The Dancing Plague of 1518 was a case of dancing mania that occurred in Strasbourg, Alsace (now France), where hundreds of people danced for days without rest.
How it started:
- 💃 In July 1518, a woman named Frau Troffea began to dance fervently in a street in Strasbourg
- 📈 Within a week, 34 others had joined, and within a month, there were around 400 dancers
The Tragic Consequence:
- 🎻 Authorities believed the dancers would recover if they danced day and night, even hiring musicians and building a stage
- 💀 Many of these people eventually died from heart attacks, strokes, or sheer exhaustion
Modern theories suggest it might have been caused by mass hysteria or ergot poisoning (a fungus found in rye).