Following this year’s week long Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert, stories began to emerge that some of David Bowie’s ashes had been brought to the event by a relative and burnt in the Temple. That’s not even the weirdest story we’ve ever heard about the event, but it turns out it was too good to be true.
A spokesman for the Bowie estate recently told UK paper The Independent, “There is no truth in the story,” and David Bowie’s son Duncan Jones (yes, the Duncan Jones behind Warcraft) also denied the tale on Twitter.
That Burning Man thing? What people will do & say for attention never ceases to amaze me. Not true. Kind of a gross claim as well. *sigh*
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) September 12, 2016
…We all know if dad DID want his ashes scattered in front of strangers, it would be at the Skegness Butlins. ;) pic.twitter.com/0Oh1g9tGke
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) September 12, 2016
We had originally heard of the tale through Boing Boing, who got it from a Burner who heard it was Bowie’s 16-year old-daughter Lexi who had brought her father’s ashes with her. Later, the tale was retold by E!, who attributed it to an unnamed godchild.
“David’s godchild and David had long talks about Burning Man and what it stands for, and David loved the message behind it,” the report said.
We doubt this will dissuade certain people from paying insane amounts of money for ashes from this year’s Burning Man Temple. Like most great lies borne from Black Rock City, the claim that David Bowie’s ashes are swirling somewhere alongside the revelers on the play will undoubtedly live on for years to come.