Editing Xenu (section)

== Name ==

[[Image:Xenu-LRH-handwriting.png|frame|right|The manuscript of OT III contains the only known example of Xenu's name in Hubbard's handwriting.]]
The name has been spelled both as ''Xenu'' and ''Xemu''.<ref name="lamont51">{{Harvnb|Lamont|1986|p=51}}</ref> The Class VIII course material includes a three-page text, handwritten by Hubbard, headed "Data", in which the Xenu story is given in detail. Hubbard's indistinct handwriting makes either spelling possible,<ref name="lamont51" /> particularly as the use of the name on the first page of OT III is the only known example of the name in his handwriting. In the "Assists" lecture, Hubbard speaks of ''"Xenu, ahhh, could be spelled X-E-M-U"'' and clearly says "Xemu" several times on the recording.<ref name="assists" /> The treatment of ''Revolt in the Stars''—which is typewritten—uses ''Xenu'' exclusively.<ref>{{cite book
  | last =Hubbard  | first =L. Ron  | author-link =L. Ron Hubbard  | title =Revolt in the Stars  | year =1977  | id =  [[United States Copyright Office]]; Registration number: DU0000105973 | title-link =Revolt in the Stars }}</ref>

It has been speculated that the name derives from [[Xemnu]], an extraterrestrial comic book villain who first appeared in the story "I Was a Slave of the Living Hulk!" in ''[[Journey into Mystery]]'' #62 (November 1960). He was created by [[Stan Lee]] and [[Jack Kirby]]. Xemnu is a giant, hairy intergalactic criminal who escaped a prison planet, traveled to Earth, and hypnotized the entire human population. Upon Xemnu's defeat by electrician Joe Harper, Xemnu is imprisoned in a state of continual electric shock in orbit around the Sun, and humanity is left with no memory of Xemnu's existence.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_dfzDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA555|title=Handbook of Scientology|chapter=Astounding History: L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology Space Opera|editor-first=James R.|editor-last=Lewis|first=Raine|last=Susan|year=2017|pages=554–555|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004330542|access-date=December 11, 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6S9MPQYvPFwC&pg=PT126|title=Religions of the Stars: What Hollywood Believes and How It Affects You|first=Richard|last=Abanes|date=July 1, 2009|publisher=Baker Books|access-date=December 11, 2017|via=Google Books|isbn=9781441204455}}</ref>