Scientology lifer writing letters to dead people instead of to her own grandkids

The Headleys told us about this strange situation during this week’s Group Therapy podcast.

It involves one of Scientology’s most common forms of busywork: Writing to or calling people who might have bought a single book or taken a single course years or decades ago in an attempt to convince them to come in for more. (Our record here at the Bunker was the 46 years that passed since a person had taken a course that they were tracked down by a Scientology letter writer.)

So from time to time, bizarre letters written by Scientologists end up online with their strange pitches to try and “recover” people to Scientology, and this new example was particularly strange because the person the letter was addressed to is apparently no longer among the living…

Dear [redacted]

Good day to you.

Very well done on purchasing a book in 1999!!!

Your next step is the Dianetics Seminar.

Come in today at:

283 Main Street

Florence, Kentucky 41042

For all the details.

Best Regards,

Trudy Hensley

Letter Writer

But even more interesting than Scientologists sending out letters to people who bought books so long ago that they are no longer breathing, what caught the Headleys’ attention is that Trudy Hensley, the author of this missive, happens to be Marc’s mother, who “disconnected” from him in the Scientology way when he and Claire escaped from Int Base back in 2005.

Marc and Claire made a video about this crazy situation yesterday, and we talked to Marc about it last night.

Did he know that his mother was working at the “Greater Cincinnati” Scientology Ideal Org (which is actually located across the river in Kentucky)?

“She’s been there for years. But she’s not on staff, she’s just a volunteer. She can’t be on staff because she’s former Sea Org,” he told us.

Over the years, he’s heard from people in the area that knew his mother when they were in Scientology, so he’s been aware that she’s volunteering there.

“I just feel that it’s kind of sad that she’s wasting her time at this place,” he said, pointing out that there’s little chance that letters like this have any effect.

But “Letters out” is a statistic that Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard established as an important way to grow the church, and so it must be followed to this day.

We asked Marc if he’d heard from his mother since he and Claire left Scientology 20 years ago and started a family.

“She met her first two grandkids when they were very young, and for only about 15 minutes,” he said. “It was at a family funeral in 2012. We just said ‘This is Trudy,’ we didn’t tell them she was their grandmother. It was the first time she had spoken to us in years.”

Since then, they’ve heard nothing. “It’s just sad. She's in her 70s,” Marc says.

He’s heard through people who know Trudy that she’s trying to raise the money to redo her “Bridge,” Scientology’s rubric of courses and training.

He explains that after Marc and Claire escaped, Trudy and Marc’s sister were punished by being kicked out of the Sea Org, and had to pay “freeloader’s debts.”

“Now she has to start over. She's been in 45 years. It’s heartbreaking, but I’ve done everything I could. And actually, I helped her by getting her kicked out of the Sea Org,” Marc says.

Well, he’s got a point there.

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