Since L. Ron Hubbard himself died, David Miscavige has been the leader of the Church of Scientology. Handpicked by the church’s founder himself, Miscavige is one of the best-known – and most powerful – Scientology figures in the world, having clawed his way to the top with ruthless tactics and alleged violence.
For a decade, no one has seen his wife in public.
Shelly Miscavige – her real name is Michele – rose through the ranks of the church along with David Miscavige and became what Vanity Fair called “the First Lady of Scientology.” She was a member of the Sea Organization, an elite group that requires members to contractually commit to a billion years of service. And after a botched reorganization project in 2006, according to Vanity Fair, she disappeared from public life. Ask a Scientology member about her, and they won’t say anything.
Karin Pouw, the director of public affairs for the Church of Scientology, declined to discuss Shelly Miscavige’s whereabouts with Business Insider. She cited their security, noting that “the Church leader and its parishioners have been subjected to numerous violent threats, including death threats.”
But there is an alternate theory: Many Anti-Scientology activists and whistleblowers think she’s being held in a private bunker run by the church, in a fenced-off compound.
It's near Twin Peaks, California, about a 40 minutes' drive from San Bernardino.
It is, of course, possible that's entirely wrong. Shelly Miscavige may be working for the Church alongside her husband. She just may be doing it in secret.
Or not.
One anti-Scientology activist, who goes by the pseudonym "Angry Gay Pope,"visited the compound earlier this year and shared his photos with Business Insider.
He found spiked "ultrabarrier" spiked fences, razor wire, motion detectors, infrared spotlights, and satellite dishes.
Pope also noted pink ribbons. Were they a memorial?
Taken together, the compound's perimeter was designed so that it isn't easy for visitors to get inside.
Or out.
Shelly and David Miscavige clawed their way through the ranks of Scientology in tandem.
At 12 years old, in the early 1970s, Shelly Miscavige, born Michele Barnett, joined the Sea Organization, a sector of the Church of Scientology where members pledge their lives for a billion years of service. She was one of Hubbard's most devoted followers, according to a 2014 issue of Vanity Fair.
She and David Miscavige got romantically involved, married in 1982, and worked alongside each other in the upper echelons of the organization.
Her mother died in 1985 under mysterious circumstances. Mary Florence Barnett's body was found dead with three bullet holes in the chest from a rifle, one bullet hole in the head, and both of her wrists slashed. She left two suicide notes. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled her death a suicide.
"For decades, Shelly Miscavige had been the First Lady of Scientology," Ned Zeman wrote Vanity Fair. "Graceful and smiling, she was always by Miscavige's side - during virtually every meeting, every trip, every photo op."
Shelly held watch over Tom Cruise when he married Nicole Kidman.
One way to look at Shelly's power is that she held watch over Tom Cruise, Scientology's most famous adherent.
When Cruise married Nicole Kidman in 1990, Shelly was personally responsible for interviewing members of their household staff, Lawrence Wright writes in "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief."
Former executives of the church told Wright that the church offered "unpaid clergy" to renovate their home and, in doing so, "installed a sophisticated audiovisual system." "Scientologists who worked for Cruise and Kidman reported to the church about whatever they observed," Wright writes.
Some Scientology insiders say Shelly and David were never really romantic.
Several observers said that there was little love between the two. Vanity Fair said that David was more of a boss than a husband, and that the two slept in separate bedrooms.
"I never, ever, ever saw them kiss," a former Scientologist and Sea Org member, told Vanity Fair. "I had plenty of opportunities to witness them together and never, ever saw them affectionate with each other."
Then she disappeared.
Shelly's troubles became serious in late 2006, sources told Vanity Fair. She botched a corporate reorganization project for the Sea Org and clashed with her husband over how to do it.
Around that time, she stopped appearing in public. She wasn't present at Tom Cruise's wedding to Katie Holmes in November 2006 and she didn't return letters sent to her for the holiday season.
Shelly Miscavige was escorted to her father's funeral in August 2007. That's the last time she was seen in public.
Journalists and former Church of Scientology members say she's in a compound owned by the church right outside of Twin Peaks, California, deep in the woods by Lake Arrowhead.
The official address is 25406 State Highway 189, Twin Peaks, California 92391.
This is the entrance to the compound, as seen from the road.
Signs make it clear that visitors are not welcome.
Parts of the site are inaccessible by car.
Anyone who comes near the compound is watched by security cameras.
Pope saw a woman in the woods that he couldn't identify. It's possible she's Shelly Miscavige, or another member of the Church of Scientology.
Angry Gay Pope has visited the site several times since 2010. It has changed over the years.
Since his last visit, it has become harder to see inside the compound.
"In the years since, they've planted things up even higher," Pope told Business Insider. "It's even worse now."
Pope says the Twin Peaks compound is a secret among Scientologists. Only the most elite are permitted inside.
"Other scientologists do not know Twin Peaks even exists," Pope said. "For some reason, it's a big secret. Only super rich Scientologists like John Travolta and Tom Cruise might go up there to stay in beautiful housing and stuff."
According to former church member Dylan Gill, who oversaw the building of the base, it was built in 1989 with a budget of at least $18 million.
There are pink ribbons at the entrance, which Pope thinks may be a tribute to Shelly Miscavige.
"Someone had put pink ribbons on the ultrabarrier, on the fencing," he told Business Insider. "I guess that would be some sort of tribute to a woman. Is that something that someone put there thinking of Shelly Miscavige, because she's thought to be there?"
On an earlier trip, Pope went to the Twin Peaks compound with Tony Ortega, the former editor of the Village Voice who now runs The Underground Bunker, a blog about Scientology. He said the two met with a woman who claimed she met Shelly Miscavige and that Miscavige looked like "an emaciated homeless person" and had two younger men trailing behind her.
Pope's first visit in 2010 "freaked them out."
Within a week, Pope said, the compound's parking lot was full of trees ready to be planted and further obscure it from view.
He also noticed another thing from his visits: they extended and updated the fence.
It has more spikes now.
And now they all face inward, rather than out.
"If you do get out, they will chase you on motorcycles," he says.
The whole thing is surrounded with Ultra-Barrier, a brand of fencing used around border crossing bridges between the United States and Mexico.
The website describes it as "the ultimate psychological and physical barrier, providing unsurpassed security, without the concentration camp appearance of barbed wire."
The enclave is part of a division of Scientology that preserves L. Ron Hubbard's words in metal.
The compound is technically run by the Church of Spiritual Technology, a division of the Church of Scientology that ensures L. Ron Hubbard's writings will be preserved for millennia.
The CST, as it is referred to, is a nonprofit that owns the copyright to Hubbard's works. It's meant to "preserve and archive the Scientology scripture and so ensure its availability for all future generations," according to the church.
The compound includes an underground bunker built to withstand nuclear war, allegedly.
In practice, this means inscribing and maintaining metal plates with Hubbard's writings inscribed, with "more than 135 tons of archival books, stainless steel plates and nickel-plated records," according to the church. "Those materials are "stored in 2,300 titanium capsules housed in calamity-proof vaults to ensure the timeless preservation and survival of the Scientology scripture."
The compound includes underground bunkers built to withstand nuclear blasts, according to people who have been there. Titanium doesn't burn or rust, so Hubbard's words are remarkably protected against any kind of disaster.
"It's responsible for making sure that L. Ron Hubbard's words survive World War III," in Angry Gay Pope's words. "Scientology was founded in the '50s, when everyone was afraid of getting nuked."
This is a "gyro gym"— exercise equipment with two concentric circular swings that allow the user to spin and tumble in any direction, as if weightless.
The compound has about half a dozen satellite dishes.
It is not clear what the purpose of the dishes is.
One of them is hooked up to DirecTV.
A huge above-ground propane tank from Pope's last visit is now gone.
Having it there was an enormous fire risk, Pope said.
The fencing around the compound is comprehensive.
You can see a lot by drone.
Overhead footage provides a clear shot of the sprawling compound.
It has several buildings, a parking lot, and manicured gardens.
Pope estimates it is nearly 33 acres in size.
The church maintains the compound as if it were a "prison camp," according to Pope.
In the context of L. Ron Hubbard's ideas, Twin Peaks is a refuge from nuclear war: precisely calibrated, far from major populations, and designed to be a place where people can live for years.
Now, Pope says, it's a perfect prison.
"The most important function to us is that it's a prison camp," Pope said. He believes David Miscavige "disappeared" his wife inside this camp, and she has not been seen outside it since.
The gate to the bridge is locked behind a series of fences.
All those fences have spikes on top.
It's an elaborate setup.
But wait — why does Scientology have "prisons" at all?
For low-level members of the Church of Scientology, leaving the Church isn't exactly easy. (Current members refuse to have anything to do with former members, leaving them isolated from their families and former friends.) But Miscavige can live with it.
The more important you are in the church, though, the more you learn. And if you know too much, it's dangerous - or embarrassing - for the church to kick you out, Pope explained.
"A high-level person like Shelly Miscavige has to be taken to Twin Peaks," Pope says, where the church can persuade them not leave, or at least keep them isolated.
Twin Peaks isn't the only so-called "prison camp" run by Scientology.
A more famous one is "The Hole" at Scientology's Gold Base near Hemet, California. Like the Twin Peaks compound, it's secluded and secure. It's meant for executives of the Church of Scientology who displeased David Miscavige.
Miscavige reportedly banished Scientology members to "The Hole" frequently. The conditions are harsh - the windows and doors are barred, according to ex-Scientology members, and had to go through self-castigating punishments.
The Church of Scientology denies that "The Hole" exists.
Pope started protesting Scientology in 2008 with Anonymous.
"We all had anonymous names," Pope said. "We all put on masks and outfits. We'd cover our hair, cover our face, and wear baggy clothes so you don't know what your body was like. They cannot identify you. Because once they'd identify you - and they did - they'd go to people's homes and businesses and they'd try to get your landlord to kick you out, try to get your boss to fire you."
Pope's alter ego, Angry Gay Pope, came together based on what he saw at the costume store at the time.
"There was nothing there but afros, pirate hats, and a pope hat," he said. "I went with the pope hat. I was angry, I was gay, and I had a pope hat on. It's perfect."
At this point, Pope's identity is likely known by the Church of Scientology. It's now easy to find his identity on the internet - he's an animator who's worked on two Emmy Award-winning shows - but Pope likes to wear the mask and keep up the alter ego to throw the Scientologists off.
Over time, Anonymous's persistent efforts against Scientology waned, but Pope kept going. He sees Scientology as a dying cult, and he wants to see its end during his lifetime.
"I protest because I want to stop it much sooner than if it would die on its own," Pope said. "They're an endangered species. You may as well go on the mountain and get them in their natural environment, because I'm the only one that's got that footage."
There's a difference, Pope says, between Scientology and other religions.
"When I left the Catholic Church, my mom was upset, and I got a call from the local priest," Pope said. "But the pope didn't drive around in a black SUV following me. Scientologists are known to do that. You just cannot leave."
His anti-Scientology activism has resulted in several court orders against him.
As with many activists, civil disobedience has gotten Pope into trouble with the law. He has been cited by courts for trespassing and has had several Temporary Restraining Orders filed against him for following and filming Scientologists, which he says he's done in retaliation for Scientologists stalking him. (Many of the videos are available on his YouTube page.)
When asked about his work, The Church of Scientology's Karin Pouw called Pope "an unhinged lunatic desperate for attention" and cited his record to deflect questions about Shelly Miscavige.
"There are numerous other examples of arrests by police for his harassment of Scientologists," Pouw wrote in an email to Business Insider. "In short, Myers is a man with a criminal record who will do or say anything to spread his venom and hate-filled agenda."
Citing Pope and other others who have allegedly threatened Church members, Pouw said it's "irresponsible and just plain stupid to discuss the whereabouts of our leader and his family."
"The questions are entirely disingenuous since you know that Mr. and Mrs. Miscavige - or anyone else for that matter - would have no desire to see an obsessed stalker with a criminal record," Pouw wrote. "Just as you know this is simply the latest in his long string of harassment and stunts. This is plainly obvious to anyone with a modicum of common sense."
When asked for a response, Pope was stunned that Pouw even acknowledged him at all.
"I am staggered, STAGGERED that they even recognize my existence!" he wrote in an email. "They never talk about me publicly as they know I will wallow in it to gain legitimacy and for fundraising purposes."
He also wondered why the Church of Scientology did not make a "hate video" for him. The organization has edited together several negative videos about his network of lawyers and activists fighting the church.
Pope speculated that the Church seldom talks about him because he's effective.
"The more you scratch a mosquito bite the more it itches," Pope wrote. "I'm like a non-deadly parasite that is so itchy and annoying but will never kill them. If you had parasites would you tell everyone?"
Pope says it's his responsibility to hold the Church of Scientology accountable.
"I'm a gay man. I know what fascism is all about," Pope said. "I know that these jerks, if they ever had power, would come for me. So why not go for them first?"