SICK

Sheriff Shuts Down Numerous Burning Man Conspiracy Theories

The flooded festival had to contend with rumors of a deadly disease.

There is no Ebola outbreak at Burning Man, officials confirmed on Monday, after a wave of hoaxes and conspiracy theories poked fun at the festival. Burning Man, an art festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, turned disastrous this weekend after heavy rains turned the site into a mud pit, trapping many of the approximately 72,000 attendees until Monday. As news of the flooding spread, so did hoaxes about a potential Ebola outbreak and federal crackdown. That’s not true, officials said on Monday, after attendees were given the all-clear to leave. “In consultation with the Bureau of Land Management and the Burning Man Project, there is no validity to any reports regarding an Ebola outbreak, or any other disease, the Mud is real Mud, and no entity at the Festival has erected any structures to stop anyone from leaving the playa,” Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen said in a statement Monday night. “All participants are free to leave at their own discretion and ability.” One person, 32-year-old Leon Reece, died on Friday night. His cause of death has yet to be determined.