Here is a detailed explanation of the Dancing Plague of 1518, one of history’s most baffling examples of mass hysteria.
The Scene: Strasbourg, July 1518
The event began in mid-July in the city of Strasbourg, which was then part of the Holy Roman Empire (modern-day France). It started with a single woman, Frau Troffea. She stepped out into a narrow street and began to dance fervently. There was no music, no celebration, and no apparent reason for her movement. She did not stop for hours, and then she did not stop for days.
By the end of the first week, 34 others had joined her. By the end of the month, the crowd had swelled to approximately 400 dancers.
The Nature of the "Dance"
Historical accounts describe the scene not as a joyous festival, but as a nightmare. The participants were not performing coordinated waltzes or jigs; they were thrashing, leaping, and twitching uncontrollably. * Physical toll: The dancers were screaming in pain, begging for mercy, and covered in blood from swollen, bruised feet. Yet, they could not stop. * The consequences: They danced through the heat of the summer without rest, food, or water. Inevitably, people began to collapse. Contemporary chronicles claim that at the plague's peak, up to 15 people were dying per day from heart attacks, strokes, and sheer exhaustion, though modern historians debate the exact death toll.
The Authorities' Response: Fueling the Fire
The city council and local physicians were baffled. They consulted the stars and medical texts but ruled out astrological or supernatural causes initially. Instead, they diagnosed the dancers with "hot blood."
Their prescribed cure, however, was disastrous. Reasoning that the victims simply needed to dance the fever out of their systems, the authorities: 1. * cleared a grain market* to serve as a dance floor. 2. Hired professional musicians (pipers and drummers) to keep the rhythm going. 3. Paid "strong men" to prop up the exhausted dancers so they would keep moving.
This backfired spectacularly. The music and the sight of others dancing acted as a contagion, drawing even more onlookers into the mania. The city realized its mistake and eventually banned the music, forcing the dancers to be taken to a hilltop shrine dedicated to Saint Vitus.
The Resolution: The Shrine of Saint Vitus
In the medieval mind, Saint Vitus was the patron saint of dancers and epileptics. It was believed that he had the power to curse sinners with a dancing plague. The afflicted were hauled in wagons to his shrine in the Vosges mountains. There, they were given small crosses and red shoes, and they circled the altar in a ritual of penance.
Remarkably, this worked. Upon performing the rituals and asking for the saint’s forgiveness, the dancers regained control of their limbs. The plague subsided by early September.
Theories: What Actually Happened?
Historians and scientists have spent centuries trying to explain the event. Two main theories dominate the discussion:
1. Ergot Poisoning (St. Anthony’s Fire)
For a long time, the leading biological theory was ergotism. Ergot is a toxic mold that grows on damp rye, a staple crop in Strasbourg. * The argument: Ergot poisoning can cause hallucinations, spasms, and tremors. It is chemically related to LSD. * The counter-argument: Ergotism restricts blood flow to the extremities (gangrene), which would make prolonged, vigorous dancing physically impossible. While they may have hallucinated, they likely couldn't have danced for weeks.
2. Mass Psychogenic Illness (Mass Hysteria)
This is currently the most widely accepted theory, championed by historians like John Waller. * The logic: Mass psychogenic illness occurs when a population under extreme stress manifests physical symptoms based on a shared psychological belief. * The context: The people of Strasbourg in 1518 were suffering through a "perfect storm" of misery. They were facing famine after bad harvests, a recurrence of syphilis and leprosy, and extreme political instability. * The belief system: The locals genuinely believed that Saint Vitus could punish sinners by forcing them to dance. When Frau Troffea started dancing (perhaps due to a psychotic break induced by stress), the onlookers, terrified of the saint’s wrath and desperate for release from their daily misery, subconsciously entered a trance state.
Conclusion
The Dancing Plague of 1518 serves as a terrifying reminder of the power of the human mind. It demonstrates how extreme psychological distress, combined with deeply held superstition, can manifest as a physical epidemic. The dancers were not possessed by demons or poisoned by mold; they were victims of their own collective trauma.