Growth and expansion come close to being an obsession of the Church of Scientology. From street pamphleting to sophisticated media exposure of such Scientology converts as professional football player John Brodie and singer Amanda Ambrose, Scientologists solicit new recruits in a promotional whirlwind more often associated with used car salesmanship than with religion. Local Scientology centers promote services and plan their expansion with the help of high-level directives outlining a variety of methods to bring in "the raw public by the ...

Sara Northup was the second wife of L. Ron Hubbard. The letter below was first posted by Chris Owen who noted the following: For the benefit of OSA: no, I didn't get this document from Paulette, and I didn't solicit it in any way whatsoever; it was a big surprise to find it amongst a pile of FBI and CIA papers. The manuscript ends rather abruptly — I'm not sure that it's complete. When this visit happened, Ron had returned ...

How profitable Scientology has become is one of the organization's most closely guarded secrets, but estimates of the personal worth of founder L. Ron Hubbard have ranged up to $7 million. In 1963 the Internal Revenue Service claimed the church earned more than $750,000 in the United States from 1955 through 1959, the year Hubbard moved international headquarters from Washington, D.C., to England. There, according to the Los Angeles Times, world receipts rose to $140,000 weekly in 1968. —– In New ...

Couched in pseudoscientific terms and rites, this dangerous cult claims to help mentally or emotionally disturbed persons—for sizable fees. Scientology has grown into a very profitable worldwide enterprise . . . and a serious threat to health. [Picture / Caption: L. Ronald Hubbard, Scientology's founder.] [Picture / Caption: Bust of Hubbard flanks "altar" in Scientology "church" near London. Among his accomplishments, Hubbard claims to have been dead and recovered, to have visited Venus and heaven.] LAST SUMMER in New York City, ...

The only time Hubbard allowed an outside crew to interview him.

In May of last year, from the modest little town of Elizabeth, New Jersey, came a voice that promised complete salvation for mankind on this earth. That in itself is nothing new, but this particular voice was a powerful roar, worth at least a footnote in any account of our troubled age. It was the voice of a man by the name of L. Ron Hubbard. Until this moment, Hubbard had been known as a writer of science fiction fantasies. But ...

[...] Divorced. Sara Northrup Hubbard, 25; by L. Ron (Dianetics) Hubbard, 40, science fictioneer turned mental healer; after five years of marriage, one daughter; in Wichita, Kans. [...]

WICHITA, Kan., June 12 (AP) — L. Ron Hubbard, founder of dianetics, was awarded an emergency divorce from his wife, Sara Northrup Hubbard, today. The divorce was without alimony but provided that Mrs. Hubbard is to have custody of their 14-month old child Alexis and $200 a month to support Alexis.

[...] In a Los Angeles court, his wife charged L. Ron Hubbard, 40, disciple and founder of dianetics, "the modern science of mental health," with bigamy, cruelty and "systematic torture." He is also a paranoid schizophrenic, she added, and she wants a divorce. [...]

Indications that Dianetics founder L. Ron Hubbard, 40, has fled to Cuba with the baby daughter he is accused of kidnapping were contained today in a letter submitted to the court by Mrs. Sara Northrup Hubbard, 25. Mrs. Hubbard, who is suing for divorce on the grounds her husband is insane and who accused him of having kidnapped their daughter, Alexis, 13 months, last February 24th, presented to Superior Judge W. Turney Fox a letter written by Hubbard to her last ...

LOS ANGELES, April 23 —Dianetics Founder L. Ron Hubbard's wife charged today in a divorce suit that he subjected her to "scientific torture experiments" and is suffering from a mental ailment. Mrs. Sara Northrup Hubbard, 25, charged in her divorce suit that Hubbard subjected her to "systematic torture" through denial of sleep, beatings, strangulations, and suggestions that she kill herself "as a divorce would hurt his reputation." As a consequence, she and her medical advisers concluded Hubbard, 40, was ...

LOS ANGELES, April 23 (UPI) — The wife of L. Ron Hubbard, 40, founder of the Dianetics Mental Health Movement, filed suit for divorce today, charging he is suffering from a mental ailment. Mrs. Sara Northrup Hubbard, 25, said "competent medical advisers" had examined her 40-year-old husband and concluded he was "hopelessly insane" and should be placed in a private sanitarium for "psychiatric observation." She said doctors told her her husband was suffering from a mental ailment "known as paranoid schizophrenia." ...

WARNER & JACKSON 639 South Spring Street Los Angeles 14, California Tucker 9171 Attorneys for Plaintiff [Stamped: FILED Apr 23 1951, Harold Cecily, County Clerk] IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES SARA NORTHRUP HUBBARD, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) vs. ) ) L. RON HUBBARD, also known as ) LAFAYETTE RONALD HUBBARD; Los ) Angeles Department HUBBARD DIANETIC ) No. D RESEARCH FOUNDATION, a partnership; ) COMPLAINT FOR DIVORCE THE ...

Mrs. Sara N. Hubbard, 26, suing L. Ron Hubbard, 40, inventor of dianetics, for divorce or annulment, disclosed yesterday that she has received a letter from him mailed in Cuba which assures her that her 13-month-old daughter Alexis Valorie, "is getting excellent care." The letter was filed in Superior Court with a request for permission to serve Hubbard by publication and by registered mail in the proceeding wherein Mrs. Hubbard charges that he kidnaped their child. In Cuban Hospital Hubbard, whose ...