The Compleat Aberree - A Brief Introduction


The Compleat Aberree - A Brief Introduction

In honor of April Fool's Day (2003), I am pleased - tickled, in fact - to announce a new web site: The Compleat Aberree, which can be found at http://www.aberree.com .

The Aberree was a 'zine, or newletter, published from 1954 through 1965. The editor, Alphia Hart, and the publisher, Agnes Hart, put out ten issues a year.

The Aberree started out as "the non-serious voice of Scientology" and ultimately encompassed all kinds of spiritual and self-help interests, from psychic phenomena and UFOs to improving eyesight, eating healthy food, and quitting smoking.

The Aberree shows that convention and uniformity weren't the whole story of the 50s, by a long shot. It also shows that Scientology, which has grown famous for its attempts to silence dissent and criticism, was trying to squelch debate 50 years ago ... with similarly ineffective tactics.

Since the Harts chose not to copyright their work, aberree.com is able to bring you all 11 years. Currently, only Volume 1 (issues 1-10) has been formatted and proofread. However, you can still read the later issues, if you don't mind some OCR errors and lack of formatting. You'll see miniature versions of each page as you're reading; you can click to view a full-size image of each page. I hope to finish formatting and proofreading the remaining 101 issues over the coming year. (If you'd like to help, let me know!)

To me, the Aberree looks remarkably like a 1950s version of alt.religion.scientology (a.r.s.) It's got it all: Arguments! Lawsuits! Spaceships! Libel! You'll see many of the same statements and debates: Is it hypnosis? Is it brainwashing? How come no one has demonstrated the results described in Dianetics? Why is it so expensive? The tech is good but the organization is killing it!

There's even drugs ( peyote!), rock 'n' roll (those scruffy Beatles), and lots and lots of CECS. The main differences: nobody's accused of being OSA (which didn't exist until the 80s), and there's hardly any swearing.

Famous names from the early days of "Diantology" pop up repeatedly. There are contributions from Don Purcell and Volney Mathison. Nibs is mentioned over a dozen times ( - he was a subscriber). John Galusha, Julia Lewis, Bob Arentz, A. E. van Vogt ... the list goes on and on.

Over 2000 pages of decades-old entheta - and it's still fresh!

Enjoy your visit back to the Aberree's 50-year-old time warp ... and remember - don't take it all so damn' seriously!

Shake the hand of a brand new Fool,

Kristi