AN ENGLISH country garden. Beautiful lush lawns, flower beds of startling colour. But a young, dark-haired girl presents a bizarre spectacle as she sits cross-legged on the lawn eating her lunch oblivious to the summer storm pouring down on her head. Two other girls lovingly entwined in each other's arms march past in the shadow of the 18th century Manor House. All wear a naval-type uniform, dark blue with lashings of gold braid. The whole scene is surreal, like something from ...

LAFAYETTE Ron Hubbard's face stares down from practically every wall in the Church of Scientology's headquarters in East Grinstead, Surrey. It is not especially prepossessing. It is the face of a foxy charlatan and begs the question: would you buy a used cult from this man? In previous years an insult like this to the great Hubbard would have been enough to guarantee perpetual harassment and investigation by his Scientology sect whose code of honour states: "Never fear to hurt another ...

LOS ANGELES — It's 1984, and Big Brother — under the guise of L. Ron Hubbard — is being slowly exposed. Now 34 years after Hubbard created the Church of Scientology, the documents he wrote, the laws he created, the orders he issued, and the people who lied and cheated to protect him are surfacing in a court of law. They all offer evidence of a chilling tale. Since the sect orchestrated its surreptitious "takeover" of Clearwater in 1975, newspapers and ...

FORTY-FIVE members of a splinter group of Scientologists demonstrated outside the entrance of Saint Hill UK headquarters on Sunday, in protest at the cost of the sect's courses. The group demanded reforms within the workings of the church, including a refusal to interfere in the sexual, marital and family affairs of its members. This was a reference to the scientology practice of "disconnection" — cutting off communication with relatives if there is a disagreement over their beliefs. Mr Eric Ballard, a ...

A REWARD of £120,000 had been offered by the international body of the Church of Scientology for information leading to the recovery of what are said to be scriptures stolen from its European headquarters in Denmark. The sect is hoping to obtain information which will lead to the arrest of other people in Britain and abroad who were involved in the theft. The offer follows an international police operation and the issuing of High Court orders in London and Edinburgh to ...

Recent reports about the Church of Scientology hiring de-? pose as businessmen to elicit views about the sect from Clearwater civic leaders are "much ado about nothing," sect President Heber Jentzsch said Wednesday. "The issues all will come out in court," the 48-year-old Jentzsch told reporters during an "open house" at the sect-owned Fort Harrison Hotel in downtown Clearwater. Jentzsch would not discuss specifics, but hinted the Scientology inquiry was tied into concerns about real estate speculation downtown and its potential ...

In a newish sort of castle in Sussex a suite of rooms, with private bar, an electric organ, and an elegant writing desk complete with pens and an unopened pack of his favorite cigarettes, await one of the world's most prolific and richest authors. Yet the rooms, cleaned regularly, remain unused; the chair behind the desk has not been sat upon for over fifteen years, though the man for whom all this is carefully — even lovingly maintained — has sold ...

[picture of L. Ron Hubbard in cowboy attire with a camera] HOST—VOICE OF: Believers think of L. Ron Hubbard as a genius and a saint; detractors call him a fraud and, according to his own son, one of the biggest con men of the century. HOST—ON CAMERA: Whether L. Ron Hubbard is alive or sane is also up for grabs. Our guests are Ron DeWolf, who is L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. He split with his father in 1959 and is now ...

[Picture / Caption: Scientology's headquarters in L.A. was formerly the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. The church purchased It for $5 million In 1977.] Last October in San Francisco, some 70 local leaders of the Church of Scientology gathered to hear nine church executives harangue them about their shortcomings. Styling themselves with titles that ranged from the quasi-military ("Commander," "Warrant Officer") to the quasi-lunatic ("International Finance Dictator"), the men announced that they represented the new hierarchy of the organization, and that they ...

The year was 1950. The book was Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, written by a 39-year-old "pulp" writer of science fiction, L. Ron Hubbard. A few months earlier, Hubbard had outlined the book's tenets in a magazine called Astounding Science Fiction. And a year before that, at a lecture for science fiction writers, Hubbard had mused, "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way would be ...

The 16 witnesses who testified in Clearwater's public hearings on Church of Scientology activities provided the first-hand information city officials will use if they decide to design ordinances to regulate the sect. Boston attorney Michael Flynn, who gathered the witnesses, said he questioned them extensively about their Scientology experiences and people they knew in the sect. He confirmed that information through other witnesses and contacts inside the church, he said. If they had not been in the sect, Flynn said, "I'd ...

In a story of international intrigue, a former senior executive of the Church of Scientology testified Saturday about a worldwide sect network involving infiltrations, conspiracies and smuggling. Scott Mayer, 38, told Clearwater city commissioners "I have personal experiences of all of these," in the forth day of the city's Scientology hearings, where legal consultant Michael Flynn paraded seven of his most damaging witnesses. Commissioners heard also from a former Guardian Office worker who said she used the sect's "confessional files" during ...

CLEARWATER — Six more witnesses denounced the Church of Scientology and its practices Friday during public hearings on the organization. For the third straight day, the critical testimony was a mixture of information concerning Scientology's Clearwater operations and church activities elsewhere. City commissioners, who are having the hearings, heard from: * Casey Kelly, 23, who joined Scientology to crusade against "war," "crime" and "insanity" but later became disenchanted with long hours and low pay as a church employee here. * Rosie ...

Teen-ager David Ray testified Friday he had a spectacular start with the Church of Scientology in California, but quickly became a rebel trapped in The Fort Harrison Hotel, relegated to cleaning rooms and stomping garbage. Casey Kelly, 23, testifying for the second day, said he "wasn't a very good Scientologist," either. "One thing you don't do in Scientology is joke around, so obviously I didn't make out very well," he quipped. Like one other witness called in the third day of ...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court Monday let stand the convictions of two former leaders of the Church of Scientology, rejecting their final efforts to contest the legality of the FBI's search of the church's Los Angeles offices in 1977. The court's action apparently clears the way for Mary Sue Hubbard - the one-time "controller" for the church group and wife of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, who was not charged in the case—to begin serving a five-year prison term on a ...

Eighteen months ago, the U.S.-based Church of Scientology launched a global—and unsuccessful—campaign to prevent publication of a Reader's Digest report called "Scientology: Anatomy of a Frightening Cult." The church engaged a detective agency to investigate the author, Digest Senior Editor Eugene H. Methvin. Digest offices in a half-dozen nations were picketed or bombarded with nuisance phone calls. In Denmark, South Africa and Australia, the church sued unsuccessfully to prevent publication. In the months since the article appeared, in May 1980, a ...

A downtown Clearwater businessman who last year joined the Church of Scientology was committed to a Mental hospital Monday after a psychiatrist testified that Scientology apparently contributed to the man's insanity. Francis G. Diamond, 45, a successful antique dealer before his breakdown, told Circuit Judge William Walker that other Scientologists' "thetans," or spirits, had invaded his body during counseling sessions and now control him. "It's not something out of Star Trek-it happens," insisted Diamond, who brought a book by Scientology founder ...

The faithful inner core serve as thieves, decoys and spies. The shocking story behind one of the most dangerous “religious cults” operating today IN THE late 1940s, pulp writer L. Ron Hubbard declared, “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million, the best way would be to start his own religion.” Hubbard did start his own religion, calling it the “Church of Scientology,” and it has grown into an enterprise today grossing ...

''On Dec. 13, former Scientologist LaVenda Van Schaick filed a $200-million class-action lawsuit against the Church of Scientology in Federal Court in Boston, contending that the church falsely promises to improve the lives of its members. Since then, 10 other ex-Scientologists have filed affidavits in support of the suit, giving a glimpse of life within Scientology. The church has files motion to dismiss that case. It also sued Mrs. Van Schaick and others, contending that she is "motivated by malice." Last ...

AFFIDAVIT OF SILVANA GARRITANO I was introduced to Scientology in October, 1977, when I went to the New York Church to take a "Communications Course". The "registrar" (a euphemism for salesman) was Jerry Indursky. He told me that my problem was a lack of assertiveness, that I did not speak up for myself. Indursky promised me Scientology would remedy that problem and I would emerge from the Communications Course a happier, more successful person because I could stand up for myself. ...