Blown for Good: Scientology Exposed
Marc Headley worked at Scientology’s secret desert compound, which houses all Scientology management, for 15 years. The 500-acre property is located deep in the California desert. The local townspeople were told lectures and films were made there. But is that all that was happening? It is the location of a multi-million dollar home for L. Ron Hubbard, built two decades after his death. It is the home of Scientology’s current leader, David Miscavige. So what really happens at the Int Base? Are the stories on the internet true? How does Scientology conduct management of its day-to-day operations? Could stories of armed guards, weapons, staff beatings, and razor wire fences be true? If so, how could a facility like this exist in modern-day America? Hundreds of staff tried to escape over the years. Some succeeded but were never seen or heard of again, and most failed. Why were people kept here? What really went on at the headquarters of Scientology? This is the story of what happened behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology.
Episodes
A ship. A hotel turned school. A childhood taught to keep secrets. Pamela Nicole Williams joins us to trace a rare, ground-level history of Scientology—from her parents’ early work around Hubbard in D.C. and training at St. Hill to life aboard the Royal Scotman before the Sea Org took full shape. Her memoir, Clearly Lies Are True, threads vivid scenes with careful research to show how a movement’s promises filtered in...
The glossy reels say “global help.” The insiders tell a different story. We sit down with director Mitch Brisker to map how Scientology reengineered Narconon after multiple deaths, shifted operations from the secretive International Base to Los Angeles, and used a made-for-TV sheen to mask liability and control. Mitch was there through the rewrites, the SMP launch, and the clampdowns—and he explains how the organizati...
A holiday shouldn’t require a stopwatch. We open up about what Thanksgiving and Christmas looked like inside Scientology’s Sea Org—15-minute meals stretched to 45, staged fireplace photos mailed home as “proof of life,” and a steady drumbeat that family time was off-purpose. While most people are baking pies and booking flights, we were filing petitions, dodging “PTS” labels, and watching “important” church holidays t...
What happens when you strip the mystique from Scientology and just answer the hard questions? We open the inbox and go straight at the topics most people tiptoe around: where Shelly Miscavige is likely being held, why so few members ever reach OT 3, what really happens to body thetans, and why OT 9 and 10 never seem to materialize. No hedging, no euphemisms—just clarity from people who lived inside the system for year...
A space opera with DC-8s, volcanoes, and billion-soul “implants” shouldn’t be the engine of a modern religion—yet that’s exactly the story that sits behind Scientology’s most guarded levels. We pull the curtain back on the Xenu narrative from OT III, lay out the official claims in plain English, and examine how secrecy, status, and relentless fundraising keep the bridge in motion long after the secret escaped the vaul...
A church that prepares for the end of the world tells you everything about its present. We dig into Scientology’s underground vaults built by the Church of Spiritual Technology—why they exist, how the etched steel archives are made, and the strange logic behind symbols carved into remote landscapes. The story gets less mystical and more material when you ask a simple question: who gets in, how, and what exactly is bei...
A religion that etches its scriptures into stainless steel, presses its sermons onto gold records, and seals everything inside titanium capsules buried in mountains sounds like science fiction. We take you there—mapping Scientology’s Church of Spiritual Technology vaults from Twin Peaks and Trementina to Petrolia, Creston, and an old California mine—while unpacking the logic, the secrecy, and the human cost behind it ...
What does life at Scientology’s international headquarters actually look like when the cameras aren’t rolling? We open the map to Gold Base—also known as Int Base—and walk through who’s there, what they do, and why nearly everything meaningful flows through a single point of approval. From RTC and CMO International to Executive Strata and Golden Era Productions, we explain the org chart you never see in the glossy vid...
A gleaming studio with a fence that listens. That’s the paradox at Gold Base, Scientology’s international HQ, where Golden Era Productions presents a pristine creative campus while security systems hum beneath the hedges. We take you through both worlds at once: pausing a polished promo film to identify the faces, jobs, and backstories you weren’t told, then riding a drone’s-eye map across soundstages, villas, tunnels...
How we escaped the Sea Org in January 2005 and tried to get a basic life back. What followed was a masterclass in control: family emails crafted under supervision that said “love you” while enforcing disconnection; a senior exec telling us our declares were “on hold” when the paperwork was stamped the day after we fled; and a hostage-style handoff in a bus station lot where our dog and a rented truck full of bankers’ ...
Ever wonder what it's like when your boss is also your son? In this episode, we pull back the curtain on David Miscavige's complex relationship with his father, Ron Miscavige Sr., revealing the bizarre power dynamics that existed between them at Scientology's International Headquarters.
Ron, a talented musician responsible for arranging music for Scientology events and videos, wasn't treat...
The curtain is pulled back on Scientology's enigmatic leader as Marc and Claire Headley share firsthand accounts of David Miscavige from their combined 30+ years inside the organization's headquarters. Their candid stories reveal a man obsessed with control, prone to humiliating outbursts, and increasingly paranoid about those around him.
From bizarre personal encounters (like Miscavige mocking Marc...
Marc and Claire Headley discuss their upcoming joint podcast interview, their first time sharing their full Scientology experiences together, and answer audience questions about the inner workings of the organization.
• Recently recorded a two-part, 12-hour podcast interview covering both Mark and Claire's escapes from Scientology
• Latest information on Shelly Miscavige shows she was registered to v...
Ever wondered what happens when you compress four decades of work into just 15 years? The math is staggering. At 109 hours per week—a conservative estimate—Sea Org members pack more work hours into their service than most people will complete in their entire careers.
The schedule begins at 7:45 AM with a bus ride to the compound, followed by a brief breakfast and mandatory muster where every staff member is a...
Ever wondered how Scientology manages to evade legal consequences for decades of alleged abuses? The answer lies in their sophisticated legal machinery – a system now raising serious ethical questions as former Scientology attorneys ascend to judicial positions.
In this eye-opening episode, Marc and Claire Headley (former Sea Org members with 20+ years inside Scientology) analyze the recent appointment of Wil...
When a bizarre letter surfaced on the internet, Marc Headley immediately recognized the signature—"Trudy Hensley, Letter Writer." This wasn't just any Scientology recruitment attempt; it was written by Marc's own mother, who remains deeply entrenched in the organization while completely disconnected from her family.
The letter itself is absurd enough: "Well done on purchasing a book i...
Marc and Claire Headley share the behind-the-scenes story of how they self-published "Blown for Good," their exposé of Scientology's International Headquarters, despite the organization's history of blocking critical books.
• Marc started posting stories online in 2006-2007 under the handle "blown for good"
• Decided to self-publish in 2009 after learning how Scientology thre...
Marc and Claire Headley take a deep dive into Scientology's critical "Keeping Scientology Working" (KSW) policy, revealing how it creates a no-win situation where followers are trapped in a cycle of self-blame while protecting Scientology from criticism.
• KSW establishes ten points that form Scientology's mental control system
• The policy includes Hubbard's chilling statement: &...
We delve into the most important policy letter in Scientology, "Keeping Scientology Working," which forms the foundation of every Scientologist's mindset and is especially evident in Tom Cruise's infamous 2004 turtleneck video. This document reveals why Scientologists act with such intensity and how the organization uses it to extract millions in donations.
• Explaining how the Internation...
Joy Villa shares her harrowing journey from growing up in a Christian household to spending a decade in Scientology before finding her way to freedom through faith. Her story reveals how vulnerabilities from childhood trauma and artistic ambitions made her susceptible to Scientology's recruitment at Celebrity Center.
• Raised Christian with a minister father and gospel singer mother who suffered from par...
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