The Deadly Trance of Strasbourg
In July 1518, in the narrow streets of Strasbourg (modern-day France), a woman named Frau Troffea stepped outside and began to dance. There was no music. She didn’t smile. She simply twitched, spun, and swayed uncontrollably. She danced for days until she collapsed from exhaustion, only to get up and dance again. Within a week, 34 others had joined her. Within a month, the crowd had swelled to 400.
A Bizarre Medical Disaster
This wasn’t a festival; it was a horror show. The dancers were screaming in pain, their feet bleeding, begging for mercy, yet their bodies would not stop moving. Authorities, baffled by the phenomenon, made a fatal mistake: they decided the dancers just needed to “get it out of their systems.” They hired musicians and built a stage. This only encouraged the mania. At its peak, it is estimated that up to 15 people were dying per day from heart attacks, strokes, and sheer exhaustion.
- St. Vitus’ Dance: At the time, locals believed it was a curse sent by Saint Vitus, a Catholic saint who could plague sinners with compulsive dancing.
- Ergot Poisoning: Modern scientists have theorized that the townsfolk might have eaten bread contaminated with ergot fungi, which has psychotropic effects similar to LSD. However, ergotism usually cuts off blood supply to limbs, making dancing impossible.
- Mass Hysteria: The most accepted theory today is “mass psychogenic illness” triggered by extreme stress. The region was suffering from famine and disease, potentially causing a collective psychological breakdown.
Eventually, the survivors were hauled off to a mountaintop shrine to pray for forgiveness. The Dancing Plague of 1518 remains the strangest and most deadly case of mass hysteria in recorded history.