Tag Archives: Cult

THE REAL REASON BEHIND THE MANSON CULT MURDERS

When you read the words “cult” and “murders” in the same line, you’ll evoke evil images of Charles Manson motivating his deadly cult to commit Helter Skelter—an apocalyptic race war between blacks and whites. The picture of wild-eyed Manson with a swastika carved in his forehead, and the sight of his head-shaven girls occupying the courthouse steps, seared themselves into American criminal history. Charles Manson is gone, but his memory lives on in villainous infamy. However, Charles Manson’s true motive for his cult murders wasn’t Helter Skelter. That’s nonsense. But Manson’s real reason remained shrouded in secrecy—until now.

During the summer of 1969, Charles Manson’s family of social misfits and rebellious rejects went on a homicidal rampage in the greater Los Angeles area. At least ten innocent victims lost their lives. The high-profile Manson family mass-murders claimed actress Sharon Tate and her celebrity friends who were shot, strangled, and stabbed to death. Businesspeople Rosemary and Leno LaBianca fell as well to Manson-ordered, cult-wielding knives. Charles Manson was also directly responsible for three or more individual murders associated with Manson’s criminal enterprise.

Throughout the Manson Family murder trial, district attorney and prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi pleaded a case that Charles Manson masterminded the Tate and LaBianca murders, although Manson wasn’t hands-on during the killings. Bugliosi argued Manson exercised totalitarian mind control over his cult members and convinced them to commit murder on his behalf.

Manson’s motive, Bugliosi offered, was Charles Manson proclaimed he was the reincarnation of a Jesus-like messiah who’d rule the world following an inevitable race war between blacks and whites. Manson called this Helter Skelter. Bugliosi’s case rested on the motive theory that Manson organized the Tate and LaBianca murders to frame the Black Panther movement and start his imaginary race Armageddon.

Bugliosi claimed Manson’s convoluted motive was personal gain and control after Helter Skelter occurred. Helter Skelter was a term Charles Manson adopted from the Beatles White Album that Manson claimed described the race war and its fallout. There’s no doubt from the trial evidence that Manson preached Helter Skelter to his followers, and they took it hook, line, and sinker. The Helter Skelter motive theory was enough to convince a jury to convict Manson and six family members of first-degree murder, sending them to death row. Their capital sentences were eventually reduced to life in prison where some still remain.

Now, after fifty-five years, the theory of Charles Manson’s bizarre Helter Skelter motive no longer stands the sniff test. It’s bunk, and Manson knew it. As a clever and cunning con man, Manson didn’t believe his own BS. He had a much different motive for ordering his followers to carry out the Tate and LaBianca slayings. Charles Manson’s real reason for his cult murders was to cover up another crime.

Charles Manson’s Criminal Background

If ever there was someone born to be a career criminal, it was Charles Manson. His birth mother was a disturbed teenager from Cincinnati, Ohio. There’s doubt about who Manson’s biological father was, but he took the surname Manson from a man who married his mother while she was still pregnant. The name on his birth certificate was Charles Milles Maddox after his biological mother’s maiden name.

Manson’s mother spent his childhood years revolving in and out of jail. She was a destitute alcoholic, and Manson bounced between her relatives. He relocated to an aunt’s home in Charleston, West Virginia and then to another aunt’s place in Indianapolis. By age ten, Charles Manson was already incorrigible. He was caught breaking into a house and stealing a gun.

At twelve, Manson was incarcerated in a Terre Haute, Indiana juvenile delinquent home. He escaped and survived by living on the streets of Indianapolis. Now Manson graduated from break-ins to stealing cars. By his 14th birthday, Charles Manson was sentenced to five years in a Nebraska prison for armed robbery.

Manson had a rough go in the penitentiary. He was a little man with big little-man syndrome. Even as an adult, Charles Manson only stood 5’ 2” and weighed 125 lbs. Much larger prisoners repeatedly raped and sodomized tiny Manson. He developed a defense mechanism that would be a lifelong trademark. Charles Manson pretended to be crazy, and the act worked for him.

Manson got paroled in 1954 and moved to Ohio. Soon, he was back into stealing cars and took one for a ride to Los Angeles. He supported himself through thefts, break-ins and robberies but found time to get a girl pregnant and marry her. Manson also learned to make extra money by pimping-out his new wife.

In 1956, Charles Manson was back in the federal prison system for another five-year stint. This time he was psychologically evaluated and deemed to be aggressively antisocial. His prison IQ test scored 119 with the national average being 100. The shrinks said there was nothing crazy about Charles Manson. In fact, he was quite bright.

Manson conned his way into early parole. He was out by 1958 and practicing a new trade which he’d learned from the pros in prison. Charles Manson began assembling a harem and lived off the avails of prostitution. He’d realized it was easier and safer to get others to commit crimes for him.

But, like other criminal ventures Charles Manson tried, he got caught again when one of the girls turned on him. As well, Manson had been kiting bad checks which was a federal offense. Manson was back in the pen in 1959—this time for a ten-year sentence.

Manson’s Musical, Scientology, and Carnegie Influence

Charles Manson played the prison system well. He used the crazy act when convenient but also took some schooling. Another psychiatric assessment identified Manson’s “tremendous drive to call attention to himself”. By accident or design, Manson was cellmates with the infamous bank robber, Alvin Karpis. It was Karpis who taught Charles Manson to play the guitar.

Manson learned several more skills in prison. He became an astute student of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. Manson also studied Scientology. Persuading people and gathering large groups became Charles Manson’s burning desire. His intent upon freedom was to use his musical aptitude, his charm, and his con-man conversion skills to gather a female following. Originally, Manson’s game was nothing more than a front for a profitable prostitution ring and a try at building a music audience.

In 1967, Manson made parole again. Now he was in Washington State where he’d been transferred within the federal system. The timing was right for strands of fate to align and begin building Charles Manson’s deadly hippie cult. He moved to San Francisco.

This was the “summer of love” and the peak of the California counterculture of hippies and freeloaders centered in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district. Many of the hippies were disenchanted girls from broken homes or strict families. The hippie lifestyle of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll was uber-attractive to these vulnerable kids. It was the perfect position for a perverted predator like Charles Manson to exploit.

Manson arrived in San Francisco at the height of the hippie movement. Now, he had two distinct and definite purposes. One was to start a prostitution ring. The other was to build a music career. Manson was smart enough to know he needed a following for both goals. He put his guitar, Carnegie, and Scientology skills to work and assembled his family.

The Manson Family Members

Today, most of the main Manson Family female members are household names. Everyone knows about Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme who tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford. And, of course, Susan “Sadie” Atkins is well known. So are Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten, Linda Kasabian, Mary Bruner, and Diane Lake.

Although Manson’s intention was to build a female following, there were a few young men who joined the family. Noteworthy were Charles “Tex” Watson, Steve “Clem” Grogan, Bruce Davis, and a good-looking young guy by the name of Bobby Beausoleil. All four would eventually go down for murders orchestrated by Charles Manson.

Looking at the Manson Family objectively, it wasn’t Charles Manson’s original intention to build a cult. His big drive was to be famous through music, and he needed a built-in audience to attract a record label. Manson was fascinated by the Beatles’ success and their music. He intended to follow their path. The cult-thing was an accidental by-product of his grandiose delusion of stardom.

A cult can be either destructive or non-destructive. Generally, a cult is an organization of followers with a charismatic leader who preaches false information. Scientology is clearly a cult, but they don’t seem to go around killing people. The Charles Manson Family did. They were about as destructive a cult as you can find.

You’ve got to give Charles Manson some credit for both drive and balls. While in prison with Karpis, Manson got a lead on a Los Angeles record producer named Phil Kaufman who Karpis knew from the outside. Kaufman was business partners with the influential recording producer, Terry Melcher, who was Doris Day’s son. Melcher was also the producer for big names like the Beach Boys, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and the Mommas and Poppas.

Charles Manson amassed about 100 followers who he plied with psychedelic drugs and mesmerized their strung-out brains with messiah-like preaching about Beatle song interpretations. He gained his audience in San Francisco but knew the music action was in L.A. In 1969, Manson packed up the family and headed south. He tracked down Terry Melcher and talked his way into Melcher’s home at 10050 Cielo Drive in north Los Angeles. This was the home Sharon Tate was about to occupy.

Terry Melcher wasn’t impressed with Manson’s musical talent, but he took an interest in Manson’s personality. Melcher never outright turned Manson down for a record deal. He encouraged Manson to keep writing, practicing, and building an audience. Manson took Melcher’s advice to heart and did just that.

Manson and the Beach Boys

Charles Manson’s big musical break came by total fluke. Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys picked up two of Manson’s girls who were hitchhiking. Seeing them as an easy sexual mark, Wilson took the girls back to his Los Angeles mansion and had his way. Once the two returned to the family and told Manson about the encounter, Charles Manson saw a tremendous opportunity. He had the audacity to take 20 of his female followers and invade Wilson’s house.

Tempted by unlimited sex, Dennis Wilson let the Manson Family stay until they wore out their welcome a few months later. By then, Manson and his followers sponged tens of thousands of dollars off Wilson and his associates. The Wilson connection gave Manson access to big names like Neil Young who Manson had many jam-sessions with.

Dennis Wilson (Beach Boys) left – Charles Manson right

In the spring of 1969, Manson was going nowhere in his music world and his grip on his cult was loosening. People dropped off and recruiting was slow now that the counter-culture revolution had run its course. Manson wasn’t interested in retaining men, but he did everything to hang onto women. They were still his bread and butter. That continued to work as long as he supplied them with drugs and continued to make them feel valued.

One thing about running a cult is that it’s hard work. It takes a lot of supplies and energy to keep up the charade. Manson constantly needed to take his game to a higher step to retain control. He did this by preaching Helter Skelter, and it worked.

By now, Charles Manson had convinced his hard-core followers that he was a messiah—the “Son of Man”. He played on their fears and hopes where he predicted a race war between blacks and whites where the blacks would kill all the whites and then turn to the Manson Family for leadership. This was all nonsense, of course, and Manson knew it.

However, this Helter Skelter nonsense acted as glue for the family, and they bought it. To buy time while he pursued other music leads, Charles Manson upped his preaching game. He also upped his LSD and methamphetamine supply. For that, they needed money, and this got Manson in a pickle.

The Start of the Manson Family Murders

After Manson and the family left Dennis Wilson’s place, they couch surfed, leaching off whoever would tolerate them. One place was next door to 3301 Waverly Drive in north Los Angeles—the home of Rosemary and Leno LaBianca. After that brief stay, Manson found an old movie set called the Spahn Ranch in the desert northwest of L.A.

Manson paid his rent to eighty-year-old George Spahn in sexual favors performed by his girls. With this new spot and its remote location, Manson now had more control over who was coming and going in the family. One of the newcomers was a 21-year-old wanna-be musician, Bobby Beausoleil.

Charles Manson was under constant pressure to fund his family. It took money to pay for drugs, food, and vehicles that the Manson Family required. Most of their money came from prostitution, drug trafficking and petty theft. From that, they barely scraped by. Charles Manson saw an opportunity and hatched a plan for a big money score.

One of Manson’s musical acquaintances was Gary Hinman who was a quiet and well-educated man. Hinman found Manson and his followers interesting but had no desire to join them. Manson heard a rumor that Hinman recently acquired a large inheritance, so Manson sent Bobby Beausoleil and Susan Atkins to check it out.

Gary Hinman knew Beausoleil and Atkins. He willingly let them in. Both Atkins and Beausoleil were drugged and unstable. When they approached Hinman to join their family, he again declined. The conversation turned to money, and Hinman put his foot down. It turned ugly. The Manson Family members took Hinman hostage and began torturing him.

Beausoleil phoned Manson back at the ranch and told him they weren’t getting anywhere with Hinman. They asked for Manson’s direction. Manson told Atkins and Beausoleil to keep Hinman tied up till he got there. Once Manson arrived, he took over, cutting Hinman’s ear off to set an example.

Hinman still refused to give in. In frustration, Manson took Atkins and left—telling Beausoleil, “You know what to do.” Manson also told Beausoleil to make the scene look like the Black Panthers were involved, reminding Beausoleil of the apocalyptic doom of Helter Skelter.

Bobby Beausoleil took that as a clear signal and authorization from his leader—Charles Manson—to kill Gary Hinman. With Manson gone, Bobby Beausoleil stabbed Hinman to death while Hinman stayed tied to a chair. Beausoleil then wrote “Pig” on the front door in Hinman’s blood as well as leaving a bloody paw print which was the Black Panther symbol.

Beausoleil was drugged, fatigued, and not thinking straight. He stole Hinman’s car, hid the knife in the trunk and drove from the scene. Within hours, the police found Bobby Beausoleil asleep in Hinman’s stolen car. His clothes were bloody and so was the murder weapon that was still in the trunk. The police backtracked, found Hinman’s body, and charged Bobby Beausoleil with first-degree murder.

Charles Manson Plans the Tate & LaBianca Murders

Beausoleil’s arrest worried Charles Manson. He was concerned—really concerned—that Bobby Beausoleil would crack, squeal, and implicate Charles Manson as a murder accomplice. That got the wheels turning in Manson’s head, and his convoluted logic kicked in.

Charles Manson calculated that if similar murders occurred with a modus operandi (MO) like what Beausoleil did to Hinman, then the police would have to conclude the real killers were still out there. Therefore, they’d have to drop the charges, release Bobby Beausoleil, and the heat would be off Charles Manson.

Manson figured he’d put his other family members to work by casing out locations and finding suitable murder victims. He knew he could convince his most-trusted lieutenants who accepted his Helter Skelter prophesies. Manson gathered them and said it was now time to start Helter Skelter. He said nothing about covering up the botched Gary Hinman murder.

The first place Manson targeted was 10050 Cielo Drive. Manson knew Terry Melcher moved out. In fact, Manson came face-to-face with Sharon Tate when he went looking for Melcher one day. Manson picked Tate’s residence for two reasons. One was he knew that celebrity murders would get a lot of attention. Secondly, Manson was familiar with the layout.

On the night of August 8, 1969, Charles Manson instructed Tex Watson to take Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian and kill everyone inside 10050 Ceilo Drive. Manson also directed them to make the scene look like a Black Panther attack by writing bloody messages on the walls. He implicitly said this was the start of Helter Skelter and it was their privilege to carry it out.

The drug-fueled cult members bought every word of it. Without going into graphic details, the Manson Family members cold-bloodedly killed Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abagail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and an innocent visitor named Steve Parent.

One mass killing wasn’t good enough for Charles Manson. The next night, Manson accompanied the same murderous group to the Leno and Rosemary LaBianca house on Waverly Drive. This time he took along Leslie Van Houten and Clem Grogan. Again, Manson didn’t get his hands bloody. He picked the LaBianca home simply because he knew the layout and that they were wealthy. Once Manson located the home, he left and the Manson Family cult members went in for the kill.

Bit by bit, Manson’s grip on his cult slipped away. It took a while for the police to connect the Tate and LaBianca murders and find evidence linking the Manson cult to the crimes. Even when the police raided the Spahn Ranch and arrested Manson and his remaining followers on car theft suspicion, they failed to make any connection to the August murder spree. It wasn’t until Susan Atkins opened her mouth in jail that the cat came out of the bag.

Many of the Manson Family members testified at the Tate and LaBianca murder trials. Each one attributed the motive to Charles Manson’s Helter Skelter vision. One can’t blame them for revealing this as the motive because that’s what they honestly believed. Only Charles Manson knew his real motive for his cult killings. That’s a secret Manson took to the grave with him.

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I’m not making up this theory about Charles Manson’s real motive for his cult murders. Vincent Bugliosi is on the record for purporting the Gary Hinman murder connection as the real reason why Manson ordered the Tate and LiBianca “copy-cat” killings. It makes sense when you think about it. And if you think about it, Bugliosi ran with the Helter Skelter motive because he knew he could sell it to the jury—not so with the Hinman coverup.

Charles Manson was a psychopath, but he wasn’t psychotic. He was a shrewd little con-man and a calculating criminal. His entire MO was using people to commit criminal acts, and his cult following—which was supposed to be a Beatles-like fan club—got carried away into one of the most notorious murder cases in history. It was all about covering up a crime gone bad.

If you’re interested in a fascinating look at how Charles Manson built and controlled his cult, I suggest reading a 2015 undergraduate honors thesis by Robin Altman of the University of Colorado, Boulder. It’s titled Sympathy for the Devil: Charles Manson’s Exploitation of California’s 1960 Counter-Culture. The thesis also concludes Manson’s real motive for the Tate & LaBianca murders was to cover up Bobby Beausoleil’s blotched job and to protect/divert suspicion from Charles Manson.

NXIVM — THE CRAZY SEX CULT OF KEITH RANIERE

It sounds like something in a bizarre novel plot that struggles to suspend disbelief, but it’s true crime at is weirdest. NXIVM (pronounced nex-eee-ehm) was a real-life “wellness” organization run by Keith Raniere, a Svengali leader who conned thousands of people in a self-help pyramid scheme. At its heart, NXIVM held a secret society that manipulated intelligent women into being sex-slaves with Keith Raniere’s initials branded into their flesh.

This week, a New York court sentenced Keith Raniere to 120 years imprisonment for sex offenses, human trafficking, forced labor, racketeering, and other felony convictions. Clare Bronfman, the billionaire heiress to the Seagrams liquor fortune, got 6 ½ years for bankrolling the operation to a tune of over $140 million. Co-conspirators Sara Bronfman, Alison Mack, Kathy Russell, Nancy Salzman, and her daughter Lauren Salzman have pleaded guilty to related sex and conspiracy charges. They’re awaiting sentences and they, too, face length penitentiary terms for ruining the lives of many innocent young women who only wanted wellness in their world.

How can this happen? How can women like billionaires, Hollywood actresses, Ph.D. holders, and even Mexican President Vincente Fox’s daughter get sucked into such a crazy cult? How could they allow themselves to be turned into submissive sex slaves and willingly be branded at the pubic line with a cauterizing gun after turning over millions of dollars to a perverted conman?

The answer isn’t easy. And, it didn’t happen overnight. It seems the root of this madness lies in a lack of personal esteem and the possible profound psychological effects of neuro-linguistic programming compounded with hypnosis. In other words, brainwashing by preying on female insecurities. Here’s a look at how NXIVM was structured and who Keith Raniere really is.

NXIVM Structure

It’s best to let NXIVM explain what they purported to be… on the surface. Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman formed the organization in 1998 as a mostly women-to-women group of high achievers who wanted to take their entrepreneurial performance to the next level. Fraud implications started in 2003 when Forbes Magazine did an expose on Raniere and  NXIVM.

NXIVM crashed in 2018 when Raniere and his hold-out supporters fled to Mexico and were arrested on U.S. warrants. At the time, the NXIVM website was still up and I quickly copied their propaganda. This is what they offered:

WHAT IS NXIVM? — NXIVM is a community guided by humanitarian principles that seek to empower people and answer important questions about what it means to be human. The NXIVM philosophy is expressed through a series of companies and initiatives, all of which were designed to broaden the way we currently think about problems, and to help create solutions for a kinder, more sustainable, ethical world. With unique tools that facilitate success, both internally and externally, NXIVM helps people realize the potential that exists within them.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”  ~ Helen Keller

Society, government, religion, family—all human systems are made up of people. Large-scale change must therefore find its root in the individual. If we are to create a noble civilization, this transformation must begin by looking inward.

NXIVM is a new ethical understanding that allows you to create an internal framework that reflects your best self, and offers the resources to manifest that vision into a reality. It allows you to explore your most fundamental nature and begin to redirect your power of creation, a power that we all possess in a very human sense. The NXIVM philosophy is expressed through its various companies, their contributions, and, most importantly, the individuals who work together to create a better world.

By the time NXIVM was rolling in the early 2000s, it had attracted thousands of acolytes who spent millions of dollars on the promise of life-transforming exposure. Executive Success Programs (ESP) formed NXIVM’s shell with specialized, invite-only, sub-groups available for the chosen ones. One spin-off was JNESS, and this is what they presented:

WHO WE ARE — Our JNESS is our highly personal version of being a woman; it is an affirmation of our independent life-journey with its lessons, tragedies, and magnificence. No two women are the same. Each of us has a unique, powerful, secret-self, formed from our experiences in life. No one set of words can quite quantify us, and no collection of rules can categorize us. JNESS in general, is the personal work of empowered women in this world.

Organized JNESS is the journey to find more depth and meaning in our lives connecting us with our personal wisdom through bonded groups of friends, inspired by essential questions, and the sharing of many. Through the workings of Jness, we find more of ourselves and reunite with parts lost to fear or social ignorance.

OUR STORY — Have you ever been with a closest friend, or friends, and desired to create something meaningful? Maybe even something bigger than just a simple project, or some self-serving goal? Possibly a group effort addressing a personal concern about the world where you see meaningful work needs to be done.

Take a minute to think about some of the most meaningful needs of society from your perspective: Is one of these needs world hunger? Or possibly more pressing is the issue of abuse of power in government?

Or maybe even more important is a war in a foreign country? Or you might focus upon difficulties closer to home, such as the lack of community in your community, or possibly some type of social prejudice? Or for some, just the simple lack of caring amongst friends and neighbors, is most disturbing. There are many, many other equally important challenges in the world but what is of primary concern is which issues are most important to you directly, personally.

On a spring day in 2006, in a car, driving down the highway, this was the topic of discussion amongst 3 dearest friends; Pam, Marianna, and Keith.

Keith offered an expertise in educational methodology along with a body of knowledge relating to the human dynamic. The most essential thing for both Pam and Marianna was their struggles as women in a world where woman’s values are distorted. Over the next few days, the initial codification for a new method of gender transformation, JNESS, was born, from the loving intent of 3 people, who desired to create something meaningful together, to make the world a better place.

Today, just 10 years later, JNESS has spread to over 17 locations and has touched women (and men) from all walks of life. With over 1000 hours of ever-expanding curriculum and methods of gender empowerment, JNESS is one of the most advanced and detailed paths of gender discovery in the world. It is, more importantly, a home community for many, many, compassionate, humanity-minded women of this era.

OUR FRIENDSHIPS — JNESS is an organization by-invitation, only.

Imagine having a group of women with whom you meet each week that you knew you could rely on because they show up for one another, no matter what. What might it be like to have friends committed to their growth and supporting the growth of those around them?  That is the intention of a JNESS friendship.

Friendships offer the opportunity for women to build a bond with one another as we journey through our unique curriculum.

*   *   *

Sounds enticing, doesn’t it? Well, JNESS was a grooming ground for something seriously sinister. There was a nucleus operating inside NXIVM—a secret sex sisterhood—called Dominus Obsequious Sororium (DOS) which is a Latin translation for “lord over the obedient female companions”. It was inside DOS where things really got nuts.

Alison Mack was Raniere’s chief recruiter for DOS. Raniere delegated Mack to identify women of influence within JNESS and bring them inside the inner DOS circle. In Mack’s words, “DOS is a bad-ass, if slightly unorthodox, feminist group meant to help women build discipline and overcome their intimacy issues”.

Alison Mack

Unorthodox is an understatement. DOS was specifically designed to provide sex slaves for Keith Raniere. The initiation required “collateral” to prove the woman’s conviction. This would be sexually-compromising pictures, videos of sex act performance, or something as sleazy as a letter on file that falsely accused the woman’s father of sexually molesting her.

Once indoctrinated inside DOS, the woman vowed to be completely subservient to Raniere. This included group-sex participation, pubic hair grooming requirements, and responding to text demands within sixty seconds or face corporal punishment by being strapped with a leather belt.

Complete DOS initiation required branding. In this procedure the indoctrinated was stripped naked and forcibly held on her back on a table. She was required to say, “Master, please brand me. It would be an honor.” Then, the submissive woman would sufferer excruciating pain while the initials “KR” were seared on her pubis.

Sarah Edmondson shows the brand she received as part of a secret sorority ritual while part of the self-help group Nxivm, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, July 27, 2017. Edmondson, who has left the group, and other former followers of Keith Raniere, the leader of the group, said they were focusing on recovering. “There is no playbook for leaving a cult,” Edmondson said. (Ruth Fremson/The New York Times)

Note: Officially, thirteen women have come forward and showed their brands. There could be many more.

Who is Keith Raniere?

To somewhat understand the hard-to-believe story of NXIVM, JNESS and DOS, it’s necessary to look at who Keith Raniere really is. Again, it’s best to read how NXIVM portrayed him through their website propaganda. This is what they posted:

KEITH RANIERE — Keith Raniere has devoted his life to studying the complex issues that face our modern world, and to developing tools to enhance the human experience through community, social action, science, technology, and education.

Raniere has founded multiple companies focusing on increasing joy and ethics in the world. Under the NXIVM umbrella, he has developed a series of educational models that offer integrative solutions to complex subjects such as gender, relationships, childhood development, mind-body complex, compassionate ethics, and creative expression. These initiatives range from an award-winning performing arts company to an early childhood education that promotes cultural, linguistic, emotional, physical, and problem-solving potential.

He founded Executive Success Programs, Inc. (ESP) in 1998 with Nancy Salzman, one of the world’s top trainers in personal and professional development, seeking to advance ethics, humanity, and critical thinking on an individual and global scale. One of the cornerstones of ESP is Rational Inquiry®, Raniere’s patent-pending technology that provides a scientific process for achieving peak human performance. Most recently, these tools successfully have been applied to treating neurobiological disorders with unprecedented results. In partnership with the Ethical Science Foundation, several people have been helped to overcome severe cases of Tourettes Syndrome, with plans to study the potential on other conditions.

Some of his most passionate and purposeful work can be seen in the peace movement he founded in Mexico, where gang violence, corruption, and poverty are at crisis levels. InLaK’ech (an expression that translates to “you are the other me”) has been credited with initiatives that promote community, inspire leadership within small villages, and provide systems to disable violence and stop perpetrators. He sees the struggles faced by the Mexican people as a metaphor for the world and hopes to inspire the possibility for peace.

The Truth About Keith Raniere

That’s an appealing spiel the NXIVM website spelled out. The truth, however, is much different. Keith Raniere is a deviate conman if there ever was one. Here’s a factual profile on what this guy is all about.

Keith Allen Raniere was born in 1960 to an ad-salesman father and an alcoholic mother who was a ballroom dancing instructor. They separated when Raniere was eight, and he was mostly raised by his father who boasted to everyone who would listen that his son was a genius. It seems Raniere believed this and took on a lifetime with that persona.

Raniere was no scholar with a 200+ IQ like he porported to desciples. He achieved a 2.26 GPA (C- equivalent) college diploma majoring in physics and had a fascination with science fiction. He was heavily influenced by Isaac Asimov’s Second Foundation that centered on mind control. He also dabbled in Amway and a few other network marketing ventures before starting his own multi-level company called Consumers’ Buyline Inc.. It achieved a large following before federal regulators shut it down as an illegal pyramid scheme. Ranier was fined $40,000 of which he paid $6,000.

Raniere reinvented himself in the MLM culture with a vitamin company called National Health Network. Through this, he met Nancy Salzman who was a registered nurse and a certified hypnotherapist. They turned their combined focus on the emerging personal wellness field and lucrative business coaching opportunities. Together, they were like fire and gasoline—or two volatile chemicals mixed up in a mad scientist’s lab—and NXIVM was conceived.

Keith Raniere was shaped by a lot of factors. Many are the usual suspects when it comes to mind control—Hubbard (Scientology), Rand (Objectivism), Blavatsky (Theosophy), Freud (Psychoanalysis), Steiner (Anthrosophy), Crowley (OTO), Korzybski (General Semantics), Erhard (EST), Erickson (Eriksonian Hypnosis), Bandler & Grinder (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) as well as Tony Robbins, Rosicrucianism, and Freemasonry. Raniere also took acting and judo lessons.

Ranier was no genius as he held out to be. He was basically a shiftless slacker who slept most of the day, didn’t own a car or have a driver’s license, mooched off friends for meals, and couch-surfed according to who would have him. Even when the NXIVM cash started rolling in, he didn’t purchase material goods. Keith Raniere was in it for two things—power and sex.

I’m not going to go into the sexual details. There’s plenty online if you’re curious, and some of it sheds light about how crazy Ranier’s sex cult was. What’s baffling about this case is the mind-frame these duped women were in when they submitted to Kieth Raniere’s brand.

Rolling Stone Magazine took on the story in late 2019 after Raniere’s convictions but before his sentencing. In How NXIVM Was the Ultimate Wellness Scam, the writer quotes one of Raniere’s former girlfriends, Barbara Bouchey, who said, “The women who were willing to sacrifice so much for Raniere, only to get so little in return, had one trait in common. They were what I would call weak-willed women. They were smart, they were sensitive, they were caring. But were they confident? No. Raniere went out of his way to surround himself with women who were successful by societal standards—privileged, attractive, well-educated—but who did not have the financial independence nor street smarts to assert themselves and their own autonomy.”

Toni Natalie, another ex-girlfriend, said, “While the women in Raniere’s inner circle were all extremely bright, they tended to lack substantive family ties, and all were insecure and damaged in some fundamental way, making them easier to control. He convinces you that your successes are not your own. Your successes are only because he exists.”

Wellness industry expert and author, Jessica Knoll, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times just before the judge gave Raniere his 120 years. It went internet-viral and probably offended some when Knoll stated, “The wellness industry is a function of the patriarchal beauty standard under which women either punish themselves to become smaller or are punished for failing to comply. When you have to deprive, punish, and isolate yourself to look ‘good,’ it is impossible to feel good.”

Knoll notes, “Wellness isn’t about being freer or stronger. It isn’t about loosening the shackles of oppression and throwing them to the wind. It’s about slipping them onto our wrists and letting someone else tighten the screws. It’s about powerlessness. It’s about surrender. It’s about love, and pain, and letting people tell us we don’t know the difference. That’s the stark truth of the wellness industry and the brutal truth about the condition of womanhood in general, which is that so many of us hate ourselves so intensely and so often that there is no limit to the amount of pain we are willing to endure to change that.”

The Rolling Stone closed their story with this summation that you may or may not agree with:

Keith Raniere was wrong about a lot of things. He was right about one, though. Many women are raised to believe that their ability to solve all of their problems is directly correlated with their proximity to a man. And when you are raised to believe that men carry with them the solutions to all of your problems, it isn’t so much of a stretch to conclude that this could mean any man—that one with the ring, or that one with the job offer, or that one with the soft patient voice and the floppy hair and a seemingly endless supply of crewneck sweaters, who looks at you like you are his breakfast and tells you, in a soft, patient voice, that breaking you down is the only way for you to become stronger.

IS SCIENTOLOGY A CRAZY CULT AND BIG FAT GLOBAL SCAM?

Scientology. Just the sound can send shivers through your spine. Likely, you already have a bad opinion about it. If you’re with the majority, you’ll think Scientologists are a brainwashing bunch with devious designs to con your cash. But if you’re with a small minority, you’ll see Scientology as a vastly misunderstood new-age religion offering you spiritual enlightenment, inner peace, and a path towards universal knowledge. Both these views can’t be right.

I knew nothing about Scientology except for Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah’s couch and John Travolta’s disastrously-bad flick called Battlefield Earth. It wasn’t until a few years ago that our then-fourteen-year-old son and I were cutting through mid-town Manhattan from Hell’s Kitchen to our hotel in Times Square. There, on our left along 46th, was the Scientology Church of New York City.

“Hey, look at that!” I pointed and said to Alan. “Scientology. Let’s check it out.”

“Da-ad…” Alan shook his head. “Everyone knows Scientology is a crazy cult and a big fat global scam.”

I looked down on him. “Whadda you know about Scientology?”

“A guy called L. Ron Hubbard started it in the nineteen-fifties from a science fiction book, and he sucked hundreds of thousands of people into believing humans were planted on Earth seventy-five million years ago by a giant space alien named Xenu who was the evil tyrant ruler or dark lord of the Galactic Confederacy. Hubbard said Xenu brought zillions of early humans to this planet and blasted them with hydrogen bombs in volcano craters to free them of their souls which he called Thetans. Scientologists believe Thetans still hang around and use engrams to make people dumb, and if you pay their church enough money they’ll audit you with E-Meters and sell you books, counseling, and courses to clear you of bad stuff and help you reach Operating Thetan Level III where you’re supposed to know everything that’s secret about the universe. By then, they got all your money and screwed your mind.”

“Whaat? That’s preposterous! Where’d you hear that?”

“South Park. They just did an episode on Scientology.”

“You don’t believe everything on South Park, do you? Look at how many times they killed Kenny.”

“Da-ad. South Park is satire. That’s what they do. Trash stupid idiots like Scientologists.”

“Well, I wanna see this for myself.” I headed for the door. “C’mon. We’re goin’ in.”

“O-kay, but I’m warning you.” Alan dithered four paces back. “First thing they’re going to do is show you around, then try sell you some of their shit and get you to join.”

We entered through the well-lit lobby leading into an expansive reception area. It wasn’t what I expected, although I had no idea what to expect. This place appeared first-class and professional in every way.

Immediately, Alan and I were warmly greeted by an attractive lady named Adriana who was the epitome of youth and exuberance. Adriana was conservatively dressed in casual business attire and her persona radiated with confidence and commitment. She asked a few comfortable qualifiers, then welcomed us on a personal facility tour.

Adriana explained the Church of Scientology was unlike any other organized religion. Always making eye contact with me, and trying to do so with Alan, Adriana led us through the Public Information Center and said her organization was all about spiritually enlightening people so they can live free and healthy lives. I noticed there was no mention of God or any reference to Christianity which is what I thought a church was all about.

Adriana took us through the Dianetics and Scientology Bookstore where a wall-to-wall materials guide chart offered “millions of published words and thousands of lectures” personally written and spoken by the organization’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard. I noticed a wall plaque with the message, “Free Introductory Lectures are Available. Come as Often as You Like. Bring Your Friends”. Then I sat, and Alan squirmed, through a short audio-visual presentation which was convincingly prepared and with no money spared in production.

Adriana offered Alan and I more of her time. She guided us to the mezzanine overlooking the Chapel and invited us into the Field Activities Center. Here, Adriana said, Scientologists practiced ceremonies ranging from weddings to namings to commencements to funerals. To me, this appeared more of an intertwined family of individual betterment than a conventional religion where it was a parishioner’s blind duty to pray to an unseen supernatural deity and unquestioningly adhere to prescribed dogma. I remained open-minded, but I can’t say the same for Alan.

Adriana looked around, then quietly asked if we’d like a look behind the scenes at the Church’s operational area. I wasn’t going to pass that up, and Alan had no choice. We entered a room called the Testing Center. Here, newbies like us were exposed to an “introductory service” that allowed an “understanding of personal capabilities and a directional path toward spiritual awareness”.

Discreetly, Adriana let us know that Scientology had an entire array of life improvement courses beyond their basic books and lectures. I murmured that might be interesting. Alan gave me a hard left elbow, and we moved on to the Purification Centre.

This was an unusual place. It was a cross between a gym, a video arcade, and a no-host bar. One wall was a massive mural of the Manhattan skyline. In front were these treadmill-like machines with personalized screens where you could watch Scientology films while hooked into earphones.

Adriana explained this room was a place where “preclears” could mentally and spiritually purify themselves of drug and alcohol toxins as well as psychological damage from misleading input due to conventional religious exposure. I said I could have used this when I used to work out with a hangover. Alan cringed, and we proceeded to the Guidance Center where one-on-one spiritual counseling took place.

Next, we followed our host to the third-floor Auditing Room. Here, for the first time, I saw a real live E-Meter. I was most curious as I’d never heard of this thing and, apparently, it was the mechanized heart of Scientology indoctrination.

The official name for this testing device is an electropsychometer. It’s somewhat like a one-lane polygraph than measures your electrodermal activity (EDA) which is your galvanic skin reaction to controlled questions. Taking an E-Meter evaluation, I was told, was a first step in “auditing” a preclear before advancing in incremental Scientology stages.

I asked Alan if he wanted to give it a whirl. He cowered as if hiding behind his momma’s apron with his thumb in his mouth. Adriana tactfully explained they didn’t conduct audits before a preclear was properly prepared. We left the E-Meter room for the Scientology Academy where budding Scientologists who’ve attained a “clear” state train to be “Auditors” themselves.

By now, we were a good half-hour into this place. Adriana seemed to be comfortable with this Canadian skeptic and his captive son. She offered us a rare opportunity. Adriana had the keys to L. Ron Hubbard’s original office on the executive floor.

I wasn’t turning that down for a second. Neither could Alan. We rode the elevator and exited into a plush hallway with two massive wood doors at one end. I shoved Alan along behind Adriana. Slowly, methodically, and respectfully, she unlocked the boss’s private sanctuary and gave us passage.

It was impressive, I’ll admit. The tastes were exquisite and the appointments classy. The Founder’s desk was an exotic hardwood with matching chairs padded in leather. To one side was a magnificent bookcase filled with bound editions and prized possessions. There was even the touch of fresh flowers in a vase, the scent of something mixed with soft music, and a glass statue of the Empire State Building.

I remarked that it wouldn’t be hard to spend time in this place. I thought Alan might vomit. Adriana smiled and agreed. She suggested we go back to the main floor’s bookstore where she wished to share some literature about the Church of Scientology.

Adriana produced two publications personally penned by L. Ron Hubbard. One was Dianetics – The Modern Science of Mental Health. The other was Scientology – The Fundamentals of Thought. She explained these were the two best groundings for initiation into the Church of Scientology, and we’d best start with the basics before moving on to more advanced material.

During our time, Adriana was most inclusive of Alan. She acknowledged him throughout and treated him as a valued addition to the Church despite his junior age. Adriana reassuringly said everyone was accepted into the Scientology sphere without discrimination for age or race.

Then, she proved Alan right. I could have the two books for fifty bucks and was encouraged to select more – preferably the whole series for a one-time discount. Alan kicked me, and I had to go into damage control, desperately trying to save face.

My comeback was that no other religious organization, that I knew of, outright profited from their works. Hell, I said, even the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons gave their propaganda for free. I went so far as to say I bet if I walked into a Catholic Church they’d give me a complimentary bible.

Adriana fidgeted. She’d thought she’d built a solid report and a sale. Now, we were turning on her. I’ll give her credit, though, as she quickly compromised. She put away the two new copies of Dianetics and Scientology and came back with some used books with dog-eared pages. She offered a trade with a caveat. I had to give Adriana my email address.

Alan didn’t say a word as we departedly shook hands with Adriana. He remained mute as we moved through the hustle and bustle of Times Square. He stayed quiet as we rode to our 17th-floor room in the Marriott, and he never again mentioned our Scientology experience. Alan grinned, however, while he gamed as I laid on the bed and browsed through Dianetics and Scientology. #@!#$! – I was determined to figure out what made these guys tick.

The best I could find glean is L. Ron Hubbard was a depressed science fiction writer sick of scribing short stories for a penny-per-word. Another starving artist told Hubbard that, if he really wanted to get rich, he should start a religion. The light went on in Hubbard’s head when he realized the religious market was far bigger than Sci-Fi and that churches were tax-exempt.

Ron Hubbard capitalized on an earlier SF piece he’d been successful with. It involved a made-up space warlord he called Xenu from whom he’d developed the Thetan storyline of disembodied human souls seeded on earth in prehistoric times. Hubbard seemed to think that if it grabbed one small niche audience, it might work with a mass religious market, provided it was convincingly sold to the gullible.

To sell the Xenu saga, Hubbard expanded the Thetan characters. He had to make them relate to living souls looking for guidance and meaning to life. Hubbard came up with a measuring stick he called Dianetics. That came from the Greek words dia, meaning through, and nous, meaning mind or soul – or what the mind or soul does through the body.

In 1950, Hubbard published his first edition of Dianetics: A New Science of Mind in the popular print magazine Astounding Science Fiction. The magazine title should have told people something about the content, but such is the power of belief. It took off and Hubbard had his ups and downs with the publicity.

He fell on financial frailty. By 1952, L. Ron Hubbard realized he needed a bigger vehicle to transport his Dianetics sales so he invented an organization around it called the Church of Scientology. That term also originated in Greek from scio, meaning knowing, and logos, meaning study of. Therefore, Scientology was the academic study of knowledge and Dianetics was its practical back-up to prove it right.

It wasn’t long before two things happened. One was Scientology snowballed into a big deal with many post-war people rejecting conventional religion and moving towards new-age gurus. The other was Scientology began to make serious money which attracted the tax and law-enforcement folks.

By the 60s and 70s, Hubbard built his Scientology club into the proverbial well-oiled machine. He was a good delegator and allowed a committed downline to run day-to-day operations while he focused on pumping out new material. This included prolific writings which became Scientology scriptures and he filmed or recorded volumes of doctrine lectures.

Scientology got away on L. Ron Hubbard. It came under a lot of negative pressure – media, religious, entertainment, and legal bodies. His group’s defense modus operandi (MO) was aggressively litigating anyone who criticized the Church of Scientology. That included dissenters within the organization, outside religious competitors, and the United States Internal Revenue Service. Some suits Scientology won. Some they lost. And one big one with the IRS was settled with Scientology secretly paying back taxes and being allowed to carry on as a “not-for-profit recognized religion in the US. This was despite almost every non-banana republic seeing Scientology as a purely commercial enterprise bordering on criminal fraud.

Ron Hubbard was a marketing guy if he was nothing else. He recognized the power of celebrity status as a force-multiplier, and he turned his recruitment sights on Hollywood. Over the years, A-listers like Travolta and Cruise championed the cause and were joined by names like Kirstie Alley, Lisa Marie Presley, and Leah Remini who turned out to be a twenty-first-century public relations disaster for Scientology.

You can’t dispute Scientology’s financial and congregational success during the 50s through 90s. Figures are foggy, but it appears they amassed well north of the billion mark in assets, much of that liquid cash. Scientology also asserted a prominent presence around the globe and claimed a multi-million membership.

All empires have their rise and fall. L. Ron Hubbard was an internationally-charged criminal fugitive by the 1980s. By unofficial accounts, Hubbard died on January 24, 1986. He was alone, hiding in a filthy room on a secluded California ranch with matted hair and rotten teeth.

David Miscavige – Church of Scientology Leader

However, L. Ron Hubbard was smart enough to earlier evoke an attrition plan. Back in the 60’s, he mentored a protégé named David Miscavige who now heads the Church of Scientology. Now, here’s a slick little operator – he makes Tom Cruise look tall and a novice actor. Just watch the promo videos. David Miscavige comes across as the smoothest and most sincere televangelist to hit the screen since Tammy Faye died and Jimmy Swaggart cried.

David Miscavige is far from fart-free. He has a tremendous albatross hanging over his head, and that’s because his wife, Michele Miscavige, has been missing since 2007. It’s been twelve years since anyone’s seen hide nor hair of her.

But, David Miscavige has been a force in holding the Church of Scientology together through its troubles. Miscavige fought off crushing collaborative claims of Scientology being a crazy cult and a big fat global scam.  Despite Miscavige’s ministering, Scientology’s future is uncertain. Membership is way down despite grossly exaggerated claims on its website.

Scientology’s biggest threat is itself. It’s also the power of the internet that leaves Scientology vulnerable to exposure beyond is litigious control. Today, people are far more in-tune, connected, and less likely to accept recruitment pitches without first fact-checking. That’s an Achilles Heel to the Church of Scientology.

So, is the Church of Scientology a crazy cult and big fat global scam? Let’s look at a couple of things starting with the Scientology website and how they present their position.

If you click on Scientology.org, you’ll enter a first-class site that has a lot of money invested in it. There’s nothing apparently misleading, on the surface, and the information walks you through what they present as a world-leading movement addressing “the spirit – not the body or mind – and that Man is far more than a product of his environment or his genes”.

Hold it. “Man?” As in male? When you page through Scientology’s website, you can’t help but notice it’s written in the masculine. That, in its self, should tell you something – particularly if you’re female or other non-male identifier.

The website section What Is Scientology? continues with this: “Scientology comprises a body of knowledge which extends from fundamental truths. Prime among these are:

  • Man is an immortal spiritual being.
  • His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime.
  • His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized.

Scientology further holds Man to be basically good, and that his spiritual salvation depends upon himself, his fellows and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe. Scientology is not a dogmatic religion in which one is asked to accept anything on faith alone. On the contrary, one discovers for himself that the principles of Scientology are true by applying its principles and observing or experiencing the results. The ultimate goal of Scientology is true spiritual enlightenment and freedom for all.”

The site information continues to explain that Scientology is a workable technology. It’s a methodology that draws on 50,000 years of wisdom bridging Eastern philosophy with Western thought. According to Scientology promotional literature, this religion is something a “Man” does to better himself.

The official Scientology website doesn’t say exactly how a “Man” does this, but it does pay particular homage to L. Ron Hubbard. The site claims Hubbard was the first to scientifically isolate, measure, and describe the human spirit. Hubbard block-quotes like this frequent the site as credibility:

I dug deep into Scientology’s website. Nowhere did I find any reference to Xenu and the soul-seeding story. However, they’re quite open about their term Thetan which, they say, is a spiritual state of being oneself. They refer to achieving levels of Operating Thetan that are self-reliant existence. The information indicates that the higher the Operating Thetan level (which seems to go from one to maybe even eight) the more spiritually aware a Scientologist is and the more influence they have on those below them.

To me, it sounds a bit like a multi-level marketing organization or pyramid scheme. I had a brush with Amway in a former life. Amway makes really good soap, but I was uncomfortable with their psychological system. While I don’t believe there’s anything crooked at all about Amway, my experience was it’s definitely a clique that rewards and promotes top sellers while shunning low-performers. Amway makes no bones that it’s a free-enterprise outfit bent on making the all-American buck.

I’m not so sure about Scientology.  On one hand, Scientology proudly describes itself as a religion. By definition, religion structures are not-for-profit applications that enjoy tax breaks. On the other hand, if you go through the Scientology site, there are scads of products and services for sale like books, lectures, films, and online courses. Most have prices attached, and this is clearly for profit.

In my opinion, Scientology seems far more cult-like than soap-selling Amway that doesn’t claim to be, or flagrantly flog, religion. There’s no doubt Scientology has a hidden agenda and operates on a bait-and-switch method. That’s precisely what Adriana was doing with Alan and me. She carried on with follow-up emails until I blocked her.

I did some Googling and found lots of stuff about cults. Some are/were dangerous public menaces like the Branch Davidians who shot-it-out with the ATF in Waco, Texas. Others are more nuisances like Hari Krishna and door-knocking J-Dubs. To see if Scientology fits within the classic cult framework, I sourced this checklist from Skeptic Magazine’s 2011 article on cults. True cults have these characteristics:

  • Veneration of the leader
  • Inerrancy of the leader
  • Dissent is discouraged
  • Truth is absolute
  • Morality is absolute
  • In-group/out-group mentality
  • Ends justify the means
  • Deceit and hidden agendas
  • Financial and/or sexual exploitation
  • Mind-altering practices
  • Lack of accountability
  • Isolation from friends and family
  • Aggressive recruitment practices
  • Persuasive techniques

I’ve spent a lot of time researching Scientology for this post and, to me, this “religion” checks off most of the boxes. If Scientology is not a cult, then nothing is a cult, and the term has no meaning.

Is Scientology a Crazy Cult?

If you accept that Scientology is a cult, then you have to wonder how crazy their beliefs and methods are. I couldn’t find anything whatsoever on the Scientology site about Xenu, the galactic warrior, but there are many, many accounts from ex-Scientologists corroborating this as being slowly divulged as a Man rises through Operating Thetan levels.

But, I did see an E-Meter with my own eyes and have to say this is the biggest bunch of pseudoscience bullshit I’ve ever encountered. To think an “auditor” can read you by asking controlled questions while you hold two steel cylinders is crazy. When you apply this craziness within a cult, it certainly meets the criteria for step one.

Is Scientology a Big Fat Global Scam?

This is step two of analyzing Scientology. There’s no question it’s big. In fact, at one time Scientology was enormous. Today, it seems to be losing ground with diminishing membership, weak recruitment, and cash-flow issues which cause Scientology administers to trim the fat where they can.

But, is Scientology a scam? That’s a subjective question, as Scientology legitimately provides material products and services while charging a fee. While that takes Scientology out of the true religion arena – and that’s for the revenuers – it still lets a person pay-to-play if they so choose.

Stop. If Scientology is a real cult, then how much individual choice and free will does an indoctrinated individual have once they’ve swallowed the Kool-Aid? Very little, as most recovering Scientologists attest. You’ll find all kinds of internet support sites to deprogram the Scientology-brainwashed and help them readjust to normal life.

Websters Dictionary describes a scam as “a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation“. Putting it in context, it’s one thing to try sell someone like me fifty dollars worth of worthless stuff that I fundamentally disagree with and simply refuse. It’s something else to suck an innocent and vulnerable person into draining their bank account and pledging total subservience.

In my mind, Scientology, at its core, is founded on dishonesty and deceit. That makes it a scam. I think the founding story of alien intervention and the current practice of auditing with an oscilloscope is crazy. I also think Scientology is a secular and restrictively-inclusive global enterprise – a cult – that may still be fat with riches.

In that case, Alan was right. Scientology is a crazy cult and a big fat global scam.