After we posted the most recent version of our “Not Forgotten” memorial, which included Quentin Hubbard, the troubled son of Scientology’s founder, we received this touching tribute from Val Ross.
In the insular world of Scientology, we knew LRH had a son named Quentin. Some people had met and liked him, some thought him a bit “off”. We had all been taken to Anaheim and watched when all of Hubbard’s children spoke at Human Rights Day in August, 1976. Quentin was very much alive and verbal, and coherent at that event.
Scientologists Hold Human Rights Day
(Los Angeles Herald Examiner, August 21, 1976)
More than 10,000 Scientologists from around the world are expected to attend the first International Conference for World Peace and Social Reform at the Anaheim Convention Center Aug. 25-29.
The conference concluded Sunday, Aug 29 with a Human Rights Prayer day with “A Prayer for Human Rights,” delivered by the Rev. Gordon Cook and a sermon by the Rev. Jane Kember, guardian of the Churches of Scientology worldwide.
Other speakers at the conference, which will include art exhibits, film presentations, musical performances, lectures and symposiums, include the Rev. Arthur J. Maren, director of the Ministry of Public Affairs in the U.S. and the Rev. David Gaiman, director of the Ministry of Public Affairs worldwide.
Conference theme is from the writings of Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard, who resigned as director in 1966 but continues to guide church members.
Special guest speakers are Hubbard’s children, Suzette, Arthur, Quentin and Diana Hubbard Horwich.
But in late November of 1976, there were strange whispers that Quentin was dead. They started in the morning, I don’t know the date, but by noon that same day, a muster was called. We were told that Quentin had “dropped his body.” We were told there would be no memorial. We were told that was the last we would hear and we would suffer severe ethics consequences if we said anything else. That was the last order I heard about Quentin, the 22 year old son of Scientology’s founder, until years after I had left Scientology.
It wasn’t until this week that for the first time, I broke through the edict that I couldn’t know about what happened with Quentin and went searching for saw the newspaper articles that were written more than 45 years ago about his death.
Scientology founder’s son turns up in Vegas morgue
Las Vegas Review Journal, November 22, 1976
By Sheila Caudle
RJ Staff WriterThe body of a young man who died at Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital Nov. 12 has been identified as eldest son of the founder of the Church of Scientology.
Deputy Coroner Richard A. Mayne identified the man as Geoffrey Quentin McCaully Hubbard, 22, of Clear Water, Fla. His father is L. Ron Hubbard who founded the Church of Scientology 26 years ago.
Young Hubbard was discovered in a semi-conscious condition in his 1968 white Pontiac on Sunset Road near McCarran International Airport Oct. 28. He failed to respond to medical attention, dying on Nov. 12.
Mayne said the exact cause of death still is to be determined and examination of his vital organs should be complete by next week.
Hubbard had been carried as “John Doe” at the hospital because no identification was found with him or in his car at the time he was discovered. However, the serial number on the car was traced through a teletype system to Florida.
His parents, who are outside the continental United States, were notified over the weekend and Hubbard’s body is expected to be released to Palm Mortuary Monday.
The young Hubbard, a student and counselor in Scientology, was on vacation and was in Las Vegas to enroll in a flight school. Aviation was one of his hobbies.
Mayne the reason for the lack of identification in his car or with him has not been established. However, no suicide note was found at the scene.
Mayne said units of the Metropolitan Police Department were meeting Monday to search for further clues.
A friend of the family, Art Maren, church public relations director, said the Hubbards have hired a private detective to look into the death, and he said church officials are trying to gather information on Hubbard’s medical history and also on his activities as he traveled across the United States. Maren termed young Hubbard a “very happy guy, and perhaps more importantly, very stable.”
It struck me that Arte Maren was speaking on behalf of his parents who “were out of the country.” My first thought, now that I am no longer out was “that’s a lie.” Arte Maren was with the Guardian’s Office at the time. On a side note, he is still in Scientology and still self-promoting despite being named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Snow White Program of the 1970s.
The next article:
Death cause withheld
Las Vegas Review Journal, December 1, 1976What caused the death of the eldest son of the Church of Scientology’s founder apparently has been established, but won’t be announced until later this week.
Geoffrey Quentin Hubbard, 22-year-old son of L. Ron Hubbard, died Nov. 12 in a Las Vegas hospital, failing to regain consciousness after he was found Oct. 28 in a semi-comatose condition.
Tuesday, Dr. G. Sheldon Green, Clark County chief medical examiner, said the cause of death is being withheld pending further consultation by an outside pathologist.
“I’ve come to a point where I feel two heads are better than one, which is nothing unusual,” Green said. “I’ve asked another individual to look at the findings and see if he comes to the same conclusion as I did.”
Green declined to name the outside pathologist involved, saying only the man was not local. But he said the pathologist was expert: “I want the man’s thoughts…This is an independent review.”
He said he expected to have the comments by the end of the week, “Then we’ll put the whole thing together and close it out.”
Mystery has surrounded the death of Hubbard since he was found in his car, which was parked on Sunset Road near McCarran International Airport. Neither he nor the car carried identification, but a serial number on the car was traced to Clearwater, Fla., and his identity established.
The cause of death appears not to be linked to injury, for Hubbard’s body carried no evidence of trauma. In addition, his car was undamaged. Initial toxicological exams showed no toxic substances within his body, but microscopic examination of Hubbard’s vital organs continued.
Last week, Hubbard’s body was ordered cremated at a Las Vegas mortuary by a representative of the Hubbard family.
The young Hubbard, a Scientology student and counselor, was in Las Vegas on vacation, according to church spokesmen.
Body ordered cremated at a Las Vegas mortuary by “a representative of the Hubbard family,” but the coroner said cause of death withheld.
By December 4, 1976, they had declared his cause of death probable carbon monoxide poisoning. The part about the faulty exhaust in his car made my eyes roll back so far in my head, I may need retractors to retrieve them. Once again, Arte Maren is front and center.
Hubbard’s death cause told
Las Vegas Review Journal, Sat Dec 4, 1976Probable carbon monoxide poisoning was listed as the cause of Geoffrey Quentin Hubbard’s death by Clark County’s chief medical examiner Friday.
But Dr. G. Sheldon Green said the mode and manner of the eldest sone of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s death are undetermined still.
The death certificate, Green said in a Friday afternoon press conference, will carry three listings under cause of death: cardiopulmonary arrest, cerebral and myocardial hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) and probable carbon monoxide poisoning.
In a written statement, Green said, “At this time, this department does not have a preponderance of evidence to substantiate in a court of law what the mode and manner of death might have been. Therefore, the mode and or manner of death in this instance is classified as “undetermined.”
Hubbard, 22, died Nov. 12 in a Las Vegas hospital, failing to regain consciousness after he was found Oct. 28 in a semi-comatose condition. He was in his car, parked on Sunset Road near McCarran International Airport. Neither he nor his car carried identification.
Green’s examination of biological specimens and his conclusions in the case were backed by outside consultation with a board-certified forensic pathologist, whom Green still declined to name Friday.
Pressed by reporters on the need for outside consultation in the case, Green replied, “There’s nothing unusual in asking for another set of brains.”
The medical examiner also said carbon monoxide poisoning is not that unusual and in fact is quite common.
“We don’t feel we have conclusive evidence to say this is accidental, this is homicidal, this is suicidal, Green said.
Asked if the carbon monoxide came from the Hubbard car, perhaps from a faulty exhaust system, Green said, “That would appear to be the case, yes.”
Then, asked if a hose had been run from the exhaust system into the car, Green replied, “There may have been. I don’t know for a fact that it was. The scene was disturbed at the time the first officer got to the scene. It was not intact.”
He added the car’s license plates had been found some distance from the scene: “Why they were there I don’t know. Whether they were placed there by Mr. Hubbard or someone else, I don’t know.”
Mystery still surrounds the death of the young man who was in Las Vegas on vacation. Clark County Chief Deputy Coroner Richard Mayne acknowledged.
Asked why investigation into the death had been delayed two weeks, Mayne said, “What occurred prior to his demise was not our responsibility.”
For his part, Green said his department had concluded its investigation, but couldn’t speak for metropolitan police. He did say that hearsay information, which Mayne said was obtained from the police, indicated the Hubbard car did have a faulty exhaust system.
Meanwhile, Art Maren, Church of Scientology public relations director from Los Angeles, said what the Hubbard family’s private investigator has turned up has gone to the police. He declined to provide any specifics, saying he’d been advised not to by a Las Vegas police sergeant.
“We’re investigating all avenues,” Maren said under questioning by reporters. “No, I could not say that (that foul play was involved)…When we first heard of this, we asked the investigator to look into every possibility — suicide, accident, you name it. To be perfectly honest, in addition to an external investigation, we’ve obviously made an extensive internal one.”
The investigation, Maren said, has “left us sincerely doubting the suicide theory…But I could not make any charges involving homicide, foul play, etc. But knowing Quentin, I don’t think it could be suicide.”
Hubbard’s body was ordered cremated following the autopsy procedures, and Friday Maren said he didn’t question the request of the family: “It was the wishes of the parents to do so and to bring the remains to them.”
In addition, Mayne said the request was not an unusual one, and the department had no need to retain the body once all the specimens were obtained for tests.
Mayne also said the determination of the medical examiner and his department “leaves the question of mode and manner (of Hubbard’s death) absolutely open.”
In effect, it’s still not known whether the carbon monoxide inhalation was self-induced, accidental or caused by someone else.
No drugs were found in the car or on Hubbard’s body or in his bloodstream, but Mayne said routine studies done upon hospital admission generally don’t cover a full spectrum.
Maren indicated the case will continue to undergo intense probe by the church and the family,, saying the mystery-surrounded death is something all concerns want cleared up.
What happened to Quentin? I was 21 when he died, he was 22, he was about 1 year older than me. Those articles told me more than I knew, but I also know his parents were not “out of the country.” A lot of what I read in those articles I see as “acceptable truths.”
Even Lawrence Wright doesn’t seem to be able to pin it down in Going Clear. It was always an open question what really happened. There were rumors that Quentin had been murdered by someone, that he had meningitis, a few other whispers. We certainly didn’t know that he had been missing although his mother was looking for him.
Here’s what Lawrence Wright said about it:
Word went out that Quentin had “blown”—in other words, he had fled. He left a confused note, full of references to UFOs, saying that he was going to Area 51, the secret airbase north of Las Vegas, Nevada, where the CIA has developed spy planes; in popular culture, Area 51 was said to be where an alien spacecraft was stored. Quentin had only just learned to drive a car, in the parking garage of the condominium, where he accidentally ran into the wall with such force that the entire building registered the shock. He was scarcely qualified to drive all the way across the country by himself. Quentin had repeatedly requested a leave to take flying lessons, but Hubbard was convinced that Quentin couldn’t be trusted to fly a plane under any circumstances.
Frantic, Mary Sue dispatched three hundred Guardian’s Office operatives to find him. Weeks passed, as the Scientologists checked hotels and flying schools in multiple states. A cover story was put out that Quentin had been given flying lessons as a present from his parents, and he was driving to California to fulfill his lifelong ambition.
Quentin was indeed headed for Nevada. It was one of the very few times in his life when he was on his own and free. He stopped in St. Louis on his drive west and took a VIP tour of the giant aerospace manufacturer McDonnell Douglas. He was enthralled by the display of aircraft and artifacts of the Mercury and Gemini space programs; he even got a ride in one of the company’s business jets. “He was so happy,” Cindy Mallien, who had lunch with him that afternoon, recalled. “He was just beaming.”
But only a few days later, Las Vegas police were trying to identify a slight young man with blond hair and a reddish moustache who had been discovered comatose in a car parked on Sunset Road facing the end of the runway of McCarran Airport. He was naked. He was five feet one inch tall and weighed just over a hundred pounds. There were no identifying marks on his body and no personal identification. The license plates had been removed. The engine of the white Pontiac was still running when he was discovered. The windows were rolled up, and a vacuum tube led from the exhaust through the passenger’s vent window. Two weeks later, on November 12, 1976, the young man died without regaining consciousness. Las Vegas police were finally able to connect the Pontiac with Quentin through a Florida smog sticker and the vehicle identification number.
An agent from the Guardian’s Office came into Hubbard’s office in La Quinta as he was having breakfast and handed him the report on Quentin’s death. “That little shit has done it to me again!” Hubbard cried. He threw the report at Kima Douglas and ordered her to read it. The report said Quentin had died of asphyxiation of carbon monoxide. It also noted that there was semen in his rectum. When Hubbard told Mary Sue that Quentin was dead, she screamed for ten minutes. For months, she was disconsolate, hiding behind dark glasses. Everyone knew that Quentin was her favorite.
A spokesman for the church said that Quentin had been on vacation. Meantime, Mary Sue arranged for three further autopsies to be performed. In the last one, the cause of death was said to be unknown. She put out the word that he had died of encephalitis. Hubbard himself was convinced that Quentin was murdered as a way of getting at him.
Quentin was born to a mother who loved him and a father who wanted him to follow in his footsteps. This is an age old story with a tragic ending because Quentin’s father, a self-proclaimed messiah who claimed to have discovered the path to cure insanity, the way to create peace on earth was so self-absorbed that he could not see the damage he was causing his own child. If there is an afterlife, Quentin, I hope you’re flying high.
— Valerie Ross
And here’s a special message from Val…
In an effort to make myself more approachable to publishers, I’ve started an online presence so potential publishers can see I’m serious about this. If you get a chance, check me out at valerierossbooks.com. It is my intention to post to my blog at least once a week. The more reader engagement I can get there, the more attractive I’ll look to publishers. I will be posting sneak peeks from chapters not published at other sites, links to podcasts I’ve done, and deep dives into other things I’ve brought up in my writings. Hope to see you there. Bring your friends and hit subscribe and like please.
I’m currently working with someone on a revised cover design that will bring a whole new level of emotion to the book. It will be announced first there.
The trouble of two trials
Today, jury selection is occurring in a federal courtroom in Brooklyn, where the criminal fraud trial of a wealthy Scientologist is about to begin.
David Gentile is one of two men on trial for running what the government says was a Ponzi scheme by the name of GPB Capital, which had about $1.8 billion in assets when Gentile was charged in 2021.
Even though Scientology is not likely to be mentioned in what will be a very complex case about high finance and low motives, we’d still like to be present when opening statements begin on Wednesday.
However, there’s a good chance we won’t be able to go. And that’s because another trial we’re even more interested in is supposed to begin tomorrow on Long Island.
That’s when the lawsuit filed by David Smith and his wife Susanne Gold-Smith is finally going to begin against Michael Yanti Greene and other private investigators who were also working for the Church of Scientology to stalk Leah Remini and your proprietor.
We’ll have more to say to set up that case for the trial tomorrow, but we just wanted to let you know about the dilemma we’re facing. Of the two, we’re more interested in seeing Greene on trial, a retired NYPD detective who is accused of filming himself sexually assault a woman and then claim she was assaulting him. But we’ll do our best to keep an eye on what’s going on in Brooklyn as well.
When Scientologist financiers or Scientology PIs are facing a reckoning for their behavior, we’re taking notes.
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Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
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When I was on the Apollo in 1974 I got a chance to hang out with Quentin. Soft spoken, a sweet young man. He talked about his aspirations to be be a pilot and fly. He was a highly trained auditor,(class VIII) I could tell in our conversation that was not what interested him. He wanted to fly.
He was completely unlike other Sea Org members. He was open, not stiff and guarded and fearful like most of the other SO members on the ship. I liked him immediately. I think we had such a candid conversation because I was an outsider, a creative musician who he related to.
In 1976 when I heard he had died, the narrative I was given was a conspiracy theory that he had been assassinated by Ron Hubbards enemies. At the time I believed it completely.
Hubbard saw his children as useful tools, nothing more. And Hubbard was angry that his son had embarrassed him by committing suicide.
In Scientology that’s one way out. I saw it as a path out myself. Fortunately my inner self hung in there till I woke up one day and I knew I was out. Thank you Tony.
The omitted information the Las Vegas coroner was never given was that Quentin had attempted suicide 2x previously.
He was miserably unhappy in the Sea Org.
He wanted FREEDOM. He was TRAPPED.
The earlier suicide attempt was a large bunch of sleeping pills
Hubbard sent Quentin to the RPF for this suicide attempt.
Quentin enhanced and cheered up the whole RPF with his presence.
He was a soft gentle soul. RIP Quentin, FLY HIGH.