Best of the Underground Bunker 1. The Underground Bunker. We’ve put together a list of our favorite stories that we did in previous years. Some of the stories were scoops, others were investigative features, and some of them we just really enjoyed writing. We’ve picked out stories we covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2. The Village Voice (2. New Times Los Angeles (1.

Phoenix New Times (1. Best of the Bunker, 2.

Scientology’s 2. 0 biggest celebrities in order of those most likely to defect. Sure, you get lists of Scientology celebrities all the time. But we put this one together after Jason Lee bolted from the church because we wanted to know, from our Hollywood Celebrity Centre source, who he thought might be the next to walk. This list kicked up a lot of disagreement, and that’s what it was designed to do. A Scientology spy comes forward — now he’s ready for war with David Miscavige. Skip Young had a small but significant place in Scientology history as a San Diego cop who provided a footnote to the Snow White Program.

Moviepooper reveals surprise twist endings to classic, recent and new movies. Spoiler warning! Every film found here has the ending given away! Offers 50 GB of free storage space. Uploaded files are encrypted and only the user holds the decryption keys. Sure, you get lists of Scientology celebrities all the time. But we put this one together after Jason Lee bolted from the church because we wanted to know, from our.

But we found out that today he’s been abandoned by his two daughters, who have “disconnected” from him in the Scientology way. From Scientology spy operative to grieving dad.

His was one of the most unexpected stories we covered this year. How Liz Gale came to disconnect from her own mother, Scientology style. Mark Ebner had done an amazing job telling the story of Philip Gale, a young genius who had grown up in Scientology and then had thrown himself off a building on the MIT campus on L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday in 1.

But Philip’s younger sister, Liz Gale, had a journey out of Scientology that deserved a telling of its own. VIDEO: David Miscavige’s entire speech at Scientology’s Atlanta . If you know how hard it’s been just to get a decent photo of David Miscavige at his appearances opening new Scientology buildings, you know that our correspondents had finally squared the circle with this one. From a perch across the street, they managed to video the Scientology leader’s entire speech at the Atlanta ceremony in April. Sure, there’s traffic noise, but the quality of this video is really pretty good considering how difficult it was even to obtain it. What you didn’t see on ? And cameras weren’t rolling?

We’re just fortunate that Kate told us all about it. What a scene. Appeals court strikes Scientology’s $1 million judgment against Ken Dandar. This may have been the biggest surprise of the year. Scientology appeared to have attorney Ken Dandar dead to rights after winning a ruinous $1 million judgment against him.

How he got there was incredibly complex, but a retired judge seemed determine to make Dandar pay for suing Scientology. Ken was appealing, but they looked like long shots. How wrong we were. What’s the worst that can happen when you sue Scientology?

Here’s one frightening example. Karla Taylor believed that Scientology had misused the trademarks of her company, the National Association of Forensic Counselors, in order to hide the problems of its drug rehab network, Narconon. But after filing her lawsuit against 8. David Miscavige, she then found herself in the crosshairs. Eventually, a magistrate judge ordered Karla to turn over her private laptop to attorneys representing Narconon, which our legal observers told us was beyond the pale. What is it about Scientology and the courts? For Scientology’s most infamous dirty trickster, retirement has a happy ending.

If you study the dirty tricks played by Scientology on its perceived enemies, one name comes up as much as anyone’s: Eugene Ingram, disgraced former Los Angeles cop and chief private eye for Scientology in the 1. What a treat it was, with the help of our researchers, to find Gene today, “el Jefe” of his own Mexican cantina. THE BILLBOARD IS UP: Scientology’s disconnection policy on view in Los Angeles. What a day this was in the Bunker, whose readers had helped raise the lion’s share of the money Phil and Willie Jones used to post their own billboard in Los Angeles bringing attention to Scientology’s policy of “Disconnection.” After, that is, two previous billboard companies had turned them down in the face of Scientology intimidation. Is Scientology using Tommy Davis to get Aussie billionaire James Packer back in the fold?

Former Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis continues to be a favorite around here at the Bunker, and so we like to keep tabs on him. And did that pay off this year. Tommy has a cool new job in Hollywood, but our experts tell us he’s still likely to be trying to get James Packer back into the Scientology fold. We’re still looking for evidence of that. Scientology’s Space Man: The newest defector from church management opens up. Paul Burkhart was another key defection from Scientology’s upper ranks. He was in a unique position to watch what was happening at both Int Base and then at the Hollywood Guaranty Building in Los Angeles.

And having left in August 2. The Lego Batman Movie (2017) Theater Movie there. And most shocking?

His estimate, based on access he had to enrollment documents, that Scientology’s active membership worldwide has now fallen under 2. Some churches take care of the old — Scientology instead works them to death. The story of Claire Reppen was not an easy one to read.

In her late 6. 0s and suffering the effects of advanced cancer, she was still a Sea Org member and was expected to work like one. Her son provided for us a handwritten letter Claire wrote, asking for relief from her work, and her supervisors own complaint about her tendency to slack off.

The details are gruesome, and point to a larger problem: Scientology has no idea what to do with the many older members it has now, except work them to death. Disconnection, neglect, and suicide: Scientology, it’s even worse than you think.

More than a disconnection story, this is a saga about a Scientology family that is so disturbing, we can’t look at that photo, above, without feeling astonished that it exists. Share this story with your friends, and tell them that Scientology is always worse than you thought. CLAIM: Frail looking Shelly Miscavige spotted near Scientology compound in California After years of writing about Shelly Miscavige, the wife that Scientology leader David Miscavige made disappear more than a decade ago, we were stunned to learn that there’s a good chance she’s been spotted — and exactly where we’d been telling readers to look for her. We’ve vetted the couple that reported these sightings, and we’re taking their claim seriously. And because of that, we’re more concerned than ever about the state that Shelly is in. Much more on this is coming soon. Lucia Ribisi ditches Scientology and says of famous dad Giovanni, he’s questioned it.

We spent months checking our facts before revealing that Lucia Ribisi had talked publicly about ditching Scientology on a Los Angeles radio show, but under an assumed name. Her defection puts enormous pressure on her famous dad, Giovanni, who, she claims, has had his own doubts about the church.

This is huge: The Ribisi clan is one of the most prominent in the church, and Giovanni’s divorced parents are among the most dedicated Scientologists still left in the organization. Tom Cruise penthouse in Scientology’s spiritual mecca?

We have the plans. It’s so fun to beat the celebrity- obsessed bigs to a story like this. Tom Cruise is having a $3 million, double- level penthouse with a private, 9- car garage with car elevator built out in a former bank building smack in the middle of Scientology’s “Flag Land Base” in Clearwater, Florida.

Mom lives nearby, and son Connor is also in town, so maybe it makes sense to Tom to have a place in Clearwater. But the location at the center of Scientology’s “spiritual mecca” also says a lot, doesn’t it? The fight over the secrets on a Scientology spy’s seized laptop that no one is talking about. Years of detailed information that spells out Scientology’s elaborate and possibly illegal spying operations is sitting in the evidence room of a Wisconsin town, and someone has gone to extraordinary lengths to get their hands on it. Download Atomic Blonde (2017) Movie In Hd.