WTF Stories of the Week

[Ghoulish Delight]

A man unsuccessfully sues Burning Man organizers for failing to prevent him from getting too close to a giant bonfire:

http://www.loweringthebar.net/2009/0...rning-man.html

Beninati's complaint stated that when he approached the bonfire, the flames were still roughly 40 feet high. He walked around the bonfire three times, each time "circl[ing] a little closer to the fire." Eventually, he walked still closer, into what was variously described as an area of "embers," "low flames," "burning remnants," and "a spot where there was fire on either side of him." Basically, he had walked inside a huge bonfire. Then, as you might have expected, he tripped on something and fell into the actual fiery part of the bonfire, burning his hands.


In his deposition, Beninati admitted he knew "fire was dangerous and caused burns" before he walked into one. He knew there was some possibility of falling into said fire. He admitted no one affiliated with the defendants asked him to walk into the fire or told him it would be safe to do so. But he testified that he did not think it would be dangerous to walk into the fire, although he knew it "was not 'absolutely safe, because there [was] a fire present.'" And, as noted, fire is hot.