- If you thought jumping
on couches was bad, yikes. (chattering)
(creepy music) In 1957, L. Ron Hubbard
created Scientology, a religion whose devout followers are required to pay thousands of dollars, undergo strange procedures, and sign contracts of secrecy. They believe that 75 million years ago there was a planet with
a human civilization that looked much like
1950s America with cars and streets and so on. A being named Xenu was
their galactic overlord and before he could be removed from power, he froze all of them,
stored them in boxes, and flew them to a prison
planet called Teegeeack, a lonely rock which we
now know today as Earth. The boxes were dropped into volcanoes and then hit with hydrogen bombs. This caused their spirits, called thetans, to fly out, get captured,
and endure images of crucifixion and other horrible things being shown to them. Now every time someone is born, thetans crowd into our bodies and become the root cause
of mental illness and fears. This sounds legit. Before he became a crazy cult leader, L. Ron Hubbard was
actually a published author of five hundred pulp fiction stories and fiction novels from February 1934 until his death in 1986. He holds Guinness World Records for being the most published
author in written books, audio books of his works, translated editions of his works, and translations of a single book. Much of his early pulp
fiction short stories were considered to be entertaining, but his later works were
hit with more criticism due to their exaggerated and thin plots. During the mid-1930s, Hubbard wrote several
Hollywood movie scripts but was not named in the movie's credits. After establishing the Church
of Scientology in 1952, he returned to writing in 1982, starting with Battlefield Earth, a story that was later
turned into a horrible movie produced and staring famous
Scientologist, John Travolta. In a similar manner to
other religious confessions where you must let your sins be known to receive forgiveness, Scientology conducts
what are known as audits. An auditing session involves a subject, known as a pre-clear or PC, an auditor, and sometimes the use of
a device called an E-Meter which is like a shoddy
version of a lie detector. Generally, the auditor will
sit in a room with a PC and ask them a series
of personal questions, sometimes digging into deeper, personal experiences or traumas. This is supposedly done
as a form of therapy. When the needle on the meter fluctuates, it might prompt the auditor to ask more about a certain subject. The point of auditing is to extract bad feelings and memories in order to go clear and continue
your Scientology training. Scientology members that
have displayed a deep loyalty and willingness to
achieve more in the church are often encouraged to
join the Sea Organization, also known as Sea Org. Sea Org is conducted like a military with ranks and punishments and boot camp like living quarters that operates the corporate
side of the church, providing maintenance to facilities, earning funds for the church, cooking and managing employees. The induction process into the Sea Org involves signing an odd contract that pledges your soul to them and says you'll serve
for one billion years. Members are actually obligated to do this or they're just flat out denied entry. This means that if you die
as a member of Sea Org, your soul or your reincarnated self will be expected to continue serving and this expectation will continue for literally a billion years. Since Scientology is so strict on beliefs and maintaining order among its members, being a part of the church can lead to what is known as disconnections in personal relationships. Anyone that the church rules
label as a suppressive person, basically a critic or bad influence, must be completely
separated from your life. Members who have difficulty
disconnecting from relationships are socially isolated by
their friends in the church and even threatened and
convinced that disconnection is the best option. In 2014, Sarah Goldberg, a mother of two and a 36 year member of the church was told to disconnect from her son, Nick, after he became friends
with opposers to the church. If she couldn't remove him from her life, she would be shunned, forcing
her Scientologist daughter, Ashley, to disconnect from her. Ultimately, she chose to
stay connected to her son and she was expelled from the
church and from her daughter. Though Scientology outright rejects things like psychology and mental illness, its founder and original leader was extremely mentally ill himself. L. Ron Hubbard's most famous work was his 1950 book Dianetics, basically the Bible of Scientology, but the precursor to this
was a manuscript he wrote in 1938 of a story called Excalibur. While Hubbard never
published the manuscript, he told extremely sensationalized stories about its affect on those who read it, saying that it could unlock the ability to control and manipulate people, but he wrote it after an
anesthetic he received at the dentist caused him to believe that he had died for a
total of eight minutes. In that time, he thought up ideas that would revolutionize everything, ideas that he considered
to be more important than the teachings found in the Bible. Hubbard's own son, Ronald,
has claimed that his father was a compulsive liar and mentally ill. Members of Scientology's Sea Organization are pressured to not conceive children. If they do, they are
required to give up the child for adoption or undergo an abortion. If both options are refused, they will face expulsion
from the organization. Being ejected from Sea Org
can be extremely difficult for many members who have
joined at a young age or who have remained in
the group for so long that they don't know
anything outside of Sea Org and its operations. Parents who join Scientology or who have children while they're members are instructed on how to raise and what to feed their kids. Some children are raised by other members while their parents work
grueling, 17 to 20 hour shifts for the church nearly every day. In some cases, kids are turned into spies against their parents by the church to make sure that their moms and dads are obeying the rules. It's only been in recent years that success stories about leaving Scientology have come to light. This is, in part, due to the fact that Scientology does so much to ensure that you're with them for the long haul, including brainwashing its members into ignoring outside media or fighting back against critics. The other reason that you
don't see many people fleeing is because they make it so hard to leave. If someone escapes and refuses
to come back to the church, they will send members to track down, threaten, and harass them. A large amount of effort
is put into ensuring that ex-members don't speak
out against Scientology with defectors being
blackmailed or hit with lawsuits and they'll slander your
reputation around town before you can even try to speak out. This is why whenever
important church members, like Leah Remini, Paul
Haggis, or Mark Rathbun, leave and go public, it should
be considered a big deal. The attack the attacker policy declares that Scientology is not a
turn the other cheek religion and urges its followers to
investigate and take action against anyone who publicly opposes them. Stack that onto the R2-45, a
process in which a person's thetan is separated
suddenly from the human body by way of bullet to the head and it's easy to see
why a number of deaths have been linked to the church. Possibly the most famous death
associated with Scientology occurred at Fort Harrison
Hotel in Clearwater, Florida on December 5th 1995. This was when 36 year old
Lisa McPherson lost her life to a pulmonary embolism and
what a local medical examiner initially called negligent homicide. Though McPherson sought psychiatric help, the church stopped her from getting it. They denied any involvement in her death and later settled in court
with McPherson's family for an undisclosed amount. During the 1970s, high ranking
members of Scientology, led by Hubbard, devised a plan
to seek out Scientologists to seek employment at many
different government agencies and organizations that posed
a threat to the church. Officially beginning in November of 1974, Operation Snow White, as it was called, managed to steal and copy important files from 136 government
sources in 30 countries with the use of nearly
5,000 undercover agents. Snow White is considered
to be one of the biggest infiltrations into guarded
United States information ever. The operation ended with the arrests and eventual convictions of
11 high ranking Scientologists including Mary Sue Hubbard, L. Ron's wife, on December 6th 1979. Mary Sue received five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for her role and L. Ron was named as a co-conspirator but was already in hiding where
he remained until his death on January 24th 1986. Well, that was all very disturbing, but if you learned something
and you enjoyed this make sure you drop a like on this video and subscribe if you haven't yet. I'll have a brand new
video for you tomorrow at 12 West Coast time,
three Eastern Standard time so make sure you come by then. I promise it won't be
about any crazy religions. Have a great day.
