going-clear-scientology-hollywood-and-the-prison-of-belief-by-lawrence-wright-2

as soon as it is born. “The baby takes its rst gasp, why, a thetan usually picks it up.”
Sometimes there is a shortage of new bodies, and occasionally a thetan will follow a
pregnant woman around waiting for the moment of delivery so he can pounce.
Contrarily, when a body dies, it’s important for the thetan to be freed as quickly as
possible—preferably by cremating the corpse and scattering the ashes in water, so that
nothing clings together. “It’s very confused, this whole subject of death,” Hubbard
observed. “It’s quite funny, as a matter of fact, the amount of this and that that is paid,
the amount of owers and that sort of thing which are shipped around at dead corpses
after the thetan has shoved o, and so on. It’s very amusing.” He presented himself as
an expert on the subject, claiming he had been pronounced dead but had come back to
life on two or three occasions.
Hubbard suered a severe stroke on January 16, 1986, at the Creston ranch. He
realized that he was in his nal days. He summoned Ray Mitho, one of his most senior
Messengers, to help him put his aairs in order and administer a “death assist.” He
didn’t ask to see any of his family members; indeed, one of his last actions was to sign a
will reducing their inheritance, except for a provision for Mary Sue, who received $1
million, which may have been a part of the agreement that had kept her from testifying
against him. He had previously disowned his daughter Alexis, an embarrassing reminder
of his bigamous marriage to Sara Northrup. Hubbard was in a nightgown, pacing up
and down, saying, “Let’s get this over with! My head is hurting!” He signed the will with
a shaky hand.
Hubbard also proclaimed Flag Order 3879, “The Sea Org & the Future,” in which he
promoted himself to Admiral and retired the rank of Commodore. He instituted a new
rank, that of Loyal Ocer, after the stalwart members of the Galactic Confederacy who
had imprisoned the tyrannical overlord Xenu. Hubbard appointed only two persons to
serve at that level, Pat and Annie Broeker. They were an attractive couple, his closest
advisers; he was clearly passing them the scepter. “I’ll be scouting the way and doing
the rst port survey missions,” Hubbard promised his followers. “We will meet again
later.”
On Friday evening, January 24, 1986, Hubbard died in the Blue Bird bus that had
served as his living quarters for the past three years. Ray Mitho, Pat Broeker, and
Hubbard’s personal physician, Eugene Denk, were at his side, along with a handful of
acolytes and employees. His body had suered the usual insults of old age, along with
the consequences of obesity and a lifetime of heavy smoking. Dr. Denk had given him
injections of Vistaril, a tranquilizer, usually prescribed for anxiety. Whatever powers
Scientology was supposed to bestow were no more evident in the death of its founder
than they had been in his life.
Late that night, a handful of senior executives and a couple of private investigators
drove to a restaurant in Paso Robles, where they were met by Pat Broeker, who guided
them to the Creston ranch. The site was so secret that none of the executives, including
Miscavige, had ever actually been there. They arrived around four in the morning. Earle
Cooley, a church attorney, took charge of the body. At seven thirty that morning, about
twelve hours after Hubbard’s death, the mortuary in San Luis Obispo was notied.