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I grew up in clearwater and slowly watched as scientology took over like a plague of white shirts and black pants.

I love how South Park accurately exposed what only the “upper level” ranks of Scientologists are allowed to know all in one episode 😂

I went to Clearwater High, and had a few friends whose families were Scientologists. One was shipped off not long after graduating to go work on a yacht for the org and when I saw her a few years later at a GameStop at Clearwater Mall, her friends closed ranks around her and pretended I wasn't even there- mid conversation. She looked at me with a worried expression and I regret not confronting the folks she was with. It broke my heart. It's not great optics to have members interface with non members in that manner, it just validates what's out there further.

Hey man, I'm 74 and I have nothing to do all day except sit here in my batchelor apt. with my little grey and white shih-tsu female dog and watch youtube channels. Probably a thou a week. I gotta' say, yours gets 2, TWO thumbs up from me. you are talented and often funny. I feels good to laugh. You have a great channel, loaded with the best YT has to offer. Keep 'em comin'!

Living near Clearwater, there’s a very strange ominous feeling compared to like Tampa and St. Pete

H. P. Lovecraft made stories more believable than Scientology lmao 💀

I grew up in Clearwater and the aquarium you mentioned is top notch and helped give a backbone to a lot of businesses there to stand up to them…a few years ago what we called it when I ran a music store there was “the looney bin”…everyone just needed a stepping stone and the aquarium gave them that. I used to call driving down Ft Harrison “the March of the Penguins” because it was all people in the same uniform walking to random locations in downtown…I would be headed to a gig I was playing on the beach sitting in traffic at that time blasting Sublime’s music from my SUV and get the looks from every one going “I miss that!” Lol that little aquarium on the beach helped out vets with their amputee research (look it up pretty cool…whole movie about it…) but kept the city from folding to the organization that has moved in.

Fun fact about Tom cruise his wife at the time Mimi rogers introduced him to Scientology in 1986 then became a outspoken advocate for Scientology in the 2000s. Mimi rogers left Scientology after being forced out by the church for questioning the whereabouts of the churches leaders wife.

As someone who lives in Clearwater, this was not on my bingo card when starting the video. Paused right at the Clearwater, and was like ohhhhh ya that makes sense, fucking scientology. Downtown is completely avoided. Luckily, they pretty much stick to their area and locals avoid it. One thing you missed is they also run for city boards and have won seats.

My cousin Alyssa grew up down there, sadly her Mom was into Scientology and they moved to Clearwater when my cousin was like 8 and she ran away and got up here to her Michigan family when she was 16. Sadly, she went on to become a drug addict and then recently, at 34 years old, she moved out to California and became homeless and a few months ago was hit and killed while crossing a Highway near Hollywood. I didn’t even know she moved out there, we were really close after she got to Michigan and basically escaped Scientology and her Mom. That place really messed her head up they REALLY feed these people some bs and they become so brainwashed it’s really sad to see. She was extremely outgoing, and always happy on the outside, but deep down, she told me she knew that place did a number on her psyche. RIP Alyssa! 1989-2023! We love and miss you!

I worked at a flooring company back in the late 80s-early 90s and we did business with the church. They were weird! We were in Tampa and would get calls for stuff like they wanted a bucket of glue or a few boxes of vinyl floor tiles. We would tell them how much and a van would show up in like 10 minutes with a check. They wouldn't be billed for anything so they always paid up front. Might not sound weird to you but Tampa is not 10 minutes away from the HQ at the Ft Harrison. I went to measure a place for recarpeting in downtown Clearwater and it was a windowless place with a plaque by the door that said Flagship one as the only marking. It was a radio room full of people on two way radios tracking and directing every vehicle they owned 24/7. This was pre cell phone days. That's just some of the weird stuff I saw personally.

The craziest thing about them picking where they did to build their base, is that they chose the dead center of the city. City Hall is one block west of their building. The Pinellas Trail, a popular biking and walking trail, is one block east. A bus terminal for several wide reaching lines is literally across the street. The main artery road to and from Clearwater beach (which is routinely deemed by many to be one of the best and most popular beaches in the world) is just south of their parking lot. They are the heart of the city.

The fact that they just had a scientology ad during the super bowl somehow makes this so much more real to me

i live near clearwater, i used to stroll scientology lane with friends late at night. stopped going because every time we went, weirder and weirder shit started happening. normally the scienos wont talk to you (in my exp) but they started directly interacting with me, my car would get followed, busses full of people going around at 3am, we would get followed by ppl on bikes, they pop out of fucking nowhere (all the doors must be oiled or some shit because theyre silent). super creepy

I used to work in the SunTrust building on the 5th floor across from the Ft Harrison Hotel. I was talking to a friend of mine at the watercooler by the window facing it one morning. We saw a person walk out onto the balcony of the hotel and just jump off. It's one of the most jarring things I've seen to this day.

I was born in Clearwater 26 years ago and still live here, sadly I lost my sister to the sea org and rarely get to see/talk to her. Downtown used to be so different and actually had businesses but they’ve taken over everywhere

It's heartbreaking to see a community destroyed by these lunatics. I've wished more people would shine more light on this for years so, genuinely, thank you so much.

I live near Clearwater and I remember being 14 years old and taking photos by their building for a project for my architecture class with my friends and us getting chased away by the Scientologists. They actually started following us on bikes and we were able to get away from them. The fact that a lot of downtown Clearwater is controlled by them is scary

i grew up in the next town over. my friend and i in our late teens/early 20s would frequently hang around clearwater beach at night but would avoid downtown at all costs. i vividly remember driving under the sky bridges to get to the beach. it’s exactly how you described, you see them everywhere. crazy just how normal it was to see them out & their fake business fronts. i was always terrified of them.

I live in clearwater and I seen at least 20 scientology buildings and I seen clearwater turn from a peaceful nice area to a scientology infection

I coach football and one guy I work with mentioned the Scientology aspect of Clearwater Academy International since he coached a lot of kids who went down their to play on their football team. Once he saw it for himself, he refused to send anyone else down there.

I LITERALLY lived this. The Sci-No's truly destroyed my childhood hometown. Clearwater, due to the Sci-No's and their partner investors, has now been reduced to an expensive, traffic-congested tourist trap, including loss of the once pristine beachfronts, as well as destruction of wildlife and natural habitats for our native animal species. What he didn't mention in this video, but I clearly remember when I was growing up: They bought out many neighborhood apartment complexes, local motels, etc. for their Sci-No cult-followers aka employees to live in. EVERY SINGLE window's curtains were ALWAYS closed. I walked past them multiple times a DAY, as I walked to school, played with my friends, etc. They would NEVER speak to anyone not wearing one of their uniforms when they would be walking to and from buildings (ALWAYS IN GROUPS)- which is the ONLY place you'd ever see them... back and forth, like swarms, to and from all the connected buildings in downtown Clearwater. I used to think they were so creepy. I do apologize to that one group that was walking the night me and my friends were driving back from the beach. What can I say? I was a teenager and what we did and said was our way of telling them to GTFO of our city. Sorry not sorry. The other fact that wasn't mentioned was their imprisoning, torturing (she wanted out) and subsequent murder of Lisa McPherson, whose body was found inside one of the rooms of the Ft. Harrison Hotel (with much other evidence) back in the 90s. I'm sure that case was never brought to justice... for her and her family. Money talk$. Their true M.O. actually IS world domination. This dude's video is 💯💯💯 FACTS. #FUTomCruise #FULRonHubBub

I live near clearwater, and I pretty regularly make the commute through it. That place is always super weird. Cult members are always wearing dress shirts, vests, and ties even in super hot weather. I once went to a public event nearby and unknowingly went into the "community center," where they tried to recruit me. Super weird experience

There’s somethin murky goin on down in Clearwater …

I didn’t realize cults also used the *D.E.N.N.I.S.* system. 2:33 - _Separate Entirely_

Living in Clearwater is odd because you have to second guess whether your landlord or boss will just up n sell so ya gotta keep contingency plans for everything

The small edits you do where there are multiple of you in the scene (like how you said their plans were juvenile and so you were in a school setting with yourself) leave me deceased. I enjoy your content never stop

so much papa meat videos lately i love it

Holy shit, this explains why we get so many flyers advertising Clearwater here in my hometown in the UK as we have a Scientology recruitment centre in our town, right by a church no less XD

Aye mane. As a Tampa lifelong native. They wild over there wit the Scientology fr. I got friends who live there who are not down with all that and it’s wild to see those who are. Normally it’s family based and rooted. It’s sad. But crazy fr

Had briefly dated a guy from Clearwater in 2014. One night we randomly went walking downtown, wondering why the streets were so empty. After passing a valet booth, they explained the Scientology building was hosting a big meeting. After seeing the building up close, it was so illuminated as if it was a rocket about to launch. Such an odd and eerie place to see in person. We happened to be there when this meeting ended and stayed still watching people leaving all walking in unison, their uniforms similar to flight attendants. They had blank expressions and didn’t have any conversation among each other as those who would normally chat after being in such a place. Florida is an interesting location all around. That night in particular always stuck with me and confirmed how cult like behavior those associated with Scientology are.

I used to drive from washington state to el paso growing up, did it about 7 times. We followed a sign for a gas station in rural montana because my mom really had to use the bathroom. We came across this tiny little town with about 20 houses that all looked like lincoln logs but not a single car in any of the driveways. The gas station was gone and the only thing left was really old and worn out pumps so we drove through the small town to leave and as we went past every house we only saw fingers peaking through the blinds, it freaked us out and we drove back until we found the highway again. Ever since ive never been able to find it on Google maps and i think about it from time to time

I’m from Clearwater and lived there for 17 years - the amount of times my family got accidentally recruited into a Scientologist job/school/etc is crazy! Glad I live far away from Clearwater now. My sister still lives there and recently about a month ago got a well-paying job at a chiropractor working at the reception desk. After literally only spending 4 hours there, she quickly realized it was ran by Scientologists. She was not allowed to wear any colors, her sticker-bombed water jug had to get hidden out of view and she couldn’t wear bracelets. Everything was beige. She looked up the history of the place and realized it was a Scientologist cult. Left on her lunch break and never went back. She still gets calls texts and emails from them. Creepy place!

I lived in Clearwater from 1999 to 2016 and it could tell you so much more than what you've covered in this video.

I live in St. Pete and have had to make routine trips out to Clearwater so my mom can see her doctor in order to get shots or just check ups on her growing arthritic pains. Since it was early and we already made plans that day to also get coffee we figured to just make it a trip and find some local coffee place. Driving a little further we found a spot and it became more and more obvious that clearwater had become a ghost town. Every street corner had one or two people with black pants and white shirts and a lot of the buildings were wide with dusty glass and chipped paint making up their faceless fronts. Feeling more claustrophobic we decided to get our coffee and get off the street. I felt as if we had both walked straight into a horror movie as soon as we crossed the threshold of the doorway. As soon as we entered more than 80% of the people inside quickly glanced up at us for an uncomfortable second and then back to their jobs like they were wooden little soldiers. The people were very nice and chatty and never stopped smiling the moment we came in. As we ordered coffee it became abundantly clear this was that start of it all. Seeing the wide open wooden floor with several couches in each corner and excessive pillows and the combination of shades that obscured far to much of the light coming in the building. My head began to race. I noticed among other things signs about community meetings, not church meetings but community, and other non specific lingo for (this is were we get you). After the coffee was done being made they asked if it was for here or not. We took the coffee as soon as we could and left that creepy ghost town. Despite a good amount of traveling in state, in north america or to even other countries like mexico, canada, and Japan I have never felt more watched disturbed than in a small town in my own backyard of this county.

Man this explains SO much!! I am not from Florida, but went on vacation to Tampa last year with my girlfriend. We drive to Clearwater for some sunset cruise and decided to get dinner in town afterwards. It was dark when we got into town and we tried to find a place to park. It was weird because there was NO cars anywhere, but for some reason we still couldn’t find a place to park legally. Finally we found a place to park on the street, but we had to download an app for some digital parking meter. I remember getting out of the car to scan the QR code on the sign and just feeling this fear come over me. Something about those empty streets is SO EERIE it’s unexplainable unless you experience it yourself. Anyways, we ate dinner and it was delicious and a very nice staff at the restaurant.. but we couldn’t get out of that town fast enough

As someone who was born in Clearwater and lives here. I hate what they’ve done to my home. I don’t know how they managed to buy my beautiful city but they have. I wish people knew that this place is still a beautiful place to live and by no means do they represent us. Here people will help you if you’re on the side of the road, you can go to the beach and people will watch over your stuff so no one else steals it. The people here are good but yes unfortunately the scientologists run downtown, the police jump at their every command. At the beach we used to have street performers work and make the beach enjoyable and I remember the day that the scientologists started advocating for “control” of the streets so what ended up happening is that it became almost illegal for those performers to be at the beach. They have a lot of “out reach help programs” but they target drug addicts, single moms, the homeless and they “help” them by giving them housing and jobs within the organization and basically enslave them because they’ll never be able to pay back the “help”. My dads old job a few years ago was contracted to build a floor to one of their “exercise rooms” where it was painted completely black and they were supposed to turn off the lights and walk on a ramp going upwards in a spiral and it was supposed to “train” them to not be afraid of the dark while walking. Almost like if you’re trusting their instructions then you won’t fall, being subservient and in the middle of that spiral was going to be a ufo spaceship. Honestly I still don’t understand why people gave up on fighting them.

Great video! Please do a video on Centralia, Pennsylvania!!! Active fire in the mines underneath the town that will be burning for years that cannot be put out!

I live in Clearwater… this explains a lot

Do Dudleytown in Connecticut. It was abandoned but they have a weird corporation that keeps people from even asking questions about it and it’s technically private property and there’s a lot of myths about the place. I’ve been to the outskirts and it felt heavy af man. The corporation is Dark Entry Forest, Incorporated. And it was the radio station 99.1 I think that tried talking about it and emailing them and they sketchily told him to drop it. Why not just say there’s nothing going on here. It’s always just been myths. But we wanna keep teens from wrecking it. But no. They act alll freaking weird about it

I live right next door and every time I drive through it’s just eerie. People walking around with seemingly no destination, plots of land in prime locations that remain empty lots. It’s a shame because it could really be a beautiful city

I've really enjoyed this content. More so than the Meat Canyon chanel. Enjoying all the effort that's been put into these videos

I live in New Port Richey about an hour or 2 away from Clearwater. This is crazy thank you for making this. I always know something was strange about out there.

PLS COME TO CLEARWATER downtown is legit the creepiest place ever, once drove through there around like 8PM and saw just like hundreds of them flocking out of the buildings all in the same outfits to the same damn buses, this shit is creepy as hell fr... never have felt a sense of dread like i do when i drive through that place

I was born and raised in Clearwater and everyone knew to never walk in downtown Clearwater unless you wanted to be recruited by scientologists. When I was living on my own (nowhere near downtown Clearwater), I had scientologists come to my house and claim that they were my relatives and I needed to come with them to the headquarters. They knew me by name. It was a terrifying experience and I wonder what would've happened to me if I went with them.

I remember driving through downtown Clearwater on a trip not knowing what was up and finding it strange that their wasn’t any businesses at all or barely any people walking around, then years later I learned about this and now I’m terrified of this place.

Growing up and living in downtown Clearwater (2000-2014), I've seen my fair share of changes. The houses around The Flag building *Scientology HQ* is the hood, Betty LN, MLK and Greenwood. Filled with life and culture we called our city "The Wick" and had a lot of small businesses that attributed to that name but as time went on things got expensive and pushed people out. My childhood home my parents bought for 75k ***Brand new in the year 2000*** and it jumped to 314k***2014*** by the time we moved out. They have schools like Clearwater Academy and Delphi Academy for scientologist. Their own medical offices for their scientologist doctors and a postal business *Postcardmania* for all their direct mailing needs. Best part most of these building just surround their stronghold to keep locals away from their area. Most business buildings and spaces in downtown are owned by them or are protected as Landmarks, so opening your own business down their is damn near impossible. Even if you did. You're surrounded by scientologist owned business and developments so you better play nice. All but one member of the Chamber of Commerce of Clearwater is scientologist and a majority of the city council is as well. Long story short, they're here to stay in Clearwater and are fully invested in the complete acquisition of the town and its tourism. Most people in town support the religion and don't even know it, they're in everything. Hubbard's a business, man hiding behind religion and with an army of Star Trek crusaders. My friend's in high school that were born into Scientology either have dropped off the face of the earth or are living seemingly normal lives. Whenever we hung out publicly they always acted differently than behind closed doors. They said if a members recognized them out publicly they could anonymously report them for all kinds of things like cigarettes, drinking, or drug use. Fortunately their power over regular people doesn't exist out of Downtown and nobody fears them!

Leprechaun marathon and an SCP video.. and now the Clearwater Story?? I’m loving all of these recent videos on the classics ❤

Born and raised in Clearwater. That's accurate about locals avoiding downtown, my parents has avoided and told my siblings and I to not go there because of the scientologists. And it's downtown they've primarily taken over, the main city is still mostly untouched, for now. There's an apartment complex near the middle school I went to, purely filled with scientologists. I would see buses with Flag on them and I didn't realize they were scientologists until later. Then, a while ago, they built this huge, creepy, windowless warehouse type building. I might have seen maybe one door, if that. It's really sad. The city almost had a win, though, over 10 years ago. They took their sweet time with renovating the hotel and the city was about to slap a huge fine on them, but they started renovating at the last moment. I was really upset with that. I would have loved to stay at the hotel in its hayday. Overall, it sucks with what's happened and honestly I don't think there's much the citizens can really do now. They're too deep in the pockets of the higher ups.

Been watching Aaron from the channel "Growing Up Scientology" recently and he's from clearwater and still lives there. He's constantly out there showing what it really like.

I have the happy memory of what my friends and I did at the Ft Harrison Hotel before it became the central hive of Clearwater Scientology. We crept into the cafeteria and swiped some spoons. Then we went into the ballroom and used our spoons to strike up several rounds of the Woodstock rain chant. One of my fondest memories of 1971.

“There’s so much mystery behind the eyes of a stranger when you know they’re in a cult.” BARS

TL:DR - Seen my first Scientology church in Cali, they tried to aggressively persuade us to buy a $50 book on Dianetics by reeling us in with the promise of a free movie, then they basically lost to a game of My Dad’s humor. My first ever experience with Scientology was in Los Angelo’s when I ran into a group of people outside in similar dress shirts and ties that were handing out flyers for a “free movie”. I should’ve picked up on what was going on when my dad instinctively saw the sign then ran off, literally leaving me in the dust before he realized and came back for his child and my other cousins (but in my defense I couldn’t have been more than 13-14 y/o and sheltered to the point that saying “devil’s dandruff” would’ve made my mom faint) So me being a curious sheltered child I was who had no idea what Scientology was, I took the offer of seeing a free movie, thinking it was some special premiere or something movie related that ppl did in Cali Idk. Long story short, it was just a 20 minute film about dianetics then as soon as it was over they sat us down told us word for word “This is the book on Dianetics it’s $50 cash or credit.” We tried at first to decline but the weren’t taking no for an answer and insisted we needed it until they tried to use my dad as an example by asking what did he want to improve about himself with him answering “being more happy” then they asked what is he like when he’s not happy and he said “less happy” and they went back and forth like that until they finally gave up and gave us a free dvd that my cousin proceeded to throw away as soon as we were out of view, crazy times😂

I do artwork in Clearwater every year. Murals, Chalk art, etc. I've spent so much time downtown Clearwater. Before I realized these people in uniform were in a cult, I thought there was some kind of big convention going on and I was just seeing a catering staff or something. Then I was told what I was seeing. I drove past the church a couple times, and took a picture of the building. A few Sea Org people noticed and stared me down. They have white vans that shuttle these people around all day long. They rarely say hi or acknowledge anyone walking downtown who arent also in Scientology. Its a really weird vibe downtown.

18:00 My Floridian ass just said “yes it could!” With full confidence 😭

Twilight + Captain Underpants = Scientology. Never had somebody spell it out so clearly before.

I’ve been to Clearwater a bunch of times and it is creepy as fuuuuuck. Came down for Blue Jays spring training and wandered around Clearwater a bunch. It’s insane. The only business that seemed to be doing ok was the Starbucks. School buses would pull up to what looked like abandoned store fronts and people would get out and go in. All in matching colour coordinated uniforms. Wild.

Me and my brother walked downtown Clearwater and it was creepy. I lived down the street and had just moved there from somewhere else in fl. and I’ve never been downtown so we just wanted to walk down and enjoy our night. The town was so weird the empty stores and the fact the employees were just wandering around. Every corner you went there was another one walking towards you. We started taking pictures of the weird buildings and symbols on the buildings. The employees walking around noticed us doing this (im guessing) they started coming up one by one and asking “what are you doing tonight?” and “how are you tonight?” And other weird questions like that. It was weird how they started doing that after we took the pictures and were walking around for a while. Then after a bit they stopped and we got creeped out and went home. I still have the pictures in my phone.

as a floridian, florida is literally feels like an experiment. the amount of wierd towns, from celebration, to clearwater, to the villiages, to estero,

I live in Clearwater currently, i used to work at a surf shop right on the beach. When i tell you NO ONE is walking at night downtown but weirdos or bar hoppers i mean it. My dad used to tell me about scientology people when driving through from the beach to where we live. Crazy shit man

If you're looking for "creepy town" material, look up Centralia PA. A mine fire started in the 60's and swallowed up half the town; In the 90's the government basically bought the whole thing and condemned it. Really bizarre stuff. I think the movie "Nothing but Trouble" drew some of it's inspiration from Centralia.

I live in Tampa and have been to clear water on a few occasions but I’ve never noticed maybe I just don’t go enough

I was born and raised in clearwater and I'm still here just south in st pete man this is pure facts.

As a resident of Florida not too far from Clearwater, the only reason we visit is because of the beach. But passing through the town gives strange vibes. Also, seeing billboards encouraging people to visit Clearwater now has a very different interpretation.

I grew up 15 minutes from Clearwater and spent my summers at Clearwater Beach with my friends every day and I can confirm that everything in this video is 💯 and not 🧢 in any way. The city has been fighting for years in court so that people can come back and open businesses and it's useless. Really sad because when I was young, Clearwater was a really cool fun place to hang out.

Bro i live in st.pete and immediately clicked when i saw clearwater we called those peoppe walking science projects

Look into Cassadaga Florida. Not on the level of Clearwater, but yeah.. Genuinely creepy. Maybe creepier.

I've always vacationed and done extended stays in florida due to having so many family members that live there. One lived in clearwater because of how affordable it was, and it definitely is a very strange place. It's like half normal people and half scientologists. Many of the lifelong floridians describe this period as almost like invasion of the body snatchers. Like you're saying in this video the scientologists used their financial resources to buy out so many people and it just felt like overnight these strange cultists were everywhere. The worst part was they are very preachy and try and convert everyone (until you say the wrong thing and get straight up listed as an undesirable in their literal cultist caste system). Very strange times indeed.

I live near Clearwater. It's weird how few people know the dark history of that place.

I live in Clearwater. Scientology has suffocated the downtown corridor. But the beach is untouched. It’s an island and you wouldn’t know Scientology exists when you’re on the beach. Also, outside of the downtown area, again, you see no evidence of Scientology. Unfortunately the city government is ball-less and refuses to push the cult out or at least minimize their impact. According to Traci McManus of the Tampa Bay Times, Scientology and members of Scientology own over 90% of the downtown business corridor. The downtown waterfront area was revitalized. The city built a park and amphitheater. I’m going to the blues fest there today. Additionally a large condo building is going up next to the amphitheater. Scientology is not happy about it. The sky walks and the buildings all have blacked out windows. You can’t ever see in the windows. That is creepy! Come visit, it’s not the worst place.

I would love a video on times beach Missouri its a lesser known story about a town accidentally poisoning itself and having to be abandoned

Clearwater sounds like the town from H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow over Innsmouth

Gary Indiana is a literal ghost town with all the abandoned buildings. i live 25 minutes from there. Ive explored and encountered absolutely haunting buildings ranging from highschools all the way to churches and theaters. Once beautiful town with such a huge workforce for steel is now in shambles

I've lived in Largo which is right under clearwater about a 5-10 minute drive into clearwater for 9 years now and can say the scientology has absolutely 0 effect on Life here and isn't something you really even see

I lived in Clearwater just a few months ago and never knew any of this!! It’s crazy. Clearwater is always empty, but I kind of never second guessed it.

I live here. I grew up in Dunedin and we would always skateboard downtown Clearwater. The Scientologist own downtown. I remember them basically putting small shops out of business so they could take over. But I will say there’s still a lot of Clearwater untouched by them. Lately it seems like the city might be annoyed with there presence but they have such a stronghold in downtown idk if they could do anything. One time one of the hotels they own where a lot of them reside was being raided by only what I could assume was a higher up. They had them in the parking lot lined up like prisoners. Some of them still wearing boxers like they were woke up in the middle of sleeping taking outside while there rooms were raided. It was wild.

I live near downtown Clearwater and it's exactly like he describes. It's so clean downtown because of the scarcity of real businesses it's at first attractive... But then it really seems creepy when you realize scientology owns so much of the property that they just prefer it empty. The city has dumped millions into the waterfront renovations and it looks amazing but it's a ghost town. Also across from my neighborhood about a mile away they own multiple properties converted into housing and there's literally surveillance cameras in the trees in front aiming at the neighborhood. I will say this, every property they own literally sparkles it's so clean. I have to give them that but it's an eerie look.

I had gotten into a wreck right under the lil walk way thing going to the bridge and these people in suits had come up and started recording us

Thanks for the information and history you gave here. I wasnt aware of a lot of this because i am from northeast. I think HSN is in Clearwater FL.

a former co-worker of mine once told me she fell into their "trap" when she was younger. when they told her she had to break of contact with all her friends and family (because they wheren't part of the cult) and expected loads of money from her, she left (or tried to). they spent years on stalking and harrassing her (as well as her close ones). at one point it ended but it still left her paranoid to this day. that all happened here in Austria and they basically stand all around in vienna, trying to lure people in, and most of the time they use any other name instead of scientology. at one point they even told us at school about how to spot them and to never engage with them. it makes me sick

I was born and raised in Florida and your right Clearwater Florida used to be a fun town and now it's creepy. This video hit home for me 🤔

Going there in 2 weeks on spring break… last time I was there I wondered why it felt so “ran down” and empty considering it’s a beach town in FL and literally every other one is popping…

Won't be doing much surfing because Clearwater Beach doesn't have any waves. Gotta go over to the east Coast if you wanna catch some waves in Florida.

Papa meat MORE LIKE PAPA PEAK! Cause videos are peak comedy entertainment and they just get ol Willy excited too

My friend and I drove through Clearwater late at night, it was a complete ghost town, such an eery feeling, absolutely no activity going on and this is during the holidays mind you.

Yahhhh, I live in Tarpon Springs and whenever i drive by downtown Clearwater it’s just so sad. So much potential and yet they have such a foothold in the town. But most people dislike these people here so maybe one day there will be change but I doubt it

if yall wanna visit beaches in Florida, go to Anna Maria island. It’s beautiful over here. grew up over here.

I’m a born and raised Floridian. Everyone knows where Clearwater is and how gorgeous the beaches are, but you never hear about ppl really vacationing there. Growing up in the 70-80’s we would vacation in Longboat Key which is near Clearwater. The beaches around it were always so packed and busy. Always knew there was a community there but never knew they turned it into a ghost town. Thanks!

I’m definitely interested in a creepy town series 🎉 - Centralia is a good one to cover

Downtown Clearwater resident reporting in. Can confirm that the church owns like 99% of downtown and thus the whole area has a pretty sterile and empty vibe. I can see how a non resident would be creeped out driving around downtown seeing all of the flag workers/members dressed the same and moving in groups together but in my experience they keep to themselves and I dont personally see the practices and recruitment methods of the church to be any more predatory than any other major religion haha. Should also be noted that clearwater beach is a separate entity from downtown and is very much popping and partying in the same vein as any other spring break beach town.

I have been to Clearwater quite a few times and I have never heard anything about this but that’s probably how they like it

I never thought that my city would be ever a topic of conversation as I've always lived on the "good" side of Clearwater most of my life, but yep it's the scientology that just shakes the foundation a bit. That's why I've always treaded lightly. Like for instance, when Hurricane Irma hit back in 2017, my mother needed ice to preserve some of the perishables but because no local corner stores or gas stations had any, she had to reluctantly resort to getting ice from scientologists and OF COURSE they couldn't let her leave without giving her a informational folder and DVD all about their practices 😂 like you couldn't just give us the ice? You had to bait us into joining you too?

Colma is a town in the San Francisco Bay Area where the dead outnumber the living 1000 to one. I grew up around there and went to high school across from one of the larger cemeteries. The whole town is basically just cemeteries, flower shops and tombstone crafters. It shares a border with South San Francisco where the Genentech labs were founded and still operate. I always found it interesting how the place that’s known for doing genetic research is a stone’s throw away from the deadest place in CA, or maybe even the country. Always seemed like where the zombie apocalypse would start.

clearwater is a nutty place all around between the shooting there not long ago, the weird scientology people all around and just an unsettling feeling unless you are at a beach kickback or in a large group. very ominus clearwater has changed for the worse....

No surfing in Clearwater.....its on the gulf of mex . Mostly flat water i can remember before they came it was a spring break beach after not so much....

I once stayed a few nights in Clearwater many years ago. In fact the place I was staying in was being bought out by Scientology while I was staying there. It was like day 1 - totally fine, normal place and having a great time. Day 2 onwards - constantly being monitored by cultists weirdos

If the Red Thread ever covers Scientology i want Papa Meat as a guest

I live right outside Clearwater Fl. I have worked there back in 1999 right down town in all the government buildings /courthouses and as recently as 2017-2018 doing night remodeling of the publix supermarket. From 1999 to now the Scientology has build a huge castle like building and I have pictures of it at night. Think back to when Tom Cruse was doing auditions for top gun 2. Clearwater does have a ton of Scientologists walking around in uniforms, but it's very much normal other than that.

Capital Theater is the only reason to ever go downtown clearwater, unless you have to go to the courthouse.