|
 O'Brien, 24, said in a recent interview that he had fallen
ill during the shoot for 20th Century Fox's "The Maze Runner:
Scorch Trials" and implied that a Native American curse had
taken revenge on cast members who took objects.
The remark has prompted an online petition with 47,000 people
calling for the return of any stolen objects from the ranch
where the film was shot last year.
"It brings to mind for me that our graves that were robbed for
the objects that were in them. That kind of desecration and
direct continuing today is not deniable or tolerable,"
Jacqueline Johnson Pata, executive director of the National
Congress of American Indians, told Reuters on Wednesday.
O'Brien's publicist did not return a request for comment.
In an interview last month on U.S. syndicated morning talk show
"Live with Kelly and Michael," O'Brien said he and fellow
"Scorch Trials" cast members took items from the historic
location where they filmed last winter.
"It was this ancient Indian burial ground, I guess," he said.
"They were very strict about littering and don't take any
artifacts like rocks, skulls — anything like that. And everyone
just takes stuff, you know, obviously."
The site in question is the 22,000-acre Diamond Tail Ranch in
the high desert between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. It is not home
to any known Indian burial grounds, property manager Roch Hart
told Reuters, and he has not been able to detect missing items.
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Hart said artifacts at Diamond Tail include pottery shards and
chippings of rock tools. While he has not been able to pinpoint
specific tribes as the owners, he estimates that items date from the
years 800 to 1700.
"Whether it be a thousand-dollar pot that was found, or a pottery
shard ... we consider it all sacred," he said.
The ranch has hosted about 10 films in the past three years,
including “Frontera” starring Ed Harris. If the theft allegations
prove true, Hart said he will rethink plans.
20th Century Fox said Wednesday it was doing a "thorough
investigation."
"If any artifacts were mishandled or removed from the location, we
will do everything to ensure they are restored," the studio said in
a statement.
(Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Leslie Adler)
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