Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
McAfee Secure sites help keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams
Ransom Riggs
LA’s cursed condo development
by Ransom Riggs - April 27, 2007 - 12:34 PM

d224.jpgPlaya del Rey is an enormous condo development on Los Angeles’ westside, in a theoretically golden zone between the hip communities of Venice and Santa Monica to the North, the airport close by but out of sight to the South and the beach to the West. But it has two very curious problems. First, it’s sitting on a giant pocket of toxic, potentially explosive methane gas, for which the development has installed extensive gas barriers and venting systems, but given Southern California’s history of earthquakes … you never know. Second, and potentially more troublesome, depending on your point of view, is that PDR is built on top of what has turned out to be one of the largest Native American burial grounds in the country. According to a recent Citybeat article, there’s a trailer on the building site that houses hundreds of 1′ x 1′ wooden boxes, each one containing bone fragments from individual graves. (Now if that’s not a recipe for Poltergeist-style disaster, I don’t know what is.)

A few examples of what can happen when you build on an Indian burial ground, after the jump:

Poltergeist

The Shining

Pet Sematery

« Previous Post   -   Next Post »
Comments (5)

  1. I know you did this unintentionally, but your clips of movies minimalizes the fact that bones are being dug up and placed in itty bitty storage containers without the approval of descendants or tribe.

    I mean really. Bringing up the movies is so reached.

    posted by Sun on 4-29-2007 at 3:20 am

  2. I live in LA and had never heard about that, great post!

    I’ve seen those movies too many times so I think I’ll stay in the San Fernando Valley when my lease runs out, thankyou very much!

    posted by Jessica on 4-29-2007 at 5:28 pm

  3. You know, most states don’t have laws against building on cemetaries of any kind- not just Native American ones. Out here in Indiana one can occasionally find 100-year-old gravestones dumped at the edges of housing developments.

    posted by Zach on 4-29-2007 at 8:23 pm

  4. Legend has it that the Talledega Superspeedway in Alabama was built over a Native American burial ground. When the white man took over the property many years ago, the old Indian chief allegedly drove his spear into the ground, cursing the land on which the speedway now stands.

    The “curse” is often attributed to a variety of incidents, perceived or otherwise, that have occurred to the Superspeedway over the years, from the multi-car (”Big One”) wrecks that happen with remarkable frequency, to the death of driver Davey Allison of injuries suffered in a helicopter crash in the infield of the track.

    Maybe you should ask Kyle Busch, who wrecked twice last weekend (video of the scarier of which is on YouTube) what he thinks of the “curse”?

    –Mike.

    posted by Mike Deutsch on 4-30-2007 at 7:19 am

  5. Good article. don’t dig!

    posted by John on 11-2-2008 at 12:52 am

Comment

commenting policy