The phenomenon known as 'The Dancing Plague of 1518'

Posted by multiverse_fan@reddit | HighStrangeness | View on Reddit | 13 comments

 [\> The outbreak began in July 1518 when a woman by the name of Frau Troffea began to dance fervently in a street in Strasbourg. Troffea kept up this constant dancing for a week straight. Soon, three dozen others joined in on the dancing chaos. In August of the same year, the Dancing Plague had claimed 400 victims. Dancers were beginning to collapse. It is said some even died due to stroke or heart attack. No one knew what was causing this reaction, which meant no one understood how to remedy this situation either. By early September, the outbreak began to subside, as the dancers were sent to a mountain shrine to pray for absolution.](https://preview.redd.it/be2b58yxm8cb1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8f6624ffc4a39d2adfb358495358dff2b9531501) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing\_plague\_of\_1518](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_plague_of_1518) What do you think? Mass hysteria, some sort of fungus (ergot)... Or was it Aliens?

13 Comments

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eclipsed2112@reddit

i think it was a fungus...? the ergot sounds right. but who really knows at this point.

trainofwhat@reddit

While ergot is a popular explanation, it doesn’t actually match the symptoms. Ergot poisoning is known to cause gangrenous reactions, and LSD-like analog wouldn’t cause such jerky dancing.

Zyr4420@reddit

Sounds Evil to me.

The_De-Lesbianizer@reddit

Simulation programmers hit the emote button

DJDopeyG@reddit

That hip new craze!

Tawpay@reddit

I think it was Winnie from Hocus Pocus. "DANCE DANCE DANCE UNTIL YOU DIE!" ...Yeah definitely her. Sorry every time I read about this that's all I can think of.

multiverse_fan@reddit (OP)

Sounds familiar, but I haven't seen that movie since somewhere int he 90s. Good times. The part of the wiki that explains how the town banned dancing gave me some footloose vibes though

deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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murderhornet1965@reddit

Tiktok been around since 1518? .....whoa......lol

someonesomewherewarm@reddit

Its also referred to as St Vitus Dance.. and Black Sabbath wrote a banger named after it. https://youtu.be/l772fYpNIrw Some people think it was ergot poisoning. Some think mass hysteria.. without a time machine, we'll never know for sure.

Butteredmuffinzz@reddit

Psychadelics

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