[VIDEO] The Dancing Plague of 1518

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The Dancing Plague of 1518

Transcript:
In the summer of 1518, the city of Strasbourg—then part of the Holy Roman Empire—was struck by one of the strangest events in recorded history: the Dancing Plague. It all began when a woman known as Frau Troffea stepped into the street and began to dance.

Not to music, not for celebration—just endless, compulsive movement. She kept dancing for hours. Then for days. Within a week, dozens more had joined her. Men, women, and even children were dancing uncontrollably in the streets, their feet bloodied, their bodies exhausted. Some reportedly danced until they collapsed.

Others reportedly died from strokes, heart attacks, or sheer exhaustion. At the height of the mania, it’s estimated that as many as 400 people were caught in the bizarre grip of the dancing plague. Authorities were baffled. Physicians ruled out supernatural causes and declared it a case of “hot blood.”

In response, city leaders made a shocking decision: they encouraged the dancers to keep going. They even constructed a stage and hired musicians, believing the dancers would burn out the mania by dancing it out. That only made it worse. The plague eventually ended as mysteriously as it began.

Some say the dancers were taken to a mountain shrine for healing. Others believe mass hysteria or ergot poisoning—hallucinogens from moldy bread—played a role. To this day, no one fully understands what triggered the outbreak. But one thing’s for sure: the Dancing Plague of 1518 remains one of the most bizarre and unexplained events in human history.