Woman exposes what actually happens inside viral L.A. Scientology building after she snuck in for fun—she didn’t expect what happened way after
The Church of Scientology’s Hollywood Boulevard headquarters has long been speculated about and it’s currently having a moment as the center of a TikTok trend.
One woman, fascinated by cults, says she snuck in 10 years ago with a friend and what she experienced on her way out, and for months afterward, still sticks with her.
Weird Experience at the Scientology Building
In a viral TikTok with more than 967,000 views, content creator Tori Meadows (@torimeadows2) recounts what happened when she and her best friend wandered into the Church of Scientology’s L.A. building during a vacation roughly 10 years ago.
Meadows explains that she was 17 and was obsessed with cults and filming a YouTube vlog.
The pair walked in, sat down in the common area, and started watching a video. Tori was filming, but a staff member noticed almost immediately.
“No recording in here,” the woman told her.
Meadows turned it off, but the energy, she says, was immediately unsettling and “scary,” so they decided to leave. Two people were waiting for them right outside the front door.
“Do y’all like personality tests?” the staffers asked. Tori knew it was a tactic, but she also loves taking personality tests.
They went back inside and filled out the paperwork—Tori with fake information, her friend with her real name and home address—and completed the test.
“You have to come to the back to see your results,” they told her.
It Gets Creepier
They walked down the hallway, and the staffers told them the evaluation would take four to five hours and that they’d need to be separated into two rooms. That’s when Tori pumped the brakes. They had other things to do for the rest of the day, like visit the wax museum.
“I want you to really look within. All of those things you can get anywhere. Do you have Scientology back at home?” the staffers asked her.
“The second that I started questioning, like, how long is this, we have things at home, the energy shift was like measurable,” she says. “This like intense anger.”
She spotted an exit, grabbed her friend’s arm, and ran. She looked back at the staffer’s face as they fled. “Pure rage,” she says.
Then, for the next three months, she says she and her friend noticed a pattern. Black SUVs with blacked-out windows would park outside her friend’s house and drive off when approached.
“I saw it with my own eyes,” she says, though she acknowledges it could have been a coincidence. “That’s why I’m like, it’s kinda not realistic, but also it’s Scientology.”
What Is Scientology?
Founded in the 1950s by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology describes itself as a religion built around the idea that each person has a reactive mind shaped by trauma, which clouds rational thinking. According to CNN, members undergo a process called auditing, which includes a series of questions administered by a trained auditor, using a device called an E-meter designed to identify and neutralize those sources of trauma. The goal is reaching a spiritual state called “clear.”
The church teaches that humans are immortal beings called thetans, and that advanced members work toward becoming “Operating Thetans” or a higher spiritual state.
Scholars describe it as a mix of therapy, religion, and UFO mythology, though the more esoteric elements are disclosed only to more advanced members. The IRS granted Scientology tax-exempt status as a church in 1993, though its membership numbers are disputed. The church claims millions of members across 167 countries, but scholars put the actual figure in the hundreds of thousands.
Scientology has also faced significant controversy. Defectors, including actress Leah Remini, have accused the church of fostering a culture of abuse, allegations the church has denied, The Guardian reported.
Why Has the L.A. Building Been in the News?
The Hollywood Boulevard headquarters has become the center of a viral social media trend in 2026. As The Guardian reports, throngs of mostly young men have been “speed running” the building with clips racking up millions of views on TikTok.
The trend appears to have started in March, when an 18-year-old content creator posted a video of himself entering the building.
The church issued a statement calling the incidents “trespass, harassment and disruption of religious facilities” and said it was “reviewing all available remedies.” At least one staff member was injured. The LAPD has received five trespassing reports related to the incidents, though no arrests had been made as of late April.
Remini weighed in on the trend, calling it “unhelpful” and warning that it could reinforce members’ beliefs rather than expose the church’s practices.
Commenters React
“Hay, so how’s ur friend doing,” a top comment read.
“No, I would not separate from my friends also would not tell my real information,” a person said.
“I was literally thinking like 2000s i forgot 10 years ago was 2016,” another wrote.
The Mary Sue reached out to Tori Meadows for comment via email and Instagram direct message and to the Church of Scientology via email.
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