Dancing Plague of 1518

The Dancing Plague of 1518 was a case of mass hysteria in Strasbourg, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. According to chronicles, a woman known as Frau Troffea began dancing in the street in July, and over the following days and weeks dozens of other people joined in, dancing for hours without rest. Local authorities, perhaps following the advice of physicians, at first encouraged the dancers by hiring musicians and providing a hall, and later forbade public music and sent the afflicted to a shrine of Saint Vitus. Some are said to have died from exhaustion, though records are thin. Historians favour explanations such as stress-induced psychogenic illness over ergot poisoning.

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