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In 1518, Strasbourg witnessed one of the most unusual and deadly events in medieval Europe: a dance plague. It all began when a woman named Frau Troffea stepped into the streets and started dancing uncontrollably. This seemingly harmless act soon spiraled into a citywide crisis. Within days, dozens of people joined her, dancing in the streets to the point of exhaustion. The phenomenon spread rapidly, with up to 400 people eventually caught in its grip. What began as a bizarre spectacle quickly became deadly, with reports of up to 15 deaths per day due to exhaustion and other complications.
As the situation escalated, the city council sought answers. Medieval physicians diagnosed the dancers with “hot blood,” a condition believed to cause madness by overheating the brain. The prescribed remedy was more dancing, which only worsened the problem. Musicians were brought in to keep the dancers moving, but the strategy backfired, attracting more people to the streets.
Eventually, the city turned to religious solutions, attributing the plague to a curse. A mass pilgrimage to a shrine dedicated to Saint Vitus, known for healing trembling limbs, was organized. There, afflicted individuals were blessed with holy items, which seemed to finally bring the strange episode to an end. While modern theories suggest mass hysteria as the likely cause, the true origins of this deadly dance remain a mystery.
Top image: Dancers in traditional dress, Naples, Italy. Source: New York Public Library/Public Domain