I'd say that either the guardians of that land, or the Indian spirits probably got to him. You could be a skeptic and think, "oh, nothing's going to happen to me if I take this pretty eagal statuet," Then as soon as you get back home, you end up with an enfection of some sort. Think about all of the stuff that took place when the ancients were there, or the Indians for that matter. All the ceremonies, rituals, maybe battles, and deaths that have taken place there. You don't think that spirits will actually fuck with you on this plane of existance? Hahahaha, they'll find ways, it can happen. Its crazy as shit, but sometimes it seems like the physical plane is affected by the spirit worlds.