Mat Pesch, Amy Scobee, me, Leah, Jackson and Marc Headley
This week we have the great pleasure of speaking with Gary “Jackson” Morehead, the former head of security at the confidential scientology headquarters near Hemet in Riverside County California. We cover the efforts taken to prevent Sea Org members from leaving, both physical and mental, what the “Blow Drill” consists of, what a “Life History” is and plenty more.
Jackson joined us for an episode of The Aftermath, Season 2 Episode 5 The Rise of David Miscavige, his story is one of the most gut-wrenching in the entire series.
Video of RCSO from Tony Ortega’s blog concerning the activities of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office concerning the Int Base: Sheriff’s Deputy on what Scientology does behind its gates: “That’s not my business.”
Louis Theroux with Cathy Fraser, the “Port Captain” of the Int Base, responsible for dealing with the media, law enforcement and other wogs who show up at the base. She is Jefferson Hawkin’s ex-wife. He is WAY too nice for her to ever have been in a relationship with.
Another video from Gold. This one by “Nasty” Nathanial, featuring the Gold Security Guards and the charming Cathy Fraser.
We talk about Safepointing. This recent post: LAPD and Scientology. Again. Safepointing, PRO Area Contol and the Special Zone Plan breaks it down and explains how this is done.
The lookout high above the base that is called “Eagle”
Article on Ortega’s blog Drone Flyover: Scientology’s Int Base and its hilltop camouflaged “Eagle’s Nest’ this video gives a perspective and illustrates what Jackson was talking about:
We talk about the Life History and how all Sea Org members are required to fill one out, and that this provides information for people to be tracked down. I only have copies of a couple of old forms available. There were some further refinements made to these based on experience. Below is the first page, you can click here to see the full document: Life History Form
This is another similar document titled Form 5 — this is the first of 6 pages:
This is an application to join the Sea Org — it gives you an idea of the detail of the questions:
While scientology claims there is no such thing as the “Blow Drill,” their expert on all things (at least for the past few years), Marty Rathbun, filed a declaration covering the blow drill in the Headley case in July 2010 (there is much more in this declaration you may find interesting, I just excerpted the paras specifically dealing with the Blow Drill):
Tony Ortega’s recent posting at his blog about the files scientology keeps: What kind of technical perfection can you expect at Scientology’s mecca, space pilgrim?
Special bonus. A candid shot of Danny “Done-it-again” Dunigan, the infamous Golden Era security guy:
Geography questions:
1. CA-79 – Isn’t State Route 79 west of Int Base by almost 1 mile, and isn’t Gilman Springs Road the road that bisects the property, not State Route 79?
2. Nearest city – Isn’t the City of San Jacinto the nearest city, not Hemet?
I think that the City of San Jacinto deserves that mention also because it has held at least one public hearing about closing Gilman Springs Road apparently at the behest of Scientology, even though Int Base and Gilman Springs Road there are not within San Jacinto’s jurisdiction. (I learned this from Tony Ortega’s website.)
The soccer field doesn’t appear to be pristine anymore, in my opinion after viewing aerial photos on Google Maps (https://www.google.com/maps/@33.8299545,-116.987878,182m/data=!3m1!1e3).
Thank you for the great work that you do, particularly in this episode (as in previous podcast and TV episodes) with the emphasis on empathy and psychological explanations of what traps those inside the base more than any fence ever could. It helps me as a wog understand better this pernicious organization and others of its ilk.
This is a most profound heartbreak: to consider the miles of “total freedom” products and promises we are many times sold when participating in Scientology, then to learn of the realities of the extreme non-freedom at the ‘top of the house’ at the Int base. It guts one. You think, “This is what I was donating all my time and money for—so that hardworking Sea Org members can be enslaved, mentally-emotionally or even sometimes physically tortured?”
By whose definition or standards does that constitute “total freedom”?
What have our donations been propping up and supporting?
I am so glad for the team who founded and operate The Aftermath Foundation to support the reversal and un-doing of these ill effects on human lives and the human psyche.
I have a question about the term blow and the blow drill. As a never in, I’d like to know if Scientologists/Sea Org personnel ever questioned “If Scientology is the greatest, yada yada, why is there a need for the blow drill?” Everyone who mentions it just asks like it is just normal and run of the mill. Do you allow yourself to ask that internally at all.
Hello Julia. When you ask,
“Do you allow yourself to ask that internally at all.”
To whom are you referring by “yourself”?
Are you asking this of a specific person? Or of just anyone who is currently in the cult?
Do you want to know if people who are in the cult ever ask themselves some of the many questions which originate from the illogical statements made? (such as, “We are the most ethical bullshit on the planet”?
If you watched the Aftermath TV show, the answer is spelled out many times in many ways. But the short answer is that current members are terrified to ever question any of the bullshit spewed by the cult and terrified to ever say anything that could be seen as negative towards the cult.
Do you remember the concept of the “Security Check”? Anyone who ever says anything negative about the cult has to spend many hours undergoing a Security Check. The worst part is they have to pay for those hours and they ain’t cheap!
So, it is very rare that anyone would ever question anything – especially not out loud when someone might hear them.
Sorry for my delay in responding. The “yourself” I am referring to is – hard working, sold on Scientology, Sea Org workers. Is this the first crack in the foundation? And when you ask about the sec check and being fearful to think negative, I guess that answers the question of “do they dare think about blowing from the MOST ETHICAL blah blah”. Again, I am a never in – its just that those that have left and talk about blowing and/or blow drills seem to talk so nonchalant about it like it is no big deal. Even though blowing and blow drills are not the “norm” anywhere else.
Julia Roberts,
Good questions from a never in.
Anyone who’s done Scientology knows why there’s a blow drill.
Anyone doing Scientology is under great pressure to “produce”. i.e, to progress, to complete.
Normal reasons for not being on course or on post are almost always not accepted.
Hubbard has a lot of policy forbidding “reasonableness” about not beginning/ continuing /completing some action in Scientology. Being “reasonable” is BAD, suppressive, in the cult!
Reasonableness in Scientology encompasses accepting reasons for not practicing Scientology due to – just off the top of my head – physical illness, a family member’s physical illness, work demands, lack of money, lack of time; physical fatigue, hunger; spousal demands and pretty much any obligations one might be incurring in his or her life other than the practicing of Scientology!
And so, Scientologists blow. Staff members blow. Students blow.
PreClears blow. And Sea Org members blow.
Its not that uncommon.
And so there are blow drills.
To my knowledge – I’m open to being corrected on this but to my knowledge – the blow drills to bring someone back are limited to the recovery of Sea Org members. To my knowledge, Class V org staff and “public” Scientologists – those not on staff or in the Sea Org – are never brought back with blow drills.
Staff members, and important “upstat” Scientologists – whales, celebs, etc., do get visits from recovery teams sent by the cult, but not IMMEDIATELY with “blow drill tech” as when a Sea Org member blows.
Julia. These drills are mainly for the SO.
According to hubbard, the reason a person runs away from a place is because they have overts (sins). So although scn is the top of what one might want, if he has overts (or will) everyone will know that he ran away for that reason (and not maybe because he was mistreated or not what he thought it was or because he was living like a prisoner, or what else).
This is one of the basic control tricks the cult uses, any thought not aligned to it mean one has overts/sins. It acts and feeds the sense of guilt.
O/T. 10/5/21: FORB Press, which is owned by the Church of Scientology, will co-sponsor tbe conference Gnosticism and New Religions.
The conference will consider Scientology as an example.
The European Times — Event: Gnosticism and New Religions.
https://www.europeantimes.news/amp/2021/09/event-gnosticism-and-new-religions/
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On Octotber 5th, at 5pm, the Center for Study of New Religions (CESNUR), and the publishing house FoRB.PRESS, will be presenting the conference “Gnosticism and New Religions: The case of L. Ron Hubbard”
Scholars of new religious movements such as Wouter Hanegraaff and Giovanni Filoramo have long investigated whether it may be appropriate to describe some of these movements as “neo-Gnostic”.
A case in point is Scientology. While Hugh Urban and others have argued that there is a “hidden” Gnosticism in the ideas of Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, the three presenters in this session have all defended, in different ways, the idea that Hubbard’s Gnosticism is open and explicit.
Among the speakers there are Massimo Introvigne, director of the CESNUR, Fr. Aldo Natale Terrin from the Saint Guistina Pontificial Institute, and Eric Roux, Vice-President of the European Office of the Church of Scientology, and will be moderated by Rosita Soryte from the European Federation on Freedom of Belief.
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Archived on ESMBR and WWP at:
https://exscn2.net/threads/10-5-21-forb-press-which-is-owned-by-the-church-of-scientology-will-co-sponsor-tbe-conference-gnosticism-and-new-religions.4000/
https://whyweprotest.net/threads/scientology-owned-forb-press-says-that-un-report-promotes-lgbt-rights-over-human-rights.137752/#post-2793453
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It will be interesting to find out how many people actually turn up for this love-in, and how many aren’t obviously scientologists!
Some one has written excellent comment about the ” material” on Tony Ortega’s blog ,yesterday.
It worth reading and very relevant to the topic under discussion.
“Scientology is the religion of the nameless.
No one wrote their many books, magazines and other literature.
The text must have appeared by magic or perhaps a room full of monkeys.
No one worked on any of their TV shows either.
They have no actors, camera operators, editors, writers or producers. Not even a solitary gaffer or best boy.
No one built the sets. It must all be the work of invisible thetans or ghosts.
I prefer ghosts.
The “Aftermath” episode with Jackson left such a huge impression on me. He was honest. Remorseful. Almost childlike in his innocence. It takes a few days for the podcast to broadcast on iHeart, but I can’t wait to hear what more he has to say.
Keep up the good work, Mike. You’re work here IS actually changing this planet for the good.
Yes, he’s a heart wrenching listen.
I’ll need to be in the right frame……
Mike, following Scientology has gotten kind of boring. There was a fascinating wave of departures, and all of the disclosures and stories that accompanied them. Then it all stopped. Do you think Kathy Fraser, Jenny Linson, or any of the other senior officers who would have great stories to tell, will ever blow? And, as you knew Marty Rathbun,.do you think he will ever come clean about his strange turnabout?
Who knows. Things happen all the time. When you least expect them.
Thanks Mike. Appreciate the personal follow-up. I’ve enjoyed following your blog for years. And all of the aftermath content as well. Maybe someday you’ll decide to write a book. It would be explosive, I’m sure. For my part, I should probably get a life.
Thanks for including your support of whistleblowing culty nasty scientology in this so called life you feel the need to add to……. 🙂
More life: fill’er up, pleeeze!
fast johnny,
You have a life; I have a life. We ALL have lives here AND we’d ALL be thrilled if Mike wrote a book!
It WOULD be explosive. It WOULD be devastating to the cult. Heavens to Xenu, what a book it would be!
Aside from the issue of it being wholly Mike’s decision to do so, from my viewpoint, however terrific and informative and readable the book would be, the problem with Mike’s writing one is that many people simply do not READ books anymore.
From my viewpoint, it would have to be a book that got TONS of media attention so that people who don’t read could be introduced to the subject of Scientology and get interested in the facts about the cult.
But then, on the other hand, lots of media attention would turn Mike and his family once more into major targets of the cult’s vengeance supported by its endless legal resources, which in turn are fueled by its endless money.
Yes, it would be one hell of a book. But Mike would be out there…he would need powerful people, very rich, powerful people having his back in this endeavor, I would think.
We can only hope for new defectors. But I suspect that DM is now cutting deals with anyone who leaves who knows too much, trading silence for the sort of payoff he ultimately had to give Debbie Cook – along with the implicit threat that the alternative is the sort of multi-pronged campaign of legal and extra-legal harassment that finally broke her, and Marty Rathbun. One potential saving grace on that account, is that California has now put the crimp on nondisclosure agreements, though mostly related to sexual harassment and discrimination:
> https://www.natlawreview.com/article/california-proposed-legislation-silenced-no-more-act-sb-331
It also seems to me that a lot of the smartest, most courageous people have already left (a tip of the hat to Mike), plus DM has eliminated or neutralized many of those inside who might be potential threats, as authoritarians typically do. But, yes, there’s always the potential for surprises…
Peacemaker, your comment made me think (your comments frequently do) that if DM is indeed cutting deals with those who want to exit the cult who know too much, this “policy” of DMs actually puts long-term Class V org staff, public and Sea Org members into very advantageous positions should they be so inclined.
Of course they don’t necessarily KNOW this.
And of course exiting in this manner would be a huge overt for them.
To even contemplate leaving whilst shaking COB down in this way would be unthinkable to most of them.
Nevertheless, if that’s how COB is handling this sort of thing nowadays, they HAVE leverage, however unaware of it they may be. And for long term staff, broke, untrained in any profession, older or just plain OLD, with no income, no Social Security to amount to anything – it is one way they could leave and be comfortable for the rest of their lives. Just saying.
Aqua, I presume any such deals are framed as “retirement”. But I doubt local org Class V staff would qualify except in cases where someone at that level happened to know about something really critical, or very scandalous.
I don’t think DM is concerned about more of the typical tales of poor pay, long hours, fudged statistics, teetering finances, psychological abuse, etc. that is chronic at local orgs and long reported on. What I assume he doesn’t want is someone to expose the inner workings of international management, tell stories of the worst abuses including physical violence he himself has committed, broadcast detailed information about just how dismal scientology’s critical “stats” like actual auditing hours delivered are, and so on.
It’s one of the great tragedies of scientology, that so many people who worked so long and hard, and sacrified so much, toiling at the lower levels including the Sea Org rank and file, have no benefits at all in their golden years, and no recourse.
Peacemaker, I get what you’re saying and have to agree.
You’re right; most staff likely wouldn’t have observed any of the hot-button abuses that would or could open DM’s pockets to a departing staff member.
And, yes, these long term staff , their loyalty, their hard work and persistence, renewing their staff contracts every 2 1/2 or 5 years, decade after decade, in their 60s and 70s now; and then the Sea Org members who labor unceasingly all their adult lives and then when they get too old and no longer “useful” unceremoniously offloaded – my head swims at the out-exchange, the injustice of it all.
O/T. The Embassy of India in Dublin, Ireland is pleased to observe Hindi Diwas on 14 Sep 2021 at the Scientology Centre, Firhouse, Dublin 24 at 7pm.
https://twitter.com/IndiainIreland/status/1437422288920514564
Archived with a screenshot and a photo on ESMBR and Instagram at:
https://exscn2.net/threads/the-embassy-of-india-in-dublin-ireland-is-pleased-to-observe-hindi-diwas-on-14-sep-2021-at-scientology-centre-firhouse-dublin-24-at-7pm.3992/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTxPfU_BrTa/
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Double win – safepointed, and large empty building filled with people.
O/T. An interesting passage from page 346 of the book Religion, Altered States of Consciousness and Social Change (Ohio State University Press 1973):
https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/1811/6294/1/RELIGION_ALTERED_STATES_OF_CONSCIOUSNESS_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE.pdf
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American “marginal” religious groups employ a variety of means to induce altered states of consciousness. For example, Whitehead (n.d.: 53—54) speaks of the phenomenon termed “exteriorization” by Scientologists (“the sense of being outside one’s body”) and relates it to stimulus deprivation; she suggests the similarity of this state to the hallucinations produced in sensory deprivation experiments. The Scientologists, thus, are seen to resemble the Vincentian Shakers, described by Henney, in their technique of inducing an altered state. Whitehead adds that this experience of ‘ ‘exteriorization’ ‘ is what “makes Scientology so attractive to those experienced in drugs and meditation. ‘
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Nah – Regardless of what you call it or whether it has any significance, there are many thousands of such experiences related all over the place without sensory deprivation, drugs or meditation. I had one of my own one time. It only lasted five minutes and it was “interesting”.
Richard, I don’t think there’s necessaryily a contradiction or conflict there. As I see it, scientology seeks to consistently, or at least somewhat more regularly, produce the sort of phenomenon that is otherwise sporadic or random, using the sorts of techniques that that the author of the paper outlines. I don’t see the excerpt claiming that is the only way to achieve them, though to be more certain it would be necessary of course to scrutinize the full chapter or paper.
I’ve had some extraordinary if not even transformational experiences, first outside and then inside of environments intended to generate them, and I have no issue with the way it’s put, at least from the perspective I expressed.
Peacemaker – I agree. I should have omitted the “Nah” at the beginning of my comment. I just meant to say that there are numerous other explanations and speculations regarding the general category OBE, Out of Body Experience, existing in numerous venues long before the internet.
Funny how transformational experiences are sometimes generated and sometimes just appear out of the blue.
While I’m at it here’s a definition from a 1981 tech dictionary while noting there have been numerous revisions of the dictionary over the years. Hubbard sure wanted everyone to believe he had discovered the key to life or maybe the Fountain of Youth? lol
exteriorization: 1. The state of the thetan, the individual himself, being outside his body. When this is done, the person achieves a certainty that he is himself and not his body. 2. Exteriorization is defined as the act of moving out of the body with or without full perception. It is the fact of this act which proves that the individual is not a body but an individual. This discovery in 1952 proved beyond any question the existence of a thetan, that the individual was a thetan, not a body, and disproved that Man was an animal, and that he was a spiritual being, timeless and deathless.
Buddhists and Hindus were probably discussing their out of body experiences thousands of years ago. Nothing new about that.
Loved the cover photo: six superstars I’d rather hang out with than all the fops in tinsel town. You’re all real heros!