Editing Xenu (section)

== Origins of the story ==
Hubbard wrote OT III in late 1966 and early 1967 in North Africa while on his way to [[Las Palmas]] to join the ''[[Sea Org#History|Enchanter]]'', the first vessel of his private Scientology fleet.<ref name="miller266">{{Harvnb|Miller|1988|p=266}}</ref> (OT III says "In December 1967 I&nbsp;knew someone had to take the plunge", but the material was publicized well before this.) He emphasized later that OT III was his own personal discovery.

Critics of Scientology have suggested that other factors may have been at work. In a letter of the time to his wife [[Mary Sue Hubbard|Mary Sue]],<ref name="corydon58">{{harvnb|Corydon|Hubbard|1987|pp=58–59, 332–333}}</ref> Hubbard said that, in order to assist his research, he was drinking alcohol and taking [[stimulant]]s and [[depressant]]s ("I'm drinking lots of rum and popping pinks and greys"). His assistant at the time, Virginia Downsborough, said that she had to wean him off the diet of drugs to which he had become accustomed.<ref name="atack171">{{Harvnb|Atack|1990|p=171}}</ref> Russell Miller posits in ''[[Bare-faced Messiah]]'' that it was important for Hubbard to be found in a debilitated condition, so as to present OT III as "a research accomplishment of immense magnitude".<ref name="miller290">{{Harvnb|Miller|1988|p=290}}</ref>

Elements of the Xenu story appeared in Scientology before OT III. Hubbard's descriptions of extraterrestrial conflicts were put forward as early as 1950 in his book ''Have You Lived Before This Life?'', and were enthusiastically endorsed by Scientologists who documented their [[Reincarnation|past lives]] on other planets.<ref name="partridge" />