My "LRH Death" story Jan 24, 1986

[Pooks]

Thought I’d tell ya my “LRH death” story.

In 1986, Bobby and I were living in Malden, Massachusetts,
a city just outside of Boston. As always, we went to sleep
with the TV on. I think it was tuned to CNN. About 3:30
a.m. I woke from a dead sleep to hear that Hubbard had
died. Hubbard got about 15 seconds of air time, and all I
remember is that they mentioned, California, stroke, science
fiction, Scientology and dead.

Of course, the next day everyone was calling or going into
the org to find out more information. No one in Scientology was
actually expecting LRH to die any time soon. We all pretty
much thought that LRH would live for a very long time and
there was never any discussion of succession.

It was announced that there would be an “LRH Departure
Event” within the next few days.

I remember going to the event in some hotel in downtown
Boston and the place was packed. There had to be between
500-700 people at that event.

When I was in Scientology I was extremely indoctrinated in
the mindset. I was one of the true believers. There were
Scientologists that were more fanatical than me, but not many.

As a Scientologist, I was very concerned about the future of
Scientology and its expansion. I truly believed that Scientology
was the solution to “freeing mankind” of all its aberrations!

It’s amazing to look back on it now and see how much my
point of view has changed. And thankfully so.

That event happened 21 years ago and I am unable to claim
that I have a steel trap memory like some of the ex’s here.

My memories of that event have somewhat faded so I will
try to relate what I remember of it. I’m also going to try
to describe it from my then Scientology viewpoint, which is
very different from what it is now.

I remember seeing DM at the event. He was the Master of
Ceremonies. I remember thinking DM would be a great leader
in Scientology because he was “clean and shiny”. Scientologists
had this “thing” about looking at a person’s “space” or the
energy or appearance of the person. If the person was “clean and
shiny” in appearance and demeanor, then that meant the person
was “uptone, in-ethics, on purpose” in life.

DM then introduced Pat Broeker and it was at that point that
I began to worry. PB was not “clean and shiny”

It was announced that PB was honored by LRH “in writing”
with the title of “Loyal Officer”. LOL! (Sorry but it seems so
funny now, because it was all deadly serious stuff back then),
and that PB was basically taking over Scientology management.

PB was a nervous wreck and a terrible public speaker. DM exuded
all this confidence and poise and Broeker was a bumbling, fumbling
mess. I thought he might have been drunk.

There was one part of the event where the camera shot included
both PB and DM and I could clearly see an expression on DM’s face
as DM watched Broeker. DM’s face said that Broeker was not
doing a good job and that DM thought something was really
wrong with PB. Basically, DM’s Tr’s were OUT.

A few months later when Broeker was “exposed” for being
a “liar and a fraud” and declared or whatever it was that
they made up and labeled him, it then all made sense to
me because I had already thought Broeker was whacked out.

Being a truly indoctrinated Scientologist, I had absolutely
no clue that the entire event was a sham, a lie and a fraud
being perpetrated on the faithful.

I also remember there was the Scientology funeral ceremony
and I think it was Broeker that delivered it, but I’m not positive on
that point.

After LRH’s death, I decided to get active in the Church and
contacted OSA and offered to volunteer for them. I had
no trouble getting accepted. It was known that I was
very indoctrinated and only the most indoc’d get to work
with OSA. It’s not something I’m proud of, but it is what
it is.


If you attended the LRH departure event, I'd love to hear your
story. Also if you know anyone that has a copy of that event
I'd love to see it again with my new eyes.


Patty P

 

[Lulu Belle]

Oh, I was there. I was at the "live" one in LA.

My take on the Broeker thing was a little different.

I remember the way he talked was strange - like he had some kind of stutter or twitch. I put it down to a speech impediment.

What I remember was Broeker constantly saying something along the lines of "never listen to anyone but LRH. If anyone says something and you don't know for sure that it's LRH, ignore them. LRH is source, and no one else".

I remember seeing DM next to him and thinking, "Well, Pat Broeker ain't gonna last too long."

It's funny how I had these thoughts, even then. Years before I actually left.

Sure enough, Pat Broeker was cast out of Int within months. The fact that what I thought was going to happen actually happened. It reaffirmed my growing suspicion that DM was a dictator.

If I had only know the half of it.

 

[Kookaburra]

Well, here's my take on that event.

First of all, nobody where I was listened to the news, so this event was a complete mystery till we saw it. And it was a shock. Nobody was expecting that announcement.

Up until that time, Pat and Annie Broeker had been very much invisible. DM had been consolidating power, which was no secret, but the extent to which he had deliberately cut LRH's comm lines was not known. So it does not surprise me that DM was not thrilled about this Loyal Officer issue. Two more senior scientologists to overthrow.

Anyway, back to the event. My take on Pat Broeker was that he was in profound grief and loss, almost despair over Ron's death. No glib and cheery "well, he's on a 21 year LOA", it was "He's gone". He was the only one of the lot that had any semblance of honesty in what he said, and his devotion to LRH was obvious.

The rest of the speakers were smiling and completely unemotional. They sounded like a bunch of used car salesman. Total PR. At the time I did not know the extent of the lies, but that total lack of emotion struck me.

Regarding the Loyal Officer Issue - I don't think it was a forgery. I was shocked when Pat and Annie were busted. It didn't seem right. In hindsight I'm sure it was not right. It was just another coup in DM's ruthless scramble to the ablolute dictator post.

Regards, Kookaburra

 

[Tachikoma]

Thank you, the 3 of you, for sharing your perspectives on the death of LRH. I have seen a few stories regarding this over the years, and I am constantly amazed anew at how each person has a little different perspective. No matter how many times I see the "basic" story, it is always a thrill to add the human factor into it.

One thing that really jumps out and grabs me, as a commonality in all your stories, is how none of you rushed to a newsstand, turned on the television... You headed right for the Org or the event. I think that is a very strong indicator of how the indoc ran within you to accept no less than what your Orgs told you was the "truth", and in a way, it is very frightening, because if it happened to you, and did so with relative ease (as I read it anyway), imagine the rest of the Scientologists! Thousands of them turning their minds off to the Wog world and getting their minds in deeper. Fascinating. I wish I had popcorn.

Again, thank you.

 

[Kookaburra]

Tachikoma, it's not that no-one would listen to the news (if we had time, that is), it's that it was all kept hush hush from Scientologists and the media until after the event, was just billed as major announcement, mandatory for ALL Scientologists. I was quite surprised to hear Pooks version with news on TV days before the event, as there was not a peep on the news in LA.

Regards, Kookaburra

 

[Lulu Belle]

I was quite surprised to hear Pooks version with news on TV days before the event, as there was not a peep on the news in LA.

That's exactly what I thought when I read her post. (I was in LA, too.)

 

[Voltaire's Child]

I remember I was asleep and John tiptoed in the bedroom and said he heard about it on the news. I remember being quite sad.

 

[Pooks]

The space shuttle Challenger disaster was on Jan 28 and pretty much drowned out any further news of LRH's death.

CNN may have been the only the only news program that covered
it and I doubt many Scios tune into an "entheta" news show like
CNN.

Patty P

 

[Lulu Belle]

The space shuttle Challenger disaster was on Jan 28 and pretty much drowned out any further news of LRH's death.

CNN may have been the only the only news program that covered
it and I doubt many Scios tune into an "entheta" news show like
CNN.

Patty P

You gotta wonder.

If no news media had picked up on it, how long would it have been before DM told the public and staff that he was dead?

 

[Zinjifar]

The space shuttle Challenger disaster was on Jan 28 and pretty much drowned out any further news of LRH's death.

CNN may have been the only the only news program that covered
it and I doubt many Scios tune into an "entheta" news show like
CNN.

Patty P

What gets increasingly hard to remember is that CNN was not the 'universal news outlet' that it is today back in '86.

Yes, it was around, and some people followed it somewhat, but, it didn't achieve its current 'stature' until the '89 - '91 triplecoverage of the Gulf War, Fall of the Soviet Union and Tien-an-men Square.

I remember the shuttle coverage, but, I missed Hubbard's 'crash' completely

Unsurprising, since I wasn't a Scientologist.

Zinj

 

[Lulu Belle]

After the LRH death story, there were "PR" missions sent from Int to the Sea Org orgs to "brief them about LRH's life before he died".

Kenny Lipton did our PR briefing. One of the things he let slip was that LRH watched TV in the evenings.

Funny, since management claimed he didn't want us watching TV.

 

[OHTEEATE]

My LRH death story

I remember the Pasadena event quite well. It was highly unusual that an event be called for a Monday night. Pasadena Civic was rarely used for events. The call in was short and intense. The call in patter was "if you are not there you will kick yourself for the rest of your life". At that time, DM had been doing events with others already, and we were used to Ray Mithoff and Heber. I asked an OSA person a couple years ago about that event, what she remembered. She said Pat Broeker had a nervous twitch, and was unsuitable as a figurehead for the CofS. Another friend who knew him said he was hitting the sauce too much up at Creston, and was actually an alcoholic. So was Norman Starkey. There was plenty of stuff the rank and file will never be let in on. The shore stories pile up, and it must take a secretary to keep them all straight. Pat hasn't chimed in , and probably won't. He knows too much; it would be too dangerous. What a book he could write, though. The last years of L. Ron Hubbard. The ranch is viewable on Google Earth, for anyone interested. Just type in a search for Creston, Ca. and then scroll about 5 miles south, and you will see a bright green patch surrounded by brown, with a small race track, with the circles and double triangle of Church of Spiritual Technology cut into the infield. LRH never lived in the beautiful house, he lived in the motorhome, ready for a quick getaway from the Feds, Martians, Marcabs, whatever. Rick Aznaran cleaned out the cupboards, and found enough drugs to open a pharmacy. Suitcases full of cash stacked up in the corner. Howard Hughes syndrome, big time. So sad to discover, over time, how deluded I was all those years. But, having reached enlightenment, I pass on the wisdom to those who come behind. LRH died in the ditch, hiding, drugged, with delusions of grandeur. His life got smoothed over by those who saw the potential for making hundreds of millions in the years to come. The truth is a bit hard to wrap your wits around, especially for those of us who cried real tears that Monday night in Pasadena. Mike Henderson OT 8, Cl. IV, IAS PATRON.

 

[Emma]

Hi Mike,

It's great to see you here.

I'm sure you have a bunch of stories and we'd love to hear them.

 

[Royal Prince Xenu]

I have to admit I cried on LRH's death. I stupidly believed the hype and thought of him as a father figure.

The first news for us was when we were all called to an extraordinary meeting where it was announced that "he had left his body to continue his researches".

I think within three days an "event" was held, where we jammed an illegal number of people into the building, and in three separate locations a video was screened.

I well remember that something was seriously wrong with the projection equipment, and I got into a great deal of trouble--to the point of being assigned to a lower condition. When I pointed out my evidence that I had not been involved in the hire or set up of the equipment and could not be reasonably held responsible I was told "That's okay. We just have to find someone upstat to pin it on." Even in shock, I think that's when the seeds were truly sown in my own mind that something wasn't quite right in the world of $cn.

 

[Zinjifar]

I think within three days an "event" was held, where we jammed an illegal number of people into the building, and in three separate locations a video was screened.

On the bright side; Scientology would have a very difficult time, nowdays, even digging up enough warm bodies to 'illegally' pack a large closet

Zinj

 

[programmer_guy]

Since I had left Scientology I wasn't privy to the "events".

Sometime after that time, I do remember seeing David Miscavidge being interviewed on a TV news program.
(They must have had him on a child's booster chair for the program... sorry, I couldn't resist.)

 

[beyond_horizons]

I was overseas for the third time. It was a one paragrapher in the local news paper. I thought to myself ... 'how interesting'!

A few weeks later my part time, stateside at the time, x ot 3 business partner mentioned it over the phone and I think she asked how I felt. I recall it seemed like a strange question.

Looking back, I realized that I didn’t go there for the purpose of LRH worship!

 

[Jimmy Cricket]

I was at the live LA event. Cheered and clapped like mad along with everyone else when DM announced that Ron had causatively dropped his body to continue his research. I do remember DM exhorting people not to get misemotional about it.

And I still remember the kind of shocked look on DM's face when the massive outbreak of cheering and clapping broke out. I suspect DM thought that people would be upset that Source had dropped his very healthy body, his MEST body being an impediment to researching extremely advanced OT levels.

I could not figure out why DM droned on and on about Int Management and RTC, although I now know why, to try to obfuscate the coup by DM and cronies.

 

[Jimmy Cricket]

And I remember shortly after this event, there were rumours circulating among staff that the upper OT levels (after OT XV) included causatively dropping your body after completing _all_ unfinished cycles, and joining Ron in clearing this sector of the universe. Anyone else hear these rumours?

 

[OHTEEATE]

OT 11

Yeah, I do remember those rumors. THat OT 11 or some such would be including "cutting the strings" drills to get totally free of the beams, and theta strings that tie you to a body. I don't believe any of that crap any more. I think it's too confused with Yoga ideas and other religious nonsense. I'm waiting to see what happens at death and will believe it when I experience it. I even disbelieve my own "memories" of past deaths as who knows what part is suggestion from god knows what LRH bullshit they read before session.