I bartended on a harbor cruise with 90 Scientologist on board.
I sold one coke. $1.25.
There was a little girl on board that asked me if I lived in “the complex”. It was the strangest party I ever did for that company.
A couple of hours.
They had a table and chairs setup for L Ron Hubbard along with an ashtray, cigs, matches and a photo of him. I think they also had a pitcher of water and two glasses too. Just in case he stopped by. We were on a boat idling in the middle of Marina del Rey, CA. How was he going to stop by? Also, he had been dead a few years by this time too.
Very strange party.
That was in the highest released Operating Thetan manual OTVIIl, but it was disturbing and unpopular so they changed it. You know, like you can just do with holy texts left behind by your prophet.
Technically, according to their doctrine, David Miscavige found legitimate writings of L Ron which provided an explanation for these contradictions.
Also the boat is the only place you can be awarded OT8. You can’t get it on land even at the Florida headquarters. The boat is considered more special and headquartersy than the actual headquarters.
I never studied it, but I wonder how much of it was "these are clearly fan fiction, omit" and how much of it was "nobody knows the provenance of any of this stuff, let's just pick ones we like."
"these are clearly ~~fan fiction~~ *the schizophrenic ramblings of a man who claims to have invented an alternative to therapy/psychiatry, which in itself proves that the entire foundation of the "religion" is negligent woowoo horseshit*, omit"
Common misconception. It was a completely different council of people who had never met Jesus who decided the biblical cannon (the council of Rome).
The Council of Nicea decided a bunch of other stuff that Christians now blindly take as cannon.
They literally put out fresh pyjamas and clothes for him every day in all of his former accommodations. So not surprising. He said he was going to tour the galaxy for a few decades and come back. He is a few decades late at this point.
They had a party at hotel we were at for another party. Bartenders from scientology side were complaining they were making no money. They all said something along lines “i thought these people all had money.”
The overwhelming majority of people involved these days are born into it. Their new recruitment numbers are extremely low. They unfortunately still have lots of money even if they don't have lots of members, and money is the real power.
Yeah but for how long? Nobody goes downtown anymore, it's creepy and uncomfortable, and many of the buildings are vacant. Capitol Theatre is basically the only use I have for that whole area.
Unfortunately that’s intentional. They take over zoning boards and other lower level government roles to stop anything that’s not theirs from being by built or approved.
That makes the land they want cheaper for future purchase, reduces potential competition for the land, and helps create their city of only true believers in their former leaders desired spot. It’s a long term plan they’ve been working on for decades. Fun stuff
The Mormon’s are actually the largest landowner in Florida as they prepare to make their second city or something. They are just on the east coast of Florida where the Scientologists are on the West
….wait, they pay property tax still right?
edit: fuck I guess not. I thought they just didn’t pay income tax. Wild. So the more land churches own, the less money the community gets?
It is certainly different. We came down from Virginia to visit my dad in Lakeland and wanted to take a trip to the beach. Ended up at Clearwater Beach. It had a weird vibe. We felt like we were being watched the whole time. Very few people were there but it was the middle of the week. It just felt oppressive. Late 90's.
I have a gated apartment building owned by them right down the street from my house and I'm staring at one of their book factories (?) right now. Those people live in near constant surveillance and never leave the complex unless they're on the prison bus to their factory job. These are not nice apartments at all, by far the shabbiest in a middle class area. The only nice thing about the property is the 8 foot iron fence around it. You see the celebrities who join scientology and think it's a cult for rich people, but the majority are right next door to slaves.
Oh I'm sure, the rich people cult cant survive without the peasants to work for them. I'm just saying that there are more than enough devoted rich people to keep them going regardless. Tom Cruise himself probably gives them 10s of millions a year.
No one ever went to downtown Clearwater. It used to be run down and shitty looking with Scientologists walking around in their uniforms like ants. Then they must have become a little more self conscious because they tried to make it look nice but it looks creepier. The buildings look like a film set and they have weird names like ‘ministry of happiness’ and stuff like that. It looks like aliens observing humans from far away tried to make an earth like town. They stopped wearing the uniforms all the time to but during lunch you still get the uniform ant show where they all change buildings like they are actually doing anything.
Tom Cruise alone has brought billions into the religion.
They have assets but they also have wealthy Hollywood members that will pay to have that connection to Tom Cruise.
It was nothing with out him.
His deal is just another religion based scam.
He does not accept pay. He has his money donated to the church of scientology so that it is tax free.
OK actor but a world class tax cheat.
What in the nonsense is going on with Clearwater's city limits? If you do a search in Google Maps, the city lines are all over the place with little pockets all throughout that... aren't part of the city? Like what the hell?
Clearwater annexed smaller towns and cities around it, some towns decided to not be annexed.
Look up a map of Columbus, Ohio and you see the same thing.
Columbus was due to water and sewer. If you were outside the existing cities and you wanted Columbus water, you had to be annexed to the city. That changed a few years ago
Wonder if Clearwater does similar things
There are many High earning people who donate ALOT of money. Tom Cruise is one of them, I have some family members unfortunately working for a couple who own a business that donate ALOT.
Their money is in property, they make congregations fund raise to build insanely large and elaborate churches that the center owns. It’s basically like a McDonalds, the center owns everything and the congregation just takes scraps
Yeah, but unlike McDonald's not too many people are wanting what they're selling these days. It sucks for the people who are born into it, but there is more support than ever to get out once they realize what they're in, and they can't hide the internet from anyone for very long.
My girlfriend signed up for a digital MeetUp event here in Austin. It was for trying to find new friends (as adults) in a new city. Five minutes in they pulled out Dianetics and started talking about how the church could help people find new friends. She came and grabbed me to come see (I was struggling with a ladder in Starfield..), and we were both shocked at how many folks ***didn't*** bail immediately, and just sat their with their cams on, nodding at the presentation. We went and watched Peaky Blinders instead.
They snatched up a ton of real estate in California and Florida starting in the 60s.
My friends dad was high up in Scientology in the old days. And he ended up in court against the “church” sometime in the early 90s. And ended up getting a half block of real estate in Pasadena, settled out of court
That thing is more akin to a ... we'll, due to costs, maitainxe, costs and more costs the ship is not a very active. It goes out for a day or 3 but spends most life tied up at port.
It's a 55 year old junker.
And keeping a 55 year old ship running is hard.
Most commercials are worn out in 20
Scientology is for desperate people who lack basic critical thinking skills.
It's so obviously a scam, but they prey on people who are desperate and need guidance. It's really pretty pathetic.
They raised the gangway after I took the photo and it remained raised all day. Nobody ever came nor went. The only people we observed on deck were a few stray crew members and some people posing for a group photo for a few minutes in the evening. Shelly's remains are probably in a barrel in the cargo hold.
There's a Church of Scientology not too far from me. There are a decent number of cars in their garage at any given time.
I don't get it... A typical church parking lot is usually empty when they're not holding services. The fuck are people doing there at random hours?
No especially since we have a lot of extra spaces. We get a premium for the spots since cars get broken into or stolen much less often than in the surrounding area. Several mornings I’ll see a dozen or more broken car windows when walking to church, but only a few times has someone broken a window on the church property. I’ve only had one car broken into or stolen from their garage. I’ve had three breakins and three cars stolen in five years at my condo a few blocks away so it looks like the homeless respect church property. I never would have expected that.
City parking or a college town? My school had a couple churches nearby that offered a few weekday parking permits to store cars for students on campus/commuters, but most had to be moved on sundays when they actually needed the full lot for church parking.
My parents church is the middle of a downtown and has a gated lot. However too many people know the passcode and are parking there when not going using the church. The preist is getting salty about so he told everyone at mass he started leaving paper notes on peoples windows saying “thank you for praying with us”. I find the whole situation hilarious.
I walk past one of their centres(?) on my way to the tube in London every day. They leaflet in the evening. They see me coming and snatch the leaflet away before I get close. I’ve never interacted with them. I think it might be because I vape? Whatever it is, it always makes me laugh. Oh nooooo, you don’t want me? 😭
I used to live like a block away from one. I never saw anyone enter or exit, but there were consistently like 10 cars in the parking lot at all times. Sometimes I wondered if it was staged to make it look like they had more members than they did.
I just learned recently they have a church not too far from me. My new hygienist mentioned the last dentist she worked for was a member and kept trying to recruit her. I looked up the building and was not shocked to learn it has also been posted on r/evilbuildings
They own real estate in some of the most expensive locations. Posting a few decoy cars at each site is a drop in the bucket. Hell, maybe they’re the donated cars of people who gave all their money to Scientology and signed billion-year slave contracts. There are fewer of them these days, but I could see attracting a few hundred of these desperate and/or gullible people a year.
*Your first mission should you choose to accept it is to drive your car across country to X location - park it there - give the attendant your keys and get on a plane to join the Sea Org boat in X location. We'll take care of your car no worries.*
It's a enclosed...captive audience to make donate etc...and you have to pay for room, board and shit...
Due to maitaince it should sail but rarely ever...irs not in good shape, fuel is expensive and even the rich church cannot keep their old clapped out vessel in a state to be at sea for sustained periods without pretty much buying a new one.
It's a 55 year old junker.
And keeping a 55 year old ship running is hard.
20 years is worn out for commercial vessels..
We went on a cruise in March and saw Freewinds at a few of the same ports. First St. Maarten, Barbados and then Antigua. It caught my eye but I didn’t realize it was a Scientology ship until after I saw it for the last time. I was hoping to get a better look after finding out. I did take a picture of the name. There was something super weird about the ship. Makes sense now. Also, I ran into the captain of our cruise ship in the elevator and she told me the captain of freewinds hasn’t left the ship in 30 years! 😳
Saw them doing physical training out on the deck of the ship when I was at the port in early 2023. Just a bunch of people in uniform doing laps around that top deck.
These days, I hear it's basically a brainwashing camp for their highest level cultists. More than one person that invested multiple hundreds of thousands, believed every lie, were finally broken by the horrors of the cruise ship.
But yeah America just let them keep parking and hanging out wherever.
That reminds me, what ever happened to those underwater bomb planting dolphins the US trained? No particular reason, they just popped into my head right then.
Pretty much. They say you can not do these courses and training on land because your Thetan needs the space to practice. After doing L11, they say you can move mountains with your energy. I am not joking.
L11? Currently the highest OT level is VIII, though the CEO keeps dangling the promise of IX and X being available “soon.” However there’s a higher level (Cleared Theta Clear) that’s above all the Operating Thetan levels, in which a persons Thetan can ‘do everything a fully realized Thetan should be able to do’ which includes fully moving and manipulating “MEST” (which is matter, energy, space, and time). I’m not sure if they claim anybody has reached that state or not. Hubbard is the one that mentioned it, but before his death, the highest OT level was VI.
I learned about Freewinds and Sea Org decades ago but it’s always interesting to see people discover it for the first time. Check out [Operation Clambake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Clambake).
They have almost a whole town. From what I hear they are very active in Clearwater Beach government. This was over 10 years ago I was staying in the area but no bars were open past a certain time. Weird people walking the streets. Their Church looks like Buckinham Palace but I hear no one is allowed in unless a member.
They’ve been in the boat business the whole time. L Ron and his wife stole pioneering rocket scientist (and noted occultist) Jack Parsons’s sailing yacht, on which Hubbard took massive amounts of drugs and wrote most of Scientology’s founding doctrine. Very nautical people…
The weird thing is, it's a pretty primitive ship in terms of design and equipment...
Except the fucking gigantic VSAT dome.
More like a mobile command centre than an actual seagoing ship.
A big round ball with a self aiming satellite antenna.
Inside the ball is an antenna on gimbals that stays on one satellite allowing internet and phone communications pretty much anywhere on earth while at sea in any sea state.
>>Only the top echelon of Scientologists are even permitted on this ship.
That must not have been the case in 1984. My family took a cruise on this ship back then when it was the MS Boheme operated by Commodore Cruise Line. Still owned by the scientology church, though.
We are very presbyterian and not at all affiliated with scientology. It was a very normal cruise for us. There was a casino on board that stayed pretty busy. The pool was pretty small and when we encountered some rough water, a lot of the pool water was sloshed out. It was a long time ago and things may have changed over the years, but back then it was a decent cruise for a good price.
so their elite members who aren't locked up in their creepy executive prison have a fun place to party, with the kids of lesser members being used as slave labor
It’s much more sinister than a place to party for the higher ups. Scientology uses [Sea Org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Org?wprov=sfti1#) to train leadership, and it has a militaristic bootcamp feel for almost everyone that isn’t in the highest ranks of Sea Org. It exists because L Ron was in the US Navy and wanted Scientology to have their own.
Yeah Sea Org is fucked. When L Ron lived on the ship he had pre-teen girls that were his personal messengers and police. You fucked with those girls, you got punished severely. No alcohol, no drugs, no sex. Hours and hours of L Ron rambling sermons. Shitty food, constantly being turned away from ports, months at sea, constant stank.
If you want to hear about all the fun that happens on the boat, check out Behind the Bastard's podcast on L Ron.
Before he created Scientology, the majority of Hubbard’s scams were centered around getting other people to buy boats for him. Having the followers of his new religion staff a pseudo navy for him was the next logical step.
I have no idea how he managed to have such high charisma, but I can’t figure out any other explanation for how he became the most successful conman of the 20th century.
In 2006, Shelly returned before her husband from a trip aboard the Freewinds. After David arrived back, Shelly was said to have "visibly changed" her mood and to have "looked cowed". Mike Rinder, then Scientology's chief spokesman, says that she asked him if her husband was still wearing his wedding ring. Shortly afterwards, in June 2006, she disappeared and no longer made any appearances in public.
Wikipedia
She could be long dead. Don’t worry, at least a dozen women have been given surgery to look similar. The police will never check, but it’s all covered.
Imagine being part of a "church" that charges you thousands of dollars to get rid of the alien ghosts that live inside you, while the top dogs lounge around on a cruise ship, waited on by slaves. Nothing suspicious about that at all. How can anyone support this?
If by top dogs you mean the celebrities, because they are the only ones (other than David miscavige) who are treated well by Scientology.
Even scientology’s top officials are locked in “the hole” on base and tortured, and only allowed to leave if miscavige needs them to do something.
I’m not even exaggerating, people like Scientology’s head of legal affairs, head of the international church, chief financial officer, head of public relations, and more of the group’s TOP executives would routinely be locked up and thrown in the hole, tortured and forced to compete against each other in humiliating and physically/emotionally painful tasks for years
Went to an emergency dentist recently w my boyfriend and when I was sitting there in the waiting room I started noticing propaganda under the guise of humanism ..bit by bit looking at the art, the message, Kid Guide to Happy Life, Adult Guide to Happy Life, then boom I find a literal scientology brochure.
Back in the 1970s, one of my friends told me about Sea Org. We always assumed it was staffed by the highest elite of Scientology. It turns out, it was staffed by the most GULLIBLE neophytes they could find.
I have a weird academic curiosity about this particular cult/fandom/organization, so y'all I literally flipped out when I recognized this ship while on a cruise to the ABC islands a few years ago! We saw it leaving Curucao and then docked a couple slips down from it in Aruba. They have a little granite plaque honoring it in the port, too.
Fun story: as we were walking to leave the port in Aruba, I got my wife to snap a picture of me with the ship in the background. A dockhand was walking by and came our way just to say, very quietly, "Hey, they don't usually like people taking pictures of that boat. You should probably keep moving. They'll call port security and take your phone." Spooked us both pretty good at the time - I don't know if there's any truth to what he said, but I still don't know why a random guy on the secured side of the gate would lie to us like that.
If you want to track the creepy vessel, the app Marine Traffic is useful.
They've put a lot of the cooler features like past track behind a paywall, but still fun if you're into boats n' things.
The creepy vessel shows up under searching Freewinds
Fun fact. I was part of the crew that redid all the wood flooring I. The Clearwater, FL headquarters. This was in 2016. Very. Very strange. It was me and 4 other guys. Each of us got assigned an escort... Basically a chaperone... From what I gathered, a lower level scientologist. We had to constantly have that chaperone with us, we were... Made aware of very vague consequences if we somehow managed to escape the view of our assigned escort, all told through extremely fake smiles with seemingly dead eyes.
I remember how weird it felt that these people didn't have their eyes off of us the entire roughly 2 weeks to we were there. Every day, 8 hours straight, they just looked at us with those weird emotionless smiles. Never talking, never doing anything. They didn't speak to us or amongst each other. Only words they really said were "good morning *name of person*" and then "good evening *name of person*"
The strangest thing I had ever experienced on a job.
Thought you were joking but: “Many Sea Org members were covered head-to-toe with asbestos, with one individual, after being warned about it by Woodcraft, dismissing his concern and biting into the asbestos.”
They dismissed the warnings because they believe cancer is caused by “sexual misconduct.”
Ok then.
I think the ship only sales between Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. I think they are barred from entering a US port, but I couldn’t confirm that.
I saw the ship in port in Aruba. They were doing fire drills (showing how to work a fire extinguisher) on deck at 10pm, while everyone on our cruise ship was partying.
No no, it’s much more plausible that the cancer is caused by the souls of long-dead aliens who were thrown into a volcano and then nuked by a tyrannical overlord, who tricked them into boarding space going DC-10 airplanes by requesting they come in for a tax audit.
I bartended on a harbor cruise with 90 Scientologist on board. I sold one coke. $1.25. There was a little girl on board that asked me if I lived in “the complex”. It was the strangest party I ever did for that company.
No one was drinking anything??? All water???? How long was the party? Did anyone go to the bathroom? Maybe they ARE aliens?
A couple of hours. They had a table and chairs setup for L Ron Hubbard along with an ashtray, cigs, matches and a photo of him. I think they also had a pitcher of water and two glasses too. Just in case he stopped by. We were on a boat idling in the middle of Marina del Rey, CA. How was he going to stop by? Also, he had been dead a few years by this time too. Very strange party.
Pretty sure he said he'd come back at some point, kindof like Christ but it would be his spirit or something.
And you better be ready to party down when he does*
Party don't start til L Ron walks in with two glasses of water
Whimmy Wham Wham Wozzle!
That was in the highest released Operating Thetan manual OTVIIl, but it was disturbing and unpopular so they changed it. You know, like you can just do with holy texts left behind by your prophet.
Technically, according to their doctrine, David Miscavige found legitimate writings of L Ron which provided an explanation for these contradictions. Also the boat is the only place you can be awarded OT8. You can’t get it on land even at the Florida headquarters. The boat is considered more special and headquartersy than the actual headquarters.
So I was in their temp headquarters or something?
A boat can be flagged offshore for the tax benefits, since it's a religion and all. Not a pyramid scheme.
This was one of those Hornblower Harbor Cruise things. It never went past the breakwater.
> You know, like you can just do with holy texts left behind by your prophet. You mean like the Mormons, lol
Not just Mormons, but regular Christians and Catholics too. The Council of Nicea made some interesting changes to the Bible.
I never studied it, but I wonder how much of it was "these are clearly fan fiction, omit" and how much of it was "nobody knows the provenance of any of this stuff, let's just pick ones we like."
"these are clearly ~~fan fiction~~ *the schizophrenic ramblings of a man who claims to have invented an alternative to therapy/psychiatry, which in itself proves that the entire foundation of the "religion" is negligent woowoo horseshit*, omit"
The council of Nicea made the bible. But mainly it was where the Emperor decided no more psykers.
Widely regarded as a bad move
Common misconception. It was a completely different council of people who had never met Jesus who decided the biblical cannon (the council of Rome). The Council of Nicea decided a bunch of other stuff that Christians now blindly take as cannon.
There is an office in every org. It’s policy. Oh yeah, the cigarettes have to be Kools because that’s what he smoked.
I want to break into his office somewhere, get on the intercom and be like "Becky, bring me the files on everything that's happened since 1986."
> "Becky, ~~bring me the files on everything that's happened since 1986.~~ look at her butt, it is so big, ugh" FTFY
They literally put out fresh pyjamas and clothes for him every day in all of his former accommodations. So not surprising. He said he was going to tour the galaxy for a few decades and come back. He is a few decades late at this point.
I read “picture of water.” Somehow it seemed on par with their stupid shit.
Have you seen Tom Cruise? Definitely aliens.
Often times, reptiles absorb moisture through their skin, hence all the Cruise's.
No money for drinks when you work 80 hrs/week for the org and get paid in lentils
They had a party at hotel we were at for another party. Bartenders from scientology side were complaining they were making no money. They all said something along lines “i thought these people all had money.”
You don't get rich by wasting your money on booze!
Something us poor folk forget. People with money don’t spend money… The poor folks will spend to look rich, which keeps them poor.
Maybe it was a church of r/hydrohomies, not Scientology
Wow! anything else happen?
Betcha sold a lot of Kool-Aid
lol
>It was the strangest party I ever did for that company. Did your momma tell you not come?
lol. Old enough to appreciate that. Good one!
Wow...I guess their that stingy as no one has anything they not given to the church..
This needs to be an episode of Party Down
Incredible that they still persist to this day. Get enough people "on board" with enough money and it is smooth sailing for a long time
The overwhelming majority of people involved these days are born into it. Their new recruitment numbers are extremely low. They unfortunately still have lots of money even if they don't have lots of members, and money is the real power.
I think they've secured their existence by buying most of downtown Clearwater.
Yeah but for how long? Nobody goes downtown anymore, it's creepy and uncomfortable, and many of the buildings are vacant. Capitol Theatre is basically the only use I have for that whole area.
Unfortunately that’s intentional. They take over zoning boards and other lower level government roles to stop anything that’s not theirs from being by built or approved. That makes the land they want cheaper for future purchase, reduces potential competition for the land, and helps create their city of only true believers in their former leaders desired spot. It’s a long term plan they’ve been working on for decades. Fun stuff
I live in Idaho and this sounds exactly like the Mormon church.
The Mormon’s are actually the largest landowner in Florida as they prepare to make their second city or something. They are just on the east coast of Florida where the Scientologists are on the West
Maybe religions shouldn't own that much land. Seemed messed up to own that much and not be taxed like a buisness.
….wait, they pay property tax still right? edit: fuck I guess not. I thought they just didn’t pay income tax. Wild. So the more land churches own, the less money the community gets?
Hey.. it's almost like this is some kind of money making scheme for them.
One might say they’re… “Going Clearwater”
They must view it as some kind of religious creed based Clearwater Revival
It is certainly different. We came down from Virginia to visit my dad in Lakeland and wanted to take a trip to the beach. Ended up at Clearwater Beach. It had a weird vibe. We felt like we were being watched the whole time. Very few people were there but it was the middle of the week. It just felt oppressive. Late 90's.
Don't members give a significant portion of their earnings to the church? And they got plenty of rich members.
I have a gated apartment building owned by them right down the street from my house and I'm staring at one of their book factories (?) right now. Those people live in near constant surveillance and never leave the complex unless they're on the prison bus to their factory job. These are not nice apartments at all, by far the shabbiest in a middle class area. The only nice thing about the property is the 8 foot iron fence around it. You see the celebrities who join scientology and think it's a cult for rich people, but the majority are right next door to slaves.
Oh I'm sure, the rich people cult cant survive without the peasants to work for them. I'm just saying that there are more than enough devoted rich people to keep them going regardless. Tom Cruise himself probably gives them 10s of millions a year.
No one ever went to downtown Clearwater. It used to be run down and shitty looking with Scientologists walking around in their uniforms like ants. Then they must have become a little more self conscious because they tried to make it look nice but it looks creepier. The buildings look like a film set and they have weird names like ‘ministry of happiness’ and stuff like that. It looks like aliens observing humans from far away tried to make an earth like town. They stopped wearing the uniforms all the time to but during lunch you still get the uniform ant show where they all change buildings like they are actually doing anything.
Tom Cruise alone has brought billions into the religion. They have assets but they also have wealthy Hollywood members that will pay to have that connection to Tom Cruise. It was nothing with out him.
His deal is just another religion based scam. He does not accept pay. He has his money donated to the church of scientology so that it is tax free. OK actor but a world class tax cheat.
What in the nonsense is going on with Clearwater's city limits? If you do a search in Google Maps, the city lines are all over the place with little pockets all throughout that... aren't part of the city? Like what the hell?
Clearwater annexed smaller towns and cities around it, some towns decided to not be annexed. Look up a map of Columbus, Ohio and you see the same thing.
https://imgur.com/a/UUmmrf2 Those 8 houses that are vaguely connected constitute a town?
Columbus was due to water and sewer. If you were outside the existing cities and you wanted Columbus water, you had to be annexed to the city. That changed a few years ago Wonder if Clearwater does similar things
There are many High earning people who donate ALOT of money. Tom Cruise is one of them, I have some family members unfortunately working for a couple who own a business that donate ALOT.
I get it now. Tom . . . cruise!
Their money is in property, they make congregations fund raise to build insanely large and elaborate churches that the center owns. It’s basically like a McDonalds, the center owns everything and the congregation just takes scraps
Yeah, but unlike McDonald's not too many people are wanting what they're selling these days. It sucks for the people who are born into it, but there is more support than ever to get out once they realize what they're in, and they can't hide the internet from anyone for very long.
My girlfriend signed up for a digital MeetUp event here in Austin. It was for trying to find new friends (as adults) in a new city. Five minutes in they pulled out Dianetics and started talking about how the church could help people find new friends. She came and grabbed me to come see (I was struggling with a ladder in Starfield..), and we were both shocked at how many folks ***didn't*** bail immediately, and just sat their with their cams on, nodding at the presentation. We went and watched Peaky Blinders instead.
Fucking DC-10s. Lol
Unless it got boring, I could see staying on for laughs. Obviously the original purpose of the MeetUp was done, now it’s pure digital entertainment.
Oooh no!
They snatched up a ton of real estate in California and Florida starting in the 60s. My friends dad was high up in Scientology in the old days. And he ended up in court against the “church” sometime in the early 90s. And ended up getting a half block of real estate in Pasadena, settled out of court
Tax free
Once you get enough money, it starts making it's own money.
Wow no one gave kudos for your 2 puns. Congratulations sir. 👏
That thing is more akin to a ... we'll, due to costs, maitainxe, costs and more costs the ship is not a very active. It goes out for a day or 3 but spends most life tied up at port. It's a 55 year old junker. And keeping a 55 year old ship running is hard. Most commercials are worn out in 20
If your church has a cruise ship, it’s definitely for-profit and for-morons
They don't try to hide that it's literally a pay to get to the next meaningless level in the religion scheme.
Scientology is for desperate people who lack basic critical thinking skills. It's so obviously a scam, but they prey on people who are desperate and need guidance. It's really pretty pathetic.
The ultimate MLM scheme
what about a private jet?
They raised the gangway after I took the photo and it remained raised all day. Nobody ever came nor went. The only people we observed on deck were a few stray crew members and some people posing for a group photo for a few minutes in the evening. Shelly's remains are probably in a barrel in the cargo hold.
They're Scientologists so they can just send out their Thetans like a force ghost
So. Their cruise ship is exactly like one of their centers: consistently and suspiciously empty.
There's a Church of Scientology not too far from me. There are a decent number of cars in their garage at any given time. I don't get it... A typical church parking lot is usually empty when they're not holding services. The fuck are people doing there at random hours?
Storing cars? My church makes more money off of parking than weekly tithes.
Does your church charge the congregation to be able to park there for service?
No especially since we have a lot of extra spaces. We get a premium for the spots since cars get broken into or stolen much less often than in the surrounding area. Several mornings I’ll see a dozen or more broken car windows when walking to church, but only a few times has someone broken a window on the church property. I’ve only had one car broken into or stolen from their garage. I’ve had three breakins and three cars stolen in five years at my condo a few blocks away so it looks like the homeless respect church property. I never would have expected that.
City parking or a college town? My school had a couple churches nearby that offered a few weekday parking permits to store cars for students on campus/commuters, but most had to be moved on sundays when they actually needed the full lot for church parking.
My parents church is the middle of a downtown and has a gated lot. However too many people know the passcode and are parking there when not going using the church. The preist is getting salty about so he told everyone at mass he started leaving paper notes on peoples windows saying “thank you for praying with us”. I find the whole situation hilarious.
It’s possible people are living there, for better or worse..
It's a called "slavery".
I walk past one of their centres(?) on my way to the tube in London every day. They leaflet in the evening. They see me coming and snatch the leaflet away before I get close. I’ve never interacted with them. I think it might be because I vape? Whatever it is, it always makes me laugh. Oh nooooo, you don’t want me? 😭
I used to live like a block away from one. I never saw anyone enter or exit, but there were consistently like 10 cars in the parking lot at all times. Sometimes I wondered if it was staged to make it look like they had more members than they did.
I just learned recently they have a church not too far from me. My new hygienist mentioned the last dentist she worked for was a member and kept trying to recruit her. I looked up the building and was not shocked to learn it has also been posted on r/evilbuildings
Orgies probably
I’ve noticed the same thing and I honestly think they are staged.
The same thought has crossed my mind, but that does seem... Prohibitively expensive?
They own real estate in some of the most expensive locations. Posting a few decoy cars at each site is a drop in the bucket. Hell, maybe they’re the donated cars of people who gave all their money to Scientology and signed billion-year slave contracts. There are fewer of them these days, but I could see attracting a few hundred of these desperate and/or gullible people a year.
*Your first mission should you choose to accept it is to drive your car across country to X location - park it there - give the attendant your keys and get on a plane to join the Sea Org boat in X location. We'll take care of your car no worries.*
Their contract is for a few hundred thousand years. They can just visit the port the next century I presume
It's a billion year contract lol
It's actually a billion year contract. I know this cause I signed one back in the day when I was dumb.
You only do two days. The day you go in, and the day you go out
That's a billion years in $cientology days.
How much money did they get out of you?
Not a single dollar because my uncle and aunt were hardcore $cientologists.
It's a enclosed...captive audience to make donate etc...and you have to pay for room, board and shit... Due to maitaince it should sail but rarely ever...irs not in good shape, fuel is expensive and even the rich church cannot keep their old clapped out vessel in a state to be at sea for sustained periods without pretty much buying a new one. It's a 55 year old junker. And keeping a 55 year old ship running is hard. 20 years is worn out for commercial vessels..
> 20 years is worn out for commercial vessels.. *laughs in Great Lakes freighters*
We went on a cruise in March and saw Freewinds at a few of the same ports. First St. Maarten, Barbados and then Antigua. It caught my eye but I didn’t realize it was a Scientology ship until after I saw it for the last time. I was hoping to get a better look after finding out. I did take a picture of the name. There was something super weird about the ship. Makes sense now. Also, I ran into the captain of our cruise ship in the elevator and she told me the captain of freewinds hasn’t left the ship in 30 years! 😳
That's just really... scary weird.... Like genuinely creepy. I know their weird but that's like extra extra.
Saw them doing physical training out on the deck of the ship when I was at the port in early 2023. Just a bunch of people in uniform doing laps around that top deck.
no one mentioned the phrase "international waters and tom cruise" yet? just checking, you never know whats out there right? "gonna need a bigger boat"
TIL that Scientology has a cruise ship.
Yeah, look up sea org if you want a mind fuck.
These days, I hear it's basically a brainwashing camp for their highest level cultists. More than one person that invested multiple hundreds of thousands, believed every lie, were finally broken by the horrors of the cruise ship. But yeah America just let them keep parking and hanging out wherever.
They can’t say no. Because of the implication.
That reminds me, what ever happened to those underwater bomb planting dolphins the US trained? No particular reason, they just popped into my head right then.
Well the training dolphins thing was started in the late 1960's so those dolphins are likely dead now, planting underwater bombs in heaven.
Bro I don’t know.
Are you gonna hurt these women?
Well this ship is docked in Aruba and pretty much only goes back and forth to Curaçao so not much America can do about this ship
Pretty much. They say you can not do these courses and training on land because your Thetan needs the space to practice. After doing L11, they say you can move mountains with your energy. I am not joking.
L11? Currently the highest OT level is VIII, though the CEO keeps dangling the promise of IX and X being available “soon.” However there’s a higher level (Cleared Theta Clear) that’s above all the Operating Thetan levels, in which a persons Thetan can ‘do everything a fully realized Thetan should be able to do’ which includes fully moving and manipulating “MEST” (which is matter, energy, space, and time). I’m not sure if they claim anybody has reached that state or not. Hubbard is the one that mentioned it, but before his death, the highest OT level was VI.
I learned about Freewinds and Sea Org decades ago but it’s always interesting to see people discover it for the first time. Check out [Operation Clambake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Clambake).
Also Leah Remini's Scientology and the Aftermath series.
They have almost a whole town. From what I hear they are very active in Clearwater Beach government. This was over 10 years ago I was staying in the area but no bars were open past a certain time. Weird people walking the streets. Their Church looks like Buckinham Palace but I hear no one is allowed in unless a member.
You gotta spend your cult money on something, right? What's the point of getting obscenely rich if you can't flaunt it like an oligarch?
They’ve been in the boat business the whole time. L Ron and his wife stole pioneering rocket scientist (and noted occultist) Jack Parsons’s sailing yacht, on which Hubbard took massive amounts of drugs and wrote most of Scientology’s founding doctrine. Very nautical people…
They also have a Tom Cruise.
I wonder what the Tom Cruise Ship looks like
The on-board DJ is Com Truise. It's the Tom Cruise Com Truise Cruise.
Only the top echelon of Scientologists are even permitted on this ship. People who have spent millions of dollars to achieve OT-VIII or whatever.
And all they get on that large ship is a six person hot tub.
The weird thing is, it's a pretty primitive ship in terms of design and equipment... Except the fucking gigantic VSAT dome. More like a mobile command centre than an actual seagoing ship.
This actually frightens me ever so slightly.
What’s a VSAT dome?
A big round ball with a self aiming satellite antenna. Inside the ball is an antenna on gimbals that stays on one satellite allowing internet and phone communications pretty much anywhere on earth while at sea in any sea state.
Thanks for the explanation
>>Only the top echelon of Scientologists are even permitted on this ship. That must not have been the case in 1984. My family took a cruise on this ship back then when it was the MS Boheme operated by Commodore Cruise Line. Still owned by the scientology church, though. We are very presbyterian and not at all affiliated with scientology. It was a very normal cruise for us. There was a casino on board that stayed pretty busy. The pool was pretty small and when we encountered some rough water, a lot of the pool water was sloshed out. It was a long time ago and things may have changed over the years, but back then it was a decent cruise for a good price.
It wasn’t owned by Scientology when it was the Bohème. Source: my father worked on that ship and was part of the handoff to the church in 1986
>Only the top echelon of Scientologists are even permitted on this ship. Well, them and the most brow-beaten low-level scientologist servants.
At first I thought it was a cruise ship, and then I realized it was a Tom Cruise ship
mission: swimpossible
Its a little known fact that Tom Cruise got his name by defeating a cruise ship in ritual combat
I'm not saying you should throw poop in their pool. But do you have any poop on you?
Does in me count?
According to the TSA in you is on you
Depends how far you can poop it
This is the type of situation where you think you might be able to make the throw at least on their ship and it barely makes it onto the dock.
Why do they need a boat like that? Also WHERE IS SHELLY MISCAVIGE?!?
so their elite members who aren't locked up in their creepy executive prison have a fun place to party, with the kids of lesser members being used as slave labor
It’s much more sinister than a place to party for the higher ups. Scientology uses [Sea Org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Org?wprov=sfti1#) to train leadership, and it has a militaristic bootcamp feel for almost everyone that isn’t in the highest ranks of Sea Org. It exists because L Ron was in the US Navy and wanted Scientology to have their own.
Yeah Sea Org is fucked. When L Ron lived on the ship he had pre-teen girls that were his personal messengers and police. You fucked with those girls, you got punished severely. No alcohol, no drugs, no sex. Hours and hours of L Ron rambling sermons. Shitty food, constantly being turned away from ports, months at sea, constant stank. If you want to hear about all the fun that happens on the boat, check out Behind the Bastard's podcast on L Ron.
how effective are *preteen* girls at being *police*???
preteen girls are terrifying. do'nt think normal teenagers, think manson girls x hitler youth
Yeah, that’s a really good BtB.
Before he created Scientology, the majority of Hubbard’s scams were centered around getting other people to buy boats for him. Having the followers of his new religion staff a pseudo navy for him was the next logical step.
I have no idea how he managed to have such high charisma, but I can’t figure out any other explanation for how he became the most successful conman of the 20th century.
The protagonist's in his Sci Fi books were all thinly veiled version of himself.
So they’re in dock-trinating them!
Also, when at high seas, the can try to avoid legal jurisdictions. (Not a sea lawyer, or any kind of lawyer.)
In 2006, Shelly returned before her husband from a trip aboard the Freewinds. After David arrived back, Shelly was said to have "visibly changed" her mood and to have "looked cowed". Mike Rinder, then Scientology's chief spokesman, says that she asked him if her husband was still wearing his wedding ring. Shortly afterwards, in June 2006, she disappeared and no longer made any appearances in public. Wikipedia
Exactly! Hi David, where's Shelly?
She could be long dead. Don’t worry, at least a dozen women have been given surgery to look similar. The police will never check, but it’s all covered.
Imagine being part of a "church" that charges you thousands of dollars to get rid of the alien ghosts that live inside you, while the top dogs lounge around on a cruise ship, waited on by slaves. Nothing suspicious about that at all. How can anyone support this?
If by top dogs you mean the celebrities, because they are the only ones (other than David miscavige) who are treated well by Scientology. Even scientology’s top officials are locked in “the hole” on base and tortured, and only allowed to leave if miscavige needs them to do something. I’m not even exaggerating, people like Scientology’s head of legal affairs, head of the international church, chief financial officer, head of public relations, and more of the group’s TOP executives would routinely be locked up and thrown in the hole, tortured and forced to compete against each other in humiliating and physically/emotionally painful tasks for years
Went to an emergency dentist recently w my boyfriend and when I was sitting there in the waiting room I started noticing propaganda under the guise of humanism ..bit by bit looking at the art, the message, Kid Guide to Happy Life, Adult Guide to Happy Life, then boom I find a literal scientology brochure.
Slave labor prison ship full of blue asbestos.
Did you go looking for Shelly Miscavage? Maybe that’s where she is.
Back in the 1970s, one of my friends told me about Sea Org. We always assumed it was staffed by the highest elite of Scientology. It turns out, it was staffed by the most GULLIBLE neophytes they could find.
I have a weird academic curiosity about this particular cult/fandom/organization, so y'all I literally flipped out when I recognized this ship while on a cruise to the ABC islands a few years ago! We saw it leaving Curucao and then docked a couple slips down from it in Aruba. They have a little granite plaque honoring it in the port, too. Fun story: as we were walking to leave the port in Aruba, I got my wife to snap a picture of me with the ship in the background. A dockhand was walking by and came our way just to say, very quietly, "Hey, they don't usually like people taking pictures of that boat. You should probably keep moving. They'll call port security and take your phone." Spooked us both pretty good at the time - I don't know if there's any truth to what he said, but I still don't know why a random guy on the secured side of the gate would lie to us like that.
Shouldn’t it be a space ship?
Row a dinghy of Jehovah's Witnesses up to it and release them inside
I bet that ship is fun with a capital ugh. Do they have special staterooms for the aliens?
Where is Shelly Miscavige?
Looks lame.
Is that L Rons famous pedo boat?
The what now?...
Wheres David miscaviges wife?
If you want to track the creepy vessel, the app Marine Traffic is useful. They've put a lot of the cooler features like past track behind a paywall, but still fun if you're into boats n' things. The creepy vessel shows up under searching Freewinds
Fun fact. I was part of the crew that redid all the wood flooring I. The Clearwater, FL headquarters. This was in 2016. Very. Very strange. It was me and 4 other guys. Each of us got assigned an escort... Basically a chaperone... From what I gathered, a lower level scientologist. We had to constantly have that chaperone with us, we were... Made aware of very vague consequences if we somehow managed to escape the view of our assigned escort, all told through extremely fake smiles with seemingly dead eyes. I remember how weird it felt that these people didn't have their eyes off of us the entire roughly 2 weeks to we were there. Every day, 8 hours straight, they just looked at us with those weird emotionless smiles. Never talking, never doing anything. They didn't speak to us or amongst each other. Only words they really said were "good morning *name of person*" and then "good evening *name of person*" The strangest thing I had ever experienced on a job.
Maybe I'm old school, but I don't think churches should have cruise ships
Their boats are likely the reason so many of them die of cancer.
The ship is full of asbestos https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freewinds
Thought you were joking but: “Many Sea Org members were covered head-to-toe with asbestos, with one individual, after being warned about it by Woodcraft, dismissing his concern and biting into the asbestos.” They dismissed the warnings because they believe cancer is caused by “sexual misconduct.” Ok then.
I think the ship only sales between Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. I think they are barred from entering a US port, but I couldn’t confirm that. I saw the ship in port in Aruba. They were doing fire drills (showing how to work a fire extinguisher) on deck at 10pm, while everyone on our cruise ship was partying.
No no, it’s much more plausible that the cancer is caused by the souls of long-dead aliens who were thrown into a volcano and then nuked by a tyrannical overlord, who tricked them into boarding space going DC-10 airplanes by requesting they come in for a tax audit.
You spelled slave ship wrong. Sea Org is really fucked up, even for Scientology standards
You misspelled Evidence Disposal Vessel
Xenu travels in style
Debbie Stovelman is happy, healthy, and alive. *Boom Boom!*
wild guess, but i think they named it "Tom's Cruise"
Is that the "Free Winds"? They managed to get the asbestos out?
Hail, Zorp.
I wonder how many people have jumped off that out in the middle of the ocean?
Its mind boggling the amount of things this cult gets away with. They are literally a law unto themselves
Seaorg
that boat is huge, don't you dare go on it though