Xenu is a figure associated with the doctrines of Scientology. He (or it) is included in the "secret" teachings of Scientology, which are only revealed to upper-level Scientologists. The documents involving Xenu are included in the upper-level Scientology course known as OT III ("Operating Thetan Level Three"). For more information about the "secret" documents of Scientology, see the Wikipedia article on Scientology beliefs and practices.
In spite of efforts by the Church of Scientology to keep the story of Xenu a secret - the OT III materials contain the claim that learning OT III without proper preparation and supervision is likely to cause death by pneumonia - details of the Xenu writings have been revealed to the general public over the years. Critics of Scientology claim that the Xenu story is ultimate proof that Scientology is a scam and a confidence trick. They note that after spending thousands of dollars and investing years of their lives to reach the level of OT III, Scientologists learn that the true origins of human existence are based on a story that appears, to novices, to be badly written science fiction.
In its public statements, the Church of Scientology has been notably reluctant to admit the existence of the Xenu writings. In the instances where it has acknowledged them, the Church has stated that the origin story of Xenu is a religious writing that can be seen as the equivalent of the Old Testament, in which miraculous events are described that are unlikely to have occurred in real life.
L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, also wrote a film script, Revolt In The Stars, which is an extended version of the story of OT III.
Roland Rashleigh-Berry, an ex-Scientologist, has written a "Xenu leaflet" that summarizes the story of OT III. The leaflet includes part of the first page of OT III in Hubbard's handwriting, mentioning Xenu.
See also: Scientology vs. the Internet
External Links
Xenu, or Xenu's Link Sleuth, is software that checks websites for broken hyperlinks. It is available gratis for the Microsoft Windows platform.
Link verification is performed on "normal" links, images, frames, plug-ins, backgrounds, local image maps, style sheets, scripts and Java applets. Xenu displays a continuously updated list of URLs which can be sorted according to different criteria.