Scientology’s deposed queen: What it was like to ‘audit’ Mary Sue Hubbard in exile

[Today’s guest post is by Bruce Hines.]

I arrived at a building in Hollywood where Author Services, Inc., was located. Generally, in the Scientology world it was referred to as “ASI.” For some reason, in the sprawling, convoluted Scientology organizational structure, ASI is under the Church of Spiritual Technology, rather than the Church of Scientology International. Or maybe ASI is actually over CST, I wasn’t sure.

ASI is supposed to make money by representing (that is, selling) Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s fictional and secular works.

I left my car in the parking structure attached to the ASI building and walked inside. Even though that organization is and was staffed totally by Sea Org members, it did not feel or look like a Sea Org unit. The people who worked there were dressed in business attire rather than uniforms. The premises looked like a regular office, quite posh, except for posters and the like related to Hubbard properties that they were promoting. In retrospect, I find it odd and interesting that the people who worked at ASI were some of the highest-ranking Scientologists in the world. They had to pass a rigorous security check and prove that they were Sea Org members of the highest character (as defined in that world). In fact, before David Miscavige became the head of the Religious Technology Center and the self-anointed leader of all of Scientology, he was the top guy at ASI.

I informed the receptionist who I was and shortly Norman Starkey came out to greet me. That was a pretty remarkable thing. He was one of the best-known names in Scientology. On the earlier ship, the Apollo, from which Hubbard ran all of Scientology for years in the late 60s and early 70s, Starkey was one of very few people who had the rank of Captain RA (for Right Arm), meaning he could actually captain a sea-going vessel. He had been one of the main speakers at some of the international promotional events that occurred several times a year. I had seen him riding around in a sports car with Miscavige. And when he came out to greet me he was the leader of ASI. He even had the title, “Executor and Trustee of L. Ron Hubbard’s Estate.” (And, wouldn’t you know, years later he was banished to The Hole.)

Much to my surprise, he did not act like a tough Sea Org executive while talking to me. He was polite and helpful. He led me to the room where I would be working and took pains to make sure I had everything I needed. I realized that he was not dealing with me as the head of ASI; he was acting in the role of a post that he was holding from above, in the Scientology lingo. I’m not sure why he was the one taking care of me, but it might have had something to do with the person I would be seeing there.

I had been sent to ASI to “cram” someone. “Cramming” is a Scientology activity whereby the person being crammed is being corrected on something they had already studied and so should know. Some person in authority observes another person performing an action incorrectly, and then writes a “cramming order.” That order gives the errors that were observed. The erring person then has to go to a “Cramming Officer” to work out a series of steps to correct their knowledge on that subject. These actions include getting “word cleared” (looking up words in a dictionary) and restudying specific writings by Hubbard, among other things. After the person has completed those steps, the Cramming Officer verifies that the person now has it right. I was acting as a Cramming Officer that day.

An elderly, slender woman with slightly reddish hair then came into the room and took a seat across from me. This was the person I would be cramming. Her name was Mary Sue Hubbard.

Now, I admit that I was slightly in awe. But I did my best to “keep my TRs in.” Even though this was 1992, and she had disappeared from the public eye, Mary Sue was still somewhat of a legend. She had been L. Ron Hubbard’s wife, companion, executive, defender, and held many other roles from 1952 all the way to the late 70’s, when the Snow White scandal happened. Through those years he had from time to time spoken glowingly of her. In my training I had heard such praise repeatedly in various recorded lectures by Hubbard. After the Snow White thing, most Scientologists, staff and public alike, knew next to nothing about what had become of her. Even I, with my position at the Int base and the required security clearances, had no clue.

It had been determined by some high-up people in the Religious Technology Center, and quite possibly by David Miscavige himself, that MSH (as everyone knew her) should be allowed back onto “Solo NOTs,” which is the same thing as “New OT VII.” This is a type of auditing that a person does on themselves, in which they try to exorcize thousands and thousands of spirits that have inhabited them or are stuck to them.

When a person who has been on Solo NOTs stops for whatever reason, it is customary that a case supervisor review the records of that solo auditing. The idea is to find out how it was going and what errors in procedure might have occurred. Then the case supervisor writes a cramming order so that the person will get it right. The person completes the cram and is given OK to resume their solo auditing. Normally, the only place where a person could receive a cram on Solo NOTs was at the Flag Service Organization in Clearwater, Florida. But there was no way it would be allowed that MSH be at Flag, where people did not know and did not have the clearance to know anything about her activities.

So, somehow I got picked to go down to LA from the Int base and do a cramming order on her. That little exercise went smoothly and uneventfully. I went back to the Int base thinking I’d likely not see her again. But some time later I was told (ordered) that I would be auditing her. That was somewhat daunting. When an auditor begins auditing a person, the first thing they are supposed to do is study the auditing records. That means the auditor goes through a pile of manila folders that contain the hand-written “worksheets,” (records kept by the earlier auditors of every single session), the notes by the case supervisors, the various auditing programs that were being followed throughout the person’s auditing, and the “folder error summary.” For a person who had been in Scientology a long time and received a lot of auditing, there might be 30 or 40 or more of these folders.

In reading through these records, I learned some interesting things, not all of which I am willing to reveal (because they are things said by MSH in confidence). But one thing that became clear is that David Miscavige, and therefore the top executives under him, considered MSH to be a suppressive person. She could not be officially declared to be an SP, due to the potential huge public relations fallout.

Another thing I came to know from studying her folders had to do with some auditing she was receiving in the early 80s. That was when there were appeals going on in her legal case, having been charged, tried, and convicted for criminal offenses for her role in the Snow White Program. It is well known that those appeals were unsuccessful, resulting in her going to prison. She was also having some physical problems at the time.

So, while her criminal case was being appealed, she was being audited by a guy named Neville Potter and the case supervisor was Hubbard himself, who at that time was in hiding. I recognized some of his written instructions to Neville, as I had read them in a technical bulletin that is part of a NOTs auditor’s training. That bulletin lays out how a person at the NOTs level who is under severe stress or is physically ill should be audited.

Like I said, those notes were from the early 1980s. Hubbard died in 1986, and he had been gone 6 years by the time I was asked to audit MSH. I had a lot of material to review, and I learned what her current auditing program was.

Having my instructions for her next session, I was told when and where that auditing would commence. One might think that her auditing would take place at the Author Services premises. But instead I should go to where she was living. It turned out that she was quite physically ill. That was one reason she could not continue with solo auditing. I believe it was deemed that it would not be good for her to make daily trips to ASI.

On the appointed day, I drove to her home, which was located in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. It was a large, two-story, Tudor-style house with a fence and tall, thick hedges around it. In front there was a gate with a door bell. I pushed the button and waited for someone to come down to the gate. It turned out to be Neville Potter himself. He was a pleasant, mild-mannered Englishman. He took me up some stairs to the house, ushered me in, and showed me around a bit. The property was quite nicely appointed, inside and out. There was even a swimming pool in the back yard. He pointed out a house across the street and said that it belonged to Stevie Wonder.

One interesting thing about Neville is that he was an expert engraver. Using his array of tools, he could engrave beautiful, perfect calligraphy onto jewelry. At the time, one of his functions was engraving inscriptions on items for top executives that would be gifts or awards.

I then was greeted by MSH herself. We already knew each other from our meeting at ASI. She was accompanied by her dog — small, pure-bred, of a breed with a fancy name and lots of fur. The dog had to sniff me and, I guess, give approval. It was clear that the two of them were close, like some people are with their pets.

There was a room on the ground floor that was set up for auditing. Hubbard had prescribed in detail how an auditor’s space should be arranged, including an E-meter, a spare E-meter, a shield so that the person being audited could not see what the auditor was writing, extra pens, dictionaries, hand lotion, anti-perspirant for people with sweaty hands, and many other things. Neville had laid out everything by the book.

From that day on for about a year, five days a week, I went there and gave MSH a session. At first the auditing was addressed to her physical condition. She was suffering from chronic bronchitis and was following a medical regimen. Some days it was better and some days it was worse. At times it was difficult for her to climb a flight of stairs. Her doctor had placed limits on her physical activity.

In the course of those many months, I got to know Neville well. The dog accepted me as a common presence in the house. I learned more about that whole strange arrangement around MSH’s life. Neville was a Sea Org member. That was his assigned post. I imagine that he was chosen for that job because MSH new him well and trusted him. There were three other long-term Sea Org members who were posted there. One of these was Leslie Potter, Neville’s wife, who worked at ASI as a “registrar” (sales person). The other two were Ginny Hof and Het Saunders. They had both been in the Sea Org for a long time, and were there to perform domestic tasks (cooking, cleaning, shopping, and the like). I already knew Het’s son, Greg Saunders, who was a course supervisor in the International Training Organization in the HGB (Hollywood Guaranty Building on Hollywood Boulevard, where the offices of many Scientology management entities are located).

It became clear to me that essentially MSH was under house arrest. This is, of course, at odds with Scientology’s PR statements. True, her life was pleasant in some ways. But she was not free to come and go as she wished. Neville wrote regular reports to someone at ASI about her state of mind, how she was doing, whether she was complaining about Scientology management, and anything out of the ordinary. All four of the Sea Org members living and working there would observe and report anything that seemed significant. If MSH were to somehow break free or talk to the wrong people, it could be a catastrophe for Scientology. So every effort was made to keep her happy while carefully watching.

It boggles the mind the lengths to which the “church” went to keep MSH from causing problems. I don’t know what person or entity owned that house. It could be that MSH’s name was on the deed. But did the money come from Hubbard’s estate or what? In any event, that large of a house on that large of lot in that neighborhood had to be a sizeable investment. Then three experienced Sea Org veterans were assigned to work 24/7, for years, to maintain and control her life — plus an ASI staff member there part of the time. Her children (Diana, Suzette, and Arthur) were allowed to visit on occasion, like on holidays. And in rare instances she was allowed to go see one or another of her old friends, former staff that she knew from the ship or from her Guardian’s Office days, who were in good standing with Scientology management. But it was all carefully controlled.

I think it well known by now that MSH was not a fan of David Miscavige. There are many written and spoken accounts of their clashes. Her opinion of him had not changed by the time of my involvement with her, though she had learned to keep her feelings on the matter to herself. Her misgivings softened when the IRS tax exemption happened in October 1993, which was during that time. She was complimentary about that achievement, as she herself had endured years of battles with the IRS as the head of the Guardian’s Office and in her earlier executive positions all the way back to the 1950s.

It bears mentioning that, as I see it, had the Snow White fiasco not happened, MSH stood to take over the top role in the whole Scientology world, however such a position might have been set up. I’m guessing that was one of Miscavige’s big issues with her. It is also now well known that Hubbard let his wife take the fall for him for the Snow White disaster. I’m sure there were efforts to get her to see that this would be “for the greatest good.” She did end up as the responsible person in the eyes of the law, and then that megalomaniac narcissistic asshole dumped her. Despite that, she remained true to him. She maintained her belief in Scientology and its “technology” totally. She told me that when her husband passed away, he came to her in spirit form (as the thetan that is L. Ron Hubbard, a la “OT phenomena”) and apologized to her.

I am not defending MSH. She did many shameful and destructive things in her leadership of the Guardian’s Office. Nonetheless, in my dealings with her, I found her to be pretty pleasant. I did not experience any of the demanding, demeaning, hard-ass demeanor of a top Sea Org executive. She had acquiesced to her situation. She at times exhibited a dry sense of humor.

As a Sea Org member at the Int base, I did not follow politics or current affairs. I don’t know of anyone at the Int base who did (except for a relative few who were into sports). There was very little time when one could have bought and read a newspaper, no one had a TV, and there was no access to Internet. Maybe it would have been possible to get news on a radio, but I’m not aware of anyone who did that. Besides, governments were viewed as irrelevant in our mission to save the world, except to neutralize their efforts to stop us. And news media were considered to put out false information. So, embarrassingly, as a U.S. citizen I knew very little about world and national events. I could not have explained the difference between a Democrat and a Republican. I bring this up because one day in casual conversation outside an auditing session, she mentioned something about Al Gore. Then, realizing that I likely was not up-to-date on such things, said, matter-of-factly, “He’s the Vice President.” I tried not to give any indication that I had been unaware of that fact. I don’t think she was being snide. I think she was cognizant that someone like me probably would not know much about the leadership of the country, and so offered a helpful explanation. In retrospect, it seems funny to me.

Much of the auditing I did on her was designed to uncover her evil purposes and destructive intentions. She was cooperative throughout. The theory is that when a person confesses to and gets rid of such thoughts, and the associated harmful and hidden acts, there should be a significant improvement in attitude. Then, MSH should be more amenable towards Scientology management. However, there were no big reveals of hidden actions or intentions on the her part. However, her mental state did seem to improve over those months.

We got through the auditing program that had been laid out for her. It all went pretty smoothly. It seemed that she was doing somewhat better physically and was in good spirits. At least that was the adjudication by the powers that be. Such “indicators” would have had to be present in order to call that program of auditing complete. So, we were done. One day, some time in 1994, we said our goodbyes, and I drove away for the last time. I did not see MSH nor Neville again.

In the years that followed in my Sea Org career, I was not called to task for my auditing on MSH. That is somewhat surprising, especially after I got into trouble about a year later and was sent to the re-education compound. If an important person acts up, their previous auditor often gets blamed. Thankfully that didn’t happen.

In writing this, I am struck by my own attitude and viewpoint at the time. It is hard to explain. MSH was just one of many things on my plate. I was driving around LA auditing other people who had been deemed to be important or sensitive in some way. I still had responsibilities on my post of Tech Correction Director in the Office of the Senior Case Supervisor International. I was not getting a lot of sleep. I felt harried and stressed. I was behind on many things I had been ordered to do. I was driving back and forth between LA and the Int base frequently. Yet, my daily appointments with MSH had to be kept no matter what. That fact was somehow stabilizing and provided some relief in that hectic life. No one could tell me that I had to do something else at those times. On one hand, MSH was just one facet in a blur of activity. On the other hand, those times at her home were periods of pleasing calmness by comparison. An auditor is trained to, and attempts to, focus only on the person being audited and block out everything else. I guess I had some success at that, which was helpful to me, at least.

Now, having lived many years, through all kinds of Scientology craziness, many things now seem insignificant or irrelevant. But this MSH segment stands out for some reason. There is a tendency to brag that I must have been a big deal because I was chosen to audit MSH. But it isn’t that. I guess it has to do with her place in the whole history of Dianetics and Scientology, and the tragic arc of her life. In all those hours that I spent with her, I could sense, despite everything, the good in her. She was not the only one to fall under the spell of a cult and its charismatic, narcissistic, sociopathic leader. So many of us also did. We are imperfect humans. Does that excuse the things we did as a part of a cult? No. But it does give some idea of the power of cult thought reform.

— Bruce Hines

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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

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