Burning Man 2017: Fire Suicide

Aaron Joel Mitchell, 41, died on at 6:30 am, Sunday, September 3, 2017, after running through two levels of a safety perimeter and into a set fire on Saturday night at Burning Man, Nevada. 

Mitchell ran into “the Burning Man festival’s signature burning of a towering effigy,” reported SFGate. He was pulled back out of the fire, and was airlifted to a hospital, where he later died.

His mother told the Reno Gazette-Journal that Mitchell, who was usually called by his middle name “Joel,” “grew up in McAlester, Oklahoma but was living in Switzerland.”

As Red Dirt Report has been reporting, McAlester, Oklahoma, is infamously known for overpopulation problems, a botched execution, and a veil of secrecy at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary there.

McAlester, Oklahoma, is home to many of the employees of the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant. Wikipedia rather casually notes, "This facility makes essentially all of the bombs used by the United States military."

McAlester was the site of the 2004 trial of Terry Nichols on Oklahoma state charges related to the Oklahoma City bombing (1995).

He was married, had no children, and was employed in construction. This was the first time he attended Burning Man.

The moment of his self-immolation was captured in graphic photographs by several attendees at the event.

According to SFGate, “The nine-day festival in northern Nevada was briefly hampered when a lightning-sparked wildfire temporarily shut down Burning Man’s main travel route last week.”

This is not the first suicide at Burning Man.

See also:

The Wicker Man Burns

Big Tex Burns

Wicker Man-Like Human Sacrifice: Element 11's Fire Suicide

Utah's Burning Man Suicide

Burning Man 2014: Death in the Desert

Mr. Carnaval Explosion

On April 1, 2017, a family carnival fire of a Wicker Man-like figure called Mr. Carnaval exploded, injuring many people watching. It is said to have been an accidental event, not terrorism.

At least 30 people were injured, five critically after the explosion rocked a busy French carnival. The incident happened when a Bengal Fire display exploded into the crowd at the carnival near Paris. Screaming spectators, including children with bloody faces, were thrown to the ground as the blasts shook the ground at the popular event, about 11 miles from the center, close to Charles De Gaulle airport. 

Festival-goers were setting alight a giant "Mr Carnaval" effigy in the shape of a man, made from straw and sticks. The so-called Yellow Carnival at Villepinte is created around an effigy made of wood and straw – both highly inflammable materials.

The effigy figure Mr. Carnaval is similar to the Wicker Man and Burning Man structures that are constructed and then burned.

The vintage Mr. Carnaval shown above is a French example from 1955 versus a more recent instance below.

The sacrifice of effigies such as the Burning Man and Wicker Man symbolize fertility being bestowed on the community.

Burning Man 2014: A Death in the Desert

The Burning Man Festival has ended. Like Utah's Burning Man-type event entitled Element 11, which had a July 12, 2014 fire suicide, the original Burning Man has experienced a death. For Burning Man, it is the first since 2003.

Burning Man 2014.

Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event begins on the last Monday in August, and ends on the first Monday in September, which coincides with the American Labor Day holiday.

The woman who died at this year's Burning Man Festival has been identified as Alicia Louise Cipicchio, 29.

Cipicchio was reported to have been struck and killed by the double-decker British "art bus" called Shagadelica, which had been covered in white fur.  The incident took place in the early morning hours on Thursday, August 28, 2014. She was the manager of the RARE Gallery of Fine Art located in Jackson, Wyoming. 

Alicia Louise Cipicchio

The area of the tragedy took place near the Center Camp which is the central hub of the event. 

Art.Net News reported:

An email statement from Burning Man co-founder Marian Goodell called the tragedy “a terrible accident,” adding that “our thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends and campmates. Black Rock Rangers and Emergency Services Department staff are providing support to those affected.”
Because of Burning Man’s remote location in the Black Rock Desert, which has hosted the festival since 1990, it is difficult to evacuate sick or injured parties to medical facilities. Humbolt General Hospital, for instance, is only 120 miles away, but the journey takes more than six hours by car. The closest town, Gerlach, Nevada, is a mere 16 miles away, a journey that takes 90 minutes on desert roads.
Burning Man spokesperson Jim Graham issued a statement promising that law enforcement investigators from the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office are looking into the incident with the assistance of Burning Man organizers. 

The accident comes after attendees had already faced a long delay on opening day when rain had prevented the event from starting on time. More than 62,000 people were said to have attended the 2014 gathering.

Burning Man has had some unusual situations occur before, needless to say.

This is the police mug shot of Paul Addis after being booked in Lovelock, Nevada, in 2007 for torching the Burning Man icon prematurely. Addis, 42, died October 27, 2012, in San Francisco when he jumped in front of a BART train.

Other Burning Man/Wicker Man postings:

Utah's Burning Man Suicide: John Christopher Wallace Photos

Wicker Man-Like Human Sacrifice: Element 11's Fire Suicide

The Wicker Man Burns

Wicker Man's Woodward Dies

Big Tex Burns

Death by Stunt Plane: Weird Wicker Aurora Name Game

Utah's Burning Man Suicide

Photographs of John Christopher "Chris" Wallace, the fire suicide victim of Element 11, have been shared by his family.

Chris Wallace and his wife.

A public fundraiser on Friday, July 18th is being held as a Gallery Show, from 6-8 pm at Mod-A-Go-Go, 242 E South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah. This is being put on by Chris’ wife’s sister, to assist with post-death expenses. Also a donation fund has been established (here).
I earlier detailed the July 12, 2014 fire suicide of Wallace, which took place at the Burning Man-sanctioned event, Element 11 in Utah. Please refer to that posting for details and other images.

Details are still slowly emerging about other suicides that may have occurred at other Burning Man-aligned events.

The Burners' site mentions that,

This brings to mind two other very public Burner suicides, the body of Jermaine Barley that was found hanging (possibly for hours) at queer camp Comfort and Joy in 2007, and arsonist convicted felon/protestor Paul Addis jumping in front of a train in San Francisco in 2012....

In 2001, someone did deliberately run into a fire in Deep Playa, and died later of his burns in the Reno hospital. In 2005, Anthony Beninati from Los Angeles accidentally fell in the fire, and then sued BMOrg. He lost his appeal. 

Elsewhere at reddit, it was noted that a few years ago someone died by suicide by running into the burning temple at Transformus, the North Carolina burn. But details are lacking.

Sparky, the Element 11 effigy, based on 

Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. 

Photo: Fox13 News, Salt Lake City

Wicker Man-Like Human Sacrifice: Element 11's Fire Suicide

Element 11 in Utah has had its first human sacrifice.

During an event that is similar, but the precursor to Burning Man, a man killed himself by jumping into a giant, three-story-tall effigy that had been burning for half an hour.

Above is a Saturday July 12, 2014, photo, showing the upper portion of a giant wooden effigy of a character from the classic children's book, Where the Wild Things Are. This was before it was burnt Saturday night, during the Element 11 festival.

The Element 11 event occurs in Grantsville, Utah, about 36 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, and is quite similar to Black Rock, Nevada's Burning Man festival. Both, in many ways, are modeled on the pagan Wicker Man ceremonies.

Salt Lake City resident Christopher Wallace, 30, was identified by police as the man who died after jumping into the burning giant effigy.

Update: The suicide victim's full name is apparently John Christopher Wallace, a copyeditor, living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Source.

See also: Utah's Burning Man Suicide: John Christopher Wallace Photos

Wallace is a Scottish surname derived from the Anglo-Norman French waleis, which is in turn derived from a cognate of the Old English wylisc, pronounced "wullish," meaning "foreigner" or "Welshman." It sometimes is translated as "stranger." 

The name Christopher is from the Late Greek name Χριστοφορος (Christophoros) meaning "bearing Christ," derived from Χριστος (Christos) combined with φερω (phero) "to bear, to carry". Early Christians used their own languages' forms of Christopher as a metaphorical name, expressing that they carried Christ in their hearts.

[One of the more infamous recent celebrities with the name "Christopher Wallace" is Christopher George Latore Wallace, born May 21, 1972, who was better known by his stage names The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie or Biggie Smalls. He was an American rapper, who was gunned down on March 9, 1997, at the corner of Wilshire Blvd & South Fairfax Avenue, 50 yards from the Petersen Auto Museum, Los Angeles, following a music awards after party there.]

Grantsville police Lt. Steve Barrett said Element 11's Christopher Wallace had told some of the estimated 1,200 attendees in advance about his plans to run into the fire. The three-story-tall effigy, modeled on a character from Where The Wild Things Are, had been burning for about 30 minutes and was fully engulfed when Wallace crossed a safety perimeter about 50 feet from the structure and jumped in, officials said.

"He was very fast; he was very motivated," J.P. Bernier, a spokesman for Element 11, told the Deseret News. "It wasn't an accident or any act of negligence on anybody's part. He had a very deliberate objective to get past our volunteers, past our safety perimeter."

Firefighters immediately tried to douse the flames, but were unable to save the man. Crews had measured the fire temperature at 2,000 degrees just prior to the apparent suicide, noted the Boston Globe.

Some outlets, like local Utah station Channel 2 and the Daily Mail, broadcast stills from a video showing Wallace breaking through the line and racing to his death in the effigy fire.

Element 11 is Utah's version of the famous Burning Man festival, which is held in Nevada every year. Only this festival takes place in the west desert at the Bonneville Seabase, in Tooele County, Utah. And reportedly, Element 11 existed before Burning Man. Burning Man has had its own deaths.

Burning Man, 2013

It will be recalled that conspiracy author Jim Keith, at the age of 50, died mysteriously, on September 7, 1999, during routine knee surgery at a Nevada hospital. He had been taken there after falling off the stage at the annual Burning Man pagan arts festival in the Black Rock Desert, about 120 north of his hometown of Reno. Cryptically, Keith stated, prior to his death, "I have this feeling that if they put me under I'm not coming back."

Human sacrifices and the Wicker Man are tied together in ancient history. Caesar reports that some of the Gauls built the effigies out of sticks and placed living men inside, then set them on fire to pay tribute to the gods. Caesar writes that though the Druids generally used those found guilty of crimes deserving death, as they pleased the gods more, they sometimes used slaves and innocent men when no delinquents could be found.

One medieval commentary, the 10th-century Commenta Bernensia, states that men were burned in a wooden mannequin in sacrifice to Taranis. Read more on the Wicker Man, here.

The non-profit art festival called Element 11 aims to ignite a culture of creativity and self-expression for its 1,200 participants. The artwork at the event is funded by previous years' ticket sales. Volunteers work on the art pieces for several months. During the festival they burn the artwork. Organizers say for some it signifies love, loss, letting go and moving on, reported Fox Salt Lake 13.

From the Element 11 website:

WHAT IS ELEMENT 11?
el·e·ment 11 (ˈeləmənt/) noun
1. The eleventh element on the periodic table, sodium. The sixth most abundant element on earth. An identifying characteristic of Utah, given the Bonneville Salt Flats and the Great Salt Lake.
2. A volunteer-based non-profit organization with the mission to ignite a culture of creativity & self-expression! We provide a canvas for our community to play, dance, evolve, create & ignite.
3. A sanctioned regional Burning Man festival event dedicated to the Ten Principles and ethos of Burning Man. The Element 11 Arts Festival (UT Regional Burn) is held the second weekend of July each year.
4. A community of radically self-expressive artists, creators, innovators, do-ers, & participants who see art in all forms, in all ways, and in all people.

Element 11, before the effigy burns.

Big Tex burns at the Texas State Fair, October 19, 2012.

Bohemian Grove occurs over the course of the entire month of July, just north of San Francisco in Monte Rio, Sonoma County. Lamp lighters in robes set fire to an effigy of the god Moloch (or is it effigies of children) in a ritual ceremony at Bohemian Grove.

Why has a similar human suicidal incident at Transformus, the North Carolina burn, been kept quiet for years?