My name is Monica Pignotti. I am currently 44 years old, live and work in New York City and hold a Masters Degree in Social Work. I was involved in the Church of Scientology from December of 1970 to August of 1976. To give a brief history of my involvement, I became involved in the group at the age of 17 while a Freshman at the University of Utah. I was introduced to Scientology by another student and a teacher in the Music department where I was a music major at the time. I attended by first introductory lecture in December 1970 and started my first Scientology course in January, 1971 at the Salt Lake City mission of the Church of Scientology. By March, 1971 I had dropped out of college to work for the mission full time as an auditor. From March 1971 to January 1973 I worked for the Scientology mission in Salt Lake City and made frequent trips to higher organizations to train up to the level of Class VI auditor and do advanced Scientology courses up to the level known as OTIII. In January, 1973 I joined the Sea Organization. From January 1973 to May 1973 I held the position of Auditor at the Advanced Organization of Los Angeles (AOLA) of the Church of Scientology. My job was to audit both public clients of this organization and staff.
In late April 1973, I received an invitation from Mary Sue Hubbard who had received a favorable report about me as an auditor, to come to the Flagship Apollo ("Flag") for training up to Class XII auditor. Flag was the home of L. Ron Hubbard and his family at that time. In May, 1973 I arrived on Flag which was docked in Oporto, Portugal at the time. I remained on Flag from May 1973 until the move to Clearwater, Florida in October, 1975, with the exception of a period of approximately 6 weeks during July-August1974 when I was on mission to New York City. While aboard Flag, I can recall two specific instances of witnessing people being put into isolation as part of the Introspection Rundown. The first instance was in the case of Bruce Welch, a Flag Sea Org member and the second instance was Quentin Hubbard, the son of L. Ron Hubbard. In the case of Bruce Welch, I have only a general knowledge about his circumstances. In the case of Quentin Hubbard I have much more detailed knowledge.
Bruce Welch was put on the Introspection Rundown, in 1973 by the orders of L. Ron Hubbard. This was the first time I recall witnessing this aboard the Apollo. He was isolated in a cabin on the ship and not allowed to have any contact with anyone except for his auditor. The reason for this was that he had gone psychotic. The Scientology term for psychotic is PTS III. Bruce Welch had been declared PTS III and was ordered onto isolation and the Introspection Rundown. He remained there for several weeks and was released after several weeks. I didn't personally see his files, but it was common knowledge aboard the Apollo that he was there because of an order from Hubbard.
In January, 1994 the Rehabilitation Project Force (the "RPF") was created on the Apollo by the orders of L. Ron Hubbard. The purpose of the RPF was to deal with Scientology's dissidents. Anyone who displeased L. Ron Hubbard could be sent to the RPF. On January 10th the first group of Sea Org members were assigned to the RPF and I was one of the people assigned to the RPF. We were told that we could have a Committee of Evidence (Scientology's version of a hearing) if we objected to our assignment. I requested such a Committee, along with several other people. Quentin Hubbard, who had, by this time become a close friend of mine, was appointed Chairman of my Committee of Evidence, as well as Chairman of the Committee of Evidence on Lisa Zanda Gerber, another close friend of his who was also assigned to the RPF. Quentin was forced to pronounce us "guilty" and to uphold our assignment to the RPF. This caused him considerable distress and a few days later he left the ship without anyone's knowledge or permission and swallowed the contents of an entire bottle of aspirin in an attempt to commit suicide.
Before the pills took effect, he returned to the ship and confessed what he had done. Quentin was made to throw up the pills he had taken and then was immediately put into isolation and onto the Introspection Rundown in his
private cabin, which was on the "A" deck of the Apollo. This was by the orders of L. Ron Hubbard. I have knowledge of this because I saw the written orders in his preclear folders. While in isolation, Quentin was not allowed to speak to anyone except for his auditor and I observed that he lost a considerable amount of weight. The only time he was allowed to leave his cabin was to go to the bathroom, which was down the corridor on A Deck. I saw him on two such occasions when I was cleaning the toilets on A deck but was not allowed to speak to him. He was in isolation for approximately three weeks. L. Ron Hubbard was personally overseeing Quentin's case, so he could only be released by Hubbard's orders. After he got out of isolation, he was assigned, again by Hubbard's personal orders, to the RPF. On the RPF, each person is paired up with a "twin". Twins on the RPF would audit one another on the processes required of RPF members, which were essentially confessionals. I was Quentin Hubbard's "twin" and at that time had access to his files, which is how I found out about the orders from his father for the isolation and Introspection Rundown. Quentin Hubbard and I also had the duty of being Case Supervisors for all the people who were on the RPF at that time and we were together for at least two and a half to five hours per day on a daily basis. It was during this time that I discovered that Quentin Hubbard had attempted suicide on at least 2 occasions prior to this one. Quentin and I remained on the RPF until May, 1974 at which time we were both released.
Quentin later attempted suicide again in the fall of 1974 while in San Francisco on a vacation which also included, according what Quentin told me, a period of a few weeks where he was hospitalized in a psychiatric ward somewhere in the San Francisco Bay area. He was removed from the hospital by Scientologists and returned to the Apollo although this time he was not put in isolation or on the RPF. Again, I have knowledge of this through Quentin's report to me upon returning to the Apollo in the fall of 1974.
After Quentin told me this, I was ordered to stop seeing him by David Mayo, the Senior Case Supervisor on the Apollo. I refused to stop seeing Quentin, which resulted in my being accused of having made errors as an auditor I was not guilty of and being sent to the RPF for a second time, where I remained from January 1975 until the move to Clearwater in October 1975.
In October, 1976 Quentin was found in his car near the airport at Las Vegas, Nevada, in a coma from carbon monoxide poisoning. A few weeks later he died.
To the best of my knowledge, the isolation part of the Introspection Rundown is the same today as it was in 1973. The person is not allowed any contact with anyone except for the auditor who delivers the Introspection Rundown.
The Rundown itself, as I saw it posted on the internet has had many more processes added to it than it had in 1973. I don't possess copies of the Rundown as it was done at that time, but to the best of my recollection, processes consisted of running Dianetics, quad flows on times when the person was given a "wrong indication", which, according to L. Ron Hubbard's theory, causes a person to introspect which, in turn causes psychosis. In the cases I saw aboard the Apollo, it was L. Ron Hubbard who personally controlled when the person was let out of isolation. In other cases, not involving Hubbard, to the best of my knowledge, it was the Case Supervisor who made the decision whether or not to let the person out. Since my experience was over 20 years ago, this may or may not be the case today.
As for the keeping of notes and written records, everything that occurs with regards to the Introspection Rundown is written down and kept in the person's auditing folder, known as their "Preclear Folder". This is a permanent record and is not normally destroyed, although in the case of Lisa McPherson I would not be surprised to hear it if the records were destroyed. Under normal circumstances, however, Preclear Folders, even of inactive members,
are kept permanently. If the person was a staff member and sent to the RPF as well, then this would be a part of their Ethics File as well.
In October, 1975, the Apollo was sold and Flag moved their headquarters to Clearwater, Florida. I was in Clearwater until May, 1976 at which time I was transferred back to AOLA where I assumed the position of Solo Director of Processing. I left the organization and the Church of Scientology in August, 1976. On the morning of August 21, 1976, I participated in a conversation with some fellow staff/Sea Org members at AOLA. One of the people told me that a Case Supervisor at the Washington D.C. headquarters named Pandora Cooper had attempted to leave her position and Scientology. This person reported to me that Pandora was brought back forcibly and locked up in a room against her will, put in isolation and on the Introspection Rundown. Pandora lied to her auditors and pretended to go along with it and as soon as they believed that she was going to stay, she freed herself and left. Knowing what I knew about the Introspection Rundown, I had no reason to disbelieve this person. At that time I had been having increasing doubts about being a Sea Org member and had been considering leaving for the past three weeks.
After hearing about Pandora Cooper, I decided to leave that afternoon without telling anyone. The reason I decided not to inform anyone of my departure was that I feared that I too would be locked up against my will and put on the Introspection Rundown. On the afternoon of August 21, 1976, I left the Sea Organization and Scientology, never to return.
Monica Pignotti
May 4, 1997
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