What Is The 'Burning Man Festival' And How Over 70,000 People Got Trapped In Nevada's Desert? The '2023 Burning Man' Incident Explained

Burning Man attendees begin to leave the festival after a rainstorm trapped over 70,000 people in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. Here’s what you need to know about Burning Man and how the internet reacted to the incident.

What is Burning Man?

Burning Man is an annual music and arts festival that takes place in the Black Rock Desert of northern Nevada, United States, for seven days during the last week of August. The festival started in 1986 when co-founders Larry Harvey and Jerry James first burned an improvised wooden figure at Baker Beach during the Summer Solstice. The official Facebook page of the Burning Man festival posted a picture (shown below) of the "first Burning Man lit up the darkness." The post received over 754 likes and 180 shares in two years.

What Happened At The '2023 Burning Man Festival'?

The 2023 Burning Man festival was scheduled to occur from August 27th to September 4th, however, toward the end of the nine-day art and cultures event, heavy rains poured down, causing flooding and a massive amount of mud. According to Independent news website, the heavy rains were brought on by a rare hurricane on the West Coast, which forced organizers and the local authorities to close roads for the remainder of the festival.

On September 2nd, more than 70,000 people were asked to seek shelter and needed to save on food and water, as there was no way of leaving the muddy desert. On September 3rd, the YouTube news channel @TODAY posted a video about the incident (shown below) stating at least one person had died. The post amassed over 324,000 views and 1,900 likes in two days.

As of September 5th, The Guardian told Burning Man attendees began "their slow exodus from the campsite." The Festival organizers said people started to let traffic flow out of the main road and that at least 64,000 people remained at the festival site on Monday afternoon.

How People Are Commenting About The '2023 Burning Man' On Social Media?

On social media, attendees posted videos and photos of the intense mud and anxiety showing cars trapped in mud, people trying to leave the festival and other situations. For instance, on September 3rd producer and DJ Diplo posted a video alongside American comedian Chris Rock showing how they were able to flee the festival. The video (shown below, left) amassed more than 7.2 million plays in a day. The same day, TikTok user @ninja_natalie posted a video (shown below, right) of an abandoned car trapped in the mud.

@diplo

I legit walked the side of the road for hours with my thumb out cuz i have a show in dc tonight and didn't want to let yall down. Also shoutout to this guy for making the smart purchase of a truck not knowing it was for this exact moment ❤️

♬ original sound – Diplo

@ninja_natalie #BurningMan2023 ♬ this feeling – Øneheart

X user @kenklippenstein shared a video of a Burning Man attendee claiming, "We don't need outside help." The video (shown below) amassed over 22 million views and 13,000 likes in two days.

Burning Man attendee: "We don't need outside help. We're going to bind together, get radically self-reliant, dry out the furniture, and keep the party going." pic.twitter.com/eYhE2gj1Mu

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) September 2, 2023

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For the full history of Burning Man 2023, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.