In the last three hours of the program, Scientology insider Marc Headley discussed what really occurs at the organization's secret desert compound, and what happens to members who try to leave the church. He began with his own story of getting "run off the road" on a motorcycle by Scientology agents when he attempted to escape after a 15-year stint as a member and working employee. Headley recounted stories of others who tried to leave the church who were hunted down and "in most cases," they would get the people back by checking airports, bus stations, and even addresses of family members. He also described the practice of creating "hate sites," which are websites and domains owned by Scientology and specifically designed to spread rumors and defame anyone who has left the organization.
In his time working for Scientology, Headley said that he and others routinely worked 16 hour days at "a bare minimum" with no days off. In 15 years, he says that he earned a total of $29,000. After he and his wife left the church, he was presented with a bill for $150,000 for services that they claimed he has contracted to buy. While founder L. Ron Hubbard was firmly against any form or fundraising, Headley says that his successor Miscavage has made it a cornerstone of policy. He has been able to raise approximately $3 billion, mostly from well-to-do and celebrity members. Headley claimed that Nancy Cartwright (best known as the voice of Bart Simpson) has donated over $10 million to date. The church refers to these rich donors as "whales."
Headley also discussed years of infiltration of US government offices and organizations by Scientology members in an effort to gather information that was held on the church and, if possible, destroy it. This policy changed after a massive 1977 FBI raid of the church world headquarters in Los Angeles, but Headley believes that the real death knell for Scientology's control over members was the advent of the internet, at which point he says, "they couldn't hide anything." Though Scientology tells its members that the "outside world" is full of criminals. Headley said that since he left in 2005, "I don't think I've met one person who has treated me as badly as everyone there treated me."
SERIAL KILLER H.H. HOLMES
Jeff Mudgett of the TV show American Ripper joined Ian in the first hour to discuss how H.H. Holmes was one of the most amazing criminals and first major serial killers in American history. Holmes was an alias of a man named Herman Webster Mudgett (Jeff Mudgett's great-great grandfather.) Holmes opened a hotel during the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, which he used as a place to trap and murder young women. Mudgett called him "America's Dr. Frankenstein" because of his habit of murdering women, performing strange medical experiments on the bodies, and disposing of them as a "master of forensic science" who could "eliminate any evidence" of his deeds. Mudgett also presented evidence that Holmes was Jack the Ripper. In the course of working on "American Ripper," Mudgett witnessed the exhumation of the supposed body of Holmes, and says he is now convinced that the skeleton was not Holmes, but one that was somehow substituted and that the murderer got away free. He concluded that there is still "another great mystery on our hands to solve involving my infamous ancestor."