The posts might have you thinking they’re plotting a heist – pouring their eyes over building floor plans, figuring out the fastest way in and out.
But what these teenagers are actually doing is ‘speedrunning’ getting into Church of Scientology buildings in the US.
The speed runs, gamer slang for doing something as fast as possible, sees users run as far as they can into the churches before security intervenes.
Most Gen Z users burst through the centre doors, smacking down rope barriers and leaping over chairs while laughing and blowing air horns.
When did it start?
The trend was kicked off by TikTok user @5.0arrodo last month, whose since-deleted video showed a teen artfully dodging church guards.
He manages to get to a flight of stairs before leaving the Scientology centre in Hollywood, California.
‘Maniac 16 year old infiltrates the Church of Scientology,’ the caption read, according to the database Know Your Meme.
But the trend spread like wildfire when content creator Swhileyy, 18, uploaded a since-removed clip of himself jogging past security.
In just under a minute, the teen managed to get down to the same stairs as @5.0arrodo, duck under a woman’s arm and push through an exit door.
The stunt wasn’t planned, Swhileyy told The Hollywood Reporter. He ducked inside after bumping into a Scientology critic outside the Scientology Information Center on Hollywood Boulevard.
‘He told me the whole story about Scientology, what they’re about, that they’re a cult, this and that,’ Swhileyy said. ‘I thought it was funny.’
Only a small handful of people have actually attempted the speed run, almost always involving the same Hollywood church.
One raid even saw someone dressed up as Jesus Christ.
In another clip, a staff member was filmed shouting, ‘Get out of the building now!’ when a group of teens barreled past her in one of the ‘deepest’ Scientology raids.
Some users claim the church has banned them from entering.
Is this… legal?
Police are investigating at least one of the speed runs as a potential hate crime involving battery against the staffer who was knocked to the ground, local news broadcaster KTLA reported.
An LA local posted on X that three Scientology buildings in the Hollywood area have removed their door handles.
The user added: ‘They are under siege.’
Swhileyy would be the first to admit that the trend has gone a little out of hand.
He said: ‘I do not condone what I did, even though I didn’t break any laws.
‘All I did was explore the building. I was never asked not to come back to the premises.’
Even Leah Remini, a former Scientologist who is now among the church’s most vocal critics, has urged people not to carry out raids.
She said on Instagram: ‘I spent decades on the other side of this, and if I had been confronted by people running through Scientology buildings and harassing me or staff, it would have pushed me further into Scientology.
‘That is because Scientologists are deeply indoctrinated and radicalised and believe they are helping people.’
What is Scientology?
Scientology, long dogged by accusations that it is a cult, is an infamously secretive religion that counts actor Tom Cruise as a church-goer.
Scientologists believe that human beings are fundamentally good but are held back by negative memories from past lives.
The church’s faith is revealed gradually to those who invest their time and money.
But by embracing the teachings of the self-improvement sect’s founder, science fiction writer L Hubba, followers can reach a state known as ‘clear’.
This means the follower can think clearly, realising that humanity is ‘immortal’, among other forms of ‘spiritual engagement’.
This could include ‘auditing’, a counselling session in which someone is grilled by a church official while holding an ‘e-meter’, a battery-operated device that measures the tiniest twinges in your skin as you speak.
Believers say this is a ‘baramoter of the spirit’ that helps the user reach a higher level of self-awareness and even cure diseases.
Yet former members have described being mistreated by senior church officials, among other controversies around human trafficking and embezzlement.
Church officials have long denied these claims.
The Los Angeles Police Department and the Church of Scientology have been approached for comment.
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