Scientology’s never-before-seen secret bases revealed

The last of the Church of Scientology’s top-secret bases have been revealed to be located in an eerie Northern California outpost, a deserted Midwest ranch, and the former home of late Dallas star Larry Hagman, DailyMail.com can disclose. 

The Church of Spiritual Technology (CST), Scientology’s most hush-hush subsidiaries and its richest, with assets worth tens of billions, purchased the actor’s Ojai home in 2014 for $5 million.

But the 43 acres of land, with an estate that boasted nine-bedrooms, ten bathrooms, and an outdoor pool, now stands as a $30,000-a-month rehab facility catered to the troubled friends of celebrity Scientologists, according to a former church member.

Meanwhile, the remote sites of Petrolia, a small coastal town in Northern California, and Sweeney Ranch, in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, were also acquired by CST and have been converted into spaceship-like buildings and bizarre underground vaults.

These remote sites, pictured for the first time by DailyMail.com, each include massive underground vaults and  a palatial home for the return of church leader L Ron Hubbard, who died in 1986. Scientologists believed he will come back to earth in a different body and ‘carry on’ in one of these bases. 

Set on 43 acres, the vast estate has been transformed into a rehab facility run by Scientology’s Narconon, which caters to the Church’s celebrity members in need of assistance 

John Travolta’s wife Kelly Preston, who opened the Ojai Narconon Center in September 2015 has praised the facility for its work, however, one insider claimed that it is actually used as a recruiting ground by celebrity Scientologists to entice their friends into the Church

A typical three-month stint at the rehab center can cost about $90,000, an insider told DailyMail.com. The facility offers a detoxification program with an exercise area and saunas (pictured) 

Narconon programs are run throughout the US and Europe but are controversial because of the methods it uses to rehabilitate and educate addicts since it’s based on Scientology courses, which critics say are medically unproven

Bizarre rehab methods include reading Alice in Wonderland out loud, blinking competitions, ‘talking to a wall’ and speaking to inanimate objects. A former church member has claimed the staff at the rehab center are all on drugs 

CST’s logo, two interlinking circles with diamonds in the middle are also etched into the land, to guide Hubbard’s spirit home. 

CST began buying up nearby farmland and ranches in 1984 – including illegally burning down a town’s oldest building – as part of their plan to develop bases to serve as storage sites for Hubbard’s extensive work as well as safe havens for Scientology’s elite in the event of a doomsday scenario. 

At each site, there’s a secret, holocaust-proof vault to store millions of titanium discs, with Hubbard’s documents laser-printed on them. Hubbard holds the world record for being the most prolific writer ever, writing 65 million words. 

I Dream of Jeannie actor Larry Hagman, who died in 2012, was known for using the home as a party venue

In an exclusive interview with former Sea Org member Dylan Gill, a construction engineer, he recalls being assigned the task of overseeing the building of Petrolia’s vault, despite his young age and the Church ignoring the fact that the land was on a major fault line. 

‘I was 19 at the time and handling $40 million worth of properties. I was chosen by people who didn’t know what they were doing, everyone was following orders and if they didn’t, then they’d be in the RPF [Rehabilitation Project Force, former members refer to this as the equivalent of a Scientology prison],’ Gill said.  

The church wanted to build a stainless steel vault to house the works of their founder Hubbard – ‘hold the wisdom of the ages’ they revealed to Petrolia Town Council.

But locals believed that the Church had ulterior motives. The now defunct North Coastal Journal wrote: ‘The breadth and dimension of the vault stagger the imagination: 100 feet longer than a football field and 20 feet in diameter, the two-story sarcophagus is almost complete. It is designed to withstand the ravages of nature as well as man-made destruction.

‘Some residents of Ferndale and Petrolia are anxious. They are in wonder at the proposed use of the vaults. Why three or four vaults of such size to store the works of one man? they ask. What else is going into the vaults?’

But the CST was true to their word, it was indeed building a huge underground storage unit for Hubbard’s entire works. 

Petrolia, a desolate North Californian base, with a Star Wars-like Millennium Falcon (right) building hiding a huge underground vault the size of a football housing thousands of scriptures written by founder L. Ron Hubbard

The base also has a helipad, a specially built house for when Hubbard returns to earth in a different body, which is what Scientologists believe and its classic symbols etched into the land – two joining circles with a diamond in the middle

Exclusive aerial photos show the Petrolia base, which is situated 270 miles north of Sacramento, has the signature ‘LRH Building’, a helipad, and a caretaker’s building, which looks similar to the fictional Millennium Falcon starship, and lies on top of a massive underground vault

Secret vaults: CST constructed secret underground storage spaces that are 100ft by 20ft wide and the purpose was to hold copies of L Ron Hubbard’s works on steel plates, papers, tapes and CDs, a source said 

Exclusive aerial photos show the Petrolia base, which is situated 270 miles north of Sacramento, has the signature ‘LRH Building’, a helipad, and a caretaker’s building, which looks similar to the fictional Millennium Falcon starship, and lies on top of a massive underground vault. 

‘The CST would buy property to save Scientology, which would, in turn, save mankind. Everyone was trying to do the good thing, but had no idea, and had been told to make it work,’ Gill added. 

‘At this point, LRH was still alive, he created CST as he wanted to immortalize himself for the rest of time, to keep the pulp fiction going, archive and conserve his work forever. 

‘Every vault and every site is meant to be a huge library. The bases are only designed to have one or two staff members, who will support the whole base. When LRH supposedly returns, it’s all set up for him to carry on.’ 

CST has five bases across America, including one in Trementina, New Mexico, and another in Twin Peaks in the San Bernardino Mountains.

The former has been dubbed the ‘alien spaceship’ while the latter is where it’s rumored leader David Miscavige’s wife Shelley, who has not been seen in public since 2005, is being held. 

‘Twin Peaks was the model. We had two tunnels side by side. But the land was either granite, rock, or unstable, that’s why Petrolia is all so spread out, as we couldn’t find enough area where we could put in corrugated steel to build the actual vault. We were like kids with no education, we had no plan,’ Gill said.

‘The vault goes into the side of the slope, it wasn’t done very well, but we told them it’d last 500 years and withstand anything. The vault had two tubes of steel then concrete floors were poured into it. The vaults were 100ft by 20ft wide, the purpose was to hold copies of his works on steel plates, papers, tapes and CDs. Archiving and preserving.’

Each base, contained CST’s logo, two interlinking circles with diamonds in the middle are also etched into the land, to ‘guide Hubbard’s spirit home.’ Above is the logo in Trementina, New Mexico

Like all the other CST bases, Petrolia also had another reason for its existence – in the case of Armageddon, then the high ranking executives would have a safe haven.

The accommodation would save the the highest ranked Scientology members such as leader David Miscavige and celebrity followers such as Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Kirstie Alley.

‘Every base is built with a log cabin at the bottom, they were for the execs and if LRH came back. It was lavish. We were making workspaces for them. I could see them going there and thinking: ‘This is cool,’ adds Gill. 

But if Petrolia was a comparative success, then the site at Sweeney Ranch in Wyoming was an unmitigated disaster for the Church. 

After purchasing it, the Church wanted to do what they’d done at the previous CST bases and create a house for Hubbard and a special vault. They began building work illegally, but their plans ran afoul of the local authorities, who didn’t want them changing the use from agriculture and made them stop in 2009, according to reports.

They were forced to return it to its former grassland, then, in 2015, it was reported that they had their certificate of authority revoked by the Secretary of State.

Astonishing drone footage by an anonymous pilot, who goes by the name of Angry Thetan, shows that all that is left are a few storage containers dotted around grazing cows. The Church had to abandon their so-far last attempt at preserving the works of Hubbard. 

When the Church purchased Hagman’s former home, there was intrigue as to why it would need such a grand property in the tiny Californian mountain town of Ojai, known more for hippies and Bohemian artists. 

Sweeney Ranch, in Sweetwater County, Wyoming is one of the five secret bases, but it is now abandoned

After purchasing it, the Church began to build a house for Hubbard and a special vault. They began building work illegally, but their plans ran afoul of the local authorities, who didn’t want them changing the use from agriculture and made them stop in 2009 

The base is located in a tiny remote community in Wyoming, where there is a population of 17 people 

Astonishing drone footage by an anonymous pilot, who goes by the name of Angry Thetan, shows that all that is left are a few storage containers dotted around grazing cows. The Church had to abandon their so-far last attempt at preserving the works of Hubbard

Hagman was notorious for using the home as a party venue. The estate included an outdoor pool that snaked around the house, an indoor saltwater pool in the lounge, and, of course, a huge hatstand for the soap actor’s famous collection of cowboy hats.

The grand room hosted parties of up to 200 people and was full of cigar smoke and Bourbon. 

But the church has opened up the doors of Hagman’s old place and turned it into one of the most exclusive celebrity detox clinics in the US. 

It’s billed by the Church as an ‘acclaimed drug rehabilitation service to artists and leaders in society.’

It’s run by Narconon, whose parent company is the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), an organization owned and controlled by the Church of Scientology.

A former Narconon executive claims that some Scientology stars have even entered the Church drug rehab program, which has been promoted by Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Kirstie Alley, who was once the official spokesperson.

Cruise called it, ‘The authority on getting people off drugs’ while Travolta said, ‘Compared with other rehabs, we are the best.’ 

There were even tabloid reports that Cruise tried to get his ex-wife Nicole Kidman’s husband Keith Urban into a Narconon facility.

Former Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder described the place as somewhere for ‘Tom Cruise, John Travolta, or someone who has a celeb contact they want to help and there is nowhere to send tfhem.’

Bizarre rehab methods in Hubbard’s course booklet include reading Alice in Wonderland out loud, blinking competitions, ‘talking to a wall’ and telling an ashtray to stand up.

The former top Narconon executive says that Scientology rehab centers have hosted some of the biggest names in the movie and music world, where the average patient stays for three to four months, and they’re regularly visited by ‘Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Priscilla Presley.’

It was Travolta’s wife Kelly Preston, who opened the Ojai Narconon Center in September 2015, saying that ‘for many years we’ve dreamed of having a Narconon as perfectly suited to artists as this one is. Year after year, we are losing our artists and colleagues we’ve worked with—often at too young an age.’

The luxury rehab center caters to the troubled friends of celebrity Scientologists, according to a former church member. However, an insider said some famous Scientologists have used it for their own addictions. Pictured above are some of the most prominent members of the church Tom Cruise, Kelly Preston, John Travolta, and Kirstie Alley 

However, an insider told DailyMail.com that Scientology celebrities have used the facilities for their own addictions, but would not reveal who because of client confidentiality. They also confessed that it’s used as a recruiting ground by celebrity Scientologists to entice their friends into the Church.

The source said: ‘By doing the Narconon program, patients/clients are already participating in Scientology, whether they realize it or not. The person who referred them would definitely try to get them over to the Celebrity Center afterward to do more services.

‘Most Narconon centers cost around $30,000 for a three month detox, but I believe the Ojai Centre is around $30,000 for each month, meaning it costs closer to $90,000 for a normal stint.’

Narconon programs are run throughout the US and Europe but are controversial because of the methods it uses to rehabilitate and educate addicts since it’s based on Scientology courses, which critics say are either medically unproven.

There’s been controversial deaths at their centers across Europe and at the chief facility, Narconon Arrowhead, in Oklahoma, where three patients died in a nine-month period in 2012. This was investigated by local police and health authorities, and resulted in the revoking of the facility’s permit for medical detoxification and refusing staff counselling certificates.

But Scientology says that it’s methods work and it’s helped reform thousands across the globe. On its website, it states: ‘The Narconon program begins with a drug-free, non-medical withdrawal process designed to assist the individual in kicking a dependence on drugs as rapidly and comfortably as possible. 

Ex-member Nick Lister (Ieft) developed a short-term cocaine habit in 2010 and was sent to Narconon’s flagship facility in Oklahoma. In an interview with Growing up in Scientology, he explains to former Scientologist Aaron Smith-Levin (right) saying: ‘About 75 per cent of staff members [were on drugs while I was there] ‘ he claims 

As part of an addict’s rehabilitation, they will have to complete a series of Scientology drills called Training Routines (TRs) from TR 0 to 9 – ten in all – which are ways to learn how to communicate effectively and control situations. Some are stranger than others, and include:

TR-0: Operating Thetan

Confronting where two students sit facing each other with their eyes closed, and the routine ends when they can sit without movement or drowsiness for extended periods.

TR-0: Confronting

A student and coach face each other with eyes open, the routine ends when the student can confront the coach for at least two hours without movement, excessive blinking, or loss of attention.

TR-1: Dear Alice

The student reads several lines from Alice in Wonderland to the coach as if saying them himself, and it’s up to the coach if he’s done this competently.

TR-2: Acknowledgements

The coach reads the student lines from Alice in Wonderland in a reversal of TR-1. The student must acknowledge each line so as to clearly end the cycle of communication.

TR-6: Body Control

The student moves the coach’s body around a room. In the first half of the routine the student steers the coach by silent actions. In the second half, the student uses verbal commands such as: ‘Walk over to the wall’ and ‘Talk to the wall.’

TR-8: Tone 40 on an Object

The student repeatedly commands an ashtray to stand up and sit down, acknowledging each action, although the student holds the ashtray throughout the exercise.

The church maintains the drills are effective, but a former Scientologist claimed that in reality, ‘All the staff and patients are taking drugs together.’

Ex-member Nick Listerdeveloped a short-term cocaine habit in 2010 after the Church put him through a series of tough courses because he’d been hanging around with ‘Suppressive Persons,’ he claims. 

When his Scientologist mother Sara Goldberg found out about it, she got him a place at Narconon’s flagship facility in Oklahoma.

Part of Narconon’s philosophy is that patients who ‘graduate’ the drug rehab program are urged to become staff members. 

In an interview with Growing up in Scientology, he explains these issues to former Scientologist Aaron Smith-Levin, saying: ‘About 75 per cent of staff members [were on drugs while I was there],’ he claimed. 

When asked if they were doing it with students, he responded: ‘Some of them. It’s everywhere.’ 

He then went on to list the drugs on offer – ‘liquor, dilaudid [an opiate], steroids, weed, heroin, coke.’

Smith-Levin then explained his own experience, claiming: ‘I have knowledge of another Narconon facility where the staff members were getting in trouble for doing drugs with the students. I can understand students trying rehab, sneaking drugs, it’s a little harder to understand staff members doing drugs with students.’

In 2015, Lister, a former assistant teacher, made headlines after revealing that Tom’s 14-year-old niece Jamie Lesavoy – daughter of his sister Cass and one of his pupils at the Scientology school in Clearwater, Florida – was banished from the family by Tom for years after being caught making out with her boyfriend on the property of her famous uncle.

‘We were really, really good friends,’ says Lister. ‘She had gotten kicked out of the family by Tom Cruise. She was always just very upset.’ 

Last month, Scientology announced it had opened two churches, one in Silicon Valley and another in Salt Lake City. The church called the event an ‘unprecedented, history making weekend.’