A baby was born to a mother who did not know she was pregnant, and a man was found dead “lying in a pool of blood” in two separate, unrelated incidents at Burning Man. The first-time attendee ultimately gave birth to a baby girl in the bathroom of her R.V., and just a few days later during the burning of the titular “Man,” a man was found dead in what is currently being investigated as a homicide, per The New York Times.
According to another article from The Times, Kayla and her husband Kasey Thompson of Salt Lake City were asleep in their R.V. camper on Wednesday morning when Kayla woke at dawn with cramping she mistook for food poisoning or appendicitis. Within minutes, Kayla realized she was in labor and gave birth to her first child, a 3 lb., 9 oz. surprise baby girl the couple named Aurora. Minutes after the birth, Kasey called for help and the couple’s camper was soon filled with a neonatal nurse, pediatrician, and an OB-GYN reportedly wearing nothing but his underwear. The birth stunned the Thompsons as Kayla showed no signs of pregnancy in the months leading up to the festival. Doctors later confirmed she had a “cryptic pregnancy,” a rare phenomenon that affects an estimated 1 in 2,500 women each year.
Then on Saturday came the event’s fiery climax as attendees ignited the festival’s giant wooden Man. As that was happening, local Nevada authorities responded around 9:14 p.m. to reports of a man who was “obviously deceased” lying on the ground at a campsite, Sheriff Jerry Allen of the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada said in a statement. Several festivalgoers in the immediate vicinity were interviewed, Sheriff Allen said.
According to a story published Sunday in The Times, the man’s identity and cause of death are unknown, and his body was taken from Black Rock City—the festival’s temporary municipality that crops up in the desert about 120 miles northeast of Reno, NV—to the Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner’s Office.
“Although this act appears to be a singular crime, all participants should always be vigilant of their surroundings and acquaintances,” Sheriff Allen said. “There is no further information available at this time but it will be released as appropriate to provide for communication, while still preserving the integrity of the complicated investigation of a crime in a city which will be gone by the middle of the week.”
Leaving the Playa, baby Aurora and her mother were reportedly in stable condition at a Reno hospital. Kayla has since been discharged, while Aurora remains in the NICU to gain her strength. The couple says the outpouring of support from fellow Burners deeply touched them. “That’s what that community is about,” Kasey said. “They’ll always have a special place in my heart.”
While Black Rock City is no stranger to families and even infants, actual births in the ephemeral community are rare. Festival goers have since nicknamed her “Citizen Zero.”