View source for L.Ron Hubbard's Death

{{Articles
|Author=Robert Vaughn Young
Intro by A. Phillips
|Website=http://www.antology.info/
|Email=ant.phillips@post8.tele.dk
}}
== The Atmosphere and Knowledge in the Freezone around the Time of Ron's Death ==

=== By Antony Phillips===

I was expelled from the Church of Scientology in 1983. Round about the time of Ron's death (January 24, 1986) there was enormous interest in the FriScientology areas I was in touch with. There was speculation as to whether he was already dead. There was great interest in Pat and Annie  Broeker who were well known as being among the very few in direct contact with Ron. When it happened The Mission Holders Conference<ref> the Mission Holders Conference was a very important "public" event which was fully reported at the time citation is needed here. Possibly an article on it is needed. The start might be found at the following page and site: http://www.freezoneplanet.org/11t.html .</ref>   had been talked about widely. A transcript of it was available, which included examples of extremely unScientological behaviour. Details of Ron's death (the official version) seeped through to us. When Ron's death was announced we had already heard stories about peculiar bodies like the Finance Police and the Watchdog Committee.

With that background I was very sceptical of the version which was sold to us. Refusing an autopsy on religious grounds was quite weird in that I'd never heard of any opinions in Scientology of how bodies were to be disposed of. And in fact I had been to a funeral which Ron conducted and wrote the ceremony for (to be found in ''The Background and Ceremonies of the Church of Scientology of California, Worldwide ''). Here the body (of Ray Kemp's mother) was cremated during the ceremony which is possibly unusual. At that time, in my 30 years of experience of Scientology, I had never heard any particular concern about or interest in what you did with the MEST remains of a human body. 

So at the time it happened I was pretty sure that it was what has been called "a put up job". There was a lot of speculation on what had really happened. There was also speculation as to whether he had died a few years earlier.

''This article needs greatly expanding. Realities that existed in and outside the church were vastly different from what they are at the time of writing this (2017) ''

====Internet at the Time of the Following Article==== 

Internet had not come about during Ron's life (I can't see that he foresaw it). At the time Robert Vaughn Young wrote this article and put it on Internet Internet was in its infancy and very primitive.  There were no graphics on Internet. With modern eyes it is perhaps a little difficult to imagine how things would be without graphics. For one thing, can you imagine an Internet without pictures?

You were limited to text characters which appear on an old-fashioned English typewriter that didn't include foreign letters like æ, ø, å, Æ, Å, Ø (of the Danish alphabet for example). Attempts were sometimes made by grouping letters to make a pattern and the predecessor of the smiley was made in the following manner: :- ) which represent two eyes, a nose and a smile (smiley!). ROFL was another attempt to increase the vocabulary, standing for "Rolling On the Floor Laughing" and there were other sets of initials which every regular Internet user was aware of the meaning of.

The letters were one size and one typescript (the one now call courier). So how did you emphasise something? You did it by using all capitals. If a person used all capitals a lot they could risk being accused of shouting! This was what Robert Vaughn Young did in the article below for showing subheadings to his article, and we have changed his all capital letter headings to wiki subheadings with large and small letters of a different size and type style.

The diversity which you see in modern Internet was not there. Initially there were a number of areas called newsgroups which anybody could write to and which concerned a wide variety of subjects which I suppose would in have included things like gardening, care of babies et cetera. There was quite a number in the end, many of them began their names with the word "alt" (I've forgotten what that means – there were many newsgroups with different prefixes and "alt" was one of them). In the Scientology area there were two, alt.religion.scientology, which came first (presumably there were many beginning with the words alt.religion.xxx)<ref> I got this short note from Homer; "alt stands for alternative, the hierarchy played by different rules from the sci, rec, comp and other [USENET] heirarchies, alt was an unmoderated free for all".</ref>  . For some reason a free zone newsgroup was set up with the title Alt.Clearing.Technology, and started by Homer Smith<ref> we need a Scientolipedia page on him</ref>, probably because ARS was a sort of church (official) newsgroup. At that time, after the many departures from the church, there was a search for an alternative name for using the Scientology auditing technology and "Clearing"  was one of the names suggested. Shortly after newsgroups started individual lists started, which were run by an individual and you had to join them (you couldn't just barge in without having joined). Homer also started a list which he called Clear L (L standing for list) and this was set up so that if you wrote something as a member of Clear L to Clear L it was automatically posted on to ACT.

== Introduction to Robert Vaughn Young Article==

''The article below from 1998 has been passed on to me with the following introductory material''

A little something from Robert Vaughn Young:

RVY recalls the death of LRH: 

For years  Robert Vaughn Young rubbed shoulders with the
more elite echelon in the CoS organization. Since leaving Scientology  in 1989, he has been an avowed and outspoken
critic of the CoS, and has testified as an expert witness at
several trials. (To read one of his affidavits, click here<ref>The link did not come through.'' If anybody can trace it please fill in or let me know: ant.phillips@post8.tele.dk''</ref>.)
He has been - at times -a regular poster to the USENET
newsgroup alt.religion.scientology<ref>USENET alt.religion.scientology was one of the two places on the early Internet, open to everyone, where Scientology was discussed.</ref>, where he has offered
invaluable insight into the inner workings of the CoS. He is
also an accomplished and gifted writer, as the following will
attest.

RVY was actively involved in the events surrounding
Hubbard's death, but it is only within the last few
years that he has begun to doubt the 'official'
version of what happened during January, 1986. In a recent
post to alt.religion.scientology, he offered this intriguing
tale of his own investigation into the death of LRH.

Additionally I got this data: "RVY   --  was a GO guy, in San Francisco to begin with.
He was deeply involved with Snow White<ref>Snow White: This was an operation organised by the Guardian's Office (GO) in the USA and was illegal. Mary Sue Hubbard (Ron's wife and mother to four of his children) and some other leading Guardians Office personnel were imprisoned as a result. Excerpt from Wikipedia: "Operation Snow White was a criminal conspiracy by the Church of Scientology during the 1970s to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. This project included a series of infiltrations into and thefts from 136 government agencies, foreign embassies and consulates, as well as private organizations critical of Scientology, carried out by Church members in more than 30 countries." [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White]]
'' This is definitely a STUB – the full article needed.''.</ref>.  --  He is dead from cancer -- He wrote some of ''Battlefield Earth''". 

Added by Antony 5th April 2021: The article by Robert Vaughn Young on battered women is at: http://www.freezoneearth.org/HolyCows/articles/28vaughnabuse.htm .
it is definitely a MUST for those who wonder why people go back to the Scientology Org and battered women go back to the person who battered them.

From a post by Robert Vaughn Young (September 2, 1998):

==Hubbard's Death==

===By Robert Vaughn Young===

When Hubbard died, everything changed. (duh) I went to the
death site (his ranch at Creston, near San Luis Obispo CA)
that night along with David Miscavige and some attorneys.
Since none of us - including Miscavige - had ever been
there before, we were met at a restaurant by Pat Broeker who took
us to the ranch. We arrived at perhaps 4 a.m. (Hubbard was
found dead at about 8 p.m. I was told at 10 p.m. We left LA at
perhaps 1 a.m. I wasn't always watching the clock, given
the circumstances.)

What's amusing in the cult's attempt to DA (dead agent<ref>Dead Agent Caper. The dead agent caper was used to disprove the lies. This consisted of counter-documenting any area where the lies were circulated. The lie "they were…" is countered by documents showing that "they were not…" This causes the source of the lie and any other statements from that source to be discarded. (HCO PL 11 May 71 III)</ref>)
me 
their saying that I went to the ranch along with some
gardeners and cooks. Right. Gardeners and cooks were the
first to be rushed up that night, before the authorities
were called or the body taken away. ROFL<ref>ROFL (if I remember rightly) means "roll on the floor laughing".</ref>)! Don't you just
love these guys!  <ref> Beth made this comment/suggestion:
I get that RVY is being sarcastic here. In other words he is saying there is no way gardeners etc would be the first to see dead LRH but I think it might need more explanation.. ? Dunno
Something like:
''Right! As if gardeners and cooks would be the first people to be rushed up that night before the authorities  were called or the body taken away. ROFL! Don't you just
love these guys!''</ref>

Creston ( A property owned by LRH near San Luis Obispo where LRH died – Ed [of earlier version]) was where the story was put together that he had
moved on to the next level of research, or however it was
worded, when it was announced at the Palladium and to the
world. The event was so carefully constructed that no one
noticed that something essential was missing, but I’ll get to
that in a moment. But during The Event, I stayed at the
ranch to deal with any media who might show up or call. None
did and less than 48 hours later, the Challenger space
shuttle blew up, bumping news of his death and any serious
questions from the media. I was monitoring the TV news via a
satellite dish and watched it happen and reported it. While
the rest of the world was in shock, DM was happy because we
had been bumped from the news. But that is how one comes to
view the world at that echelon.

==== The Newberry Ranch====

I later moved to another ranch Hubbard owned, at Newberry
Springs, east of Barstow CA and stayed there for a couple of
months. Hubbard never visited it (it was merely a fallback
location for him) and I never did see that anyone learned
about this one, even the media. I guess they were all hung
up on the Creston property, near San Luis Obispo, where he
died.

The most lasting benefit of my stay at Newberry was that
that was where I stopped smoking. One day DM, Mitoff, Pat
Broeker, Mike Eldridge and I were sitting around and we all
agreed to stop smoking  although Broeker was the only
non-smoker. Mitoff had a horrible time of it. He ended up on
Skoal Bandits, spitting disgustingly into a bucket while
driving back and forth to LA, and also addicting me to the
little cusses. In the end, I was the only one who stopped,
making me wish we had put some money in a pool.

In the months I spent between the Creston and Newberry
ranches, Pat and I became good friends. He had been
Hubbard's closest and most trusted aide and confidante for those final years. With what I already knew about Hubbard, Pat and I had the greatest talks. Sometimes Pat and
I were the only ones at the ranch, so we would  chat while
moving horses or going to town to shop. I began to learn
about the life Hubbard had led while in hiding for those
last years, moving between towns in the Bluebird bus and
finally settling down in Creston. (BTIAS <ref> EXPLANATION NEEDED BTIAS</ref>))

====The Struggle Starts – Who Will Replace Hubbard?====

Meanwhile, a power struggle was brewing to see who would
take control of Scientology and Newberry was the place where
many of the discussions occurred while DM stayed either in
LA or in Hemet. (Jesse will have something to say about that
someday because he was seriously involved in the ensuing
explosion.) It would result in a number of people fleeing
(such as Jesse<ref> Jesse Prince a sci exec</ref>)
) or going to the RPF (such as me).

A key element in the power struggle was Hubbard's last
message to the rank-and-file. Those who were in the cult
back in 1986-87 will remember this incident. It was a
message from Hubbard that was issued as a Sea Org directive.
It said goodbye, wishing them well and establishing a new
rank/position called Loyal Officer or LO. (The term is taken
from OT3.) Pat was to be the LO1 and his wife Annie was to
be LO2 and it basically turned the management of the Sea Org
over to them. And since the SO ran Scientology, that meant
they were at the top of the heap. DM was not mentioned in
the directive. It later was issued to all staff - with
DM's approval and authority - reduced in size and put in
a small frame with a photo of Hubbard for the desk of every
staff member.

In the meantime, Pat began to slowly take control. I would
often get phone calls from him. He would never identify
himself on the phone, going back to his years of tight
security, but merely would say, "Hi, it's
me."

I won't try to give the details of the ensuing power
struggle because I was in LA and it was happened at Creston,
Newberry and Hemet. (I leave it to Jesse, who was there.)
But the outcome was that Miscavige won. And typical of any
political coup, there was a sudden purge as he consolidated
his power. Anyone DM thought might be a friend of
Broeker's who would pose a threat were sent to
Scientology's equivalent of Lubayanka Prison or Siberia:
the RPF, so I went. For 16 months and three escape
attempts.

Now here is where it gets interesting, folks.

==== Miscavige Cancels Hubbard's Message ====

While I was on the RPF, a directive came out from Miscavige
saying the supposed final message from Hubbard that named
Broeker was a forgery by Broeker and it was being canceled.
That same day, Annie Broeker appeared on the RPF. This was
not the Annie I had come to know. What stumbled into the RPF
was a completely broken person. She was pale and hollow and
her eyes were empty. There was no mistaking it. She had been
broken and only now was she being thrown away into the trash
heap called the RPF. Even then, she was kept under guard,
just to be sure.

====Two Important Omitteds====

With the cancellation of the message from Hubbard, there
were now two vital things missing that were 100% Hubbard and
100% standard tech and yet no one seemed to notice or, if
they did, no one dared to remark on it. But then, as Hubbard
correctly pointed out, the hardest thing to notice is the
thing that is omitted.

What was now missing was (1) something from Hubbard to all
Scientologists saying goodbye and what he was doing and (2)
something that passed his hat, which is one of the most
basic tenets in the organization. They had been missing at
the event announcing his death but with the cancellation by
Miscavige, they were missing more than ever.

====Where Was Hubbard's Message?  ====

One does not require much knowledge about L. Ron Hubbard to
know that it would be completely unlike him to simply leave
- especially if the story about his going off to do more
research were true - and not leave a message. So if he HAD
left as Scientologists were told, where was the message if
the other was a forgery?

But perhaps more importantly, where was the hat turnover? I
don't mean the volumes of policies and bulletins. I mean
something that says, I hereby appoint Joe Blow to take over
as... Would Hubbard leave the planet and not pass on the
command? Hardly.

Or, let's put it in one of the most basic tenets from
Hubbard: if it isn't written, it isn't true.

(Note: Hubbard's will was hardly a Scientology hat
turnover and has not been issued to the rank and file as
policy.)

So the question became (to those of us who wondered), if the
LO directive was a forgery, where was the real one? Where
were Hubbard's wishes IN WRITING?

====Miscavige Had Nothing from Hubbard====

Of course, DM never provided anything and no one was willing
to ask and risk being sent to the RPF with the rest of us.
He said it was a forgery and that was that. End of
discussion.

For the rest of my stay in the cult, Pat Broeker was never
mentioned because, in the cult, you learn what to not talk
about. Pat became what in Orwell's "1984" is a
non-person. He had been written out of history, with anyone
who cared (such as me) being sent to the RPF or interrogated
(security checked) until they got the point, which meant
(per the head on a pike policy) that everyone else got the
message.

So without a shred of WRITTEN evidence from Hubbard and by
canceling what even DM had first agreed was from Hubbard,
Miscavige was now in control while Broeker had
disappeared.

Can you say, "coup"?

But hold on! It gets better.

====Reading the Material Anew ====

After Stacy <ref>So far as I know Stacy was his 2D (wife/partner).</ref> and I fled the cult in 1989, I put it all behind
me. I simply wanted my life back and the last thing I needed
was to think about the cult. They had taken enough of my
life without my adding more. But after a couple of years of
drying out, Stacy and I were invited to help with some legal
cases and this gave us a chance to handle the material that
once handled us. We could now read Hubbard and TALK about
the material, which is completely forbidden in the cult. It
was like back-flushing a radiator and watching what comes
out.

I came across a copy of Miscavige's cancellation of
Hubbards final message and I began to kick it around with
Stacy. As we talked, I started to comment on the various
little oddities, starting with the cancellation itself. I
began to remember a few others that I had packed away at the time. We were having a conversation that Sea Org staff could no more do than a loyal Communists might question the a change of power in the Kremlin, and for the same reasons.<ref>The proofreader wrote: "ANT I do not understand this sentence. If you don’t understand it either suggest we omit it". I can dimly sense it so I think it should be left.</ref>

==== An "Acceptable Truth" Is Fed Scientologists ====

In the weeks and months that followed, I couldn't shake
the events surrounding Hubbard's death and DM's
takeover. Little oddities took on forms like pieces of a jig
saw puzzle. I felt like an amnesiac trying to recover his
memory yet what was there to recover? I was there at the
ranch. I was there when Hubbard's body was taken out. I
was there when the execs were called up the ranch and told
to get an event together, but not being told why. I was
there when the attorneys reported his death and then
scurried to get the body through the coroner. Etc, etc, etc.
So what was the problem? Yeah, the next higher level of
research story was the sort of pap we used to feed the
rank-and-file all the time but it wasn't as if we LIED
to them. (Sort of the way Clinton said he didn't LEGALLY
lie.) We didn't LEGALLY lie, did we?

Per Hubbard's policy, they were given an
"acceptable truth" because of "the greatest
good for the greatest number of dynamics." What that
means in plain speak was that there would be panic and
disaffection in the ranks if it was thought that Hubbard -
the OT of all OTs, of course - was not at cause over life
and death. If the tech couldn't help him, how could it
help others? That was the myth that had to be protected at
all costs and that was what the story did when his death was
announced. It fed the myth that everyone so wanted to
believe. (And it kept the money coming in.)

====Working With Puzzle Pieces====

While in the cult, I had done a lot of investigative
reporting and some of the best I did was working on some of
the CIA's mind control documents created under the code
name MK ULTRA. When the CIA released them, much was blanked
out and working with a team of people hand-selected by
Stacy, we went through documents that the media had skipped
past because they were so fragmentary and so heavily
deleted. In one file, for example, there were receipts for
the installation of mufflers on a 1953 Mercury, a tiny
battery-powered motor, elevator tickets to the Empire State
Building, nose plugs, a receipt for someone to attend a
Microscropy convention, etc.

Bit by bit, we struggled to give them meaning until one
piece cracked another, like breaking a code. We came up with
the experiment and got national news on Operation Big City
where bacillus were released (through the mufflers) to test
for bacterial warfare. (The elevator tickets were so agents
could go up and measure the amount of released bacteria.) It
is a story the cult still likes to cite, along with several
others I did for them, under my byline in the Freedom rag.
Since then, per Orwell, my name has been deleted, of
course.

Pouring over those heavily deleted CIA documents was how I
felt like while I chewed on the oddities around
Hubbard's death, such as nothing in writing from him,
Broeker missing, the fact that Denk (Hubbard's physician
at the time of death) had also disappeared, Annie's
appearance and little things that I had seen and learned at
the ranch.

====The Blue Flash ====

And then it hit me. It was what Hubbard calls a blue flash,
the sudden insight.

Hubbard didn't die.

He was killed.

I fell back in my chair, completely stunned. In all of the
years since 1986, I had never once considered that
possibility. Even with my being long out of the cult and
directing criticism at various practices and policies, the
thought had never crossed my mind that Hubbard might have
been killed.

I got a sheet of paper and began to take notes, my heart
pounding and my breathing hurried. That nagging feeling had
turned into an adrenaline rush that I couldn't
explain.

Who was there at the Creston ranch when Hubbard died?

* Pat Broeker - MIA<ref>MIA probably means Missing In Action, used in war and used facetiously when someone from a circle of friends or network unexpectedly disappears (explanation provided by a correspondent).</ref>)

* [[Ann Tidman|Annie Broeker]] - broken, under their control.

* Two Scientology ranch hands. While trusted to work on the ranch, I came to see how much they were kept out of the loop.(<ref>[http://scientolipedia.org/info/Recollections_1_-_Sarge See article by Steve "Sarge" Pfauth] </ref>

* [[Gene Denk|Gene Denk]] - Hubbard's personal physician. (And mine).
Small world.) Denk had disappeared for a year after the
death, which was one of those oddities, before returning to
his practice up the street from the main Hollywood
complex.

End of list, a too-short list so I started to add who went
up that night in the three-car caravan that included DM,
some attorneys and a couple of us "gardeners and
cooks." Nothing there.

I looked at the list. Pat Broeker was the only possibility,
if he was out and alive. For all I knew, he was dead or
locked up somewhere and in a mental state that approximated
cold oatmeal. There was no middle ground. He wouldn't
have been given a safe back-lines job or I would have heard
about it.<ref> A proofreader asked: "Surely DENK was there at LRH’s death and could also have been asked?" My memory of this is that Denk was part of the apparent conspiracy and could not be reached to be asked. More research is needed into this while records still exist. </ref>

====Searching for Broeker====

So how would I find Pat Broeker, if he was alive?  I racked
my memory, trying to dig out some clue he might have given
me in the months that we were together but I came up with
nothing. My tendency to not inquire about a person's
personal life had just sold me short. I didn't even know
what state he was from. Who might? Who would know where he
came from or where he was born? I needed some clue to start
the search and the problem was the security that Pat used
for his job. He had explained to me how any trace of him had
been wiped out, to ensure that no one could find Hubbard by
finding him. Plus if Pat had escaped or fled, he was skilled
enough to hide from any search as that was what he had been
doing for years to hide Hubbard from the authorities.

I finally remembered one location he told me about and sent
a message there saying that I was trying to reach him but no
reply came. After a few months I sent another and waited.
The months turned into nearly a year and I basically gave up
until one day when the phone rang.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hi," came a voice. "It's me."

I paused, saying nothing.

"Pat?" I finally said with some incredulity.
"Is that you?"

"Yeah," he said, with what I swear was a twinkle
in his voice. "How are you?"

What a question!

====Rinder Wakes up ====

Let's jump ahead a few years when I was in a deposition
in Denver, in the FACTNet case<ref> EXPLANATION NEEDEDFACTNet case </ref>). The usual goon squad was
there, including Mike Rinder, who proudly heads up the
criminal Dept. 20 where Scientology's felons are
produced. Rinder was struggling to stay awake in the corner
while the cult attorney was going through a list of names,
wanting to know if I had spoken with any of them.
Rinder's head was bobbing as the attorney asked
monotonously, "Pat Broeker?"

I glanced at Rinder. I had to enjoy this one.

"Yes," I said.

I couldn't have gotten a faster reaction with a bucket
of water. Rinder jumped awake and looked at me in shock,
fear and hatred. I smiled.

The questions about my involvement with Broeker were
routine, from a list that they asked for each person I named
but Broeker wasn't routine. They soon stopped to take a
break. Like the good sock puppet <ref> EXPLANATION NEEDED of sock puppet</ref> that he is, Rinder dashed
out of the room, obviously to call DM. (I so wish I could
have watched DM's face too.) About 15 minutes later,
Rinder returned and shoved some questions at the attorney
and the depo continued. But little was gained and not one
question was asked about what Pat might have told me about
Hubbard's death, if he had at all. They clearly
didn't want it on the record, under oath. I found it
amusing, this great powerful cult was so terrified of the
subject, not to mention Broeker.

So let me tell you a little bit about Pat: he's doing
fine and his sense of humor has improved. End of a little
bit.

====The Coroner's Report ====

Now lets back up a tad, before Pat and I spent several days
together, going over old times. I went to San Luis Obispo,
the county seat for where Hubbard died. It was there that I
got the full coroner's report from a very friendly
deputy sheriff[[http://www.autopsyfiles.org/reports/Other/hubbard,%20l.r._report.pdf]]. I poured over the pages and noticed that
something called Vistaril was found in Hubbard's blood.
Since the cause of death was a stroke, I assumed it was a
stroke medication so I didn't bother further. Several
days later, I called a physician friend and was going over
the documents and the medical language.

"By the way,? I asked casually, "what's
Vistaril?"

"A psychiatric tranquilizer," he answered
matter-of-factly.

I nearly dropped the phone.

"Excuse me," I said in near-shock, "but what
did you say?"

"Vistaril is a psychiatric tranquilizer, usually
injected through the buttocks."

I flipped to the document where the Coroner had examined
Hubbard's body. I read it to my friend, about the needle
puncture wounds found on the left buttock, under a band-aid.
"Could that be the Vistaril shots," I asked.

"Probably," he said. "That's where they
are usually given."

I looked at the Coroner's report and the blood sample
report.

Holy shit, I said to myself, in my best French. Holy fucking
shit.

====The Autopsy Is Prohibited ====

I pulled out another document, signed by Hubbard. It
prohibited any autopsy of his body on religious grounds,
which was legally binding on officials. DM and attorney
Earle Cooley had shoved it at the coroner to stop him,
leaving him to take only blood samples, which turned up the
Vistaril.

So, I thought, L. Ron Hubbard, the man who fought psychiatry
since 1950 and who railed against the dangers of any
psychiatric drugs had died with them in his brain while
signing a new last will.

Plus even the coroner was suspicious of the will as it had
been signed by Hubbard just before he died. Coincidences
like that tend to make coroner's worry. (I wonder what
the coroner would have thought had he known that Denk was
gambling at Lake Tahoe when Hubbard had his stroke, as
several people can attest. The impression the coroner had
was that Denk was "in attendence" with Hubbard not
only at death but was there at the stroke, having stayed at
the ranch for months. Hmmm....)

I fell back in my chair, trying to catch my breath.

====Outpoints? What Outpoints?====

Okay, I said to myself, let’s see if we understand this.
Hubbard signs a will while on the psychiatric tranquilizer
Vistaril and then dies. The coroner cannot conduct an
autopsy because Hubbard also signed a paper (also while on
Vistaril?) prohibiting an autopsy on religious grounds. The
Scientologist doctor who was in attendance (except when he
went to Lake Tahoe and Hubbard had the stroke) signs the
death certificate as the physician attending to Hubbard and
then disappears for a year. Then even though David Miscavige
has nothing else in writing from Hubbard, he cancels
Hubbard's last message and hat transfer to trusted aide
Broeker and ousts Broeker, who disappears while his wife is
turned into a compliant vegetable, leaving DM in charge.

Nope, nothing wrong here, I facetiously thought. No
outpoints, borrowing Hubbard's word for oddities.

I had to take a walk.

====Starting With A Title====

I don't know when it was but I clearly remember a
particular moment when I sat down at my computer keyboard. I
am one of those writers who needs either the opening words
of the article or a working title in order to really start.
I had a working title, not for an article, but a book, and I
typed it out. Then I leaned back in my chair, took a deep
breath and read it. It said, "Who Killed L. Ron
Hubbard?"

I leaned back and my eyes roamed over each word and letter.
I took in the question and then the words and letters and
back to the question. I even digested the tiny pixels on the
screen, as if I hoped the answer would leap from the
phosphorescence but nothing changed but the black cursor
blinking at me, almost mocking my effort. Yes, I thought, it
is a pretentious question but it was the one I had to try to
answer, if there was an answer.

Then I had the exact moment for the opening words. It was on
the night that Terri Gamboa - former Executive Director of
Author Services, Inc. and now out of Scientology - called me
to DM's office where I was told that Hubbard had died
and that I would be going to his ranch.

====The Writing Starts ====

I leaned towards the keyboard and began to write. To my
amazement, the words and the scene poured out effortlessly.
I wasn't striving for literature. I merely had to
capture the scene.

As the cursor flitted across the screen, I began to remember
how it happened that night and into the days that followed.
There was more that I needed to remember but for now, this
would do. Let it roll, I told myself. Let it roll. It was as
if I was regaining myself.

Perhaps six or so hours later, I finally stopped, exhausted
and sufficiently satisfied for the moment. But even then, I
found it difficult to sleep as my mind kept returning to the
ranch, Broeker, DM, the RPF, the Challenger disaster,
Newberry, the ambulance taking away his body. I was
searching for pieces of a puzzle that had no
comprehension.

And how could I possibly answer the question?

-from a post by Robert Vaughn Young (writer@eskimo.com)

=='' Temporary'' Postscript by Antony Phillips==

In asking for help with this article a correspondent sent the following:

:I  have  read through a second time your article on lrhs death.<br />
:It seems very interesting.  My only comment as I mentioned before is that it has no ending and just seems to end abruptly and I wonder why.<br />
:If you are going to publish it I think it needs some comment about the ending.

I am very much aware of this problem. I have one more article by Robert Vaughn Young (about the preparation of Ron's book ''Battlefield Earth'') and I remember there is one more very good article he issued at the time which I do not have in my possession. It concerned in detail his arrival after leaving (blowing from) Scientology staff to a small island community in the USA and at a local "pub" he was asked by a woman why he stayed so long. He attempted to answer by giving the analogy of a beaten up woman failing to leave her husband. at that point the woman held up her hands in sort of stop gesture and said something like "Say no more! I stayed so many years with a suppressive husband"

There is humour in Robert Vaughn Young's articles much of which will be missed by people who do not have a background in things that were going on at that time. I can mention some that I am aware of in which I have a suspicion very few are aware of today. They are: the Finance Police, the Finance Dictator, the Watchdog committee. All new posts and institutions in the Scientology organisation which we "splinters" heard off with a certain amount of incredulity: "have things got that mad?" Was the sort of feeling in the group.

I do not know whether records of this and similar most peculiar things still exist. Also at that time we heard of the struggle for power within the church ending up in the making of Pat and Annie Broeker into non-people (in a similar way to Mary Sue Hubbard).

I spent many hours doing the research for the article on Scientolipedia on Jack Horner[http://scientolipedia.org/info/Jack_Horner]. Somehow I no longer have that amount of time available. Can I pass the hat or whatever you like to call it on to others? For this really is an appeal for some one or some group to get to work and patch up an article covering that sort of thing. The longer we wait the less chances there are of patching up the story and filling the gaps apparent to newcomers in the above article.

==References==

The following links give some ideas of some of the experiences some have had when connected to official Scientology at various times and places.<br />
The Takeover – Mike Goldstein's experience [http://www.freezoneplanet.org/bio.html]<br />
Account of Mission Holders Conference [http://www.xenu.net/archive/audit/missions.html]

 [[Category:History of Scientology]]