Editing Xenu (section)

== Summary ==
[[File:DC-8 Airborne Laboratory in flight over snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountain range.jpg|thumb|A [[Douglas DC-8]] in 1998. Hubbard described Xenu's spacecraft as resembling DC-8s without their [[turbofan]]s.<ref name="nightline" />]]

The story of Xenu is covered in [[OT III]], part of Scientology's secret "Advanced Technology" doctrines taught only to advanced members who have undergone many hours of [[Auditing (Scientology)|auditing]] and reached the state of [[Clear (Scientology)|Clear]] followed by [[Operating Thetan]] levels 1 and 2.<ref name="savino" /><ref name="thescientologystory" /> It is described in more detail in the accompanying confidential "Assists" lecture of October 3, 1968, and is dramatized in ''[[Revolt in the Stars]]'' (a screen-story – in the form of a novel – written by L. Ron Hubbard in 1977).<ref name="savino" /><ref>{{cite web | last =[[Operation Clambake]] | title ="Assists" Lecture. October 3, 1968. No. 10 of the confidential Class VIII series of lecture | work =Hubbard Audio Collection | publisher =xenu.net | date =October 3, 1968 | url =http://www.xenu.net/archive/multimedia.html | access-date =December 1, 2008 }}</ref>

Hubbard wrote that Xenu was the ruler of a Galactic Confederacy 75 million years ago, which consisted of 26 stars and 76 planets including Earth, which was then known as "Teegeeack".<ref name="partridge" /><ref name="lamont49" /><ref name="reece">{{Harvnb|Reece|2007|pp=182–186}}</ref> The planets were overpopulated, containing an average population of 178 billion.<ref name=lewis1/><ref name=thmill/><ref name=scott1/> The Galactic Confederacy's civilization was comparable to our own, with aliens "walking around in clothes which looked very remarkably like the clothes they wear this very minute" and using cars, trains and boats looking exactly the same as those "circa 1950, 1960" on Earth.<ref name="assists" />

Xenu was about to be deposed from power, so he devised a plot to eliminate the excess population from his dominions. With the assistance of [[psychiatry|psychiatrists]], he gathered billions<ref name=thmill/><ref name="partridge" /> of his citizens under the pretense of [[income tax]] inspections, then paralyzed them and froze them in a mixture of [[Alcohol (chemistry)|alcohol]] and [[ethylene glycol|glycol]] to capture their souls. The kidnapped populace was loaded into spacecraft for transport to the site of extermination, the planet of Teegeeack (Earth).<ref name="partridge" /> The appearance of these spacecraft would later be subconsciously expressed in the design of the [[Douglas DC-8]], the only difference being that "the DC8 had fans, propellers on it and the space plane didn't".<ref name="nightline">{{cite news| title= Scientology Leader Gave ABC First-Ever Interview&nbsp;– ABC Interview Transcript |date=November 18, 2006 | url=https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=2664713|work=[[Nightline (US news program)|Nightline]]|publisher=[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]|last=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]|access-date =August 2, 2008}}</ref> When they had reached Teegeeack, the paralyzed citizens were off-loaded, and placed around the bases of volcanoes across the planet.<ref name="partridge" /><ref name="lamont49" /> [[Thermonuclear weapon|Hydrogen bombs]] were then lowered into the volcanoes and detonated simultaneously,<ref name="lamont49" /> killing all but a few aliens. Hubbard described the scene in his film script, ''Revolt in the Stars'':

{{blockquote|Simultaneously, the planted charges erupted. Atomic blasts ballooned from the craters of [[Mauna Loa|Loa]], [[Vesuvius]], [[Mount Shasta|Shasta]], [[Mount Washington (Oregon)|Washington]], [[Mount Fuji|Fujiyama]], [[Mount Etna|Etna]], and many, many others. Arching higher and higher, up and outwards, towering clouds mushroomed, shot through with flashes of flame, waste and fission. Great winds raced tumultuously across the face of Earth, spreading tales of destruction&nbsp;... |L. Ron Hubbard, ''Revolt in the Stars''<ref name="savino" />}}

The now-disembodied victims' souls, which Hubbard called ''[[thetan]]s'', were blown into the air by the blast. They were captured by Xenu's forces using an "electronic ribbon" ("which also was a type of [[standing wave]]") and sucked into "vacuum zones" around the world. The hundreds of billions<ref name="partridge" /><ref>A billion in [[Long and short scales|Short Scale]] is a thousand million in Long Scale.</ref> of captured thetans were taken to a type of cinema, where they were forced to watch a "[[3D film|three-D]], super colossal motion picture" for thirty-six days. This implanted what Hubbard termed "various misleading data" (collectively termed the R6 [[implant (Scientology)|implant]]) into the memories of the hapless thetans, "which has to do with God, the [[Devil]], [[Space opera in Scientology doctrine|space opera]], etcetera". This included all [[Major religious groups|world religions]]; Hubbard specifically attributed [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] and the image of the [[Crucifixion]] to the influence of Xenu. The two "implant stations" cited by Hubbard were said to have been located on Hawaii and [[Province of Las Palmas|Las Palmas]] in the [[Canary Islands]].<ref name="corydon1987">{{harvnb|Corydon|Hubbard|1987|pp=364–367}}</ref>

In addition to implanting new beliefs in the thetans, the images deprived them of their sense of [[Identity (social science)|personal identity]]. When the thetans left the projection areas, they started to cluster together in groups of a few thousand, having lost the ability to differentiate between each other. Each cluster of thetans gathered into one of the few remaining bodies that survived the explosion. These became what are known as ''[[body thetan]]s'', which are said to be still clinging to and adversely affecting everyone except Scientologists who have performed the necessary steps to remove them.<ref name="lamont49" />

A government faction known as the Loyal Officers finally overthrew Xenu and his renegades, and locked him away in "an electronic mountain trap" from which he has not escaped.<ref name="urban2006" /><ref name="reece" /><ref name="listener" /> Although the location of Xenu is sometimes said to be the [[Pyrenees]] on Earth, this is actually the location Hubbard gave elsewhere for an ancient "Martian report station".<ref>{{cite book | last =Rolph | first =C. H. | title =Believe What You Like: What happened between the Scientologists and the National Association for Mental Health | publisher =Andre Deutsch Limited | year =1973 | location =London | id = Chapter 3: The Pharisees' View | isbn = 0-233-96375-8| title-link =Believe What You Like }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last =Evans | first =Christopher Riche | author-link =Christopher Riche Evans | title =Cults of Unreason | publisher =Harrap | year =1973 | page = 38 | id = I. The Science Fiction Religion, Chapter: Lives Past, Lives Remembered | isbn =0-245-51870-3 | title-link =Cults of Unreason }}</ref> Teegeeack was subsequently abandoned by the Galactic Confederacy and remains a pariah "prison planet" to this day, although it has suffered repeatedly from incursions by alien "[[Alien invasion|Invader Forces]]" since that time.<ref name="partridge" /><ref>{{cite book | last =Frederiksen | first =Tom Thygesen | title =Scientology&nbsp;– en koncern af aliens | publisher =Dialogcentret | page =16 |year=2007| isbn = 978-87-88527-30-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last =Connolly | first =Maeve | title =Cruise and Co bring sci-fi religion to the masses Silent births, vehement opposition to psychiatry and a belief that Earth is a 'prison planet' inhabited by people kidnapped from outer space set Scientology apart from other religions, Maeve Connolly discovers | work =The Irish News | publisher =The Irish News, Ltd | date =April 17, 2006 | url =http://www.irishnews.com/searchlog.asp?reason=denied_empty&script_name=/pageacc.asp&path_info=/pageacc.asp&tser1=ser&par=ben&sid=521854 | access-date =December 3, 2008 | url-status =dead | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191053/http://www.irishnews.com/searchlog.asp?reason=denied_empty&script_name=%2Fpageacc.asp&path_info=%2Fpageacc.asp&tser1=ser&par=ben&sid=521854 | archive-date =March 3, 2016 | df =mdy-all }}</ref>

In 1988, the cost of learning these secrets from the Church of Scientology was [[Pound sterling|£]]3,830, or US$6,500.<ref name="koff1988">{{cite news|last=Koff|first=Stephen|work=[[St. Petersburg Times]]|title=Xemu's cruel response to overpopulated world|date=December 23, 1988|page=10A|url=https://www.scientology-lies.com/press/st-petersburg-times/1988-12-23/xemu-cruel-response-to-overpopulated-world.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last=Ricks| first=Mike| author2=Sarah Gorman| title=The 'Hard Sell' Cult| work=The East Grinstead Courier| date=May 12, 1988| pages=1–2, 5–7| url=http://cosmedia.freewinds.be/media/articles/egc120588.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107015854/http://cosmedia.freewinds.be/media/articles/egc120588.html| archive-date=November 7, 2017| url-status=dead| df=mdy-all}}</ref> This is in addition to the cost of the prior courses which are necessary to be eligible for OT III, which in 2006 was often well over US$100,000 (roughly £77,000).<ref name="urban2006" /> Belief in Xenu and body thetans is a requirement for a Scientologist to progress further along the [[Bridge to Total Freedom]].<ref name="atack382">{{Harvnb|Atack|1990|p=382}}</ref> Those who do not experience the benefits of the OT III course are expected to take it and pay for it again.<ref name="listener">{{cite journal| last=Penycate| first=John| date=April 30, 1987| title=The 'extended sting operation' of Scientology| journal=The Listener| publisher=BBC Enterprises| volume=117| issue=3009| pages=14, 16| url=http://cosmedia.freewinds.be/media/articles/lis300487.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160909195616/http://cosmedia.freewinds.be/media/articles/lis300487.html| archive-date=September 9, 2016| issn=0024-4392| url-status=dead| df=mdy-all}}</ref>