
The whereabouts of Scientology leader David Miscavige’s wife Shelly has been shrouded in mystery for the last seven years.

It caused the high profile defection of Hollywood actress Leah Rimini who dared to ask the question. Now MailOnline can reveal claims that she is living in a secret base deep in the San Bernardino mountains.

It’s the only Scientology base never to have been pictured before apart from afar on Google images.

The base was built exactly to David Miscavige’s specifications to withstand any nuclear holocaust and it’s where Tom Cruise and John Travolta allegedly have special bunkers to escape to when the end of the world arrives.



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Ready for the end: The luxury base was built exactly to David Miscavige’s specifications to withstand any nuclear holocaust - most of it is underground. Tom Cruise and John Travolta allegedly have special bunkers there to escape to when the end of the world arrives

Complex: The site has upscale residences, and exercise yard but also a special vault entrance which leads to an underground area where the works of Ron L Hubbard are archived and stored. A foreman who helped build the site said he believes this is where Shelly Miscavige is living after vanishing from public view seven years ago

Secrecy: A guard looks through binoculars from a security building on the site nestled between two mountains 120 miles out of Los Angeles. A former Church member told MailOnline: 'To even get invited to the base, you’ve got to be in the highest of highest ranks of Scientologists knowing the most secret of secrets'

Mystery: Ever since Shelly Miscavige 'vanished' speculation has been rampant as to what happened to her. Actress Leah Rimini (pictured with Shelly left) claims she was ousted for the Church for asking too many questions about the Scientology leader's wife. But former Church members said she'd be happy living at Twin Peaks

According to former Scientologists, this is CST HQ – they have other bases in New Mexico and Wyoming - and it’s here where all the major archiving of founder L. Ron Hubbard’s work takes place and where they are stored in special vaults. It’s just 120 miles east of Los Angeles, close to Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear, a popular tourist destination for skiers and hikers. Hidden in deep forest, the 500-acre Church of Scientology Technology (CST) base nicknamed ‘Twin Peaks’ can barely be seen from the road and MailOnline has been told that half of it lies underground.

MailOnlinespoke exclusively to ex-Church member Dylan Gill, who oversaw the building of the base reveals all its secrets.

Twin Peaks was built to the strict orders of the Board of Directors, who set aside a minimum $18 million for the project, which began in 1989, and isn’t even known to most Church members.

‘It’s kept in secrecy, almost no-one in Scientology knows the base exists. To even get invited to the base, you’ve got to be in the highest of highest ranks of Scientologists knowing the most secret of secrets. Then there’s a whole layer on top of that once you get there!’ reveals Dylan.

‘I was the foreman, I was the one who signed the checks, did the bidding, and hired the staff and contract workers. Twin Peaks had a budget of about $18 million, but it cost way more. It’s the main base, that’s where all the archiving is done, all the other CST bases are just there to be storage facilities. This is the main one in Scientology.’

Exclusive: The Twin Peaks complex was fitted out with an initial budget of $18m - but ended up costing far more - as it was built to very exacting standards to accommodate the higher echelons of the Church and their VIP friends. Pictured are the VIP lodges

Keep out: The base boasts top security features to protect it from prying eyes. Pictured are security buildings turned into staff lodgings

Hi-tech: Former foreman Dylan Gill said cutting edge technology was used when construction began in the late 1980s so they could communicate with other bases. He added there were sensors everywhere, heat-seeking and motion-sensor, many of which were installed after defections from the Church, he claims

Dylan explains the technical difficulties that goes with having to build special nuclear shelters for David Miscavige and other high ranking Scientologists, including L. Ron Hubbard himself, as it’s a core belief of the Church that he will be returning to the planet in the next few years.

‘The log cabins and houses seen in the pictures were for when Hubbard came back and they were built so that it could house him and all the International Executive like David Miscavige, Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder. It had six bedrooms to house the International Executive.

‘We had the wood flown in from down south, it was pretty expensive, and special carpenters built all the doors. All the furniture was brought over from New Mexico where we had an architect in Santa Fe. It’s basic Scientology procedure. When it gets to COB or Chairman of the Board as we called David Miscavage, you have to get the nicer stuff.

‘I carried two briefcases full of photo albums, they had pictures of everything that was done at the base and my job was to make sure they were captioned correctly and sent up to Miscavige.

Back from the dead: This building was built for the supposed return to Earth of Scientology's founder Ron L Hubbard, who died in 1986

Fear: Mr Gill said he lived in constant fear of not overseeing the construction to standards good enough for Miscavige and being sent to the 'Rehabilitation Project Force' - where SeaOrg members were taken if they didn't live up to expectations

‘We had weekly reports, and he was all over the commanding officers line. He ran everything, I had direct orders from him all the time. When he barks an order you do it, or you get sent to the RPF (Rehabilitation Project Force, where Sea Org members are sent if they’ve not lived up to ‘Church expectations’). You’re walking a tightrope.

‘There was so many technical specifications as we were archiving for all time, so wanted it to last thousands of years. We were doing constant progress reports. When he saw that the hallway was straight, he didn’t like it, he wanted it to be curved and wavy.

'So then we had to not only rip up a pretty inconsequential hallway, but had to do it with double the men, morning to night, as he wanted it specially plastered, so we couldn’t let the floor or walls ever dry. We were micromanaged on a daily basis.

'The new production building, which housed the manuscripts, cost $2.5 million, and we had this ‘clean room’ that had argon gas (which is used as a preservative) in it that would escape from the walls in case of any fires. We could evacuate it in two seconds so that no one died.

Bunkers: This is the entrance to the vault house - where the works of Hubbard are archived and stored. Mr Gill said the vault was made out of corrugated steel, two tubes side by side, with two tunnels attaching the tubes together

Stored for all time: The manuscripts were put into a ‘clean room’ that was filled with argon gas (used as an industrial preservative)

‘The LRH building was built for when he returns, the COB and Inspector Generals. The founder grew up in an era in the 1920s where he believed in the nuclear holocaust, so it’s fundamental to Scientology. If there was a nuclear catastrophe or World War 3, it would still be there ready and available - hence why titanium was so popular when we built it.

‘There is a secret underground vault to store the LRH technology [manuscripts, tapes, CDs etc]. It was made out of corrugated steel, two tubes side by side, with two tunnels attaching the tubes together.

‘We were one of the first to use fibre optics and microwaves. We were using the most cutting edge technology we could find to communicate to other bases and with each other. It was all done fibre-optically so there was room for expansion in the future.

‘There were all sorts of cameras. There was sensors everywhere, heat-seeking, motion-sensor ones. A lot of it came into place after defections and people speaking out.

‘We lived across the base in three buildings not on site. The whole base was set up for other people. There were 18 to 20 people total. I’m the only person ever to speak out, no one else has ever done it. CST Twin Peaks base doesn’t get anymore secret.’

Scientology activist and blogger, who goes by the name Angry Gay Pope, also provided four other images of Twin Peaks which includes a huge propane tank and gyro gym wheel. Angry Gay Pope is convinced the gyro gym is used as a ‘torture device’, but Dylan has another more mundane explanation of the contraption, popular in the 90s and even once used by Madonna for exercise.

He says: ‘The gyro-gym seen in some pictures is part of the whole power process. LRH wanted the staff to get that. It’s meant to challenge all of the senses. There’s a gyro theme to the power process. The propane tank I imagine they’ve now buried to hide from anyone. There was probably thirty years of propane in there.’

Dylan, now 44, was chosen as base leader as he was a trusted messenger and his family had been in Scientology for decades. He says: ‘I spent six months getting sec checked [Security Checked] and I was already a trusted messenger for years even though I was only 19. You have to have high qualifications to even be looked at for CST. I had solid sec-check for hours every day, signing non-disclosures all the time. They wanted to make sure I wasn’t a plant.’

Gyro gym: A bizarre exercise machine stands in the grounds of the base. Users are strapped in and spun around at all sorts of angles. Hubbard apparently believed the contraptions empowered his followers by helping them understand all of their senses

Prepping: Scientologists believe there will be a nuclear holocaust in the not-too-distant future and have built many bases, such as Twin Peaks, as a bolt-hole when this occurs. Mr Gill believes there's about 30 years of propane on the site

Dylan eventually left Scientology after he got a call saying he was to report back to Gold Base where he was sent to Happy Valley, which allegedly used to be the notorious torture area where they punish SeaOrgs with hard labor.

He still has no idea why he was put there, but this was common for people who headed up CST bases, sooner or later they'd lose favor, Dylan said.

After suffering hard labour and then, after seeing his wife for the first time in six months, it was obvious that Scientology was more important to her than he was. So he made a run for it in the middle of the night and he was then disconnected from his wife and father, his whole family disowned him, he said.

Dylan, along with Scientology expert Tony Ortega and former Church spokesman Mike Rinder, firmly believes Shelly Miscavige has been holed up here since she disappeared in 2006. The King of Queens actress Leah Rimini recently filed a missing persons report, but Dylan says it’s all in vain as Shelly will be ‘happy’ at the base carrying out her archiving duties for the rest of her life.

He says: ‘Living with David Miscavige, she was already under a lot of stress. I don’t think their relationship was so lovey-dovey anyway. Scientology is higher than any relationship. People get married and divorced all the time. I got married so I could have sex. I was 16 and a half years old.

‘She would feel blessed to be doing this. It may seem like a prison camp to the outside world, but to a Second Generation Scientologist, going up to CST to preserve LRH technology for all of mankind, it’s a no-brainer. So being in love and married isn’t going to trump that. If it means choosing between the two, a Scientologist will want to save the planet.

‘You’re allowed to do what you’ve always wanted to do your whole life. You joined The Sea Org to save the planet, all of mankind. It sounds silly, but that was a big deal for me to work up there.

Mixing business and pleasure: An exercise yard stands in front of the main entrance to the archiving vaults

Defection: Mr Gill said he was sent one day to a hard labor camp and then planned to escape the Church. But his wife and father were still firm believers, so he had to leave them behind and live the rest of his life cut off from his family

‘Having been there, knowing how it works, it all makes sense. Where would she go to be totally gone? Here of course.’

Scientology expert and blogger Tony Ortega says he’s been told by Church members that she’s holed up at the base, adding: ‘It’s a pretty simple answer that Shelly is not missing. There’s been many people who’ve filed missing reports and the LAPD have been obliged to check up on them.

Ortega claimed last time they interviewed Shelly 'face-to-face at the base and she said she was happy and requested privacy'.

Mike Rinder, former Scientology No 3 and Church spokesman, adds: ‘It is highly unlikely after this amount of time that she would say she wants to leave. Typical for this situation, she has been taught since early childhood to believe that whatever circumstances she finds herself in are her doing.’

There are also some former high profile Scientologists who believe that CST Twin Peaks doesn’t archive Hubbard’s literature, but store half a billion dollars in gold and cash reserves.

Writer and activist Arnie Lerma, who left the Church as they wouldn’t let him marry, says: ‘They definitely store money in the vaults in CST Twin Peaks, I’m absolutely sure. In 1989, CST bought half a billion dollars back on the books that Hubbard had squirreled away overseas.

'They don’t trust banks, they were buying a lot of gold and needed to store it somewhere. I was told by one person up there that they went to the local grocery store to pay an electricity bill and came in with a brown paper bag with $50,000 in cash.’

Arnie also claims that all the top celebrities such as Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kirsty Alley have visited the base – as this is where they’ve paid for a place to live when Armageddon occurs.

Earlier this year, MailOnline revealed the first close-up pictures of the Church of Scientology's 'alien space cathedral' built in a remote part of the New Mexico desert.

Landing strip: Earlier this year, MailOnline revealed the first close-up pictures of the Church of Scientology's 'alien space cathedral' built in a remote part of the New Mexico desert complete with a Scientology symbol for those returning to Earth after Armageddon

Another vault: This building at the New Mexico site is the entrance to another huge underground complex where the works of Hubbard are stored

The mysterious building which leads to an underground vault sits next to two giant symbols carved into the ground - believed to be markers for the religion's followers to find their way back from the ends of the universe after humanity is destroyed in the future.

While no one knows the definite meaning of the pair of overlapping circles, each with a diamond in them, it is believed to have been trademarked by the Church of Technology, a branch of Scientology.

It is believed that they are a ‘return point’ so members of the church know where they can find the works of founder L. Ron Hubbard when they come back from space after a nuclear catastrophe wipes out the human race.