An uncanny phenomenon of dancing where people died
How people ‘danced till they dropped’ in the summer of 1518.
In June of 1518, a woman named Frau Troffea stepped out into the humid streets of Strasbourg, France, and began dancing.
Over the next months, her solitary jig was compulsively shared by more than 400 people across the Holy Roman Empire.
Under the influence of a mysterious ‘dancing mania’, people danced—with many dancing to their deaths or hospitalization.
Modern scholars refute claims that the “dance epidemic” was caused by collective demonic possession or divine judgment.
Instead, they see it as a case of mass hysteria fuelled by substance abuse, cardiovascular conditions, hedonism, mob psychology, and a mass reaction to social injustice.
Drug abuse is also one of the main cause behind the 'Dancing Plague'. Know more about drug abuse below!