Dancing plague of 1518

The dancing plague of 1518 or dance epidemic of 1518 (; ), was a massive case of dancing mania that happened in Strasbourg, Alsace (now modern-day France), in the Holy Roman Empire. In July of 1518, somewhere between 50 and 400 people took to dancing for days.

The outbreak began in July 1518 when one woman began to dance randomly in a street in Strasbourg. Some sources claim that, for a short time, the plague killed around fifteen people per day, mainly due to exhaustion from uncontrollable dancing. However, the sources of the city of Strasbourg at the time of the events did not mention the number of deaths, or even if there were any deaths. All evidence points to mass hysteria caused by people seeing the first woman dance. 

Modern theories
 Food poisoning 
Some people believe that the dancing was caused by food poisoning. This poisoning comes from ergot fungi (ergotism), which often grows on grains like rye used to make bread. Ergotamine is the main chemical in the fungus that affects the mind. It is chemically similar to the drug lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) and was used to make LSD-25 for the first time. This same fungus may have caused other strange events in history, such as the Salem witch trials.

Writing in The Lancet, John Waller says this theory is likely wrong. He argues that people poisoned by ergot probably could not dance for several days in a row. He also says that different people would not all react to the chemicals in the same way. Finally, the ergot theory does not explain why almost every outbreak happened near the Rhine and Moselle rivers. These areas were connected by water, but they had different climates and grew different crops.  

 Stress-induced mass hysteria 
The dancing may have been a case of mass psychogenic illness (also known as mass hysteria). This happens when many people suddenly start acting in the same strange way. This behavior spreads quickly like an epidemic. This could have been caused by very high levels of psychological stress. At the time, the people of Alsace were suffering through very difficult and cruel years.

Waller suggests the dancing was "stress-induced psychosis" on a large scale. The region where people danced was suffering from hunger and disease, and the people were often superstitious. Seven other cases of dancing plague were reported in the same area during the medieval era.

This illness could have caused chorea (from the Greek word khoreia, meaning "to dance"). This is a condition where a person makes random, jerky movements they cannot control. In the Middle Ages, different types of choreas (such as St. Vitus' dance or St. John's dance) were the names given to these "dancing mania" outbreaks in Europe, especially during the time of the plague.

 Related pages 

 Mass hysteria

References

Category:1518