As a Scientology watcher, you’ve probably had loads of fun soaking up Tom Cruise in a black turtleneck talking about what an L. Ron Hubbard fan he is in an infamous 9-minute video recorded in 2004 and leaked in 2008. Or you’ve plumbed the depths of the Hubbard death announcement event held at the Hollywood Palladium in 1986, which featured the young David Miscavige, in a full-blown naval getup, announcing Hubbard’s translation to another plane of existence.
You know which videos we’re talking about. They’re foundational in this field, and they make for epic viewing. And chances are you’ve watched them thanks to a person who rarely gets credit for helping to smuggle them out to the public.
We’ve been a huge fan of former Scientology Guardian’s Office operative and Narconon peddler Patty Moher for many years. And we have to say, we’ve kind of taken her for granted, rarely writing about her and her amazing exploits. By her own reckoning, she went from one of the “worst of the worst” soldiers for Scientology’s spy corps to having an epic loss of faith and then becoming one of the best leakers of inside information and videos about Scientology ever.
Patty messaged us recently after she came across a video from 2008 at the height of the Anonymous phenomena, when she gave a talk in Boston about Scientology’s secrets. That motivated us to finally give Patty her due, and so we told her we not only wanted to post the video, but we wanted to record a conversation with her.
Today, we’re releasing the eighth episode of our podcast to our paid subscribers at Substack. You should receive it presently at your email inbox if you’re on the list.
We hope you enjoy the hour we spent with Patty, whose story is one we should have highlighted long before now.
Not a paid subscriber? Well, we have something for you, too. Last week’s episode was with Geoff Levin, our Scientology celebrity expert. In the weeks before, we talked to Pete Griffiths, Sunny Pereira, Jeffrey Augustine, Claire Headley, and her husband Marc Headley
Those first seven episodes are now free to all of our subscribers, paid and unpaid. All of our podcast episodes can be found here.
Here’s the video that Patty recently found again, recorded in 2008 in Boston…
Tonight: Robert Burnham Jr gets his due
A reminder that tonight we’ll be at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona to attend a special event to honor former Lowell astronomer Robert Burnham Jr.
We wrote previously about the small journey that led us here. And we’re told that today, Flagstaff’s mayor has proclaimed Robert Burnham Jr Day in his fair town.
If you can’t be in Flagstaff for the event, you’ll be able to watch it live on the observatory’s YouTube channel. Your proprietor has been asked to say some words.
Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:
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
Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology
Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain
Here’s the link for today’s post at tonyortega.org
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Patty Moher is one of the ASC heroes. I worship her from afar. Her $cieno past has served the truth very well.
A true heroine. Great respect to her.