[Today’s guest post is by Bruce Hines.]
Something like a dozen years ago I got an email from someone saying that David Mayo had posted on a message board, “I wish I could talk to Bruce Hines about dark matter.” David had started writing some things on one of the anti-Scientology sites, maybe the Ex-Scientologist Message Board or the Operation Clambake Message Board. I had not been aware of this and was rather surprised. And I had no idea that he had any inkling of who I am. Apparently, he had somehow learned something about my work at the time.
David Mayo is one of the more well-known (or infamous, depending on whom you ask) people in the rocky history of Scientology. Much has been written about him on the internet, including on the Underground Bunker. A lot has been said about him inside the world of that cult. Here, I lay out my personal experiences with him.
During my time in Scientology, I laid eyes on the man only once. This was in the early 1980s when he held the post of Senior Case Supervisor International. At that time I was an auditor in the Flag Service Organization, but still knew very little about him. He had left Flag (the Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida, Scientology’s “spiritual mecca”) prior to my arriving there to go “over the rainbow” (to the ultra secret location of top management near Hemet, California). In 1981, he came to Flag on a “Sea Org Mission” to oversee the setup of a new Hubbard Guidance Center.
One day he gave a briefing to all of the technical personnel about what was happening. When I saw him he seemed tired and haggard, likely due to stress and lack of sleep, typical of someone on mission. I was somewhat dismayed to watch him flick ashes from his long, brown cigarette (anyone remember the brand “More”?) onto the carpet of the room where we had all gathered. In those days nearly everyone in Scientology smoked, since Hubbard himself was a heavy smoker.
Over the next several years life became quite intense for Mr. Mayo. Most of what happened I was unaware of at the time. In short, he was ousted by David Miscavige, he was forced onto a draconian “rehabilitation” program, he left the Sea Organization, he started a “squirrel group,” and he spearheaded a major schism in Scientology. I don’t know the numbers, but a significant number of people left the official “church” then. In 1983 a writing was issued broadly in the Scientology world titled, “The Story of a Squirrel, David Mayo.” I remember it being in blue ink on blue paper (such things were color-coded). As I recall, Sea Org members were required to read that document. The man being written about must have surely been the devil incarnate.
Four years later I found myself being a new member of the Office of the Senior Case Supervisor International. As such, I was required to study a number of official writings as part of my training. Some of this information was in the form of “LRH Advices.” It could not appear that Mr. Hubbard was running Scientology, for some legal and security reasons. But he could offer advice. These documents were letters (called “dispatches”) sent from Hubbard to key people in top management. They were addressed to a particular person and usually had many info copies that went to other top executives. These missives were couched as advice, but were actually orders. It was a major deal if someone received one of these, and there was much activity aimed at getting a rapid reply to Hubbard demonstrating compliance to his directives.
The advices were all preserved. They were treated as unalterable policy. All members of the Office of the Senior Case Supervisor International had to study the ones related to technical matters (i.e. related to auditing or training) or to that office. Then they had to be “word cleared” and an oral examination (“starrate checkout”) had to be passed. One of these advices made a particular impression on me. It is a rather famous one. It was addressed to David Mayo when he held the Senior C/S Int post.
The tone of this letter was very friendly. As I recall it was dated April 1982. In it, Hubbard wrote some remarkable things. One of these was that Mayo should hold the fort on keeping the application of the technology standard when Hubbard was gone. That is, Hubbard was expecting that he would pass away in the not too distant future. What’s more, when Hubbard was not around, Mayo should be the one to develop new technology. Hubbard even wrote that this directive would probably come as a shock to Mayo. It had been gospel that only Hubbard could come up with new tech. Also, it was in this dispatch that Hubbard said that after he died he would be gone for 15 or 20 years and then be back. During this period Mayo was to be the top dog on the technology of Scientology. It was a definite passing of the torch. To top it off, Hubbard mentioned that it would be a good idea if Mayo became the head of a new unit, dealing with “the tech,” that would not be under the control Scientology management. This was all certainly at odds with the later treatment of David Mayo, whereby he was utterly vilified. Just a couple of years later he became the scapegoat for many supposed non-optimum situations. I think it is pretty clear that David Miscavige viewed Mayo as a significant rival or barrier to taking over the organization, and decided to get rid of him. It would have made things particularly difficult for Miscavige if Mayo was running his own autonomous unit that had control of all things technical.
When my OT VIII sister passed away at the age of 52 from cancer, the explanation espoused by the Scientologists that knew her was that she had received “Mayo NOTs.” NOTs, New Era Dianetics for Operating Thetans, is a type of auditing that came out in 1978. The original technical bulletins on how to audit NOTs were compiled by Mayo. They were mainly excerpts from transcriptions of Hubbard’s own spoken words. I can’t imagine that Hubbard himself had not seen and given official approval of those bulletins. Yet just a few years later many held the opinion that Mayo had “sabotaged NOTs.” The truth is that my sister died so young because she refused medical treatment for a type of cancer that is routinely successfully treated; she had bought the bogus ideas about illnesses and the medical profession that Hubbard put forth.
Anyway, after all the bad things I had heard and read about Mayo, when I saw about thirty years later that he had mentioned my name in a post on an anti-Scientology website, I was skeptical and reluctant to do anything about it. Maybe some of the bad stuff I’d heard about him was true. Plus, I wondered if the person doing the posting was actually an OSA (Office of Special Affairs) troll. I decided to read other things that he had posted. It seemed he really was David Mayo.
I reached out to him in a private message and that turned into an email conversation. He had been studying various scientific subjects, he said. He was interested in pursuing it further. He informed me that he was going to be coming to Denver, where I was living, and asked if I would like to get together. I agreed, though I was now even more leery that this was some kind of OSA operation.
It turned out that he had been living in New Zealand, his home country. He had found out that at the University of Colorado, where I was working, a senior citizen could audit classes for free. He had an interest in science and wanted to take courses to advance his knowledge. He was looking at moving to Denver, and was traveling to check out places to live, possibly even a house to buy.
We discussed his trip in emails. We agreed that I would meet him at a particular time in the restaurant of a hotel relatively close to the airport. We ended up having a pleasant meal there, talking for hours. He was accompanied by his lovely wife, Julie. She had also been a high executive in Scientology, earlier known as Julia Gillespie. But she went by Julie.
I found both of them to be friendly, soft-spoken, and articulate. I’d even say they were humble. We talked a bit about Scientology, but not a lot. He was interested in discussing other things and seemed to done with anything to do with that subject. One thing David did say was that he didn’t think that the OT levels were real. He told about some harrowing, life-threatening harrassment he’d experienced, especially in the Dominican Republic. But most of the discussion was about what it would be like to live in the Denver area and about the University of Colorado. He and Julie told me about their life in New Zealand, how beautiful that country is, and their photography, hiking, maintaining their house, and other pursuits. The next day they were going to look at some houses that were on the market and at some apartments, and then fly back home.
A month or two later I heard from them that they were coming back to Denver. They were evidently serious about finding a place to move to. They indeed arrived and I got to spend another pleasant evening with them. I was surprised to learn that when David was still Snr C/S Int, he had been planning to move me from the Flag Service Organization in Florida, where I had been posted, to work in his office. I had no idea he knew anything about me. But before that could happen he got busted by Miscavige.
I’m not sure what else they did on that trip. They returned to New Zealand and I didn’t hear from them for a while. Then in early 2018 I got an email from Julie. David had passed away a couple of months earlier. She sent me a link to a website that she had set up in his honor. They had decided to move further north in New Zealand where it was warmer, and not to Denver. They found a house that didn’t need so many repairs. She said that they had enjoyed our visits in Denver and invited me and my family to stay at her place should we ever be in New Zealand. I was very touched by her warmth and kindness.
The David Mayo I got to know was nothing like the person portrayed by the Scientology PR machine. I am appalled at the efforts undertaken by that “church” to ruin the life of a man who, in my estimation, meant well. He was certainly not a “darling of the psychs.” He was well-read, knowledgeable about many things, and had a variety of pastimes. He struck me as being kind and open, which to me was not just something put on for show or effect. I am very glad that I was able to get to know him and his wife, outside the false world of Scientology.
— Bruce Hines
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Good to hear more about David Mayo. I knew people who were spies for the church who infiltrated David Mayo’s group in Santa Barbara. Mayo was considered the most evil squirrel on the planet.
Now it’s clear he was driven away by the “actual” most evil squirrel on the planet, David Miscavige.
It’s a fact that Miscavige caused untold damage to high positioned members of Scientology and at the same time he has been the most effective force in destroying the organization. He has been the wrecking ball for everything around him.
If many of the talented staff and members had stayed in Scientology and Miscavige had not taken over it would have been a very different scene for the church right now.
David has almost single handedly reduced the church to empty buildings and a reputation as the most toxic cult in the world.
David Mayo was a casualty of the coup that resulted in the horrible state Scientology finds itself now.
Thanks Bruce for shedding light on one more dedicated Sea Org staff member who used their skills to expand Hubbards dream only to be thrown under the bus.
Very nice memorial, Bruce. I did not know David or you personally but I was around (and confused) by those times. Much of went on in the "good old days" needs closure. Yours on David Mayo provided some of that. Thanks.