This recent article is in stark contrast to the hype churned out by scientology about the oxymoronically named “ideal org program.”
David Miscavige has claimed this program is the key to Planetary Clearing, and a lot of people have given a LOT of money (and continue to do so) buying his bs.
Scientology also claims the “new churches” prove that scientology is more popular and in demand than ever.
If either of these two things were true, scientology would not own “abandoned” buildings all over the world, that they have failed to occupy, in some cases, for decades.
Manchester is by no means the only one — not even in the UK.
Both Sunderland and Plymouth have abandoned, derelict buildings too. They are making media for themselves for all the wrong reasons:
Sunderland “ideal” org
Plymouth “ideal” org
Scanning back, I can recall numerous other buildings that have been purchased with grand announcements and promises of soon to be “ideal orgs,” and even one building, Toronto, that is owned by scientology that they moved OUT of, with claims it was going to be “renovated” — it’s never happened and the org is located in some dump and is paying rent while the building they own sits derelict.
Boston org sold their building. Still don’t have an “ideal org”, though they have bought and sold another “ideal” building in the meantime that they never moved into. Still renting somewhere…
Battle Creek building was purchased in 2001! With much fanfare about it being the “original Kellogg spa hotel.” Still empty and decaying.
Philadelphia has a boarded up building. So too New Haven. St. Louis insanity has been covered here a few times. Albuquerque. Chicago.
Remember Harare and Bulawayo? Cape Town, Durban, Pt Elizabeth? Adelaide? There are probably more.
IF this was the route to planetary clearing, Miscavige could denominate $5 million to renovate each of these buildings and not even make a dent in the pile of cash he is sitting on.
But that would pose an entirely new problem.
They don’t have staff to man these orgs. Look at Chicago. Supposedly the next “ideal org” to open, they are trying to scavenge people from all over the world so they have enough people to man reception and usher anyone foolish enough to walk through the doors into the FART Div 6 displays and press the button for them. Imagine trying to find staff to man Plymouth? or Battle Creek? Or God forbid, Harare?
Of course, no scientologist ever LOOKS. They just listen to the hype and the life is sucked out of them dollar by dollar…
David is nuts!
Out now for five years after almost thirty in. It’s hard to find people I knew back then while I was in, that are now out. What I am surprised to find – there are people that are out for other reasons, other the the basic con. These people are ex-scn’s for sure, but do not look at stuff on the internet. It is the oddest thing, after my five years of reading books, being on the internet, etc. People are out, but they still do not know the truth. Hell, factually no one knows the entire truth of the thing.
I know this from trying to reach out to people to talk to, and bumping into this in three out of four contacts.
hi there, i’m proud of you for leaving when you did, dotey. I was never a member, but seeing how many will leave after being almost half a century in amazes me. I just found this blog and will continue to read it. I hope to see more. Please dont post ID information, as they probably watch this website. Best of luck, dude.
Hey thanks.
So many factors go into making someone stay in. It is very easy to point at the cat when it is out of the bag.
We are out but know of more of those still in than out. Many that are out are not looking at the internet, which is a surprise for me.
My moment as in this story came after a very brutal several months of routing off staff. What is totally absurd is that as a staff member, you often will be asked to pay for your auditing (not inexpensive) when routing out. Often you are asked to “replace” yourself, that is you need to recruit another person to do your post.
I looked up “how many actual scientologists are there really?” I never looked back.
There are definitely more empty, decaying buildings scattered around the world. Off the top of my head, there’s a strange half-finished building they bought somewhere in Italy, and I’m pretty sure there are others in Europe.
Also in the UK, there’s the relatively new building in Edinburgh that they bought not long ago, that has yet to fall into decay, though there have been no signs of actually doing anything with it. And there’s the sprawling old resort in Ontario that was supposed to become something like a “continental’ org for Canada.
The building in Austin also has apparently been finished for going on two years now, but seems to be in line behind Chicago. We haven’t seen nearly as much in the way of promo seeking to staff Austin, as with have with Chicago, so they may be way behind.
And Boston did buy an office park type building after giving up on the historic one that they finally sold off, but that too has been sitting empty for years with no signs of progress, while the org recently moved to yet another “temporary” space where they’re probably stuck paying out a lot in rent and utilities in the expensive local market.
Great info. thanks.
Austin has the building on high dollar real estate by campus sitting empty, and a REALLY run down strip mall spot on Hancock that they work out of.
It has been claimed that COS helped fix up Hollywood Blvd. bldgs, but they would be glad to knock a hole in a load bearing wall if it was a good place to stick an LRH bust. More here: https://angrygaypope.com/hollywood_boulevard/index.php
Great post/article by the official. Thanks, your site looks great.
I’m curious. Does anyone know what the scene is in Las Vegas with that Ideal Org that was put there? Is the building still there or did they sell or lose it to foreclosure? Are there any people on course or getting auditing? Is there much staff except for a few people?
Cyndi, all of the “ideal” orgs are still going, or being kept on life support, and I think DM will make every effort to keep them open so as to bolster his claims of “expansion.” Though Las Vegas is one of those locations where a once-separate Celebrity Center was effectively closed, through being folded into the local org.
There’s very little information about how local orgs are doing. I suspect that’s partly the result of Scientology having shrunk so much that there are few people left inside to report on it even if they wanted to, and having been reduced mostly to diehards who will never leave or even entertain doubts.
Some reports indicate that numbers are down at least a third from what they were a few years ago, however.
It’s sad to see what in some cases are historic buildings being left to rot like that. And, at least in the case of Plymouth, there’s no simple fix, since the $cientologists ripped out and sold the original flooring and fixtures. “Once_Born” over in the ‘Bunker’ has a web page dedicated to what’s been going on with the old hotel:
https://scicrit.wordpress.com/plymouthuk-ideal-org/
Good point. So many beautiful properties owned by this church. So much neglect. Even the buildings are abused
How much more evidence does anyone in power in DOJ’s around the world need to see or hear.
“Jesus take the wheel!”
Help those who have suffered from this horrible group and tear down the rest of it.
Amen.
Amen!
Do tell, what does FART stand for?
It sure is sad for the communities to have a decaying building blighting the skyline.
Sorry — I had earlier defined it. My acronym. Fully Automated Robot TVs
No matter how small the “religion” shrinks, there still are true believers.