Residents of Healy, Alaska, are worried that Sean Penn's new movie "Into the Wild" might bring thrill-seekers and looters to the area.

This week, a Fairbanks man made $177.50 by selling an instrument panel he found on the ground, near the bus where adventurer Christopher McCandless, the subject of the film, starved to death in 1992, the Anchorage Daily News reported Friday.

Some locals and area officials said they are afraid the movie will inspire people seeking adventure or souvenirs to make unsafe treks to the bus.

"Everybody is concerned that people are going to get lost or hurt out there," said Chris Milles, a state land manager for the Department of Natural Resources in Fairbanks.

"No one has permission to high-grade the bus. Technically, it's probably considered theft of state property because (the bus is) abandoned on state land," Milles said, adding the state probably will not remove it without a specific request to do so.

"We want people to come up here because it's beautiful," said Neal Laugman, president of the Greater Healy/Denali Chamber of Commerce.

Instead, young people seeking a McCandless-like experience are trekking out to the bus unprepared for the wilderness, Laugman said. // Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 06 October 2007   

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