Why Hundreds of Teenagers Keep Running Through Scientology Buildings on Camera

Nearly 300 people showed up outside the Church of Scientology in downtown Vancouver on Sunday. Some wore masks. Some had toy guns. They were hollering about Tom Cruise and an alien deity named Xenu. A 16-year-old got arrested after a physical struggle with police and was later released without charges.

This wasn't a one-off. It's a trend — and it's spreading.

Welcome to the Scientology speedrun, the latest viral stunt where young people dash through Scientology lobbies and hallways as fast as they can until security kicks them out, film the whole thing, and post it online. The name comes from video game culture where players try to complete a game as fast as possible. The premise here is essentially the same — get in, move fast, get out, capture the chaos.

How It Started

The roots trace back to an anonymous social media account called StreetsLA, which had been posting videos outside and around Scientology properties for years — warning people about the church, disrupting recruiters, filming awkward encounters with staff. That account built a following and planted the seed.

Then in late March, a teenage influencer who goes by the handle @swhileyy posted a clip of himself running through a Church of Scientology lobby in Los Angeles. The video racked up tens of millions of views before it was taken down for violating community guidelines. By the time it disappeared, the damage was done — the internet had already picked it up and copycat videos started appearing everywhere.

The creator later posted his own video claiming credit. "The Scientology speedrun trend was started by this kid right here," he said — and added that he doesn't condone what followed.

He probably should have thought about that before posting the first one.

What Actually Happens Inside

Bee Mood, an ex-Scientologist who worked for Sea Org — the church's navy-inspired management arm — before leaving in 2018, has been adding some useful context for people watching these videos without understanding what they're looking at.

The ground floor of many Scientology buildings contains the L. Ron Hubbard Life Exhibition — a public outreach space that anyone can walk into. That's why nobody chases speedrunners immediately when they first enter. They're in a public area. It's only when they push into the stairwells or try to access upper floors that security reacts.

Above the exhibition in Los Angeles is the international liaison office where Sea Org members from around the world coordinate. Those doors are locked and keycard protected. Nobody is getting through them on a speedrun.

Mood says the yelling about Tom Cruise and Xenu lands about as impactfully as you'd expect. "Those are the oldest things that Scientologists have been hearing people yell at them for decades." The church members have heard it all before. The speedrunners mostly look like they're performing for the camera rather than actually saying anything the church hasn't already dismissed a thousand times.

The Stuff That Goes Too Far

Not all the videos are harmless chaos. A clip from New York showed participants knocking over boxes of books and stomping on them. Mood was direct about that one.

"That would be ill-advised and not something I would condone. Things become a lot more murky and dangerous for everyone involved."

The church has a well-documented history of aggressive responses to critics — litigation being a favorite tool. Jenna Miscavige, niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige and author of the memoir Beyond Belief, posted a warning to speedrunners about a church practice called "fair game" — the organization's approach to handling people it considers enemies.

"Your curiosity is wonderful, but I want you to put your safety first," she said. "Cameras tend to make weird behaviors stop really quick." She told followers to pay attention if anyone follows them or contacts them afterward.

The Church Response

Predictable and swift. The Los Angeles recruitment center has been closed to the public for over a week. Door handles have been removed at several locations. The church called the Vancouver gathering "a coordinated act involving attempts to breach a religious facility and disrupt its operations."

Mood says none of this is surprising. When the hacker group Anonymous targeted the church in the early 2000s, Scientology responded by putting up fake hedges around its perimeters to block out onlookers.

"They're going to hunker down. They're going to do whatever they can to not interact."

The best received version of all of this — according to Mood at least — was a crew that showed up in Minion costumes outside the Los Angeles headquarters and performed a scene from Despicable Me entirely on the public sidewalk without setting foot on church property or touching anyone.

"The way it was done, the concept, execution — 10/10, amazing, no notes. It genuinely made me laugh."

That one landed differently. There's probably a lesson in there somewhere about how to actually make a point versus just making noise.

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