Going Clear by Lawrence Wright
63 “one of the most brilliant men”: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 93.
64 Hubbard said that he: Thomas Moulton testimony, Church of Scientology California vs. Gerald Armstrong. “I never saw the scars,” Moulton admitted. For a comprehensive list of the contradictions in Hubbard’s various war accounts, see Chris Owen, “Ron the ‘War Hero,’ ” July 1999, www.spaink.net/cos/warher/battle.htm#doc-a.
65 “first U.S. returned casualty”: Hubbard, “A Brief Biography of L. Ron Hubbard,” brochure for the First Australian Congress of the Hubbard Association of Scientologists International, Nov. 7–8, 1959.
66 By assuming unauthorized authority: L. D. Causey to Commandant, Twelfth Naval District, Feb. 14, 1942.
67 USS YP-422: Chris Owen, “Ron the ‘War Hero,’ ” July 1999, www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/warhero/battle.htm. Owen notes that this vessel is often referred to as the USS Mist, but that no such ship existed.
68 “Upon entering the Boston”: The Humanitarian: The Road to Self-Respect, The Ron magazines, p. 12. 1996. Chris Owen, “Ron the ‘War Hero,’ ” July 1999, www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/warhero/yp-422.htm.
69 “with some seventy depth charge runs”: Chris Owen, “Ron the ‘War Hero,’ ” July 1999, www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/warhero/battle.htm.
70 “not temperamentally fitted”: Lieutenant (jg) F. A. Del Marinal cable, Sept. 25, 1942.
71 He arrived wearing dark: Thomas Moulton testimony, Church of Scientology California vs. Gerald Armstrong.
72 “a very loose person”: “The Admissions of L. Ron Hubbard,” www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/writings/ars/ars-2000–03–11.html.
73 Hubbard was finally given: Chris Owen, “Ron the ‘War Hero,’ ” July 1999, www.spaink.net/cos/warher/battle.htm#doc-a.
74 “These little sweethearts”: “Ex-Portlander Hunts U-Boats,” Oregon Journal, April 22, 1943.
75 bottom of his class: Chris Owen, “Ron the ‘War Hero,’ ” July 1999, www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/warhero/battle.htm.
76 “It made noises like”: Thomas Moulton testimony, Church of Scientology California vs. Gerald Armstrong.
77 “The target was moving”: Hubbard, “An Account of the Action Off Cape Lookout,” undated report.
78 with dawn breaking: Ibid.
79 “There was no submarine”: Commander Frank Jack Fletcher to Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, June 6, 1943.
80 Japanese records after: Chris Owen, “Ron the ‘War Hero,’ ” July 1999, www.spaink.net/cos/warher/battle.htm#doc-a.
81 “This on top of”: “The Admissions of L. Ron Hubbard,” www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/writings/ars/ars-2000–03–11.html.
82 He spent the next: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 107.
83 “Once conversant with the”: Hubbard request to School of Military Government, Sept. 9, 1944.
84 none proved useful: Patterson, Robert A. Heinlein, Vol. 1: In Dialogue with His Century, p. 350.
85 “Ron had had a busy war”: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 109.
86 Hubbard had an affair with Heinlein’s wife: Patterson, Robert A. Heinlein, pp. 369–70.
87 “He almost forced me”: “The Admissions of L. Ron Hubbard,” www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/writings/ars/ars-2000–03–11.html.
88 Vida Jameson…“Quiet, shy little greymouse”: Samme Buck, personal correspondence; Frederik Pohl, “The Worlds of L. Ron Hubbard, Part 2,” The Way of the Future Blogs.
89 “Blinded with injured optic”: Hubbard, “My Philosophy,” The Philosopher: The Rediscovery of the Human Soul, The Ron magazines, p. 85.
90 “I had no one”: Ibid.
91 Doctors at Oak Knoll: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 112.
92 nor do his military records: Hubbard said in 1950 that he was treated for “ulcers, conjunctivitis, deteriorating eyesight, bursitis and something wrong with my feet.” Albert Q. Maisel, “Dianetics: Science or Hoax?” Look, Dec. 5, 1950.
93 “And I was watching this”: Hubbard, “The Story of Dianetics and Scientology,” lecture, Oct. 18, 1958.
94 “My wife left me”: “The Admissions of L. Ron Hubbard,” www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/writings/ars/ars-2000–03–11.html.
95 Hubbard towed a house trailer: Alva Rogers, quoted in Carter, Sex and Rockets, p. 103.
96 “James Dean of the occult”: Hugh B. Urban, “The Occult Roots of Scientology? L. Ron Hubbard, Aleister Crowley, and the Origins of a Controversial New Religion,” Novo Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions (February 2012): 94.
97 He acquired a three-story: Kansa, Wormwood Star, p. 28.
98 twelve-car garage: Sara Elizabeth Hollister (formerly Sara Northrup Hubbard) tapes, Stephen A. Kent Collection on Alternative Religions.
99 The house had once belonged: Letter from Arthur Fleming to John Muir, Feb. 8, 1911; Pendle, Strange Angel, p. 208.
100 “Must not believe in God”: Russell Miller interview with Nieson Himmel, “The Bare-Faced Messiah Interviews,” www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/miller/interviews/himmel.htm.
101 Among those passing: Carter, Sex and Rockets, pp. 84–86; Pendle, Strange Angel, pp. 244–45.
102 “women in diaphanous gowns”: Carter, Sex and Rockets, p. 84.
103 captured in a portrait: Pendle, Strange Angel, p. 209.
104 “The breakup of the home”: Parsons, Freedom Is a Two-Edged Sword, p. 69.
105 Sara Elizabeth “Betty” Northrup: Pendle, Strange Angel, p. 255. Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 116.
106 lost her virginity: Pendle, Strange Angel, p. 203.
107 “Her chief interest”: Ibid.
108 when she was fifteen: Sara Elizabeth Hollister (formerly Sara Northrup Hubbard) tapes, Stephen A. Kent Collection on Alternative Religions.
109 “He was not only a writer”: Ibid.
110 “He dominated the scene”: Alva Rogers, quoted in Carter, Sex and Rockets, p. 103.
111 “the most gorgeous”: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 117.
112 “a gentleman, red hair”: Ibid., p. 118.
113 angry debate: The Church of Scientology forced the authors of a 1952 Crowley biography, The Great Beast, to remove any suggestion that there was a connection between Scientology and black magic. Church of Scientology of California and John Symonds, MacDonald & Co. (Publishers) Limited, Hazell Watson & Viney. High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, 1971. The church also provided me with its correspondence with the London Sunday Times in 1969 and 1970, in which the newspaper agreed to retract similar statements and not make such references in the future.
114 envious of his talent: Grant and Symonds, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, p. 18.
115 He may have served: Spence, Secret Agent 666.
116 “Do what thou wilt”: Grant and Symonds, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, p. 18.
117 Nibs—Hubbard’s estranged: Allan Sonnenschein, “Inside the Church of Scientology: An Exclusive Interview with L. Ron Hubbard, Jr.,” Penthouse, June 1983.
118 “What a lot of people”: Ibid. The church fiercely disputes any of the derogatory remarks made by Hubbard’s son, especially in the Penthouse interview. In 1984, L. Ron Hubbard, Jr.—who had changed his name to Ronald DeWolf—stated, “The interview of me in the June 1983 issue of Penthouse is true and accurate, period.” Transcript of Tape #1 of June 28, 1984—Ron DeWolf. www.lermanet.com/scientology-and-occult/tape-by-L-Ron-Hubbard-jr.htm. However, in 1987, DeWolf signed an affidavit recanting his statements against his father, saying they were “no more than wild flights of fantasy based on my own unlimited imagination.” Affidavit of Ronald Edward DeWolf, May 20, 1987, Carson City, Nevada. But five years later, DeWolf testified that he had signed the recantation “in order to protect my wife and children” from threats made by the church. City of Clearwater Commission Hearings Re: The Church of Scientology. May 6, 1982, Morning Session.
119 “spiritual progress did not depend”: Grant and Symonds, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, pp. 582–83.
120 “T
121 “my very good friend”: Hubbard, “Conditions of Space/Time/Energy,” Philadelphia Doctorate Course Transcripts, Dec. 5, 1952.
122 “That’s when Dad decided”: City of Clearwater Commission Hearings Re: The Church of Scientology. May 6, 1982, Morning Session.
123 “a savage and beautiful woman”: Hugh B. Urban, “The Occult Roots of Scientology? L. Ron Hubbard, Aleister Crowley, and the Origins of a Controversial New Religion,” Novo Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions (February 2012): 98.
124 “invocation of wand”: Carter, Sex and Rockets, pp. 122–23. Interview with Anthony Torchia.
125 “We observed a brownish”: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, pp. 120–21.
126 “I don’t know where I am”: Kansa, Wormwood Star, p. 41.
127 Cameron’s version is that: Ibid., p. 28.
128 “I have my elemental!”: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 121.
129 “Display thyself”: Ibid., pp. 122–23.
130 “Instructions were received”: Ibid., p. 124.
131 “Apparently Parsons or Hubbard”: Ibid., p. 124.
132 aborted another pregnancy: Carter, Sex and Rockets, p. 151.
133 “Babalon is incarnate upon”: Quoted in Pendle, Strange Angel, p. 266.
134 more than twenty thousand dollars: Ibid., p. 267.
135 “I cannot tolerate”: Hubbard, Appeal to Administration of Veterans Affairs, July 4, 1946.
136 “I have know”: S. E. Northrup letter to Veterans Administration, Los Angeles, July 1, 1946.
137 “Banishing Ritual”: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah: p. 127.
138 ship was too damaged: Sara Elizabeth Hollister (formerly Sara Northrup Hubbard) tapes, Stephen A. Kent Collection on Alternative Religions.
139 Parsons gained a judgment: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 127.
140 “keep him at arm’s”: Robert Heinlein letter to John Arwine, May 10, 1946.
141 “a very sad case”: Virginia Heinlein to Catherine and Sprague de Camp, Aug. 7, 1946.
142 “All right, I’ll marry you”: Sara Elizabeth Hollister (formerly Sara Northrup Hubbard) tapes, Stephen A. Kent Collection on Alternative Religions. Both the church and Hubbard himself denied that he was ever married to Northrup, although there is a marriage certificate on file in the Kent County Courthouse in Chestertown, Maryland, recording the marriage of Lafayette Hubbard and Sara Elizabeth Northrup on Aug. 10, 1946. Northrup also cites that date in her divorce pleading.
143 “I suppose Polly was”: L. Sprague de Camp letter to Heinleins, Aug. 13, 1946.
144 In fact, Polly didn’t learn: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 189.
145 “Mr. Hubbard accomplished”: Church of Scientology response to queries. Parsons lost his security clearance in 1948 because he was suspected of leaking state secrets to a foreign power. In 1952, while his wife was at the grocery store, he blew himself up in his garage, apparently accidentally. According to Anthony Torchia, a former member of the OTO, the order dissolved in the 1960s but re-formed in the 1970s and continues to this day. Moreover, the OTO does not consider itself “black” magic.
146 “No work since discharge”: Veterans Administration Report of Physical Examination, Sept. 19, 1946.
147 “I got up and left”: Sara Elizabeth Hollister (formerly Sara Northrup Hubbard) tapes, Stephen A. Kent Collection on Alternative Religions.
148 churning out plots: Ibid. Among the stories Sara Northrup claimed to have written were the Ole Doc Methuselah series in Amazing Science Fiction.
149 “I kept thinking”: Ibid.
150 Nibs told her: Ibid.
151 Ron was arrested: Ibid.
152 I am utterly unable”: Hubbard letter to Veterans Administration, Oct. 15, 1947.
153 “a manic depressive”: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 175.
154 “He said he always wanted”: www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/miller/interviews/barbkaye.htm.
155 “Paranoid personality”: Jim Dincalci, personal communication.
156 “malignant narcissism”: Stephen Wiseman, personal communication.
157 “a kind of self-therapy”: Church of Scientology, California, v. Gerald Armstrong. Information that has become available since the Armstrong trial, such as the Heinlein and Hays letters, confirms much of the material in the Affirmations, adding to its credibility.
158 “the Empress”: Atack, A Piece of Blue Sky, p. 100, says that Hubbard may also have called his Guardian Hathor, an Egyptian goddess usually depicted with cow horns. In the Affirmations, Hubbard explicitly names his Guardian Flavia Julia. He may have been referring to Flavia Julia Titi, daughter of the Roman Emperor Titus; or, perhaps more likely, to the Empress Flavia Julia Helena Augustus, also known as Saint Helen, mother of Constantine the Great, who is credited with finding the “True Cross.” Jim Dincalci told me that L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., referred to his father’s Guardian as the source of his automatic writing; also, that Aiwass, Crowley’s Guardian, was in charge of this sector of the universe.
159 miniature kangaroos: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 140.
160 hypnotize Sara’s mother: Sara Elizabeth Hollister (formerly Sara Northrup Hubbard) tapes, Stephen A. Kent Collection on Alternative Religions.
161 “The organization is clearly schizophrenic”: Judge Paul G. Breckenridge, Church of Scientology, California, v. Gerald Armstrong.
162 “I went right down”: Hubbard, “The Story of Dianetics and Scientology,” lecture, Oct. 18, 1958.
163 “I used to sit”: Sue Lindsay, “Book Pulls Hubbard into Public,” Rocky Mountain News, Feb. 20, 1983.
164 “I cannot imagine how”: Hubbard letter to Veterans Administration, Jan. 27, 1948.
165 “Been amusing myself making”: Hubbard letter to Russell Hays, July 15, 1948.
166 he floats the idea of a book: Ibid.
167 “I got to revolutionize”: Ibid., Aug. 16, 1948.
168 “I was hiding behind”: Hubbard, “The Story of Dianetics and Scientology,” lecture, Oct. 18, 1958.
169 “I will soon, I hope”: Hubbard letter to Robert Heinlein, Nov. 24, 1948.
170 a Guggenheim grant: Ibid., Sept. 25, 1948.
171 a loan of fifty dollars: Ibid., Feb. 17, 1949.
172 “Golly, I never was”: Ibid., Mar. 3, 1949.
173 “getting case histories”: Ibid.
174 “My hip and stomach”: Ibid., Mar. 8, 1949.
175 It ain’t agin religion”: Ibid., Mar. 31, 1949.
176 “Dammit, the man’s got”: John Campbell letter to Robert Heinlein, July 26, 1949.
177 “deep hypnosis”: Ibid.
178 “I was born”: Ibid., Sept. 15, 1949.
179 lost twenty pounds: Ibid.
180 “The key to world sanity”: Ibid.
181 “a little old shack”: Hubbard letter to Robert Heinlein, Dec. 30, 1949.
182 Announcing a New Hubbard Edition: Undated correspondence from Hubbard to Robert and Virginia Heinlein.
183 “Ron is going at”: Sara Hubbard letter to Robert and Virginia Heinlein, May 2, 1950.
184 “begun Jan. 12, ’50”: Hubbard letter to Robert and Virginia Heinlein, Mar. 28, 1950.
185 the Empress, had dictated: Atack, A Piece of Blue Sky, p. 101.
186 Sara read Korzybski: Sara Elizabeth Hollister (formerly Sara Northrup Hubbard) tapes, Stephen A. Kent Collection on Alternative Religions.
187 “Bob Heinlein sat down”: Hubbard, “Study of the Particle,” lecture, Oct. 29, 1953.
188 “This article is not a hoax”: Quoted in Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 153.
189 “I know dianetics is”: Ibid, pp. 152–53.
190 Nobel Peace Prize: Alfred Bester, “Part 6 of Alfred Bester and Frederik Pohl—The Conversation,” recorded at The Tyneside, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, June 26, 1978.
191 “fifty thousand years”: What Is Scientology?, p. 106.
192 “with 18 million copies sold”: Ibid.
194 “The operator then touches”: Ibid., pp. 55–56.
195 “handled like a marionette”: Ibid., p. xiii.
196 “many years of exact research”: Ibid., p. xxv.
197 “She is rendered”: Ibid., p. 60.
198 “This is not theory”: Ibid., p. 75.
199 “exact science”: Ibid., p. xviii.
200 “Dianetics deletes”: Ibid., p. xiii
201 “You will find many”: Ibid., p. xxv.
202 outnumbering those being treated: “Care of Mental Patients Remains Major Problem,” Associated Press, Apr. 29, 1949. Reitman, Inside Scientology, p. 26.
203 “in less than twenty hours”: Hubbard, Dianetics, p. ix.
204 “It was sweepingly”: Hubbard, “The Story of Dianetics and Scientology,” lecture, Oct. 10, 1958.
205 “This volume probably”: Isidor Isaac Rabi, “Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, by L. Ron Hubbard (review), Scientific American, January 1951, pp. 57–58
206 “expressive of a spirit”: Erich Fromm, “ ‘Dianetics’—For Seekers of Prefabricated Happiness,” The New York Herald Tribune Book Review, September 3, 1950, p. 7.
207 “The art consists”: S. I. Hayakawa, “From Science-fiction to Fiction-science,” Etc. 8, no. 4 (Summer 1951).
208 “While listening to Hubbard”: Winter, A Doctor’s Report on Dianetics, p. 11.
209 “When I count”: Hubbard, Dianetics, p. 201.
210 “He would hold hands”: Sara Elizabeth Hollister (formerly Sara Northrup Hubbard) tapes, Stephen A. Kent Collection on Alternative Religions.
211 “He has on a long”: Winter, A Doctor’s Report on Dianetics, pp. 15–16.
212 “Everything goes back”: Freud letter to Wilhelm Fliess, May 2, 1897.
213 “It seems to me”: Ibid., p. 461.
214 “The extreme achievement on these lines”: Freud, “The Paths to the Formations of Symptoms,” Lecture 23 in Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, trans. Jas. Strachey, p. 460. Whitehead comments on this passage: “To generalize from the experience of Freud and his colleagues and from later experiments in hypnotic age-regression, the further one pushes the subject back into the past, the more apt one is to provoke confabulation.” Whitehead, Renunciation and Reformulation, p. 80.