Bare-Faced Message Forward

*Bare-Faced Messiah* was separately published in the United Kingdom (cloth and paperback), Canada, Australia, and the United States. Each publisher produced a distinct text -- usually by accident, but sometimes intentionally, as was the case for the U.S. edition.

This plaintext hews closely to the version that Russell Miller regards as definitive: the cloth edition published by Penguin subsidiary Michael Joseph in the United Kingdom on 22 October 1987. However, a few trivial errors found in the cloth edition have been noted or corrected. The intentional alterations to the text of the U.K. cloth edition are listed below.

ITALICS

are indicated with *asterisks* around the italicized phrase.

FOOTNOTES

In the U.K. edition, the chapter notes are collected on pp. 376-381. In this plaintext, they appear as footnotes at the bottom of each page. Reference numbers are surrounded with square brackets.

CHAPTER 1

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 12):

May did not have long to wait for the 'blessed event'. She went into labour during the afternoon of _Sunday_ 10 March, ...

In this plaintext:

Because 10 March 1911 fell on a *Friday*, the correct weekday is reported.

CHAPTER 4

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 66):

In 1934, with the country still in the stranglehold of the Depression, ... Frank Gruber, the only pulp writer resident when Ron arrived, accurately characterized his fellow _quests_ as `all-round no-goods and deadbeats'.

In this plaintext:

"guests" is spelled correctly.

CHAPTER 5

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 89):

The `expedition' departed its Yukon Harbor `base' in July, with May, Marnie, Toilie and _Midge_ and their various children waving farewell from the quayside....

In this plaintext:

"Midgie" is the familiar name of Hubbard's aunt.

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 94):

`He writes under six names in a diversity of fields from political economy to action fiction and if he would make at least one of his pen [top of page] names public he would have little _difficult_ entering anywhere. He has published many millions of words and some fourteen movies.

In this plaintext:

Because it is not clear whether "difficulty" was misquoted in the book or misspelled by Senator Ford, the author of the letter being quoted here, this spelling error was *not* corrected.

CHAPTER 12

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 202):

The word Scientology was derived from the Latin *scio* ... twenty years earlier in 1934, a German scholar by the name of _Dr A Nordenholz_ had written an obscure work of philosophical speculation ...

In this plaintext:

A period follows the initial "A", in conformance with punctuation in the rest of the book.

CHAPTER 15

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 248):

On 5 January, L. Ron Hubbard issued a statement from Saint Hill [top of page] Manor: `All I can make of this is that the United States Government ... has launched an attack upon religion and is seizing and burning books of philosophy ... Where will this end? Complete censorship? A complete ignoring of the First Amendment? Are churches to be _attached_ and books burned as a normal course of action?'

In this plaintext:

Because it is not clear whether "attacked" was misquoted in the book or misspelled in Hubbard's quoted statement, this spelling error was *not* corrected.

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 250):

At Saint Hill Manor, Hubbard at first professed himself to be pleased about the Australian inquiry and even hinted that it bad been set up at his instigation. But it soon became evident that the inquiry was basically antagonistic to Scientology and when an invitation arrived from Melbourne _from him to appear_, he contrived to find compelling reasons to refuse.

In this plaintext:

"_for_ him to appear".

CHAPTER 16

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 266):

It was important for Hubbard to be discovered in this dramatically debilitated condition at this time, ... Hubbard, it was said, was the `first person in millions of years' to map a precise route through the `Wall of Fire'. Having done so, his OT power _has been increased_ to such an extent that he was at grave risk of accidental injury to his body; indeed, he had broken his back, a knee and an arm during the course of his research.

In this plaintext:

"_had_ been increased".

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 271):

While Hubbard was fulminating against international conspiracies ... He immediately [top of page] instructed von Staden and _Pool_ to start negotiating the purchase and to make arrangements for the *Royal Scotsman* ...

In this plaintext:

von Staden and _Pook_

CHAPTER 17

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 290):

The harbourmaster quickly grasped the message, ... Appraised of this warm welcome, the Commodore began to look upon the island and the Greek people with particular favour, even to the extent of granting an interview ... on the subject of the recent _coup d'etat_ in Greece ...

In this plaintext:

"coup _d'état_" (with acute accent, as elsewhere in the book)

CHAPTER 18

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 298):

In frequent communiqués from the ship ... Out in the Atlantic, cruising on his flagship, the Commodore's _pre-occupatioon_ with Communist conspiracies ...

In this plaintext:

"pre-occupation" is spelled correctly.

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 302):

From 1970 onwards, messengers attended Hubbard day and night, ... When he was asleep, _two messenger_ sat outside his state-room ...

In this plaintext:

"two messengers", plural

CHAPTER 19

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 321):

To the relief of the entire crew, the Commodore was more or less recovered ... and the ship resumed its aimless wandering, this time on a triangular course _bettween_ Portugal, Madeira and the Canaries....

In this plaintext:

"between" is spelled correctly.

CHAPTER 20

Original paragraph from the U.K. edition (page 342):

Overland Avenue was a wide tree-lined street ... Special decoder equipment was installed to provide direct secure _communicatirons_ with Clearwater and the Guardian's Office ...

In this plaintext:

"communications" is spelled correctly.

[Dust cover, front:] ["Russel Miller" is underlined]

[Dust cover, spine:]

BARE-FACED
MESSIAH

RUSSELL MILLER

MICHAEL
JOSEPH

[Dust cover, back:]

[bar code]

9 781550 130270

[Dust cover, front end flap:]

BARE-FACED MESSIAH tells, for the first time, the extraordinary story of L. Ron Hubbard, a penniless science-fiction writer who founded the Church of Scientology, became a millionaire prophet and convinced his adoring followers that he alone could save the world.

In the words of his `official' biography, Hubbard was an explorer, engineer, scientist, war hero and philosopher. In the words of a Californian judge, he was schizophrenic, paranoid and a pathological liar. What is not in dispute is that Hubbard was unquestionably one of the most bizarre characters of the twentieth century.

His was a unique life. While writing pulp science-fiction, he claimed to have made discoveries about the workings of the human mind that would enable cures to be found for everything from cancer to the common cold. He soon founded his own `church' and then rampaged around the world variously pursued by the CIA, the FBI and outraged governments. He tried and failed to take control of at least one continent and several countries.

For nearly ten years he sailed the oceans as the commodore of his own private navy, served by nymphet messengers in hot-pants who dressed and undressed him and were trained like robots to relay orders in his tone of voice.

Back on shore in the US, he directed an operation aimed at infiltrating government offices to launder their bulging files on the Church of Scientology.

In 1980, fearing arrest, he disappeared. He was never seen again.

Russell Miller, author of *The House of Getty*, has written the first book to expose the myths surrounding the fascinating and mysterious founder of the Church of Scientology. Using all his skills as a top investigative journalist, he reveals that the true life of L. Ron Hubbard - a man of hypnotic charm and limitless imagination - is even more astounding than the fiction.

Jacket photograph: Chris Yates

[Dust cover, back end flap:]

[picture of Russell Miller]

Russell Miller was born in East London and left school at sixteen. He was a Fleet Street reporter by the time he was twenty-one and became a freelance writer nearly twenty years ago. His work, notably for *The Sunday Times*, is syndicated throughout the world. He is the author of *Bunny*, a widely-acclaimed biography of Hugh Hefner and, more recently, the bestselling *The House of Getty*. Married with four children, he lives in the peace of the Chiltern Hills.

[Photographs:] [Eight plates of photographs come between pp. 198 and 199]

[PLATE 1:]

[PHOTO: Abram Waterbury]

Abram Waterbury, L. Ron Hubbard's great-grandfather, playing the fiddle carved with a negro's head that became part of the family legend.

[PHOTO: Lafayette Waterbury with wife & child in horse-drawn buggy]

Ron's grandfather was supposed to have owned a quarter of the state of Montana. Here he is seen as he really was, a struggling veterinarian, pictured with his wife and their first child (Ron's mother) at Tilden, Nebraska, around the late 1880s.

[PLATE 2:]

[PHOTO: The Waterbury family]

Ledora May Waterbury, Ron's mother (left), with an unknown relative, her sisters Toilie and Midgie and brother Ray photographed in their home town of Helena, Montana.

[PHOTO: L. Ron Hubbard's parents]

Ron's long-suffering mother. He remembered her sometimes with affection, sometimes with deep dislike. Harry Ross Hubbard in the dress uniform of an officer of the US Navy. Promotion eluded him and debtors pursued him.

[PLATE 3:]

[PHOTO: Ron's birthplace]

The hospital in Tilden, Nebraska, where L. Ron Hubbard was born in 1911. His aunt Toilie, who worked in the hospital, is second from the right.

[PHOTO: A very young Ron]

Little Ron in a sailor hat. One day he would be the self-appointed commodore of his own private navy.

[PHOTO: 18-year-old Ron seated at typewriter]

The budding science-fiction writer poses at his typewriter during a visit to his parents on the island of Guam in 1928.

[PLATE 4:]

[PHOTO: L. Ron `Flash' Hubbard, glider pilot]

Hubbard learned to fly a glider while at George Washington University. He acquired the uniquely appropriate nickname of `Flash' and liked to be described as a `daredevil speed pilot and parachute artist'.

[IMAGE: Cover of Astounding Science Fiction, May 1950]

Dianetics makes its inauspicious début, in the pages of a pulp science fiction magazine.

[PLATE 5:]

[PHOTO: Barbara Kaye]

Between his second and third marriages, Ron dallied with his public relations assistant, luscious Barbara Kaye. She would soon conclude that he was paranoid.

[PHOTO: de Mille and Kaye leaning on fence]

Richard de Mille and Barbara Kaye at the house in Palm Springs where Hubbard plotted to kidnap his daughter Alexis.

[PHOTO: LRH and `Nibs' standing with two friends]

The portly Nibs (second from right) posing with his father and friends in a London garden in the 1950s - the smiles would soon turn to tears when father and son fell out.

[PLATE 6:]

[PHOTO: Hubbard peers intently at metered tomato plant]

Hubbard as `revolutionary horticultural scientist', proving that plants can feel pain. *(Rex Features Ltd)*

[PHOTO: Hubbard on the steps of Saint Hill]

Dr Hubbard, the `nuclear scientist', on the steps of Saint Hill, the Georgian manor house he bought out of the proceeds of Dianetics. *(Photo Source Limited)*

[PHOTO: Ron & Mary Sue with their four small children]

Hubbard as genial family man. From the left Suzette (4), his wife Mary Sue, Quentin (5), Arthur (1) and Diana (7). All were to suffer in various ways. *(Photo Source Ltd)*

[PLATE 7:]

[PHOTO: Hubbard & Kemp seated at a table]

Hubbard with his friend Ray Kemp on a two-day trip to Ireland during which he hoped to solve the `Irish problem'.

[PHOTO: Hubbard wearing flat-brimmed hat]

Hubbard believed he was a reincarnation of Cecil Rhodes and liked to sport the kind of hat worn by the founder of Rhodesia. Fortunately, he did not know Rhodes was homosexual.

[PHOTO: Royal Scotman, moored at port]

Rare picture of the `mystery ship', the *Royal Scotman*, in which the commodore sailed the Mediterranean. *(Granada Television Ltd)*

[PLATE 8:]

[PHOTO: Teenagers Arthur and Doreen with rifles]

Arthur Hubbard and Doreen Smith, one of the messengers, playing with fire in the Californian desert. Like his father, Arthur collected guns.

[PHOTO: Hubbard and crew with camera]

Hubbard directs a `photo-shoot' in Curaçao, 1974. Later, he would progress to making movies in California.

[PHOTO: Sea Org awards ceremony]

Under a portrait of a benign L. Ron Hubbard, an officer of the Sea Org hands out certificates at Gilman Hot Springs in 1981. The founder of Scientology had already gone to ground.

[Page i. Title page:]

[Page ii. "Also by" page:]

[Page iii. Extended title page:]

[Page iv. Copyright page:]

[Page v. Dedication:]

[Page vi. Contents:]

• 1 Abram Waterbury, L. Ron Hubbard's great-grandfather.
• 2 Ron's grandparents with their first child at Tilden, Nebraska, in the late 1880s.
• 3 Ron's mother, her brother and sisters, and an unknown relative.
• 4 Ron's long-suffering mother.
• 5 Ron's father, Harry Ross Hubbard, in the dress uniform of an officer of the US Navy.
• 6 The hospital in Tilden, Nebraska, where L. Ron Hubbard was born in 1911.
• 7 Little Ron in a sailor hat.
• 8 L. Ron Hubbard photographed during a visit to his parents on the island of Guam in 1928.
• 9 L. Ron Hubbard at George Washington University.
• 10 The science fiction magazine in which Dianetics made its inauspicious début.
• 11 Hubbard's public relations assistant, Barbara Kaye.
• 12 Richard de Mille and Barbara Kaye.
• 13 L. Ron Hubbard with his son, Nibs, and friends in London in the 1950s.
• 14 Hubbard as `revolutionary horticultural scientist' (*Rex Features Ltd*).
• 15 Hubbard as `nuclear scientist' (*Photo Source Ltd*).
• 16 Hubbard with his wife and family (*Photo Source Ltd*).
• 17 Hubbard and Ray Kemp in Ireland.
• 18 Hubbard posing as Cecil Rhodes.
• 19 The *Royal Scotman* (*Granada Television Ltd*).
• 20 Arthur Hubbard and Doreen Smith.
• 21 Hubbard directs a `photo-shoot' in Curaçao in 1974.
• 22 An officer of the Sea Org at Gilman Hot Springs in 1981.

Copyright owners are indicated in brackets; all photographs not credited are from private sources.

[Page viii. (blank page)]

I would like to be able to thank the officials of the Church of Scientology for their help in compiling this biography, but I am unable to do so because the price of their co-operation was effective control of the manuscript and it was a price I was unwilling to pay. Thereafter the Church did its best to dissuade people who knew Hubbard from speaking to me and constantly threatened litigation. Scientology lawyers in New York and Los Angeles made it clear in frequent letters that they expected me to libel and defame L. Ron Hubbard. When I protested that in thirty years as a journalist and writer I had never been accused of libel, I was apparently investigated and a letter was written to my publishers in New York alleging that my claim was `simply not accurate'. It was, and is.

This book could not have been written without the assistance of the many former Scientologists who were prepared to give freely of their time to talk about their experiences, notwithstanding considerable risks. Some of them are named in the narrative, but there were many others who provided background information and to them all I pay tribute. I was deeply impressed by their integrity, intelligence and courage.

This book could also not have been written without the existence of the Freedom of Information Act in the United States, which may give pause for thought to those who care about the truth yet are opposing the introduction of similar legislation in Britain.

A special word of thanks is due to Jon Atack, a former Scientologist resident in East Grinstead, who has assembled one of the most comprehensive archives about Scientology and its founder and generously made his files available to me. I would also like to thank George Hay and John Symonds in London; Lydia and Jimmy Hicks in Washington DC; David and Milo Weaver in San Francisco; Connie and Phil Winberry in Seattle; Skip Davis in Newport, Rhode Island; Diane Lewis in Wichita; Arthur Jean Cox, Lawrence Kristiansen and Boris de Sidis in Los Angeles; Ron Newman in Woodside, California; Ron Howard of George Washington University; Sue Lindsay of the *Rocky Mountain News*, Denver; Dave Walters of the

Montana Historical Society; and the ever helpful staff of the Library of Congress. Too many people to name patiently replied to queries by mail and searched their records for the answers to innumerable obscure questions. Their contribution to the whole picture was invaluable.

My editor, Jennie Davies, polished the manuscript with her usual skill and diligence, despite the demands of her newly-born twins. My wife, Renate, read every chapter as it was written and always offered constructive advice. She had to put up with my long absences abroad while I was tracking down the truth about L. Ron Hubbard and then endure the misery of living with an obsessive author through the long months of writing. I could never thank her enough for her patience, love and support.

Russell Miller,
Buckinghamshire,
England

For more than forty years, the Church of Scientology has vigorously promoted an image of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, as a romantic adventurer and philosopher whose early life fortuitously prepared him, in the manner of Jesus Christ, for his declared mission to save the world. The glorification of `Ron', superman and saviour, required a cavalier disregard for facts: thus it is that every biography of Hubbard published by the church is interwoven with lies, half-truths and ludicrous embellishments. The wondrous irony of this deception is that the true story of L. Ron Hubbard is much more bizarre, much more improbable, than any of the lies.

It was a scene that could have been ripped from the yellowing pages of the pulp science fiction that L. Ron Hubbard wrote in the Thirties ...

A strangely alien group of young people who believe they are immortal set up a secret base in an abandoned health spa in the desert in southern California. Fearful of outsiders, they suspect they have been discovered by the FBI. In a panic, they begin to destroy any documents that might incriminate their leader. It is essential they protect him, for they believe he alone can save the world.

Searching through the top floor of a derelict hotel, one of their number discovers a stack of battered cardboard boxes and begins pulling out faded photographs, dog-eared manuscripts, diaries written in a childish scrawl and school reports. There are twenty-one boxes in all, each stuffed with memorabilia, even baby clothes.

The young man rummaging through the boxes is ecstatic. He is certain he has made a discovery of profound significance, for all the material documents the early life of his leader At last, he thinks, it will be possible to refute all the lies spread by their enemies. At last it will be possible to prove to the world, beyond doubt, that his leader really is a genius and miracle worker ...

Thus was the stage set for the inexorable unmasking of L. Ron Hubbard, the saviour who never was.

Gerry Armstrong, the man kneeling in the dust on the top floor of the old Del Sol Hotel at Gilman Hot Springs that afternoon in January 1980, had been a dedicated member of the Church of Scientology for more than a decade. He was logging in Canada when a friend introduced him to Scientology in 1969 and he was immediately swept away by its heady promise of superhuman powers and immortality. During his years as a Scientologist, he had twice been sentenced to long periods in the Rehabilitation Project Force, the cult's own Orwellian prison; he had been constantly humiliated and his marriage had been destroyed, yet he remained totally convinced that L. Ron Hubbard was the greatest man who ever lived.

The dauntless loyalty Hubbard inspired among his followers was tantamount to a form of mind control. Scientology flourished in the post-war era of protest and uncertainty when young people were searching for a sense of belonging or meaning to their lives. Hubbard offered both, promised answers and nurtured an inner-group feeling of exclusiveness which separated Scientologists from the real world. Comforted by a sense of esoteric knowledge, of exaltation and self-absorption, they were ready to follow Ron through the very gates of Hell if need be.

At the time Armstrong discovered the treasure trove of memorabilia at Gilman Hot Springs, Hubbard had been in hiding for years. His location was known only as `X', but Armstrong knew that it was possible to get a message to him and he petitioned for permission to begin researching an official biography, forcefully arguing that it would prepare the ground for `universal acceptance' of Scientology. He saw it as the forerunner of a major motion picture based on Hubbard's life and the eventual establishment of an archive in an L. Ron Hubbard Museum.

By then Hubbard was nearly seventy years old and bad lived so long in a world of phantasmagoria that he was unable to distinguish between fact and his own fantastic fiction. He believed he was the teenage explorer, swashbuckling hero, sage and philosopher his biographies said he was. It was perhaps too late for him to comprehend that his life, in reality, far outstripped the fabricated version. He made the leap from penniless science-fiction writer to millionaire guru and prophet in a single, effortless bound; he led a private navy across the oceans of the world for nearly a decade; he came close to taking over control of several countries; he was worshipped by thousands of his followers around the world and was detested and feared by most governments. He was a story-spinning maverick whose singular life eclipsed even his own far-fetched stories. Yet he clung tenaciously to the fiction and when Armstrong's petition to research his biography arrived at his hide-out that January in 1980, he unhesitatingly gave his approval.

Armstrong had no experience as an archivist or researcher, but he was intelligent, industrious, honest and enthusiastic. He moved all the relevant documentation from Gilman Hot Springs to the Scientology headquarters in Los Angeles, where it filled six filing cabinets, and began cataloguing and indexing the material, making copies of everything and reverently preserving the originals in plastic envelopes, acutely aware of their historical importance.

Not long after he had started work, posters appeared in Scientology offices announcing the private screening of a 1940 Warner Brothers movie, *The Dive Bomber*, for which Hubbard had written the screenplay. Every Scientologist knew that Ron had been a successful

Hollywood screenwriter before the war and the screening was to raise funds for the defence of the eleven Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife, who had been indicted in Washington on conspiracy charges. Armstrong decided to help by finding out a little more about Ron's contribution to the film, but at the library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles he was puzzled to discover that two other writers had been credited with the screenplay of *The Dive Bomber*.

Armstrong remonstrated with the librarian, then sent a memo to Ron to tell him about the mistake in the Academy records. Hubbard replied with a cheery note explaining that Warner Brothers had been in such a hurry to distribute the movie that it was already in the can before it was realized that his name had been left off the credits. He was busy at that time, closing up his posh apartment on Riverside Drive in New York and getting ready to go to war, so he just told the studio to mail the cheque to him at the Explorers Club. After the war, he used the money to take a holiday in the Caribbean.

It was an explanation with which Armstrong was perfectly satisfied except for one niggling worry: like all Scientologists, he had been told that Ron was blind and crippled at the end of the war and that he had only been able to make a recovery because of the power of his mind. Clearly, Armstrong mused, he would not have taken the holiday until after his recovery. In an attempt to fit together the chronology of events, Armstrong made an application under the Freedom of Information Act for Hubbard's US Navy records.

Scientologists were enormously proud of the fact that the founder of their church was a much-decorated war hero who had served in all five theaters and was wounded several times; indeed he was the first US casualty of the war in the Pacific. It was then, with a sense of mounting disbelief and dismay, that Armstrong leafed through Hubbard's records after they had arrived from Washington. He went from one document to another, searching in vain for an explanation, still refusing to believe the evidence of his own eyes: the record seemed to indicate that Hubbard, far from being a hero, was an incompetent, malingering coward who had done his best to avoid seeing action.

Armstrong would not believe it. He set the documents aside and resolved to start his research at the beginning, in Montana, where Hubbard had grown up on his grandfather's huge cattle ranch. But he could find no trace of any property owned by the family, except a little house in the middle of Helena. Neither could he discover any documentation covering Hubbard's teenage wanderings through China. In Washington DC, where Hubbard was supposed to have graduated in mathematics and engineering from George Washington University, the record showed he dropped out after two years because

of poor grades. And of Hubbard's fabled expeditions as an explorer there was similarly no sign.

`I was finding contradiction after contradiction,' Armstrong said. `I kept trying to justify them, kept thinking that I would find another document that would explain everything. But I didn't. I slowly came to realize that the guy had consistently lied about himself.'

By the summer of 1981, Armstrong had assembled more than 250,000 pages of documentation about the founder of the Church of Scientology, but despite the gaping holes appearing in Hubbard's credibility, he remained intensely loyal. `My approach was, OK, now we know he's human and tells lies. What we've got to do is clear up the lies so that all the good he has done for the world will be accepted. I thought the only way we could exist as an organisation was to let the truth stand. After all, the truth was equally as fascinating as the lies.'

Armstrong's pleas to clear up the lies fell on deaf ears. Since Hubbard had gone into seclusion, the Church of Scientology had been taken over by young militants known as `messengers'. When Hubbard was the commodore of his own navy, the messengers were little nymphets in hot pants and halter tops who ran errands for him and competed with each other to find ways of pleasing him. Eventually they helped him dress and undress, performed little domestic tasks like washing his hair and smearing rejuvenating cream on his fleshy features, and even followed him around with an ashtray to catch the falling ash from his cigarettes. As the commodore became more and more paranoid, beset by imagined traitors and enemies, the messengers became more and more powerful.

In November 1981 Armstrong presented a written report to the messengers, listing the false claims made about Hubbard and putting forward a powerful argument as to why they should be corrected. `If we present inaccuracies, hyperbole or downright lies as fact or truth,' he wrote, `it doesn't matter what slant we give them; if disproved, the man will look, to outsiders at least, like a charlatan ...'

The messengers' response was to order Armstrong to be `security checked' -- interrogated as a potential traitor. Armstrong refused. In the spring of 1982, Gerald Armstrong was accused of eighteen different `crimes' and `high crimes' against the Church of Scientology, including theft, false pretences and promulgating false information about the church and its founder. He was declared to be a `suppressive person' and `fair game', which meant he could be `tricked, cheated, lied to, sued or destroyed' by his former friends in Scientology.

`By then the whole thing for me had crumbled,' he said. `I realized I had been drawn into Scientology by a web of lies, by Machiavellian mental control techniques and by fear. The betrayal of trust began with Hubbard's lies about himself. His life was a continuing pattern of

fraudulent business practices, tax evasion, flight from creditors and hiding from the law.

`He was a mixture of Adolf Hitler, Charlie Chaplin and Baron Munchausen. In short, he was a con man.'