Burning Man finished today (7 September), and the sad news is that two people are reported to have died during the week-long festival.
The festival organisers have identified one of the two people as 60-year-old Craigh Mann. They have said that he was found dead by his friends at his camp at around 3pm on Saturday (5 September). A cause of death has not been provided as yet.
The organisers have put out a statement saying: “Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the participant’s family, friends, campmates, and all those affected by this loss.”
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Mann’s death comes a couple of days after another man died at the festival, which is held annually in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.
According to the organisers, the man in question received lifesaving measures before being transported to the on-site emergency care centre, where he was pronounced dead. His identity has not yet been released.
It comes a year after the festival ended in a murder investigation. The 2025 Burning Man was memorable for all the wrong reasons. Initially, the festival was hit by dust storms, 50 mph winds that demolished camps and then flash floods. More serious was the killing of Vadim Kruglov. The 37-year-old was found fatally stabbed on the Saturday night of the festival. As yet, no one has been arrested in that case.
Other incidents at this year’s edition include one punter who was seriously injured earlier on in the week after falling from the 55-foot Nest Tower at the Square One camp. Other than that, there has been one arrest related to domestic violence and 34 connected with drug dealing, the latter of which is par for the course at a countercultural gathering such as Burning Man.
The festival has been running since the mid-1980s and is unique in terms of US mass festivals in its emphasis on participation and the creation of art during its duration, not to mention its strict no-corporate sponsorship policy.
Though once a purely underground event, it has faced problems of scale in recent years, as well as accusations that it’s become a magnet for influencers and celebrities. Interestingly, whereas once tickets sold out in minutes, they are now noticeably slower – in 2024, the event’s CEO Marian Goodell went public with a plea for donations to secure the festival’s future.
