A cry for help: Disturbing handwritten letter found outside Scientology ‘mecca’

Sunday, we received a message from a person in Clearwater we had heard from a few times before.

He’s not an uncontroversial figure. His name is Gerald McGuire (he goes by Jerry online), and he was arrested in 2018 for making a suggestion on Twitter that someone should “shoot” former local Congressman David Jolly.

However, what McGuire found on the ground on the south side of Scientology’s “Flag Building” in its “spiritual mecca,” the Flag Land Base, was interesting and looked genuine, so we asked him to send us a copy of it. Instead, he delivered what he found — two handwritten notes — to Clearwater Vice Mayor Mark Bunker.

Bunker tells us that McGuire said a Scientology security guard told him the notes were his, and tried to take them from him, but McGuire refused and threatened to call police.

We have showed the two handwritten notes to former Scientology executives, who say they look genuine. McGuire does not appear to be capable of having faked them, and we are taking these notes seriously.

Both notes were written by the same person, whose name we are holding back. The person is identified as an “Outer Org Trainee,” and we’re also holding back the name of the “org” — Scientology’s word for church — that they are visiting the Flag Land Base from.

Outer Org Trainees come to “Flag” for specialized training in order to deliver the “technology” of Scientology back at their home orgs. And these trainees are in for grueling conditions, which is reflected in the notes.

The note we’re going to show you (the other one is mostly just a repeat of the first) is labeled a “CSW” for “completed staff work,” which is actually a plea for permission to do something. At the bottom, the trainee writes “App” for approve, and “Disapp” for disapprove, hoping that their CSW is granted.

This CSW is dated June 10, and evokes the grueling conditions that these Scientology workers go through.

Data: I feel nauseous, head/migraine, dizzy and forgetting things, I think I’m dehydrated.

Sit[uation]: I have had loose stool for 2 days and headaches, been increasing my electrolytes and water and salt and it helps a little.

I was hungry this morning and ate breakfast and then got nauseous and at Chinese School felt like passing out, my team mate said I turned green. I’ve had more salt and electrolytes but couldn’t eat lunch, had a yogurt and bread and more water and electrolytes.

I did NOT want to have a cigarette after I ate which is very unusual.

Sol[ution]: Approve me to go home and rest and hydrate so I’m studentable tomorrow.

App:
Disapp:

The trainee is asking for permission simply to go home for the day and get some rest, and we don’t know if their request was approved or not.

We only know that this call for help ended up on the ground outside the Flag Land Base, and that it evokes so much of what we’ve been told about the place from so many people who have left Scientology.

“This is exactly how a CSW is written,” says Karen de la Carriere, a former top Scientology auditor and Sea Org member. “And asking permission to be off the job requires such.” She said the document appeared authentic.

The reference to “Chinese School,” Karen explained, was “when a whole crew of an org chant like parrots the words of [Scientology founder] L. Ron Hubbard: The ‘Code of an Auditor,’ ‘Code of a Scientologist,’ ‘Code of Honor,” etc. It is painful to be a parrot, and it can last 30 minutes or more.”

She sent along this image from one of Scientology’s own publications demonstrating a “Chinese School,” with the original caption.

“If this isn't mind implanting, I don't know what is,” she added. “Imagine having to beg for a slot of time off when one is sick as a dog.”

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Chris Shelton and your proprietor

Chris relates Scientology fundraising to magical thinking.

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