Decades ago, L. Ron Hubbard moved his Cult of Scientology into Clearwater, Florida. The plan, entitled Project Normandy, was to take over Clearwater. Documentation of this comprehensive operation – which included plans to infiltrate government and media organizations, and to identify and “handle” enemies – was discovered in a 1977 FBI raid of Scientology headquarters.

Despite the discovery of Project Normandy, the cult has achieved notable success in carrying out this project. The cult has come to own a very generous proportion of the city, with the total value of owned property estimated at $40 million in 2000. Given the cult’s ambition to continue to expansion in Clearwater, I would be interested in knowing how much land they control now, 8 years later. Some have come to call Clearwater Scientology’s town.

An occupation in progress…  In this image you can see Scientology’s Fort Harrison Hotel (where at least 3 mysterious Scientologist deaths took place, most notably that of Lisa McPherson). The large building across from the Fort Harrison is Scientology’s nearly-complete Super Power Building. The Sandcastle is also the property of Scientology. Hopefully their next acquisition will not be the library…

Not only is the cult exerting control over much of the land, as of 2000 they also seemed to be exerting a fair bit of sway with the Clearwater police. In the video below produced by Mark Bunker (also known as Wise Beard Man), we see how the city’s police force (or, at minimum, a proportion of its officers) seem to have established a rather cozy relationship with the ambitious local cult. The relationship became so suspiciously cozy that numerous government and media figures and commentators, including former Clearwater mayor Gabe Cazares, stated that the Clearwater police force was moving dangerously close to becoming Scientology’s private security force.

For more posts on Scientology, click here.