In the middle of July 1518, seemingly without reason, residents of the French
town of Strasbourg began dancing compulsively in the streets, with many
unable to stop even when restrained or physically exhausted. The dancers
continued day and night, with many dancing until they collapsed and died.
The mysterious dancing plague which lasted into the heat of August is said
to have claimed as many as 400 lives. The bizarre outbreak began with a single
woman, Frau Troffea, who danced on her own for almost a week before she was
joined by several others. As soon as the plague started spreading more were quick
to join in and by the second week around 30 people were affected. It is documented
that the dancers would continue their frenzied jigs long past the point of
injury. Some would froth at the mouth. Some
appeared to be gripped by painful convulsions. They moved without music,
without joy, and seemingly without control. When one dancer dropped dead of
exhaustion the others would continue to dance around the body, unable even to
move away. Many cried out for help from onlookers as they danced... but how to
help these people? The City Council were baffled by the
incident and tried a number of cures. These ranged from restraining dancers by
wrapping them in cloth to herding the dancing masses into guildhalls where
music was laid on in the hope that it would help the dancers to exorcise the
need to dance from their bodies. If anything, however, this only exacerbated
the problem.
Modern explanations for what happen that summer range from mass epilepsy to
communal food poisoning with a psychoactive substance. The true
explanation is much simpler, however, and much more unnerving. The Strasbourg
Dancing Plague of 1518 was not a unique incident. Similar plagues of manic
dancing had struck small towns and villages all along the River Rhine for
many years, but these had affected a relatively small number of people and
had often subsided without any deaths. The only thing that affected settlements
had in common was a belief system - specifically the belief in St Vitus, a
Catholic saint. it was believed by many that St Vitus could curse the sinful
to dance themselves to death.
This strongly held belief, combined with the stress of seeing others dance
against their will, may have been what compelled many of the dancers to join in
the mania. The problem was in their minds, but no less real and no less deadly for
that. As St Vitus had caused the plague St Vitus would prove to be the
only functional solution to it. After almost two months
officials hit upon the idea of taking affected dancers to a mountaintop shrine
to the saint where they could pray for absolution. Given this chance to set
their guilty souls at ease many dancers found that they were able to regain
control of their limbs and finally stop dancing. The plague, thus cured, died out
in the early days of September 1518. It would be the most severe and the last
dancing plague ever to strike Europe. As belief in Saint Vitus died out so too
did this strange and deadly phenomenon. It remains recorded in the history books
as one of the strangest episodes of mass mania ever to occur.