coast of England.

At the end of the war, Hubbard was admitted to a Military hospital in Oakland, California, suffering from ‘a suspected duodenal ulcer.’ He stayed there for 3 months before leaving the Navy in December 1945. Along with several hundred thousand fellow sailors, Hubbard was automatically awarded 4 General-Service medals. He immediately applied for a Disabled Veteran’s Pension, on the grounds that he couldn’t go back to work as a ‘$ 650 per month author,’ or keep his wife and children, because of ‘a duodenal ulcer, arthritis, back pain, malaria, conjunctivitis and a sprained knee.’ (Hubbard was subsequently granted an $ 11. 50 a month Disability Pension from the Veterans Association). Instead of returning to his home in Oregon, Hubbard abandoned his wife and children and returned to Pasadena. He stayed with Parsons for several months during the Spring of 1946. Hubbard now pretended that he was ‘psychic,’  and he borrowed money from several of Parsons’ house guests. 

Sara Northrup

Hubbard also profited from Parsons’ claims to believe in Crowley’s doctrine of total sexual freedom and rejection of the unworthy, human emotions of love, jealousy, etc. He began frequenting the bed of his host’s attractive, young girlfriend, Sara Elizabeth Northrup.

Parsons left extensive documentary evidence describing Hubbard’s second visit. He compiled a ‘Secret Magical Record,’ and his letters to and from Crowley still exist. According to this material, Crowley recognised Hubbard as a dangerous manipulator. However, Hubbard quickly convinced Parsons that he (Hubbard) was in touch with a form of ‘Higher Intelligence’, possibly a ‘Guardian Angel.’  The pair then decided to perform a ‘Sex-Magic Experiment.’ They were going to create ‘a Magical Moonchild, an Anti-Christ, Mightier than all the Kings of the Earth.’ In January 1946, Parsons began searching for a woman, the ‘Whore of Babylon,’  to bear this child. He found a willing volunteer, Majorie Cameron, and took her into the desert to perform a series of ritual copulations assisted by Hubbard who took notes. At this time, Hubbard persuaded Parsons to finance a ‘business partnership’ known as ‘Allied Enterprises.’  Hubbard then disappeared taking $ 10 000 of Parsons’ money and Sara Northrup. The couple went to Florida, borrowed more money from a bank, and bought two second-hand schooners and a yacht. At first, Parsons refused to believe that ‘Brother Ron’ would cheat him, but, eventually, he filed suit and took possession of the schooners. Hubbard was forced to sell the remaining yacht to pay-off his bank loan. After managing to increase his Disability Pension, Hubbard married Sara Northrup, but whilst he was still legally married to his first wife, Polly. During the second half of 1946, the bigamous couple lived in S. California. They then moved to New York where Hubbard started to sell stories to a pulp-magazine editor, Sam Merwin. It was at this time, that Hubbard began to boast that ‘the easiest way to become rich is to start a cult.’

In 1947, Hubbard (aged 36) returned to writing stories for John Campbell Jnr. Whilst living in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, he produced a novel ‘The End Is Not Yet,’ about a physicist who saves the world by discovering a ‘new philosophical system.’  The book was later serialised in ‘Astounding Science-Fiction.’ Hubbard then briefly returned to South Colby and divorced his legal wife. She was given custody of their children. He was ordered to pay her $ 25 a month. Hubbard simply ignored this and immediately left for Hollywood to live in a trailer with Sara. He began to tell his new literary agent that he (Hubbard) had twice died on an operating table during the war..… Whilst in Heaven, he’d been given the answers to all the world’s most important philosophical questions.… He had then used the power of his mind to resurrect himself, and he had spent 48 hours without sleep transcribing his heavenly wisdom into a book entitled ‘Excalibur,’ or ‘The Dark Sword.’… When he had given copies of this work to Publishers, several readers had committed suicide.… He had been forced to lock it away in a bank vault. At about this time, Hubbard started writing letters to the Veterans Association requesting psychiatric treatment.

In 1948, Hubbard was granted $ 55.20 a month disability pension. He then became involved with the ‘Los Angeles Fantasy and Science-Fiction Society.’ As a well-known author in the genre, Hubbard was a regular speaker at its meetings. He began to demonstrate that he could put people under hypnosis and make them hallucinate. Later in 1948, Hubbard was arrested by the Forgery Detail of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office. He was charged with petty theft concerning a cheque. At the hearing, Hubbard protested his innocence and was bailed on $ 500. At his trial, he entered a guilty plea and was fined $ 25.

Hubbard moved to Bayhead, New Jersey in 1949. He continued to write for pulp-magazines, but rumours began to circulate in science-fiction circles that Hubbard was about to ‘publish a book on philosophy.’  John W. Campbell Jnr. put an announcement in ‘Astounding Science Fiction’  that Hubbard was preparing an article concerning a ‘New Science, Dianetics'. However, Hubbard spoke to a science-fiction group in Newark, New Jersey, and stated:

‘…writing for a penny a word is ridiculous; if a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be to start his own religion.’

Hubbard soon found his first adherent — his publisher.

John Campbell had trained in physics and chemistry, and he had become fascinated by the possibility of a rational explanation for psychic phenomena. Believing that that Hubbard was pursuing a ‘Research Project,’ Campbell allowed himself to be put him under hypnosis to see if this might help his chronic sinusitis. When he seemed to have been cured, Campbell became totally convinced that Hubbard really had discovered a cure-all therapy. Typically, Campbell’s own self-esteem would not allow him to face the ego-destroying reality that he’d been duped. He temporarily became an enthusiastic proselytizer for ‘Dianetics.’ Campbell contacted one of his authors, Dr. Joseph Winter (a medical practitioner), and asked him to help with Hubbard’s ‘Research Project.’  Hubbard immediately pulled the same hypnotic trick on Winter. Although sceptical at first, Winter wrote an academic paper on ‘Dianetics’ and presented it to the ‘Journal of the American Medical Association’ and the ‘American Journal of Psychiatry.’ This was rejected by both publications (neither Hubbard nor Winter could supply quantifiable evidence to support their puerile claims). However, Dr. Winter wrote an introduction for Hubbard’s pulp-article. Campbell then found a medically unqualified publisher of medical, and psychiatric, textbooks, Art Ceppos, who agreed to publish a textbook on ‘Dianetics.’

By 1950, rumours about a ‘New Science’ had spilled over into the popular press. Campbell then published an announcement stating that a 16 000 word article by L. Ron. Hubbard, entitled ‘Dianetics — An Introduction to a New Science,’ would be published in the May edition of ‘Astounding Science fiction.’ At about the same time, the ‘Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation’ was created in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Its board of Directors were: Ron and Sara Hubbard; John W. Campbell jnr.; Dr. Joseph Winter; Art Ceppos; Parker C. Morgan (a lawyer); and Donald Rogers (an electrical engineer). Winter sold his medical practise in Michigan, and began to support Hubbard’s ‘Research.’ The ‘Foundation’ rented an office in Elizabeth, and the Hubbard family (complete with a new-born daughter, Alexis) moved into a nearby house. A forty page article was duly published in ‘Astounding Science Fiction.’ This was immediately followed, on the 9 May 1950, by the release of ‘Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health,’ published by Hermitage House at $ 4.00.

With ‘Dianetics,’ Hubbard plagiarized Freudian psychoanalysis. He simply rewrote Freud’s theory of ‘the conscious, and the unconscious, mind’ using his own comic-book pseudo-scientific vocabulary. Hubbard pretending that ‘using Dianetics, in 250 test cases out of 250, a dramatic, and beneficial, change had been achieved.’ He also borrowed ‘Darwin’s Theory of Evolution’ to maintain the aura of scientific authenticity.

In brief, Hubbard’s scenario was that evolution had created a self-defence mechanism for humans, where the ‘Analytical (i.e. conscious) Mind’ shut itself down under emotional stress, and the ‘Reactive (i.e. unconscious) Mind’ automatically took-over by filing-away negative information in memory-banks, or ‘Engrams.’ In his ‘NewTherapy,’ a qualified ‘Auditor’ could find these ‘Engrams’  neutralise them by regressing the subject’s ‘Reactive Mind’ under a form of ‘deep-relaxation’ (i.e. hypnosis). By ‘Returning Down the Time-Track’, ‘Engrams’ could be selected, removed and re-filed in the subject’s ‘Analytical Mind’ where they could be rationalised, and where they couldn't cause any harm. However, these ‘Engrams’ often originated from stressful episodes experienced before the subject was born. In these cases, subjects had to ‘Return Down the Time-Track’ to the moment of their birth, and even to the womb. Once the ‘Reactive Mind’ was ‘Cleared’ of ‘Engrams,’ the ‘Analytical Mind’ could function at its ‘Full Capacity.’ The ‘Clear’ subject's IQ would increase, all psychological, and psychosomatic, illness would automatically disappear and the ‘Clear’ subject would achieve total recall. Hubbard tailored his ‘Dianetics’ scenario to fit a post-war America already destabilised by the prospect of nuclear war. Many people were easily attracted to his do-it-yourself ‘100 % effective’ version of psychoanalysis.

Almost immediately, numerous qualified observers recognised Hubbard as a dangerous charlatan, and they published their detailed concerns. However, the critics of ‘Dianetics’ found themselves bombarded with an avalanche of letters from Hubbard’s most-deluded followers, who were all totally convinced that they had benefited from ‘Auditing.’ Many were previously rational individuals, who occupied influential positions in traditional society. However, it must be remembered that Hubbard must have read, and analysed, the works of Aleister Crowley. He knew from his experience with Jack Parsons that humans instinctively tried to justify their previous actions. Unfortunately, all the quantifiable evidence proves that 'Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health' was designed to be so mystifying that it would shut-down an ill-informed reader's critical faculties and facilitate their conversion to the further self-gratifying false belief that they had found an exclusive path to a future Utopian existence. Interestingly, there are passages in the book which instruct so-called ‘Dianeticists’  how to induce a hypnotic trance, and then how to extract compromising personal information from subjects.

In May 1950, for a fee of $ 500, individuals were offered ‘a residential course to train as a Qualified, Professional, Dianetics Auditor.’ (No one was refused). They were offered their very-own ‘Hubbard Dianetic Auditor's Certificate’ to hang on the wall (just like a real doctor). In reality, members of the public were being deceived into becoming, unpaid proselytizers and intelligence-gatherings for Hubbard. So-called ‘Auditors’ were instructed to write down the results of their 2 hour ‘Auditing Sessions’ and file these with the ‘Foundation’ on the pretext that this was ‘part of Hubbard's Research Project'. Consequently, a steady stream of money and compromising information began to flow in Hubbard’s direction. After a few weeks, he was inundated with thousands of volunteer ‘Auditors’ along with their $ 500 cheques.

By July 1950, 300 so-called ‘Dianetics groups’ had started all over the USA, and 55 000 copies of Hubbard’s fiction had been sold as fact. By August, the ‘Foundation’ had agreed to purchase a $ 4.5 millions mansion in Los Angeles, and had opened offices in Washington DC, New York, Chicago and the Hawaiian Islands. Hubbard acted the role of ‘Chief Lecturer’ in Los Angeles, where he acquired a new girlfriend, Barbara Kaye (aged 20) an attractive, blond psychology student employed by the ‘Foundation’ as ‘public relations consultant.’ Hubbard began addressing open-meetings of several thousand paying customers, but these were soon abandoned, because he found that he couldn’t control the agenda. At this time (according to Barbara Kaye), Hubbard started to exhibit paranoia. He believed that he was being ‘followed, and targeted, by CIA assassins.’

The first people to confront reality within the ‘Foundation’ were Dr. Joseph Winter, and Art Ceppos. As Directors, they were aware that over $ 1 million had come into the organisation, but there was absolutely no control on expenditure. Hubbard was busy cashing cheques for tens of thousands of dollars, but the ‘Foundation’ had already become insolvent with outstanding debts of over $ 200 000. More seriously, numerous so-called 'Pre-Clears' had experienced severe, mental breakdowns (at least two were known to have become psychotic). Winter and Ceppos realised that Hubbard wasn't in slightest bit interested in the adverse results of his activities, his sole objective was making money. They resigned from the ‘Foundation.’ Hubbard immediately spread a rumour that he'd caught the pair plotting to take control. He wrote a malicious letter to the FBI, and accused Ceppos of being a ‘Communist sympathiser, who had tried to use the Dianetic Research Foundation to spread Communist propaganda'.

Free from the restraining influence of Dr. Winter, Hubbard invented an even more-dangerous pseudo-medical procedure— a cocktail of Benzedrine and vitamins to be taken in large doses every two hours over a period of one day. He christened this nonsense, 'GUK'. Hubbard claimed that 'Pre-Clears could take GUK, and Audit themselves'. Hundreds of fanatical 'Dianeticists' volunteered to act as guinea-pigs. This led to a detailed article in 'Look Magazine', which branded 'Dianetics' as total 'hocus-pocus'. However, by then, Hubbard had fooled an estimated 500 000 people into handing over $ 4 for one of his comic books.

At the beginning of 1951, the New Jersey Medical authorities began legal proceedings against 'The Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation' in Elizabeth, on the grounds that it 'taught medicine without a licence'. 

During the spring of 1951, Hubbard fell-out with his wife, Sara. and John W. Campbell also resigned from the ‘Foundation'. After denouncing Sara to J. Edgar Hoover as a ‘Communist and drug addict', Hubbard kidnapped his own baby daughter, Alexis. The FBI granted Hubbard an interview in Los Angeles, 7th. March 1951, in which he denounced his wife again, and claimed that the Soviets were ‘interested in Dianetics'. The Federal Agent who conducted this interview, decided that Hubbard was a ‘mental case'. Hubbard took Alexis, and ran away to Havana with his personal assistant, Richard de Mille (son of film director Cecil B. de Mille). He stayed there for two months whilst Sara filed for divorce in Los Angeles. She accused her husband of: 'bigamy; kidnapping; systematic torture; sleep deprivation; beatings; attempted strangulation's and scientific experiments'. The divorce complaint also contained the opinion of Sara's medical advisers that 'Hubbard suffered from paranoid schizophrenia'. This was splashed all over the American press. Hubbard wrote to his wife from Havana. He now imagined himself to be a ‘classified scientist under the protection of the US government'. Sara filed a further complaint in Los Angeles. She presented another letter to the court written by Hubbard's ex-wife, who stated the following:

'Your charges probably sound fantastic to the average person, but I've been through it — the beatings, threats on my life, all the sadistic traits which you charge — twelve years of it'.

Meanwhile, Hubbard's 'Foundation' was rapidly going bankrupt, and 'Dianetics' was no longer the flavour of the month. Hubbard was forced to appeal to Donald Purcell (a millionaire property-developer and one of his most deluded followers) for help. Hubbard now pretended that 'he was dying'. Purcell sent a private plane to Cuba and flew Hubbard, de Mille and Alexis to his home-town of Wichita, Kansas. This was openly reported in the local press. A new branch of the ‘Foundation’ was set-up in Wichita using Purcell's money whilst Hubbard free-loaded in a local hotel suite. Sara's attorney filed a petition asking for Hubbard's Los Angeles assets to be placed in receivership. On the 14th. May 1951, Hubbard sent a 7 page document to the Department of Justice in Washington. In this, he revealed his surprisingly detailed knowledge of Soviet, brainwashing techniques. Hubbard accused his wife of: having been brainwashed by Communist agents… trying to murder him… living in a free-love colony in Pasadena… attaching herself to a rocket scientist, Jack Parsons… being intimate with several scientists working on the secret atomic bomb project… trying to steal his 'Dianetics' secrets for the Communists. The FBI stuck to their original opinion of Hubbard as a 'mental case'. However, in return for custody of Alexis, Sara withdrew all her petitions in June 1951. She also signed a document retracting her allegations against Hubbard and agreed to a divorce as though she had been at fault.

David Brear (copyright 2013)

This article is to be continued.