Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
This article may contain affiliate links. If you click on these links and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products and services we trust and believe will add value to our readers. Thank you for supporting Yesteeyear!
In the summer of 1518, Strasbourg witnessed something extraordinary. A woman stepped into the street and began to dance. Nothing unusual—until she didn’t stop. Not that day, not the next. Within a week, dozens joined her, and the city faced one of history’s strangest medical mysteries known as the Dancing Plague of 1518.
The Frenzy Unfolds
The first dancer was Frau Troffea. Reports say she moved for days without rest, as if compelled rather than joyful. Curious neighbours gathered, then joined in. Within a month, between 50 and 400 people were dancing uncontrollably.
City officials panicked. Their solution? Build a stage and hire musicians, hoping the dancers could “dance it out.” Instead, the frenzy intensified. People collapsed from exhaustion. Some suffered strokes or heart attacks. Others simply couldn’t stop until their bodies gave out.
Theories and Explanations
Was it divine punishment? A curse? Overheated blood? Today, scholars suspect mass hysteria—fuelled by stress, famine, and superstition. When a community is under pressure, behaviour can spiral in ways that defy logic.
Why the Dancing Plague of 1518 Still Matters
The dancing plague seems like a bizarre footnote, but it reveals something timeless: when fear and tension grip a society, the mind and body can react in extreme ways. In 1518, it wasn’t really about dancing. It was about a city so overwhelmed that its anxiety spilled into the streets.
