David Bowie's ashes scattered at Burning Man?

UPDATE 12/9: Bowie's son Duncan Jones has flatly denied the claims 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

Original Post:

An unnamed source told E! that Bowie's ashes were scattered over Labor Day weekend at small ceremony attended by 70 people. The ceremony took place at The Temple, a temporary construction designed for visitors to "[inscribe] the surfaces of the piece with personal messages" which is burned down at the end of the week-long festival.

"David's godchild and David had long talks about Burning Man and what it stands for, and David loved the message behind it," says the source. Bowie's wife Iman apparently allowed his godchild to scatter some of the ashes at the event.

An "eyewitness" who attended the ceremony claims: "We played [David's] music the entire drive from our camp to The Temple and back. Most of us had the Bowie [lightning bolt] face paint on in his honour."

Details are scant - is this just gossip or is there an element of truth? Well, a spokesperson for Bowie's family has denied the reports, but as The Telegraph notes, a second source has come forward to confirm the events took place.

Mark Milhaly runs Burn.Life - he first revealed the news about Bowie's ashes: "It originally came from my blog. There's no question it's true. I've spoken to multiple people who were there, including an art car owner who was in the procession and is in contact with Mr. Bowie's family. I've also seen photographs, which I'm not allowed to share out of respect. The family member who brought the ashes requested to be taken out of my piece, so I removed him/her from my article and post. It was apparently supposed to be a fairly private affair, but when you have dozens of people at something it's unlikely to remain totally private."

David Bowie's final studio album Blackstar is nominated for this year's Mercury Prize. Bowie's musical Lazarus, starring Michael C. Hall, is set to open in London on 8 November.

Watch Milhaly's video tribute to Bowie, using footage from Burning Man 2016, below.