Photos: The people, places and things of Scientology

In the past seven years, the church has poured at least $45 million into the former Gilman Hot Springs resort. In the foreground is the $18.5-million management building that includes a wing of offices for church leader David Miscavige.

A close view of “Bonnie View,” a $9.4-million mansion that ex-members say was constructed for the expected return of late church founder L. Ron Hubbard. Church officials say the mansion is simply a museum to commemorate Hubbard’’s life and house most of his possessions.

Receptionist Charlotte Heldt at Golden Era Productions. The artwork behind her depicts Scientology’s “Bridge to Total Freedom,” the church’’s path to enlightenment.

Inside Golden Era Productions, staffers produce nearly all the printed materials for the church. Here, a foil is pressed onto a lecture binder cover that will be used for a CD of one of Hubbard’’s speeches that has been translated into German.

Hubbard invented the “e-meter” as a device that could measure the spiritual clarity of his followers.