Man Dies at Texas Eclipse Festival After Suffering a Seizure

A 67-year-old man has passed away after COllapsing at the Texas Eclipse Festival, days before the event’s early cancellation.

On Saturday, April 6th, a man who attended Texas Eclipse Festival was pronounced dead at a Burnet County hospital. The Burnet County Sheriff’s Office (BSCO) told KXAN Austin on Monday that the man had been hiking on the festival grounds at Reveille Peak Ranch around 4:30 AM on Saturday morning when he experienced a seizure and was later transported to an area hospital.

The BSCO has not identified the 67-year-old man as of Wednesday morning. The BSCO noted in their report to KXAN Austin that there was no knowledge of the deceased man having taken drugs during the festival or having any history of drug use and that an autopsy has been ordered to uncover the cause of death.

In several posts and comments on the Texas Eclipse Festival Reddit page beginning on Monday, a user named “neverbummed” identified herself as the deceased man’s daughter and gave some insight into what happened that day. “My father died on Saturday night, and the Sheriffs witnessed firsthand the absolute chaos that was the staff and medical,” she wrote in the first such post. “They are not prepared to handle a disaster in the chaos they built. Zero infrastructure, no signs, their own staff doesn’t know how to get around and find anyone – especially in the case of an emergency.”

In a comment on that post, she continued: “It shouldn’t have taken 40 minutes for medical to get there. The sheriffs were on the scene before any staff or medical arrived, and when they did they didn’t have the equipment they needed to save a life.” She also shared that she and her father had gone to Burning Man together since 2007 and that he had attended festivals “his whole life”.

In a since-deleted tweet, the event runner Disco Donnie contested these claims, noting that there were seven on-site medical tents at the festival and that medical staff arrived within 4 minutes based on their logs. The Texas Eclipse Festival Reddit page includes a wide range of accounts, some describing having a good experience at the event with no issues and others with negative things to say.

Texas Eclipse Festival was cut short due to forecasted severe weather on Monday morning, just hours before the namesake eclipse occurred. It had been scheduled to continue through Tuesday night.