Church of Scientology in Copenhagen, Denmark. Photo by Jeff Emtman.

There’s an office in every church of Scientology dedicated to the founder. It’s a full reconstruction: desks, chairs, books and memorabilia. The church says these offices are traditional, a way of honoring the memory of L. Ron Hubbard, who died back in 1986.

L. Ron Hubbard’s office in Copenhagen, Denmark sits on a busy street. There’s a big window that allows passersby to speculate on its utility.

Elisabeth Pedersen heard a rumor that the office was more than traditional. She heard that it might be needed by the author upon his alleged reincarnation and return to earth.

Sussing out the veracity of this claim is difficult, because Hubbard and his successor David Miscavige choose to keep much of Scientology’s scripture out of the public’s reach. And therefore, many of the Church of Scientology’s core beliefs must be sifted either through church officials, court documents, or the religion's detractors.

One of those detractors is Tony Ortega, who’s been writing on Scientology since the 1990’s. He thinks Elisabeth’s rumor is a garbled understanding of a belief that might be held in an secretive wing of Scientology known as the Church of Spiritual Technology. The CST is the group that holds and protects the copyrights to Hubbard’s body of work. Tony says a defector from the CST told him about preparations being made for the return of L. Ron Hubbard. His source later denied this.

When a religion has scriptural gatekeepers, how can you know if a rumor’s been debunked? A friendly person at the church’s info center pointed out that the internet is full of misinformation about scientology and suggested that listeners of this podcast consult Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination for factual information about the religion and its beliefs. They also suggested Freedom Magazine. Scientology’s press officers were contacted several times in the months before release, but never responded.

Jeff Emtman produced this episode with help from Bethany Denton. This episode’s title was inspired by TV Trope’s article on Ascended Fanfic.

Music: Serocell, The Black Spot

Here Be Monsters

HBM085: Ascended Fiction