The Dark Side of Burning Man

An Art and Music Festival in Disguise

This year’s Burning Man Festival ended with a sexual assault, burglary, possession of firearms, illicit drugs and a homicide, according to SFGATE. For those unfamiliar with Burning Man, it is a pagan festival in the guise of an art and music festival. Sure, there are some elaborate exotic art forms created with the intent of being interactive and participatory, in an attempt to create a shared expression for “burners” (festival participants). However, let’s not underestimate the multifaceted means of the art which fosters a cultural connection that continues beyond the nine-day event. Its primary objective is entwining pagan culture with local communities.

San Francisco’s Interactive Temple Modeled After Burning Man

According to the Burning Man website, we find that the Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF), a subsidiary of Burning Man, started the Civic Arts Program as its model for public art placement. In 2005, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Hayes Valley community, along with artist David Best, created an interactive temple modeled after the temple at Burning Man, launching the Civic Arts Program. The Temple became the Burning Man model of how artists, city officials and the community collaborated to create meaningful public artwork. Basically, introducing paganism into the community through the art form. Since then, the Civic Arts project has blossomed into many projects throughout the world. Through art, paganism is branching out far and wide into today’s culture, even those too naïve to notice it. Yet, the art is just half of it.

The Wilderness of Sin

People know the festival for its exploration of illicit drugs and overindulgence of alcohol. Costumes are the preferred form of clothing and are often scant or nonexistent. The accommodation of all these factors leads to dangerous mix of sexual assaults that Burning Man staff attempt to keep out of the public eye. From my experience, this is not uncommon at pagan festivals. Besides The Burning Man Effigy and the Temple, there is what is called an Orgy Dome, where a whole other level of carnal exploration occurs. Some intoxicated burners will go home oblivious to what they did during the time they spent in the Dome.

The Wicker Man Ritual

While I’ve never been to a “Burning Man” I can speak on behalf of its namesake, the Wicker Man, which is a giant effigy of a man set on fire (hence burning man) as part of a pagan transformation ritual, and the culmination of Burning Man. It is a ritual practiced by pagan groups in private rituals deep within in the woods. Its origin, according to Julius Caesar’s writings, was from the Druids and Celts who performed human sacrifices secured within a wicker effigy and then set it ablaze.

Of course, today’s pagans are quick to write off Caesar’s accounts, claiming there is no solid evidence of the claim. Ironically, all pagan rituals today originate from writings and word of mouth, and there is no absolute proof of the way humanity’s original ancestors performed them. It seems today’s pagans choose the evidence to fit their own narrative. With that said, I’m not claiming that modern witches and pagans are performing human sacrifices within the Wicker Man ritual. The majority of today’s pagans use symbolic means in ritual and would not incorporate real-life sacrifices. But there is one very important element that I believe is being overlooked. During the original Wicker Man ritual, a group of barbaric people held humans and animals within baskets inside the effigy and sacrificed them to (demonic) entities. This is not folklore.

The Demonic Spirit Invoked Within the Man

What lies beneath the symbolic sacrifices for today’s transformation ritual is not one’s own intent, but that of a demonic spirit summoned during the ritual. That spirit is sometimes, perhaps unintentionally, invoked in modern times and I believe is the source behind the murder that occurred in this year’s burning. As the Burning Man’s flames soared, someone stabbed a man in the neck and left him to bleed to death, thus sacrificing him in a tent near the burning effigy. The person who did the act was clearly under demonic influence.

The Ultimate Price Paid

While this case is being investigated as a homicide, it’s not the only sacrifice the demonic spirits have demanded. In 2017, a man under the spirit’s influence ran directly into the flaming Burning Man effigy, a sacrifice to the pagan gods. Many more possessed, attempted the same self-sacrifice by running into the flames; and rangers stopping them. Yet, even with the lives lost because of mutant vehicle mishaps and other deadly “accidents” that have occurred on the “sacred grounds” of Black Rock, an area dedicated to pagan gods and man-made deities, speaks to a demonic spirit at work. There is always a price to pay when humans engage in demonic affairs. It is a cost too high to pay.

©By S. A. Tower, September, 2025

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/burningman/article/california-burning-man-attendee-arrested-21028845.php

https://www.tastesofhistory.co.uk/post/dispelling-some-myths-the-wicker-man