That afternoon we headed back to Scientology town – Clearwater – to meet one man who stood apart from L Ron’s crowd. He was a fruitcake, a loner, a weirdo and a brave man, all rolled into one. His name was Shawn Lonsdale. Originally from New England, Shawn had been in the US Navy and while still a youngish man he had settled in Clearwater. Years before, he’d been caught by the police having consenting sex with men. Later, at a local council meeting, he had clashed with a Scientologist and suddenly they were on his case.
People who don’t like Scientology leave Clearwater. For example, in the late nineties Patricia Greenway, the Vice President of the Totally Fun Company, an amusement park design firm, aired her reasons for the company quitting town: ‘The downtown area has taken on the look and feel of a military base. The presence of thousands of uniformed Scientologists and their “security police” swarming the downtown area is oppressive.’
Shawn was different. He stayed, and took them on, single-handed, and that is, by itself, strange. He got himself a video camera and spent weeks filming Scientologists for a slot on the local cable TV network.
‘Cult Watch’ – Shawn’s show – is cult cult viewing, beyond surreal. What you see is fuzzy, muddy video. The production values are, in contrast to those of the Church, dire. The shots are wobbly, the focus soggy, the sound quality poor. But the content is weirdly gripping. You watch him filming them filming him, close-ups of his feet, then their camera, a big lens, a finger or two of the Scientology camera person, no sound apart from the whirr and odd click from the two cameras staring at each other, recording, recording, recording. This goes on for minute after minute after minute and every second that passes the tension notches up. There is no doubting Shawn’s dogged persistence, and the essential strangeness of what he was capturing. He got to film what we didn’t see when we went out filming with Donna and Mike: a robotic procession of white-shirted, dark tied young men and women marching from one Scientology base in downtown Clearwater to another, getting on and off buses. You see dozens and dozens of them. If they are studying to become Operating Thetans, they appear to be a very strange species of students. Everyone conforms. It is like watching not a student body but a hive. Creepy with a capital C.
We tracked Shawn down to a rented apartment in a fly-blown part of town, decorated, if that is the right word, with a collection of green space alien dolls featuring their signature over-large, ovaloid eyeballs. He was a fit, lean, wiry man, slow speaking. He had a twinkle in his voice. We drove him downtown some blocks looking for a good place to film the interview and found a great spot on the top of a municipal car park. Behind us we had a view of the Fort Harrison hotel, one of their major complexes. That meant they had a view of us, but we didn’t care.
When filming them, Shawn would stick up a cardboard sign on his white 1991 Oldsmobile: ‘OT I-VIII for free at xenu.net.’ That website tells the story of the space alien Satan for free. The Church might say that what Shawn did was blasphemous. Cynics might add that his sign could have cost the Church, if not millions, then several hundred thousand dollars, in lost fees, by short-circuiting the lengthy, step-by-step ascent to the state of grace where you can find out about the Emperor Ming The Merciless lookalike, Xenu. It should come as no surprise to realise that the Church did not like Shawn one little bit. Back in 2006, Ben Shaw, one of their spokesman, said: ‘He is crazy, utterly crazy. He has no redeeming value to anyone anywhere.’
One simple rule of TV journalism: be scrupulously fair to people who make life difficult for you; and with the people who are happy to help you, knock them over the head with a cricket bat, or, probably better, the verbal equivalent thereof. So my opening question to Shawn did not beat about the bush.
‘You are a social outcast, a menace, a fruitcake, a nutter. Why would Scientology make those kinds of suggestions about you?’
Pay attention to this question. It pops up later, a kind of a sonic boom boomerang.
‘The only thing I can fathom,’ replied Shawn, ‘is that it is their only hope of trying to embarrass me into stopping doing what I am doing. They try to paint you as crazy, as some sort of social outcast, if you will, so that nobody will listen to you, nobody will take you seriously. It is a common trend to do that.’
Shawn explained his methodology: ‘I wanted to get their take on us. And the only way to do that, since nobody would talk to me or nobody would respond to any of my requests for interviews, was to just go up and start filming them. Their events, where they were coming and going, halls or classes down town which is the only time the public sees them. And they took serious offence.’
How do they register that offence?
‘It is almost like they have a mind break. If there is something that they can’t handle effectively, something happens.’
Shawn explained that he had been filming on the street for three weeks solid when a member of the Church approached him. Shawn said he started yelling obscenities, yelling that he was Nazi, asking him why he didn’t go to the Baptist church and call them all a bunch of ‘n’ words or the Jewish Temple and call them all a bunch of xxxx. He pushed Shawn, who shoved him back, and they ended up scuffling. That was the extreme, said Shawn. ‘Usually, it is just pushing or trying to get to the camera to stop you from filming or cursing at you and verbally assaulting you.’
I asked him about the sign on his Oldsmobile.
‘Xenu.net is one of the websites which reveals a lot of their upper level doctrine, OT I-VIII [Operating Thetan, level 1 – 8] for free, which is their higher levels, which costs the majority of the money that you will find they charge within Scientology. And all those are on the internet for free. And those were on my car downtown. The various levels [that is, OTs of Scientology] would walk around across the campus down here and see that on the car and I was hoping that they would wonder why they were paying so much money for it when it is free on the internet.’
They say these are confidential scriptures.
‘If it is out, deal with it. We had to deal with the bible being out. Others had to deal with the Koran, the Torah, everything is out. I don’t know why you would not want somebody to read a religious scripture of yours especially if it had anything good to say in it.’
What had Scientology done to Shawn?
‘It is more or less what they haven’t done. I was followed continuously for two months, followed by private investigators, followed by several vehicles which I was later able to track back to Scientology owned vehicles. I was yelled at down town numerous times, threatened with death. Cursed at by children in the presence of their parents. I would have never thought that I could stumble upon a scene that was so dramatically absent of peace and goodwill. But then again that seems to be the modus operandi when it comes to doing something that the Church doesn’t like. They all band together and act that way towards you.’
What about work?
Shawn got a job in a real estate company but that did not last for long. ‘My boss was called down to Fort Harrison’ – the Church’s main complex in Clearwater – ‘by Pat Harney’ – the PR lady who had blocked me that very morning from going into the Plant City Org – ‘in an effort to try to get me to reveal my motives or stop what I was doing, piecing together footage for the television programme. And almost immediately after that our business went south. I was asked to leave, it was a financial impossibility for me to be there. After that I went to unemployment. There were several calls made saying that I was making money off the books when I wasn’t. It was anonymous phone call after anonymous phone call, to every place where I turned in an application, there was always somebody calling with a threat.’ He gave what he said was an example: ‘“I saw this gentleman in your business filling out an application, I know him to be a religious bigot. I will not shop there, my friends will not shop there if I find out that you have hired this individual…” I am a pervert or I am a criminal, something of that nature.’
Shawn said that when the anonymous caller was challenged, ‘there was never an answer, there was always a hang-up. And I don’t know too many business owners that want to deal with that type of thing. And when you haven’t been hired yet it is very easy to pass your application to the garbage bin. So…’
Because you are trouble?
‘Evidently.’
‘What happened to accommodation…’
I stopped stone dead.
An SUV had suddenly shot up onto the top level of the car park. The door opened and a man got out, in a natty suit, dark glasses, white shirt, black and white striped tie, followed by a cameraman, and started walking towards us. The eerily bright Clearwater light half-blinded me. It was like a scene from the film, The Matrix, when the Agents in their corporate suits close in on Neo. Not quite believing the evidence of my own eyes, I squinted…
‘…if I am right,’ I said, ‘that is Tommy Davis.’ The figure, followed by the cameraman, approached us. He was carrying a manila envelope.
‘Good afternoon,’ said Tommy, for it was he. ‘You must be Shawn.’
‘Mr Davis, I presume,’ said Shawn, ‘nice to meet you.’
‘Good to meet you. I just wanted to make sure that we are on record as far as this gentleman here’ – Tommy was speaking to me, but nodded to Shawn – ‘who you are with. I don’t know how frankly he has been with you, just be pretty public about it.’
Tommy opened his file and began reading: ‘In 1990 he was arrested for trespassing, exposure of sexual organs. Unnatural and lascivious act, possession of cannabis, possession of drug paraphernalia. The police report this is from, the undercover officer who he solicited stated: “The defendant exposed his penis to undercover officer, began to masturbate in view of the public. This occurred in a posted no trespassing area. Search of the defendant’s vehicle revealed a marijuana pipe and marijuana”. And then on 7th June 2000 he was also arrested for lewd and lascivious behaviour. He was caught by a Pinellas County sheriff performing sex on another male in a public area.’
Throughout my battles with Tommy he spoke like an American lawyer addressing a grand jury, or, to be less kind, like Hollywood’s idea of a lawyer addressing a grand jury. This was Tommy’s moment in pseudo-court, the moment he nailed a credulous BBC reporter being taken in by a sexual monster. Game, set and match to the Church of Scientology? Not quite.
‘Now would Scientology,’ asked Shawn, ‘be able to help me with any of these problems that I supposedly have?’ There was something rather cool about Shawn’s sardonic tone with Tommy.
‘Now what he does,’ Tommy continued, as if Shawn had not spoken, almost as if he was of no significance, ‘he does speak about this openly and of course…’
‘By the way he is not an animal,’ I said. Enough already. ‘Answer that question, can’t you?’
‘I just want to make sure that we document this and I would be happy to speak to him,’ said Tommy, matter-of-factly.
‘Hold on a second… actually Tommy…. No…’ I stumbled to get my words out. I am an old-fashioned reporter and I’ve seen a lot of stuff in my time, but even so I was knocked off kilter by Tommy crashing our interview. I couldn’t quite believe it was happening.
‘I am making no comment…’ said Tommy.
‘Wait a second Tommy, I am interviewing the man.’ I turned to Shawn. I had read the article about him in the St Petersburg Times – the local paper that covers Clearwater – in which it mentioned Scientology’s demonizing him over his sexual past, that he had been caught by police officers having consensual sex with adult males in a public place several years ago. ‘Let me ask that question, excuse me is that true?’
‘Actually some of it wasn’t,’ said Shawn, ‘I can go back over it.’
‘I have the police reports here so…’ offered Tommy, helpfully. Or, perhaps, mock-helpfully.
‘What page are you reading from?’
At that moment our tape ran out. I was momentarily a bit cross with Bill, for being so unprofessional, blah blah, then I remembered that we had been running for hours, and that the tapes of even the very best BBC cameramen in the whole world occasionally run out.
When the fresh tape was in the camera, Shawn was questioning Scientology’s file on him. They’d doctored the file, it seemed. ‘Marijuana pipe and marijuana?’ Shawn was querying Tommy’s ‘police report’.
‘But I don’t see that on a charge sheet any more. That is not a charge.’
‘But this is the police report…’ replied Tommy, defensively.
‘So you have created a summary from a police report of your own,’ said Shawn. ‘You haven’t used the summary that…’
‘This is a report the Tampa police department…’ Tommy started.
Shawn interrupted: ‘…You’ve compiled this first charge sheet and a sheet from the county. Let’s say…’
‘Yes, from the…’
‘So you have taken it upon yourself…’
‘See this, this is a Tampa police report.’
‘So you have taken it upon yourself to…’
‘Yeah to summarise within the police report,’ said Tommy.
‘Why wouldn’t you use the police report summary?’ asked Shawn.
‘Last time I checked a marijuana pipe was there…’
‘Why wouldn’t you use the police report summary?’
‘OK fine, whatever,’ said Tommy, conceding the point of fact to Shawn. I smiled, inwardly.
Is it possible, I asked, that the reason why the Church raises this stuff is because he is a critic?
‘We want to make sure that it is on record that you know who it is that you are speaking about,’ said Tommy.
Yes I know, I was aware of that, I said.
‘He has never been a Scientologist. He has never done services,’ said Tommy.
He is a critic, I said.
‘He admitted in the St Petersburg Times that he conducted sexual acts on other people when he was low on money,’ said Tommy.
‘So I admitted that on national news,’ said Shawn, ‘and in one of our local papers.’
‘But I am asking are you aware of that?’ asked Tommy.
I said I was. ‘But Tommy,’ I pointed out, ‘just because you have come here and tracked us down again does not give you the right to dictate the conversation… You have invaded our interview.’
‘Actually,’ said Tommy with logic as round as a billiard ball, ‘you turned the cameras on me and started attacking me. I actually didn’t say anything.’
This was madness. You can’t physically invade a television interview, read out a factually incorrect version of someone’s criminal record for minor sex crimes from years ago and then proclaim with wounded innocence: ‘I actually didn’t say anything.’
Tommy and Shawn battled on while I wrestled with the surreal nature of what was happening. Eventually, I think I sorted it out inside my head and then the words came tumbling out. I have never in my life come across such a distortion of meaning, such a twisting of the English language.
‘Tommy, hold on a second. I can talk to whoever I so choose to in a free society.
That is why you invade, that’s why the creepy car comes. As far as the Church of Scientology is concerned, I can talk to anybody about you so long as they are not critical of Scientology. But the moment they are, then it seems as though it is very important for you to tell me that they are either an extortionist [Donna] or a sexual pervert [Shawn].’
‘No,’ said Tommy, ‘it is very important that you have the truth. And it is actually in the BBC broadcast guidelines, the codes of conduct, OfCom, in terms of first hand reports, in terms of balanced reporting, it is covered in your own guidelines. And there is actually something…’
‘I read them every night before I go to bed,’ I said.
Tommy repeated the gist of what he had just said. I asked him for a copy of their file on Shawn. He would not give it to me. Now it felt like my turn to make things a little more surreal.
Where are we going tomorrow? I asked.
‘I don’t know where are you going tomorrow.’
Well, you will find us I am sure, I said.
‘Yeah, we probably will.’ He made his point again that the BBC’s guidelines required fairness.
‘Last time I read the BBC guidelines there was nothing in it that said that every single interviewee had to be vetted by the Church of Scientology before we could speak to them.’
‘I actually don’t believe that I ever used the word vetted or what I describe as vetted,’ said Tommy. ‘I said you tell me who it is and I will send you the information on the person, and what you do with it is your decision. ‘
‘No, no, no,’ I said. ‘Within hours of any time we talk to a critic of Scientology you, within hours, come up and say that is an extortionist, that is a sexual pervert. It is as if you are terrified of anyone criticising your organisation. It is as if you have something that you have got to hide.’
As in Plant City that very morning, Tommy closed in on me, inches from my face. ‘I am not terrified of anything. And you know what I have absolutely nothing to hide whatsoever. Zero. You can dig and dig and dig.’
‘OK, well, give us some access. Come, let’s have some access. Let’s go to these places.’
‘To a hostile reporter who has no intention of giving a balanced report? You give more weight and importance and now more hours of time to people critical of the Church than you did anyone else.’
‘I spent ten hours with you,’ I told Tommy. ‘I have spent barely a quarter of an hour with Shawn before you pop up from nowhere. But we want access, we want to film with you, but you stipulated: “no mention of the word cult.” Shawn, do you think the Church of Scientology is a cult?’
‘It is absolutely a cult,’ said Shawn. Tommy was off, walking back to his SUV. ‘It has all the definitions of a cult. The fact that one of their own spokespersons can’t face that question is why they are called a cult.’
Tommy had gone but the silent Scientology cameraman had stayed behind, to film everything Shawn and I said. It was irritating but the United States of America is a free country.
Scientologists staged a poster campaign in Clearwater, denouncing Shawn: ‘They put up a lot of posters saying that I was a pervert, convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct and I needed to be watched. It was just trying to keep me out of downtown. Just trying to embarrass me enough not to show my face down there. But the funny thing about it is they put it on the windows of all the shops that they are associated with behind the scenes, which shows on a grand scale exactly how big their force is in our downtown core. And of course every public Scientologist when asked to do something by the Church doesn’t say no. So you can tell who owns what down town.’
My final question to Shawn was pretty similar to my first. ‘Why did you pick on them? Aren’t you a little bit crazy to do this?’
‘It was the 500 pound gorilla in the room. Here in Clearwater everybody talks about it in their living rooms and jokes about it in the bars and in the little cafes, but nobody really knows, has an idea what it is really about. It has to be shown. How deep are the fingers of Scientology in this community? We can’t come down town and just get a Starbuck’s coffee if we want to drink, read the paper on a Sunday, especially if you are somebody like me, you are an enemy. You are everything bad. When they pull up here, when they assault me on the street corner, when their children in the presence of their parents hiss and spit at me. That’s them telling their story about their own religion. You can’t get any better than that.’
We said our goodbyes and headed for California. I had found him good company, and a sane and self-deprecating witness.
That was the last time I ever saw Shawn Lonsdale. His body was found by police in February, 2008. Shawn had his own demons, no doubt, but it seems difficult to see how the Church of Scientology can square its claim to be granted the respect due a religion with wallpapering Clearwater with posters dragging up a lone critic’s past sexual indignities. Or, indeed, Tommy Davis demonizing him to the BBC by reading out his criminal record on camera.
Did the Church drive Shawn to suicide? I do not know. Did the Church act kindly towards a critic? It did not.
I broadcast a short obituary of Shawn on BBC Radio Four’s From Our Own Correspondent: ‘Clearwater got that little bit more creepy recently, with the death – the police are treating it as suicide – of Shawn. When alive a Scientology spokesman said of him: “He has no redeeming value to anyone, anywhere.” Well, he was a bit of a hero to me. I, for one, mourn the loss of a brave and singular American.’