In 2015 and 2016, a controversy occurred on Facebook and Tumblr concerning Ender Darling (born 1990 or 1991), a self-identified witch who took human bones from a cemetery in New Orleans for use in rituals. Darling posted to the Facebook group Queer Witch Collective in December 2015, saying they had been collecting bones for use in witchcraft from a "poor man's graveyard" where bones often rose to the surface, and offering to sell bones to others for the cost of shipping. Some fellow witches accused Darling of desecrating graves and took issue with the bones' apparent source, Holt Cemetery—a potter's field where most burials are of poor people of color. Screenshots of the argument were posted elsewhere on Facebook, making their way to local news and then to Tumblr, where one user made a call-out post that garnered over 31,000 notes and led to discourse about racism and classism, which was dubbed Boneghazi or bones discourse. Meta-commentary on Tumblr included both humorous memes and criticism of the discourse's focus on identity politics.

Darling defended their actions, saying that they had only taken bones that were already aboveground and that they cared more about Holt Cemetery's dead than most New Orleanians, given the cemetery's disheveled state. Louisiana authorities subpoenaed Darling's Facebook correspondence, surveilled their home, and in January 2016 searched it, seizing 11 bones and 4 teeth. After testing confirmed that the bones were from humans, police arrested Darling in July on charges of burglary and trafficking in human parts. After two months in jail pending trial, Darling pled guilty to simple burglary and marijuana possession and was sentenced to time served. During the investigation, Louisiana enacted the Louisiana Human Remains Protection and Control Act, which increased the penalties for trading human remains and made Louisiana the third state to broadly ban the import and export of human remains. The Queer Witch Collective's founder left and subsequent moderation action took the group's membership from over 2,000 to less than 100.

In 2015, a type of feminist witchcraft was experiencing a surge in popularity among youth in the LGBTQ community; according to reporting from Vice, the spike stemmed from witchcraft representing "a powerful identity that celebrates the freedom to choose who you are". The Queer Witch Collective, a Facebook group that had over 2,000 members at its peak, is^[update] one such gathering of witches. In order to protect practitioners of African-derived witchcraft traditions, sometimes (controversially) referred to as black magic, the group prohibited users from shaming particular witchcraft practices.

On December 8, 2015, Ender Darling, a 24- or 25-year-old witch living in New Orleans, Louisiana, posted to the Queer Witch Collective that they had been gathering human bones "for curse work and general spells that require bone", as they found them preferable to animal bones. Darling said that the bones came from a "poor man's graveyard" where bones often rose to the surface when it rained. Much of New Orleans is below sea level, so this risk is usually mitigated by above-ground entombment, but many who cannot afford it are interred below-ground instead. Darling offered to sell bones from the graveyard to other group members for the cost of shipping. They said that all bones they took were above ground when they found them and that they gathered them as part of a pact with their personal goddess: "She provides the bones if I only take what the earth gives, and I leave offerings" of drink, honey, and flowers.

At first, members reacted positively, although some had concerns about the legality of Darling's actions. Soon, however, some members began accusing Darling of disturbing the dead or desecrating graves. The group's moderators defended Darling—who, while white-passing, is described by Vice as a "witch of color"—under their anti-shaming rule. One member identified the unnamed graveyard as likely being Holt Cemetery, a potter's field for the indigent—which Darling initially denied—but Darling's critics argued that the bones they were collecting were disproportionately of poor, non-white people. One user wrote, "you are implementing white supremacist and colonialist tactics to do your bidding". The moderators attempted to foster discussion of the racial aspects of the dispute, but some users still left the group in disgust.

On December 12, a New Orleanian shared a screenshot of the post on her Facebook, which called Darling a "little shithead" and a "fucking cultural vulture" and warned them to "stay the fuck out of Holt Cemetery or [their] bones might get broken". The post made its way around social media, and local news outlets began to pick up the story. On December 17, a Tumblr user made a call-out post accusing Darling's Tumblr blog, littlefuckinmonster, of bone-stealing; then, another user publicized screenshots of the Facebook thread, noting that littlefuckinmonster's profile picture was of Darling, the same picture used on their Facebook account. The call-out post had received over 31,000 notes by the next morning.

"Bone theft is a most heinous act. Hear me, bone wytch, and know that you are forever cursed.

"So say I, the fae of femurs, the imp of iliums, the sylph of skulls, the pixie of pelvises, the skeleton fairy."