Love at first sight can happen anywhere—even a dusty, wind-whipped Nevada desert.
On Monday (Sept. 7) this year’s Burning Man festival, a weeklong romp in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, finished, and the nearly 70,000 people who attended the gigantic, no-holds-barred, countercultural party dismantled the self-contained city they had built.
The longstanding social experiment—loved by many, mocked by others—asks attendees to leave behind no trace. Some people, apparently, were too good at leaving no trace—and left unrequited admirers in the Nevada dust.
But luckily, where there are romantic fumblings, handsome man buns, and “billowy silver clothes,” there are—later—Craigslist’s missed connections. (That section of the classified ads website is essentially a message board that people use to try to reconnect after fleeting interactions.)
This week, as festival-goers returned to cities around the country and sent lovelorn missives out to those they had lost track of in the celebrations, we rounded up and excerpted the best missed connections (corrected for misspellings). We wish them all luck.
To the girl who chose “vaping in a van”:
“This is a longshot but you were so beautiful and free… I smiled at you and thought you were gorgeous and you looked at me and then someone said something about vaping in a van and you bailed…”
To a beautiful and confusing woman:
“I (Zeitgeist) was wearing a long red robe with a golden sash, long billowy silver clothes underneath, and yellow slippers. I should say that I was hardly sober (very much to my determinant in this situation), but I understood your playa name to be Guess. A confusing, but beautiful name if that was correct.”
To the Salt Lake City midwife who had been to West Africa:
“We biked together behind the bus and chatted in both English an Krio because you told me you had visited West Africa (where I’m from), and how you’re working on being a midwife. Sadly I didn’t get your information… Taking a wild stab in the dark here but hoping you read this and we can connect.”
To a guy named Twelve:
“I named you Twelve. I passed out and woke up confused then ran away. I wish I had stayed and spent the rest of the burn with you.”
From a local girl at the Quick EZ Mart to the customer with a man bun:
“You came in with a group of friends dressed for the occasion. You were in jeans and a T-shirt with your long hair pulled back in a bun. There was music coming out of your friend’s pocket. We saw each other and our eyes met a couple times then you left. You look like the guy named Danny from the show TWISTED lol. Anyway I live here.”
To a French maid, from a poet:
“My umbrella, your umbrella.
Where did you go?
You got off without me and I wanted to connect with you”
To the judge from Los Angeles:
“You said that you are going to judge me because you are judge in LA.
I thought it was funny at the beginning. After you said that your judgment is that I’m a beautiful and I look like your ideal women, I started feeling strange and uncomfortable because you looked like my ideal men as well.”
To a guy with a very important job:
“We met at bubble’s and base. I had a red headed chick with me. Then a few nights later on my buddy’s birthday at that burlesque show. But you were on your way to guard the temple.”
To Megan with a fear of Ferris wheels:
“We shared a golden moment atop the Ferris wheel this year. I was a fifth wheel and you were alone in line behind me. I asked you to join me on the Ferris wheel… I searched all over playa for you. A beautiful needle in the worlds most chaotic haystack… I would love to see you again. If I never do, I dedicate this burn to you.”