Susan Meister

Susan Meister was a Scientologist aboard the Sea Org ship Apollo. In May 1971, while the ship was docked in Morocco, she was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. When William Galbraith, the American vice-consul in Casablanca, tried to investigate her death, he was stonewalled. Apollo captain Norman Starkey sent affadavits to the American government claiming that Galbraith had threatened to kill his entire crew. When Susan's father came to Morocco to claim the body, he found that she had already been buried and that the health authorities back home had been warned she might have died of cholera. The Church kept up a smear campaign against Meister for six years, claiming Susan was a drug addict and had been involved in the making of pornographic movies.

Rudolf Willems

A German steel company owner who was a patron of the IAS and apparently OT 3. He spent several millions of dollars for Scientology. In 1987 he shot himself when his company was bankrupt.

Noah Lottick

In 1991 Time reported the death of Noah Lottick, a Russian Studies student in New York City who joined Scientology in 1989. In June 1990 he jumped out of a ten-story window, apparently after having given $5,000 to Scientology for services. After Lottick's body was identified and his parents had come to obtain it, Scientology denied that he had been present at the church shortly before he disappeared - despite having told his parents otherwise not long before! The Lotticks tried to collect the unused $3,000 in Noah's account, but the Church refused to refund it, claiming he had meant it as a donation. Although "Noah's Friends at Dianetics" sent flowers to his funeral, not one of these so-called "friends" came in person. The Lotticks believe that Scientology was responsible for Noah's death.

Richard Collins

In November 1996, Britains Carlton Television reported on the apparent suicide of Richard Collins, also after he confided to family members and friends that he wished to leave Scientology. Alan, one of Richard's workmates witnessed what happened when he decided to quit Scientology, "When he initially wanted to leave they phoned him four times a day, five times a day, up to an hour each time. And when he was on the phone he was shaking, obviously frightened of something, but only the Scientologists and Richard would know what that conversation was about". Richard's sister Jennifer says; "Richard was anxious about the fact that he was wanting to leave Scientology, and he was concerned that they were not letting him leave, and that they were threatening to print personal information about him. That is what he voiced to me." Richard left home saying he was going to visit a friend, stopped off at a gas station, but he never arrived at the friend's house. For several hours that night his movements are unaccounted for but much later that night he parked his car near the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England. At ten minutes to midnight he jumped to his death.

Patrice Vic

Most recently, on September 30, 1996, twenty-three Scientologists in France went to trial for crimes ranging from manslaughter to fraud in a case prompted by the 1988 suicide of Scientologist Patrice Vic in Lyon. Like Noah Lottick, Vic was apparently unable to pay the Church the high fees it charges for counselling. This case is the result of a five-year investigation of Scientology activities in France; prosecutors accuse the Church of exploiting the good faith of its victims through pseudoscience and false medical claims, for its own benefit. In November 1996, a Lyon court convicted Jean-Jacques Mazier, former head of the French Church of Scientology, of manslaughter, fined him 500,000 francs, and sentenced him to 18 months in prison with another 18 months suspended. 14 other defendants tied to the church were convicted on charges ranging from embezzlement to fraud.

More?

Carlton Television said they found ten more questionable deaths in the UK, and German television station ARD found 4 more dubious deaths in Clearwater.

L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, wrote several "bulletins" about his process that he declared "Its results are nothing short of miraculous."[2] The three bulletins I'll be quoting from are:

1) HCO Bulletin 23 January 1974 "The Technical Breakthrough of 1973! The Introspection RD"

2) HCO Bulletin of 20 February 1974 "Introspection RD Additional Steps"

3) HCO Bulletin of 6 March 1974 "Introspection RD Second Addition; Information to C/Ses, Fixated Attention"

A "rundown" in Scientology is a series of prescribed steps designed to produce a certain end result. These steps involve "auditing", which is looking back through a person's past to find some memory that is causing the person present time problems. The Introspection Rundown is designed to handle a psychotic break or mental breakdown. The theory of the Introspection Rundown is that if you can find what caused the person to become introverted and psychotic then you can handle that cause and break the psychotic episode.

The first step of the rundown is "isolate the person wholly with all attendants completely muzzled (no speech)." [1] Auditing sessions are given infrequently to search for the cause of the psychotic break during this rundown, otherwise the person is isolated in complete silence.

"When it is obvious the person is out of his psychosis and up to the responsibility of living with others his isolation is ended." [2] The supervisor in charge of the person being isolated tests the person's condition by writing a note, such as "'Dear Joe. What can you guarantee me if you are let out of isolation?'" [2] If Joe does not answer in writing satisfactorily, the supervisor must write back "'Dear Joe. I'm sorry but no go on coming out of isolation yet.'" [2] Of course, "this will elicit a protest from the person" [2] but the rundown is not over until the supervisor concludes that Joe has recognized what caused his psychotic break. Once the rundown is over, if the person is a Sea Org member (the elite corps that signs a billion year contract with the church), he/she is put on the RPF - a sort of manual labor detail, and is "told to make good." [3]

Hubbard was quite excited about the Introspection Rundown and declared "THIS MEANS THE LAST REASON TO HAVE PSYCHIATRY AROUND IS GONE." [1] Also, "I have made a technical breakthrough which possibly ranks with the major discoveries of the Twentieth Century." [1]

The evidence in Lisa McPherson's case points to her being put on the Introspection Rundown after her accident on November 18. Her behavior on that date was one of a person having a psychotic break, which would then require the IR. Her appearance at her death was of a person who had been held in isolation for some time. The actions of church members after her death indicates to me that probably the IR was poorly handled and Lisa died as a result.

Hubbard wrote that "This Rundown is very simple but cannot be flubbed, as that will compound the errors and cause further introspection in the pc." [1] In other words, this process if done incorrectly could actually make someone having a psychotic break get worse. Handling the Rundown "is very precise and even touchy business. There must be no mistakes and you cannot be heavy-handed on them." [3]

What right does the church have to incarcerate mentally unstable people? What training do they have to prevent injury to the unstable person? What recourse or input does the person incarcerated have? What criteria are used to decide that the isolation is no longer needed? What training do the supervisors get to make such a decision over the length of someone's incarceration? How many people have gotten worse instead of better? What happens if a person never gets better, since Scientology considers psychiatry to be quack science? How long can isolation be maintained?

Months? Years?

A account of the candlelight vigil held in memory of Lisa McPherson, held where she died, Scientology's Clearwater spiritual centre.

Returning later in the evening for the candlelight vigil, we arrived in a rather staggered order, as our cars had taken different routes. Almost immediately, we were set upon by an OSA pair who tried to bullbait us and dead-agent the ones who hadn't arrived yet. Some of the critics started reading OT III off Steve Fishman's shirt, in unison, and the OSA chaps went away.

We had made an offer that we would conduct a silent march for just a few minutes, on one side of the street, and then leave - if they left us alone. They didn't go for it, and swarmed the sidewalks with us, making it look like a huge vigil march for Lisa McPherson. They had many more people there than they'd had that afternoon. Had they all gone away, leaving us to walk around in an empty lot, we probably would have looked rather pathetic. With their assistance, however, we got a great show of support for our cause.

And they showed their true face. I was walking with a blind woman who had a guide dog. At least five times, one particular man stood still directly in her path. Uttering a very insincere "sorry", he moved a couple of feet to the left, so that he ended up between her and the dog. He wasn't the only one who apparently found delight in harassing a blind woman; another woman took great delight in walking very slowly in front of us; when we turned around, she would scoot around us to be in front again, and slow down to her original pace. As the vigil was ending, a cop confronted her and practically tore her a new one. "I've been watching you walk slowly in front of this blind woman, then run around so you can be in front of her again. You ought to be ashamed of yourself! She's a blind woman, for Christ's sake! Do it again and I'll arrest you."

I also had several people who were hatted to handle me. They tried all the usual buttons: "Did you know Lisa? Did you care about Lisa when you were alive?" "Well, no," I said, "I didn't know her. But did a person in the forties have to know the Jews dying in Germany in order to care about them?" The girl who tried this one stopped in astonishment. "You're comparing us to the JEWS?" she exclaimed. I said, "Why not? You do..." Another critic behind me heard her discussing it with her friends afterwards: "That's ridiculous. The Jews were a race of victims. We're not." Yeah, girls, that's a lovely sentiment. But tell it to your public relations officers; they're trying very hard to paint a picture of Scientologists as victims.

We also had many people performing the highly mature act of blowing out our candles. "Just like you did to Lisa's life," one critic commented. It's really a pity that they thought so little of Lisa that they'd disturb a vigil held in her memory.

Gabe Cazares (former mayor of Clearwater) was there - and was frequently the centre of attention for the television crews - and we were also joined by some local people.

A really funny occurrence: two women were walking behind Steve Fishman, whose OT III shirt was printed on both sides. One woman asked her friend, "Is that really OT III?" "Don't read it!" commanded her companion. "It's copyrighted." "Don't read it, it's copyrighted." Wow, that's just hilarious. Hell, all of the books on my bookshelves are copyrighted - does that mean I can't read any of them?

When we finished the vigil, after walking away, they gave a big rousing cheer at having "driven away the suppressives." We actually picketed a few minutes longer than we'd originally planned to, so I guess their postulates weren't very effective.