Dancing Plague of 1518

"By the end of August 1518, nearly 400 people had experienced the madness."(Waller, n.p.) John Waller, a leading expert on the dancing plague of 1518, had this to say on the strange occurrences in a small, French town during 1518(Waller, n.p.). There is still much debate as to what caused the dancing plague to occur in 1518. Some people believe it was caused by the ingestion of ergot by the local people of Strasbourg, France(Israel, n.p). Others believe it was caused by a mass hysteria that broke out amongst the local towns people(Waller, n.p.). While there are many theories and beliefs about what actually caused the Dancing Plague of 1518, the actual cause was a religious belief mixed with the conditions the people had to endure at the time.…

feel in July of the year 1518. All along the streets, and anywhere that could be seen, the people of the city were involved in an uncontrollable dance. Only heart attacks and strokes would result in the ending of the dance. While this may sound unbelievable, or unintelligent, the victims could not help their ill-decided fate. When the first woman, known as Frau Troffea, began to dance, she began to “silently twist, twirl and shake,” as the History channel states. As the solo performance…

Have you ever heard of an unsolved mystery called the “Dancing Plague”? The “Dancing Plague” began on July of 1518, Strasbourg France. The phenomenon of mass, frenzied dancing affected large populations in various parts of France. The “Dancing Plague” will most likely remain forever unsolved due to the fact that there are so many possible causes, the technology was not advanced enough at the time, and there is not very much evidence because it was so long ago. It all started with a woman…