"Charles Manson was a Scientologist

Charles Manson Was a Scientologist

"A very effective thought control technique
could also be worked out from Scientology,
which could be used to make
individuals into willing slaves."
L Ron Hubbard

Updated 11 September 2006

Arnie Lerma writes:

Charles Manson, having grown up in reform schools and penitentiaries, was trained by professional criminal minds, I bet his insight made it instantly apparant to Charles Manson, that Scientology was a useful tool to control minds. He valued it so much he even acquired a scientology E-meter so he could practice scientology.
What cannot be debated is that there was something in Scientology that a serial killer criminal mind found very appealing, useful.. it was a TOOL that empowered him, that provided the means, making him capable of not just being a lone monster like The Son of Sam, Jeffery Dahlmer, but one who was able to mould a group that would follow his every instruction and go out and do exactly what he had told them to do. And they did!

A reader comments on the above:

I find this aspect very interesting. It became apparent to me early on that the early Hubbardian "training routines" and other indoctrination practices are geared toward a few very specific, interrelated ends.
The early "training" in staring and being stared at for hours, screaming and being screamed at, imposing one's will, dominating conversations with trickery, etc. - they all have very specific uses.
One of those uses is what makes this early "bait-and-minion-training" part of the Hubbard Con so attractive to actors. Actors, just like con men, have to learn to "lie" with extreme effectiveness to do their jobs, short circuiting their natural behavior and actions - they have to lose stage fright, self-doubt and be CONfident no matter what they are saying or doing at a given time. They have to be able to demand and seize attention in order to be successful.
But I digress.
I'm working on a critical analysis of the Hubbard TRs, and the idea that other wannabe cult leaders would see Hubbard's techniques for what they are does not surprise me. It's long been in evidence that Manson at least dabbled in Hubbard techniques. Manson is evil and crazy, but still extremely crafty and even intelligent - just like Hubbard. It's hard to con a con man, and I am sure Manson saw quite clearly how he could put Hubbardian brainwashing and cult training to good use.
Right from the start, if you can get people to believe in two things that Hubbard taught as fundamental, you are well on your way to success as a cult leader:
1) Truth is a fiction; "truth" is relative.
2) The group (led by me and only me) is more important than you.
After that you can get people to do pretty much anything - like be willing participants in an organized crime cult. That's what Hubbard and Manson both did, to different degrees of "success."

The opening paragraph of the 'forward' written by PAUL KRASSNER, Editor of the REALIST, of book III of Peter Lavenda's "Sinister Forces" series, A Grimoire of American Political Witchcraft" "The Manson Secret".

"There are other Sams out there--God help the world." -David Berkowitz "
The Son of Sam serial killer

Paul Krassner:

In 1971, I began to write an article, "The Rise of Sirhan Sirhan in the Scientology Hierarchy" for my satirical magazine, The Realist. Then, in the course of my research, a strange thing happened. I learned of the actual involvement of Charles Manson with Scientology. In fact, there had been an E-Meter at the Spahn Ranch where his "family" stayed. Suddenly, I no longer had any reason to use Sirhan Sirhan as my protagonist. Reality will transcend allegory every time. So, although I had announced that I was going to publish that article, I started investigating the Manson case instead. Nevertheless, Scientology sued me for $750,000 for just those nine words- whoops, there goes the whole petty cash account-but I chose to fight them on l st Amendment grounds, and they eventually dropped the suit.

Book III of Peter Lavenda's "Sinister Forces" - Peter Lavenda:

"When manson was released in 1967, he went to the Scientology Center in San Francisco. Family member "Little Paul" Watkins, who accompanied him there told me, "Charlie said to them, "I'm Clear"-what do I do now?"
"In Los Angeles, he went to the Scientology Celebrity Center. Now this was more like it. Here he could mingle with the elite. i managed to obtain a copy of the original log entry: "7/31/68, new name, Charlie Manson, Devt., No Address In for Processing = Ethics = Type III." The receptionist-who by Type III, meant "psychotic"-sent him to the Ethics Office, but he never showed up."
"At the Spahn Ranch, Manson eclectically combined his version of Scientology auditing with post-hypnotic techniques he had learned in prison, with geographical isolation and subliminal motivation....."

Excerpt from Sinister Forces by Peter Lavenda Book III The Manson Secret
Page 196 - Return of the Process
A key element in Terry's thesis is that the Process Church of the Final Judgement is alive and well, and involved in nefarious activity stretching from drug-running to child prostitution to murder. This was also asserted in Ed Sanders' study of the Manson Family, The Family. Sanders was succesfully sued (in the United States) and references to both the Process and the OTO -- on The Ultimate Evil, so prevalent in the first edition of his book - were expunged by the time the book was republished. (This was not so in the United Kingdom, where the courts decided in favor of the publisher and author.)
However, Terry recounts in The Ultimate Evil his discussions with Sanders concerning these cults. Terry makes no bones about mentioning both the Process and is the OTO in The Ultimate Evil, and has evidently resisted any legal at attempts to get him to change his story.
What initially bothered Terry about the Process was the appearance in one of their issues (the "Death" issue) of an article written by Charles Manson. Critics of the Terry thesis have scoffed at this, saying that such persons as Marianne Faithfull and Salvador Dali also appeared in the Process magazine, my reaction is simply this, however:
what was Charles Manson doing in such in such august company? Further, Marianne Faithfull (as we have seen) had a long association with occultists of the Crowley dispensation through her relationship with Kenneth Anger. Dali himself was very involved in occultism, was well-known in several occult milieus, and his paintings-true to his reputation as a surrealist-reveal many occult and alchemical themes. There is a certain cultural or spiritual consistency to those who graced the pages of the Process magazine, and to dismiss Manson's appearance there as of little import is to be quite naive.. Further, as we have already learned, Manson told prosecutors Bugliosi that he and Robert Moore (the founder of the Process) were "the same." In addition, members of the Process on a mysterious mission visited Manson in prison after his arrest for the Tate/La Blanca killings, after which he no longer referred to The Process in any way. It is doubtful that Manson would have been worried about a lawsuit for slander, so we have to assume that something more was at stake.
In addition, we also have the visits by Manson Family member Bruce Davis to England on at least two occasions; as discussed in Book I, the British police agencies identified Davis as visiting the Scientologists and/or the Process on each visit. In fact, we also have the murders of former Scientologists in England at this time, members connected with the Manson Family and, as we will see, yet another Scientologist was killed, this time in connection with the Son of Sam case. That there was a connection -- however tenuous one believes it to be -- between Manson and the Process is known and documented, even in the Process' own publication. The neo-gnostic theology of the Process would have appealed to Manson, extolling as it does both Jesus and Satan-Manson thought he was both, anyway.
The next step is to find any relation at all between David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam murders, and the Process. If this can be done, then we have left the realm of pure speculation and have entered the world of logical possibility.
Let us begin with the dogs.
-end of excerpt-

The Process:

There were also some Scientology scandals in the town: "death lessons" (to be discussed later) and a scandal in December of 1967, when a number of Scientology children were picked up for shoplifting, and a girl who was taking a Scientology course was accused of immoral behavior.{15} The News of the World, which broke the story, said that a fifteen-year-old girl who was taking a Scientology course was found asleep near East Grinstead.

The next day, the girl allegedly admitted that she had had intercourse with three boys, once with a man she met at a youth club, the second time at a party where she said she got very drunk, and the third time with a gypsy, Their being Scientologists or children of Scientologists may have had nothing to do with their behavior, but Scientology was condemned nonetheless.

Another scandal in England which indirectly involved Scientology occurred in 1964. At that time, two Scientologists, Mary Ann, an illegitimate daughter of a Scots mill worker, and Robert de Grimston, a Scientologist, met in Scientology, married, and then left the Scientology movement.

They began their own group, which they called the "Process," although it was nicknamed "The Mindbenders" by others'

From a 28 August Email for an ex-member in Clearwater Florida area: "Did you know that RTC Reps now wear all black unifroms in public? Groups of them walking in Clearwater look exactly like SS Stormtroopers, and I believe the effect is intentional. They strike fear into staff as they approach" This is the uniform of the Church of the FINAL PROCESS..whose magazine ran Charles Manson on its front cover, all they have to add now are the black german shepards on chain leashs.

From HELTER SKELTER by Vincent T. Bugliosi, Paul Watkins when Bugliosi interviewed him about Manson's philosophy:

Manson had told him that while he was in prison he had studied Scientology, becoming a "theta" which Manson defined as being "clear". (p. 237)

An Ex-intelligence officer for Scientology, Robert Vaughn Young said:

"I...was at staff at the Davis franchise from 1969 until '71. ...Well, because of the work that I was doing in Davis, I started to do some public relations work as well as some other staff positions there, meeting the media. I was also running a program in Vacaville Prison, which is a medical facility that's just west of Sacramento -- happens to be the one where Charlie Manson was kept for a long time -- that I would go in every -- you know, every week and hold a class in Scientology."

A few selections from Snapping, by Flo Conway and Jim Siegleman This is also a MUST BE READ book for anyone involved in trying to do something about the Scientology problem and for mind control cults in general.

The Manson Murders.
Although it is public knowledge that Charles Manson was deeply interested in Scientology before he formed his Family, even though he never joined the sect, the possible resemblance between some Scientological practices and Manson's methods of controlling his band has not been fully explored. We do not believe or intend to imply that there was any formal or informal connection between the Church of Scientology and the now legendary murders of actress Sharon Tate and her houseguests and another couple, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. We are, however, suggesting a similarity between some techniques used and taught by Scientology and the manner in which Charles Manson manipulated the members of his Family.
Vincent Bugliosi, prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial, made frequent mention of Scientology and one-time Scientologists with ref- erence to Manson's life and career in his best-selling account of the case, Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, published in 1974. Bugliosi served up all the details of Manson's drifting, troubled youth-an illegitimate child, he bounced from town to town, engaging in a haphazard string of petty crimes and larcenous acts. Seventeen ofManson's first thirty-two years were spent in jails and prisons, yet, Bugliosi noted, Manson's criminal record to that time showed no sustained history of violence.
"Burglar, car thief, forger, pimp," he wrote, "was this the portrait of a mass murderer?"
It was in prison, apparently, that Manson became interested in Scientology. According to Helter Skelter, in the early sixties, Manson's tutor in Scientology was another convict, Lanier Rayner, and under his direction Manson claimed to have achieved Scientology's highest level, which he described as "Theta clear:" Bugliosi wrote that Manson, whose career goal was to gain recognition as a rock musician, remained interested in Scientology longer than in any other subject except music. A prison progress report written during that period asserted that Manson "appears to have developed a certain amount of insight into his problems through his study of this discipline."
There is no way to determine whether Charles Manson actually experienced becoming a Scientology clear. It is known that not long afterward, upon his release from prison in 1967, Manson began to formulate his grand delusionary and messianic schemes. It was also during this period that he began to demonstrate an uncanny ability to exert influence and control over other people.
Through the spring and summer of 1967, when Manson was recruiting members from the hippies, drifters and runaway flower children of the Haight, his fledgling Family had frequent interaction with an ominous tribe that lived just two blocks away. This was the archetypal sixties era religious cult called the Process, or the Church of the Final Judgment, a group whose members walked the streets in long black robes, preaching the imminent arrival of a violent Armageddon as presaged in the Book of Revelation. According to Bugliosi, the Process was founded by a former disciple of L. Ron Hubbard himself who broke with Scientology to form his own group after attaining an important position in Scientology's London headquarters Bugliosi cited numerous elements in Manson's worldview he believed were borrowed from the Process: distorted attitudes toward life and death, the worshipping of fear and violence, and a variety of satanic delusions and black revolutionary schemes."
Mansons activities as a pimp and forger and his years in prison certainly schooled him in his basic skills of an expert con man. But it may have been his expereinces with Rayner that provided him with some of his communication tools he used to manipulate the minds of his young followers. "Undoubtedly," wrote Bugliosi, "he picked up from his 'auditing' sessions in prison some knowledge of mind control, as well as some technques which he later put to use programming his followers.
Bugliosi identified these influences in his attempt to explain how Charles Manson formed his philosophy and recruited the Family. However, he declined to make any connection between Manson's background, with his protracted exposure to rudimentary techniques of controlling others, and the almost unbelievably twisted states of mind of his followers, in particular, the three women who were convicted along with Manson for the Tate-LaBianca murders: Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten."
"No one knows how Manson worked each individual conversion, but as we came to understand it, his technique was classic-and po- tent. In the Haight's atmosphere of psychedelics and free love, and later while recruiting young runaways on the Sunset Strip in Los An- geles, Manson approached prospective Family members, most of them young women, using two of the most common and effective cult re- cruiting ploys: affection and acceptance. More important, he relied on specific covert suggestions to stop thinking and questioning that, if heeded, might in themselves evoke the powerful snapping moment and condition of extreme vulnerability that follows.
Susan Atkins, in a book about her experiences in the Family, de- scribed what went on "in the storm of my mind" when she first met Manson. During a typical Haight scene of loud rock music and easy encounters, Manson came up behind her and began dancing with her, putting his hands on her hips and guiding her body in rhythmic, sen- sual movements. As she remembered the scene, he also planted pow- erful suggestions that opened her to his advances-both psychological and sexual.
"He whispered into my left ear," wrote Atkins, "`That's right. That's good.... In reality ... there's no repetition. No two moves, no two actions are the same. Everything is new. Let it be new.'"
It appears that, in this fleeting moment of physical contact, Manson managed to induce a profound snapping experience in Susan Atkins. "Suddenly I experienced a moment unlike any other," she wrote. "This stranger and I dancing, passed through one another. It was as though my body moved closer and closer to him and actually passed through him. I thought for a second that I would collapse. What had happened? Was I crazy? It was beyond human reality."
In the days that followed, Manson moved in on Susan Atkins in a total sexual and psychological assault. In their first sexual encounter, he took full advantage of the experience to bring her under his direct control. "You must break free from the past," Manson told her. "You must live now. There is no past. The past is gone. There's no tomorrow."

Webmaster Arnie Lerma's HOTTEST LINK - The CONfidence Man's biggest secret
An Introduction to the techniques used by Charles Manson, L Ron Hubbard, and confidence artists in general to covertly induce their desired, false, conclusions. Keep yourself from being manipulated by those who tell you things that you want to hear. Read Lermanet.com's Introduction to the:

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Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
From: an127900@anon.penet.fi
Date: Tue,  3 Jan 1995 18:28:05 UTC
Subject: Scientology and Helter Skelter [long]

 For whomever was asking about Scientology & Helter Skelter:

 I dug out my copy of Bugliosi's book "Helter Skelter."
     (for the uninitiated, Vincent Bugliosi is the guy
     who prosecuted the Manson gang after the
     Tate-Labianca murders in Los Angeles in 1969;
     "Helter Skelter", a sort of code-word used by the
     gang, is the title of a book he wrote with Curt
     Gentry about the case later.

 I give it my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION to anyone interested in
 courtroom drama and/or strategy, cults, or 60s sociology.
 There's also movie, by the same name, but I haven't seen it.).

 Here's most of what "the Bug" (as the Mansonites called
 him) says about Scientology or Hubbard:

     All references are from _Helter_Skelter_, by
     Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry, copyright 1974,
     W.W. Norton & Company Limited, New York (hardcover
     edition).  Single quotation marks denote quotations
     within the book.  All errors are mine unless
     otherwise noted with a [sic].

 Upon being arrested in 1961, "Manson gave as his claimed
 religion `Scientologist,' stating that he `has never
 settled upon a religious formula for his beliefs and is
 presently seeking an answer to his question in the new
 mental health cult known as Scientology.' "Scientology, an
 outgrowth of science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard's
 Dianetics, was just coming into vogue at this time.
 Manson's teacher, i.e.  `auditor', was another convice,
 Lanier Rayner.  Manson would later claim that while in
 prison he achieved Scientology's highest level, `beta-
 clear'.

 "Although Manson remained interested in Scientology much
 longer than he did in any other subject except music, it
 appears that...he stuck with it only as long as his
 enthusiasm lasted, then dropped it, extracting and
 retaining a number of phrases (`auditioning' [sic], 'cease
 to exist', 'coming to Now') and some concepts (karma,
 reincarnation, etc.) which, perhaps fittingly, Scientology
 had borrowed in the first place." (pp. 144-145)

 By August of 1966, with little other explanation than his
 constant inability to stick with anything, a pre-release
 prison report mentions that   "Manson had no further
 interest in academic or vocational training; that he was
 no longer an advocate of Scientology..." (p. 146)

 Charlie was more interested in a dark offshoot of a former
 Scientologist; a satanic cult:  "The Process, also known
 as the Church of the Final Judgement... a very strange
 cult.  Led by one Robert DeGrimston, t/n [true name]
 Robert Moore - who like Manson, was an ex-Scientologist --
 its members worshipped both Satan and Christ..." (p. 224)

 An almost amusing vignette came from Paul "Tex" Watkins
 (an incredibly brutal and cold-blooded murderer) when
 Bugliosi interviewed him about Manson's philosophy:

 "...Manson had told him that while he was in prison he had
 studied Scientology, becoming a "theta" which Manson
 defined as being "clear".  Watkins said that in the summer
 of 1968 he and Charlie had dropped into a Church of
 Scientology in downtown Los Angeles, and Manson asked the
 receptionist, "What do you do after `clear'?" When she was
 unable to tell him anything he hadn't already done, Manson
 walked out." (p. 237)

 Finally, Bugliosi sums up Manson's relationship with Scientology:
     "I knew...that Manson was an eclectic, a borrower of
     ideas. I knew too, both from his prison records and
     from my conversations with him, that Manson's
     involvement with Scientology had been more than a
     passing fad.  Manson told me, as he had Paul Watkins,
     that he had reached the highest stage, `beta clear',
     and no longer had any connection with or need for
     Scientology.  I was inclined to accept at least the
     latter portion of his claim.

 In my rather extensive investigation, I found no evidence
 of any kind that Manson was involved with Scientology
 after his release from prison in 1967.
     [Footnote inserted in text: One of Manson's chief
     disciples, Bruce Davis,  was very closely involved
     with Scientology for a time, working in its London
     headquarters from about November  or December of
     1968 to April of 1969.  According to a Scientology
     spokesman, Davis was kicked out of the organization
     for his drug use.  He returned to the Manson
     family...in time to participate in the Hinman and
     Shea slayings.]...

 "Manson's link with The Process, or the Church of the
 Final Judgement, is more tenuous...The leader of the
 satanic cult is Robert Moore, whose cult name is Robert
 DeGrimston.  Himself a former disciple of Scientology
 founder L. Ron Hubbard, Moore broke with Scientology about
 1963 to form his own group, after apparently attaining a
 high position in the London headquarters..." (p. 470).

 And a final note, perhaps irrelevant:

From Bugliosi HELTER SKELTER -- page 647
"On November 21, 1969, the bodies of James Sharp, 15, and
 Doreen Gaul, 19, were found in an alley in downtown Los
 Angeles. The two...had been killed elsewhere...then
 dumped there. Each had been stabbed over 50 times...
 "Both James Sharp and Doreen Gaul were Scientologists,
 the latter a Scientology `clear' who had been residing in
 a Church of Scientology commune less than two miles from
 the Labianca residence.  According to several sources,
 Doreen Gaul was a former girl friend of Manson Family
 member Bruce Davis, who, like Manson himself, was an
 ex-scientologist...[Davis] disappeared shortly after
 being questioned [about another murder]." (p. 478)

 All in all, pretty sordid stuff; but as you can see, not
 much evidence that Scientology had very much influence on
 Manson.  In fact, unless the terminology has changed
 since the mid-60s, it seems like he didn't even
 understand too much of what he was studying... or are
 terms like "beta-clear" etc. real?

 Anyway, there's much more about Scientology in Ed
 Saunders' _The_Family, if I remember correctly; if I can
 only remember where I've stashed *that*...

Rickie
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========
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Manson speaks
From: MS2241A@american.edu (Matt Shearer)
Date: 28 Oct 1995 14:58:58 GMT

on "psychs":
"The subject that interested me was understanding and knowing my own 
mind. Prison psychs had told me often enough that I had 'persecution'
and  'inferiority' complexed but they never did anything to help me overcome 
those faults...""Manson in His Own Words", as told to Nuel Emmons. Grove Weidenfeld, New

York, 1986 p.69

on his favorite reading topics while in prison:
"I read whatever books I could find (and understand) that dealt with
mind development. A cell partner turned me on to Scientology. With him and 
another guy I got pretty heavy into Dianetics and Scientology. Through 
this and by other studies, I came out of my state of depression. I was 
understanding myself better, had a positive outlook on life, and knew
how to direct my energies to each day and each task"
ibid., p. 69-70

on his conversations with Alan "Creepy" Karpis, an imprisoned hit-man:
"There were times when I would try to sell Karpis on the things I was 
learning through Scientology. 'Kid', he would say, 'your mind is your 
greatest friend, yet it can be your worst enemy. Don't get it more
fucked up than the world has already made it.'"
ibid., p.73

Charlie also mentions his associate Bruce Davis had been involved in 
Scientology at one point, verifying the claims of others on this group.

I do not claim any connections between any organization and the 
Tate-Labianca murders.
-Matt

From: emerald@alpha.c2.org (Emerald)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: That darn Manson
Date: 25 Nov 1995 05:14:28 +0100
Organization: Mail to Usenet Gateway at Utopia
Message-ID: <199511250407.UAA23777@infinity.c2.org>

[From a letter to Mary Sue Hubbard, author unknown, dated 22 June 70.
 Seized in the 1977 FBI raids.]

Report of interview with Raul Morales, Re: Charles Manson.
According to Raul:  Raul arrived in prison on McNeil Island,
Washington in 1962 and became a cell mate of Lafayette Raimer
allegedly a trained Scientology auditor (about Level I in
Rauls's estimation) and was introduced to Scientology at that
time.  Raimer was auditing in prison at that time and in one
10 man cell had managed to gather a group of about 7, all in
Scientology.  Charles Manson entered later and studied, did TR0
etc. along with his cell-mates and received approximately 150
hours of auditing from Raimer.  Processes used were CCH's,
Help processes (Who have you helped-Who have you not helped) and
other Dichotomy processes (Rauls terms, such as What can you
confront, what would you rather not confront), Havingness (Such
as "What can you have?" "Look around and find something you can
have.  Look around and find something you're not in."  Raimer kept
records of his auditing.  Manson got super-energetic & flipped
out when he'd been audited and would, for a time, talk about
nothing but Scientology to the extent that people avoided his
company.  After a while, however, Manson was screaming to get away
from his auditor (in Raul's opinion, he'd been severely over-run
or something).  He eventually managed to get put in solitary confi-
nement to get away from his auditor.  Eventually prison officials
got suspicious of the groups strange activities and broke up the
group.

--
emerald@alpha.c2.org
========
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Re: Repost: Charles Manson and scientology
From: lepton@panix.com (Mike O'Connor)
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 01:16:43 -0500

In article <4iq30n$g5d@crl12.crl.com>, milne@crl.com (Andrew Milne)
wrote:

[...]
>             Indeed, in 1971, Vincent T.  Bugliosi -- former Los
>       Angeles deputy district attorney in charge of the Manson case
>       for the city, and subsequent author of the best selling book
>       "Helter Skelter" -- stated the following in a letter
>       addressing this point:
> 
>             "This is to advise that our investigation of the
>       Tate-La Bianca murders has not revealed any evidence showing
>       that any member of the Church of Scientology was involved in
>       these murders, nor have we found any evidence that Charles
>       Manson was a practicing member of the Church of Scientology
>       at the time of the aforementioned murders.
> 
>             "I hope the above statement will be of some value to
>       you and your church in the event that anyone in the future
>       accuses the Church of Scientology of being somehow involved
>       in these heinous murders." 
> 
>             Thus any attempts to link Manson and his crimes to
>       Scientology is a sorry and spurious attempt to create
>       controversy where there is none, as proven here.

Not DURING the murders, BEFORE the murders. Let's see what else Mr.
Bugliosi says, then what Manson says, then what some others say:

++++++++++++++++++++++

 Upon being arrested in 1961, "Manson gave as his claimed
 religion `Scientologist,' stating that he `has never
 settled upon a religious formula for his beliefs and is
 presently seeking an answer to his question in the new
 mental health cult known as Scientology.' "Scientology, an
 outgrowth of science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard's
 Dianetics, was just coming into vogue at this time.
 Manson's teacher, i.e.  `auditor', was another convice,
 Lanier Rayner.  Manson would later claim that while in
 prison he achieved Scientology's highest level, `beta-
 clear'...

 "Although Manson remained interested in Scientology much
 longer than he did in any other subject except music, it
 appears that...he stuck with it only as long as his
 enthusiasm lasted, then dropped it, extracting and
 retaining a number of phrases (`auditioning' [sic], 'cease
 to exist', 'coming to Now') and some concepts (karma,
 reincarnation, etc.) which, perhaps fittingly, Scientology
 had borrowed in the first place."

  -- HELTER SKELTER by Vincent T. Bugliosi, page 144

++++++++++++++++++++++

 By August of 1966, with little other explanation than his
 constant inability to stick with anything, a pre-release
 prison report mentions that   "Manson had no further
 interest in academic or vocational training; that he was
 no longer an advocate of Scientology..."

  -- HELTER SKELTER by Vincent T. Bugliosi, page 146

++++++++++++++++++++++

"I knew too, both from his prison records and from my conversations
with him, that Manson's involvement with Scientology had been more
than a passing fad. Manson told me, as he had Paul Watkins, that he
had reached the highest state, "theta clear", and no longer had any
connection with or need for Scienology."

  -- HELTER SKELTER by Vincent T. Bugliosi, page 635

++++++++++++++++++++++

On November 21, 1969, the bodies of James Sharp, fiften, and Dorren
Gaul, nineteen, were found in an alley in downtown Los Angeles. The
two teen-agers had been killed elsewhere with a long-bladed kniife or
bayonet, then dumped there. Each had been stabbed over fifty times.

Ramparts division Leiutenant Earl Deemer investigated the Sharp-Gaul
murders, as did Los Angeles Times reporter Cohen. Although the two men
felt there was a good possibility that a Familty member was involved
in the slayings, the murders remain unsolved.

Both James Sharp and Doreen Gaul were Scientologists, the latter a
Scientology "clear" who had been residing in a Church of Scientology
house. According to unconfirmed reports, Doreen Gaul was a former girl
friend of Manson Family member Bruce Davis, himself an
ex-Scientologist.

Davis' whereabouts at the times of the murders of Sharp, Gaul and Jane
Doe 59 are not known. He disappeared shortly after being questioned in
connection with the death of Zero.

On December 1, 1969, Joel Dean Pugh, husband of Family member Sandy
Good, was found with his throat slit in a London hotel room. As noted,
local police ruled the death a suicide. On learning of Pugh's demise,
Inyo County DA Frank Fowles made official inquiries, specifically
asking Interpol to check visas to detrmine if one Bruce Davis was in
England at the time.

Scotland Yard replied as follows: "It has been established that Davis
is recorded as embarking at London airport for the United States of
America on 25th April 1969 while holding United States passport 612
2568. At this time he gave his address as Dormer Cottage, Felbridge,
Surrey. This address is owned by the Scientology Movement and houses
followers of this organization."

  -- HELTER SKELTER by Vincent T. Bugliosi, page 647

++++++++++++++++++++++

"The subject that interested me was understanding and knowing my own
mind.
Prison psychs had told me often enough that I had 'persecution' and
'inferiority' complexed but they never did anything to help me overcome
those faults..."

"I read whatever books I could find (and understand) that dealt with
mind
development. A cell partner turned me on to Scientology. With him and
another guy I got pretty heavy into Dianetics and Scientology. Through
this and by other studies, I came out of my state of depression. I was
understanding myself better, had a positive outlook on life, and knew
how
to direct my energies to each day and each task"

  -- MANSON IN HIS OWN WORDS, as told to Nuel Emmons p.69

++++++++++++++++++++++

"There were times when I would try to sell Karpis on the things I was
learning through Scientology. 'Kid', he would say, 'your mind is your
greatest friend, yet it can be your worst enemy. Don't get it more
fucked
up than the world has already made it.'"

  -- MANSON IN HIS OWN WORDS, as told to Nuel Emmons p.69
     [on Alan "Creepy" Karpis, an imprisoned hit-man]

++++++++++++++++++++++

One famous, in fact infamous person interested in Scientology 
that they do not boast about, talk about, or probably even want 
is Charles Manson, the convicted murderer of Sharon Tate and 
her friends. The New York Times stated that Manson first got 
interested in Scientology while he was incarcerated in the McNeil 
Island Penitentiary in Washington (Scientology' has programs for 
prisons). After his release, The Times reported, he went to 
Los Angeles where he was said to have met local Scientologists 
and attended several parties for movie stars, possibly the July 
18 dedication of the celebrity center. Scientology literature 
was also said to be found at the ranch when Manson and his family 
were captured. But for reasons unknown, it is claimed that Manson 
may have been made a "suppressive person" by the Scientologists, 
and there have also been hints that he may have joined the Process, 
the sex and satan group which originally broke away from Scientology,.

  -- A PIECE OF BLUE SKY

++++++++++++++++++++++

KEY DEFENSIVE MATERIALS

The following is a list of VITAL materials that will help you
understand how Dianetics and Scientology according to their own
internal and secret policies tends to deal with their advesaries
in a conflict. Knowing it in advance you can save yourself a lot
of difficulty.

[...]

The following list of documents were siezed by the FBI on its
authorized search of Scientology's headquarters in LA and
Washington DC. They are all obtainable using the freedom of
Information act, request procedures. Complete sets have also
been sent to the three anti cult organizations mentioned near
the end of this document.

5.*  Write up of May 1, 1974. Regarding Security and Theft of
Ma~erials. (How to for, breaking and entering procedures.)

6.*  Write up December 2, 1974.

7.   L.R.H. Aides Conference. November 2, 1969. Covert
Operations.

8.*  Intelligence Specialist Training Routine. TR-L (Intel TR's,
How to lie effectively.)

9.*  FBI Document #8592.

10.* Red Box Data Information Sheet (Contains information on how
to purge internal files of disinformation, non profit lobbying,
and any information which would show that Church of Scientology
motives were nonhumanitarian.)

11.* Operation Freakout. April 1 1976. (Church attempts to drive
insane, incapitate, or jail critic using 5.5. and Gestapo like
tactics.)

12.  June 22, 1970. Compliance Report Regarding Charles Manson,
Bruce Davis. (Manson went a bit wild on Auditing.)

[...]

  - Lawrence Wollersheim
    FACTNET document

++++++++++++++++++++++

From: dennis.l.erlich@support.com
Message-ID: <9510252121.0U0BI04@support.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 95 21:21:40 -0700

[...]
   OSA has a standard patter to answer the Manson allegations.  

   Trouble is, it's not true.  Manson was a scieno.  He took the
   Comm Course at LA Org in 67, I believe it was.  Before I got
   there.  I remember hearing something about it when the vetting
   occurred.

++++++++++++++++++++++

From: anon-remailer@utopia.hacktic.nl (Anonymous)
Date: 30 Oct 1995 08:48:23 +0100
Message-ID: <472007$5qf@utopia.hacktic.nl>

[...]
>nobody@flame.alias.net (Anonymous) wrote: [...]
>> In article <46ppt5$1v8@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, DWTripp  
>> wrote: 
>> 
>> >I was on ASHO staff at the time. I did hold a tech post. My knowledge
>> >regarding GO actions in the wake of Manson's arrest came from my
>> >attendence at regular Friday night poker games where the presence of
>> >Henning Heldt, Martin Greenberg  and other GO people was consistent. Yes,
>> >they did talk shop. The "claim" made at the time (I believe it was Martin)
>> >was that LA Org records had shown that Manson had possibly done a
>> >Communications Course and bought some books. No refernce was ever made
>> >regarding any purge of records and if such was done, it was likely
>> >initiated by LA Org Execs. Possibly even Erlich.
>> 
>> This is bullshit. This is the GO trying to MINIMIZE Manson's

Not bullshit.

>> involvement. Using the word "possibly" is trying to avoid an outright
>> lie (Manson wasn't involved) to a fellow Scientologist.
>> 
>> You all have the WRONG slant on this. I'm not saying Charles Manson
               ^^^                  ^^^^^^^

Correction,  mostly all wrong.  Too much speculation, too few facts.

Charles Manson was a Scientologist.
"Possibly" is correct re Comm Course at LA Day.
In addition to auditing when he was in jail,
Charles Manson was "being handled" as a
"clandestine op" off org lines. (If you don't know
what this means, ask Dennis - or Henning or
Moxon or McShane or DM if you can.)

When the news of the murders reached MSH
and LRH on the ship they immediately sent an
encoded telex to D/G US to cancel the msn and
vet all records.  A GO "assessment" was done
to evaluate the risk to LRH (not Scn) if info re
the Manson connection was discovered.
(ONLY Henning, the ops and the missionaire
should have known and certainly this would
NOT have been poker party chat.) Years
later, when Manson's name came up again
LRH ordered another "assessment" done.
This time the order travelled thru the CMO
and was seen to by none other than ________ .

Be ye able to fill in the blank, Andy, boy?
Tak' th' high road and ask aboot yoor
own hoose, me laddy.

Rocks be a' slammin'

Old Timer

++++++++++++++++++++++
-Mike

========
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Re: Community Improvement - Doing something effective about it
From: cat@brc.ubc.ca (Cat Davidson-Hall)
Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 12:42:49 -0800

In article ,
koreenb@jovanet.com (Cory Brennan) wrote:

> Below are two accounts from prisoners who went through the Criminon
> program, a program which uses technology developed by L Ron Hubbard to
> rehabilitate criminals.

I interrupt Cory's unverifiable anecdotes to bring you another Big Win
for Scientology in America's prison system.  Unlike Cory's stories, my
little quote is easily confirmed.  

"A cell partner turned me on to Scientology. With him and
another guy I got pretty heavy into Dianetics and Scientology. Through
this and by other studies, I came out of my state of depression. I was
understanding myself better, had a positive outlook on life, and knew
how to direct my energies to each day and each task" 

Charles Manson, from _Manson: In His Own Words_

Care to comment, Cory?

Cat
SP4, KoX

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"Your honor, They can say anything they want about us on the internet,
all we care about are our copyrights""