The Dancing Plague of 1518

In July 1518, a woman named Frau Troffea stepped into the streets of Strasbourg and began to dance. She didn’t stop. She danced for days. By August, over 400 people had joined her in a compulsive, uncontrollable dance that lasted for weeks. People danced until they collapsed. Some danced until they died. The Dancing Plague of 1518 remains one of history’s strangest mass events.

The Outbreak

Patient Zero

In mid-July 1518:

• Frau Troffea began dancing in the street
• She danced without music
• She continued for four to six days
• She showed signs of distress, not joy
• She could not stop herself

The Spread

Within a week:

• 34 others had joined the dancing
• By August, approximately 400 people were affected
• They danced day and night
• They showed no signs of pleasure
• Many appeared to be suffering

The Symptoms

The dancers exhibited:

• Uncontrollable movement
• Expressions of fear and exhaustion
• Inability to stop voluntarily
• Dancing until collapse
• Some died from heart attacks, strokes, or exhaustion

Historical Documentation

Contemporary Sources

The plague was well-documented by:

• City council records
• Physician notes from Paracelsus (who visited the area)
• Historical chronicles
• Church records

Official Response

Strasbourg authorities:

• Initially believed dancing would cure the dancers
• Built a stage for them
• Hired musicians to accompany them
• Paid for professional dancers to partner them
• This made the plague worse

Later Measures

When dancing didn’t help:

• Authorities banned public dancing
• Dancers were taken to a mountaintop shrine
• Religious interventions were attempted
• The plague eventually subsided by September

Casualties

The Death Toll

Contemporary accounts claim:

• Some sources say 15 people died per day at the peak
• Deaths resulted from heart attacks, strokes, and exhaustion
• The exact death toll is unknown
• Estimates range from dozens to over 100

The Suffering

Survivors described:

• Being unable to control their bodies
• Extreme fatigue and pain
• Terror at their condition
• Visible bleeding feet and collapsed joints

Historical Context

Strasbourg in 1518

The region was experiencing:

• Severe famine
• Smallpox epidemics
• Syphilis outbreaks
• Extreme poverty
• Social unrest

Previous Outbreaks

This wasn’t the first dancing plague:

• 1021: 18 people danced around a church in Bernburg
• 1247: Hundreds danced in Erfurt
• 1278: 200 people danced on a bridge in Utrecht (it collapsed)
• 1374: Large outbreak in the Rhine region
• 1518 was the largest and best documented

Explanations

Ergot Poisoning

The Theory

• Ergot is a fungus that infects grain
• It produces chemicals related to LSD
• Ergot poisoning (ergotism) causes spasms and hallucinations

Problems

• Ergot causes contractions, not coordinated dancing
• It doesn’t explain the contagious spread
• Symptoms don’t fully match

Mass Psychogenic Illness

The Theory

• Extreme stress triggered psychological breakdown
• The behavior spread through suggestion
• A form of mass hysteria

Support

• The context of famine and disease explains stress
• Similar to modern mass psychogenic events
• Explains the contagious nature

The Mechanism

• Cultural belief in “dancing curses” from St. Vitus
• Stressed individuals entered trance states
• The behavior spread through social contagion
• Belief in the curse became self-fulfilling

Cult or Religious Ritual

The Theory

• A secret dancing cult existed
• The “plague” was deliberate religious practice
• Authorities misunderstood the activity

Problems

• Contemporary accounts describe unwilling participants
• The deaths argue against voluntary activity
• No evidence of organized cult

Demonic Possession

The Period Belief

• Many contemporaries blamed supernatural forces
• St. Vitus was invoked as both cause and cure
• The dancing was seen as a curse or punishment

Modern View

• Not considered a valid explanation
• But reflects how the event was experienced

Mass Psychogenic Illness

The Leading Theory

Modern researchers favor mass psychogenic illness because:

• It explains the spread pattern
• It fits the cultural context
• It matches other documented outbreaks
• The extreme stress of 1518 Strasbourg is well-documented

How It Works

1. Triggering Stress: Famine, disease, and poverty created unbearable conditions
2. Cultural Framework: Belief in dancing curses provided a template
3. Index Case: Frau Troffea’s breakdown became the model
4. Social Contagion: Others unconsciously adopted the behavior
5. Feedback Loop: More dancers reinforced the phenomenon
6. Resolution: Religious intervention provided psychological “permission” to stop

Modern Parallels

Similar events include:

• Laughing epidemics in East Africa (1962)
• Fainting epidemics in schools
• Mass psychogenic illness in factories
• The 2011 Le Roy, New York, tic outbreak

What We Learn

About Human Psychology

The dancing plague reveals:

• The power of social contagion
• How stress manifests physically
• The role of cultural beliefs in symptoms
• The mind’s ability to lose control of the body

About History

The event shows:

• The brutal conditions of medieval life
• How communities process collective trauma
• The intersection of medicine and religion
• The importance of historical documentation

Legacy

Cultural Memory

The Dancing Plague has inspired:

• Academic research
• Novels and plays
• Musical compositions
• Continued fascination

The Mystery

Despite analysis:

• We can’t fully explain why this happened
• We can’t predict similar outbreaks
• The phenomenon remains partially mysterious
• It reminds us of the limits of understanding

The Image

Imagine the streets of Strasbourg in August 1518:

Hundreds of people dancing without music. Their feet bleeding. Their faces twisted with exhaustion and fear. They can’t stop. They’ve been dancing for days. Some collapse and don’t get up.

The authorities have built a stage. Musicians play. Professional dancers try to help. It only makes things worse.

And still they dance.

Something broke in Frau Troffea that July day. Something contagious. Something that spread through the streets like fire.

When it finally stopped in September, the survivors couldn’t explain what had happened to them. They only knew they had danced, and danced, and danced.

And some of them had danced until they died.

The Dancing Plague of 1518. Real. Documented. Never fully explained.

A reminder that the human mind, pushed far enough, can betray the body in ways we still don’t understand.