Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

'I don't think Dianetics were necessarily successful because the time was right. The time is never
wrong for a cultist movement. People present new ideas which they say are going to change the
world and there are always a certain number of people who believe them. Lenin was the Hubbard
of 1917. Hubbard was the Madame Blavatsky of 1950.'
Hubbard's ability to concentrate on his work was subjected to a severe setback when the American
newspapers of Thursday 12 April arrived in Cuba. Sara had at last blown the whistle and filed a writ
at Los Angeles Superior Court demanding the return of her child. The headlines told the story: 'Cult
Founder Accused of Tot Kidnap', '"Dianetic" Hubbard Accused of Plot to Kidnap Wife', 'Hiding of
Baby Charged to Dianetics Author'. Most newspapers carried a picture of the distraught mother,
smiling broadly.
After digesting this less than welcome news, Hubbard sat down and wrote a letter to Sara. It was
dated 15 April and contained all the pulp writer's flair for fantasy:
'Dear Sara,
I have been in the Cuban military hospital and I am being transferred to the United States next week as a classified
scientist immune from interference of all kinds.
Though I will be hospitalized probably a long time, Alexis is getting excellent care. I see her every day. She is all is
have to live for.
My wits never gave way under all you did and let them do but my body didn't stand up. My right side is paralyzed and
getting more so. I hope my heart lasts. I may live a long time and again I may not. But Dianetics will last 10,000 years
- for the Army and Navy have it now.
My Will is all changed. Alexis will get a fortune unless she goes to you as she would then get nothing. Hope to see
you once more. Goodbye - I love you.
Ron.
The next day, Hubbard marched into the US Embassy in Havana, insisted on seeing the military
attaché and asked for protection from Communists who, he said, were trying to steal his research
material. He appealed, as one officer to another, for help. The attaché, clearly sceptical, murmured
something about 'seeing what he could do' and cabled the FBI in Washington for 'any pertinent
information' about his wild-eyed visitor. Back came the reply that Hubbard had been interviewed on
7 March last and that 'agent conducting interview considered Hubbard to be mental case'.[17]
De Mille had not noticed the paralysis Hubbard mentioned in his moving letter to Sara, nor indeed
was he aware that Hubbard was interned in a military hospital, but he certainly registered a
drooping in his spirits. 'He began to get very nervous again and complained that be wasn't feeling
well. He said he had to move downtown, so we broke our lease and moved into the Packard Hotel,
which faced the park and overlooked the entrance to the harbour and the prison. There he
proceeded to get sick. It was probably an ulcer, but he said it was the result of pain-drug hypnosis
which Sara and Winter had done way back.'
The news from Los Angeles was not calculated to make him feel any better. On 23 April, Sara filed
for divorce, citing 'extreme cruelty, great mental anguish and physical suffering'. Her allegations
were sensational. Apart froth charging Hubbard with bigamy and kidnapping, Sara claimed he had
subjected her to 'systematic torture, including loss of sleep, beatings, and strangulations and
scientific experiments'. Because of his 'crazy misconduct' she was in 'hourly fear of both the life of
herself and of her infant daughter, who she has not seen for two months'.