Read Blown for Good Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology Online
Authors: Marc Headley
Tags: #Religion, #General, #Biography & Autobiography, #Cults, #Scientology, #Ex-Cultists
To the musical group
Depeche Mode
for spreading the news around the world. Somehow, in some unexplainable way, your music kept me going. Also, because I always had your next album and subsequent plethora of remixes to look forward to over the years, so I stuck around. Your music kept me going – period. Oh, your music is also now strictly prohibited at the Int Base. Sorry about that.
And of course, to the group of people who patrol the internet and keep it safe for all of us mere mortals. You know who you are, and of course, I do not. Some day we will meet up and I will give you some caek.
And finally, to all those who lost faith that they would see a family member again, to those that thought they would never be able to start their lives over again, and to all those that thought they would never be happy again. Keep your hopes up, people do get out, people do still love you and no matter what you have been told, as long as you have faith in your friends and family, it will all work out in the end.
Until next time…
BFG
Bernie Headley
, my father. Without you, I would not have been able to get out. I know you had to make a sacrifice to do this and I will do all I can to get Stephanie back into our lives.
Gen Whitt
, for sending us that cash after we left. Without it, we would have ended up back at the Int Base due to running out of money.
Hugh Whitt
, for telling me your horror stories at the Beverly Hills Mission and proving to me that it was not only Int Base staff who were being abused by Dave Miscavige.
Kirsten, Robbie and Becky Whitt
, for giving us a good reason to get the hell out of there and live our lives in hopes that you would be blacklisted just by association and never allowed to join the Sea Org yourselves.
Stephanie Blake
for letting me park my motorcycle at your place and for driving me to the airport on my big escape day. Helping a complete stranger in need and dropping everything you were doing that day saved many people’s lives. Also, you did not ask any questions and drove like a mad woman to get me to the airport on time. You rock!
To my mother,
Trudy Hensley
, sister,
Stephanie Headley
and brother,
Maxwell J. Kingsbury
. Your choosing not to speak to me since I left Scientology has hardened my resolve to get the word out and to continue to speak out until the one day when you pick up the phone and give me a call and find out the real story. You are the reason for this crusade and will continue to be long after we have been reunited.
Riverside County Sheriff’s Department
– For helping me escape on that fateful day in January 2005. Without your help I would have been bagged, tagged and brought back to the Int Base within minutes.
The
anonymous
911 caller
who called the cops on that fateful day in January 2005. I owe you big time. Also for proving that sometimes being anonymous and doing the right thing can have huge consequences that ripple outward and change everything as we know it.
Since escaping in 2005, both Marc and his wife Claire have been heavily “fair gamed” by Scientology and many attempts have been made to keep them from speaking out in regards to their experiences at the Int Base.
Months after they initially left, both Marc and Claire received written confirmation that they had been declared “Suppressive Persons” by Scientology and their only contact was the International Scientology Justice Chief located in Hollywood, California.
As of the printing of this book, neither Marc nor Claire has spoken to any of their family members that are involved in Scientology for over 4 years. While Marc’s sister has been confirmed to have been moved to a remote Scientology facility in Canada no contact has been had with her at all.
Subsequent events may become the subject of an upcoming book or books.
Meanwhile, Marc continues to write on a regular basis regardless of whether or not any of it will be published.
Additional copies of this book can be ordered at
www.blownforgood.com
.
ABLE Int
–
A
ssociation for Better Living and Education. The Association for Better Living and Education International, a California non-profit corporation, which controls and directs the “continental” ABLE offices and directs four other non-profit corporations Narconon International, Applied Scholastics International, Criminon International and the Way To Happiness Foundation International. These are all organizations that propagate Scientology’s anti-drug, morality and literacy programs.
AC
–
A
dvisory Council. Every Scientology organization has an Advisory Council which is comprised of the heads of each of their organization’s major divisions.
Academy Levels
– The Academy Levels are the training courses offered to teach a person the basic procedures of Scientology auditing.
AOLA
–
A
dvanced Organization of Los Angeles. Advanced Organizations are called that because they deliver the upper OT Levels of Scientology, up to OT V.
AOSH EU
–
A
dvanced Organization & Saint Hill of Europe. An organization called a Saint Hill refers to the fact that they deliver the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course, one of the more advanced levels of auditor training (referred to as a Class VI).
AOSH UK
- A
dvanced Organization & Saint Hill of United Kingdom.
Apple School
– A school located in Los Feliz, California during the 1970’s through early 1980’s that used some of the study technology devised by L. Ron Hubbard. The school administration refused to cooperate with demands that they pay licensing fees and follow the strict rules of Scientology and the heads of the school were declared Suppressive Persons and all Scientologists with kids going to the school were directed to take them out of the school.
Applied Scholastics
– Applied Scholastics is the organization that owns the copyrights to the secularized materials of L. Ron Hubbard that deal with studying. In order to use this “study technology” in schools, it must first be approved by Applied Scholastics and properly licensed.
ASHO
–
A
merican Saint Hill Organization located in Los Angeles. Pronounced Ash-Ho.
ASI
– Authored Services Incorporated. This is the organization to whom L. Ron Hubbard signed over all of his literary works. ASI is paid royalties for all of the books and materials that are sold by Scientology.
A/V
– Audio Visual.
AVC
– Authorization Verification and Correction. This is the Sea Organization unit which approves any and all locally written issues or directives concerning Scientology or its management. AVC International was located in Religious Technology Center until 2004 when Dave Miscavige transferred the unit and all of its functions and staff into CMO International.
Backflash
– Backflash is when a Sea Org member or Scientologist gives an unnecessary response to an order. Anything besides “Yes Sir” is effectively defined as Backflash. In the Sea Org, backflash is strictly prohibited.
BI
- Bad Indicators. Anything non optimum is considered a BI.
Battle Plan or BP
– This is a daily to do list compiled. It is firm policy in all Scientology organizations that every single staff member write up a battleplan every single day.
Berthing
– This is where the Sea Org members of Scientology organizations are housed. In most instances this is dorm like housing with multiple staff staying in bunk beds or cramped quarters.
Berthing Buildings
– These are the buildings that were erected at the Scientology Int Base to house all of the staff working there. Each one of the buildings is named after a Scottish family and each building has its own family crest and it is called the “______(family name) Hall”.
Black PR
–
B
lack Propaganda (also commonly referred to as BPR). Any person who engages in criticizing or questioning Scientology, its staff, members or principles is said to have Black PR. Conversely, any so called “critics” are usually silenced or intimidated by digging up any and all Black PR (occasionally real but more often imagined) and spreading this to “Dead Agent” the person — i.e. try to render their opinion meaningless so they will no longer be listened to.
Blow
– This is any unauthorized departure from any Scientology organization.
Blow Drill
– Similar to a fire drill, a blow drill is called when someone leaves the Int Base without authorization. This could be from someone escaping over the perimeter fence or found to be missing at one of the regular musters or roll calls that are held throughout the day to account for all staff. Several staff are dispatched to bus stations, airports, local hotels, etc. to locate the person. Major airline flight records are searched for tickets being purchased under the staff member’s name and the person is generally hunted down until “recovered” or they have been declared officially blown and not able to be found. Blow drills have taken anywhere from 3 hours to 3 weeks, and involves anywhere from 20 to 50 staff. Mostly this depends on how and why the person blew and what the risk is to let them leave versus their necessity to be gotten back to the property.
Blown
– Anyone who has left a scientology organization without proper authorization is considered “Blown.”
The Bridge
– This is the progressive steps one is required to take to further his or her knowledge in Scientology. Also called the Bridge to Total Freedom. It includes both training and processing (or auditing).
Bridge Publications
– This is the Los Angeles based publications organization that produces all of the printed materials of Scientology in the United States. All of the employees of Bridge Publications are Sea Org members.
BTB
– Board Technical Bulletin. These are technical issues that were written in the 1970’s through 1980’s. While some of these were written by L Ron Hubbard, most were written by others based on directions from L. Ron Hubbard. In the 1990’s Dave Miscavige had nearly all BTB’s cancelled.
Building 36
– Building 36 is the brand new state of the art Manufacturing building that was built in the early 1990s for Golden Era Productions that houses production facilities for HEM (Hubbard E-Meter Manufacturing) and both 16 mm and Cassette Tape Production. Building 36 also houses the Executive, HCO, Dissemination, Treasury, and Port Captain Division offices of Golden Era Productions.
BV
– Bonnie View or Beautiful View – This is LRH’s house that sits at the highest elevation of the Int Base property and has a beautiful view of the property. The house was built from the ground up based on LRH advices. The entire house has different furnishings for each season that are routinely swapped out. Furniture, drapes, beds sheets etc. are all custom designed to match each season of the year.
CAN
– Canada.
Canteen
– Most Sea Organizations have a canteen which serves as the commissary or single location where snacks and personal hygiene supplies can be purchased. According to L. Ron Hubbard policy, canteens are supposed to operate at a profit to fund upgrades to the local facilities.
Car School
– At Sea Org bases where staff are required to drive vehicles as part of their functions, a course is required to be completed before one can drive a car. This is regardless of already having a license or how many years of experience one has driving a car. In order to drive any sort of motorized vehicle, Car school is required. If a Sea Org member gets a traffic citation of any kind, the appropriate section of the course must be restudied. If multiple traffic citations are collected or the Sea Org member gets into an accident of any kind, their privilege to drive is revoked and they are taken “off the road” and not allowed to drive anymore. One staff member at the Int base who got into an accident was not allowed to drive again until she had retrained on Car School and reached the level of OT 3 (as ordered by Dave Miscavige).
Case Gain
– In order to progress up auditing levels, one must make gains on their “case”. People that are SPs (
S
uppressive
P
erson) or PTS (
P
otential
T
rouble
S
ource) cannot make case gain. If a person does well after auditing or has personal wins he is said to have made case gain.
CC – Celebrity Center
. There are several celebrity centers located all around the world. These centers are specifically for the recruitment and training of local celebrities into Scientology.
CC Int
– This is Celebrity Centre International and is located in Hollywood, California. It is located in a historic building that was purchased by Scientology in the 1970’s.
Checkout
– This is a required step in Scientology training where a student quizzes another student on the materials they have studied. If the person does not pass the quiz, they are required to restudy the materials and find out what they did not understand and get another quiz until they pass.