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A plague that made people dance for 3 months straight remains a scientific mystery 500 years later

It started with one woman who danced alone for an entire week.

Engraving by Hendrik Hondius portraying three people affected by the plague. Work based on original drawing by Pieter Brueghel.

The "dancing plague" remains a mystery 500 years later

Engraving by Hendrik Hondius portraying three people affected by the plague. Work based on original drawing by Pieter Brueghel.
Cecily Knobler
By Cecily KnoblerFeb 15, 2025
Cecily Knobler
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Documentaries, books, and even songs have been written about the day a woman got up one day and danced, but couldn't stop.

Her name was Frau Troffea, and she lived in Strasbourg. One day, in July of 1518, she simply started to dance. There was reportedly no music. No drumbeat. Just a woman dancing in the middle of a street for days on end. She, according to an article in Historyfacts.com, "danced alone and continuously for an entire week before several dozen others found themselves overcome by the urge to dance as well."

Days later, more than 30 people had joined her, consumed by choreomania (dance madness), some with such mania that , as writer Ned pennant-Rea described, "only death would have the power to intervene.". By August, more than 400 people had been overtaken by this "dancing plague," as it came to be called. Didn't matter if they were women, men, poor or wealthy. Big, small, older, younger…they had the dancing bug. And word is, some of them even danced themselves to death.

Apparently, it wasn't the first time this happened. Historyfacts.com continued, "There had been numerous reported outbreaks of 'dancing plagues' around the Holy Roman Empire in the preceding 500 years, including a significant one in 1374." Though some of the facts/stats of the matter, having not been physically recorded, remain a bit foggy.

To this day, we don't really know why. Here are a few theories.

Taking the fun out of fungi


Decomposing Fungi - Muir Woods National Monument (U.S. National ...www.nps.gov

One popular belief is that the people of this town got straight-up food poisoning. The ergot fungus, a mold that often grew in grain used to bake bread, might have contaminated the food supply, which could account for the convulsions and possible psychosis. And fun fact: it's similar in structure to LSD, which, sure, could make one want to trip the light fantastic. But for months? Not a great trip!

Author of A Time to Dance, A Time to Die: The Extraordinary Story of the Dancing Plague of 1518, John Waller, pushed back on this theory, however. He didn't believe it was the most likely, according to his piece in the scientific journal The Lancet. "It is unlikely that those poisoned by ergot could have danced for days at a time. Nor would so many people have reacted to its psychotropic chemicals in the same way."

We'll get to his theory in a minute.

The devil made me do it


The Devil with a Sceptre (with candle) - Halloween 2023 | Flickrwww.flickr.com

Don’t you hate when you get cursed? Don’t you hate it even more when it’s the patron saint of dancing, Saint Vitus, who does the cursing? That's what many believed caused this affliction. For whatever reason, Saint Vitus was angry, and the only cure would be prayer at his shrine.

Hot blooded, check it and see!

It was the 1500s, after all, and it was common for doctors to get it a little bit wrong. One theory physicians came up with was that these people's blood just got too hot. A well-renowned doctor, who went by the name Paracelsus, came to Strasbourg to look into the matter and wrote The Diseases That Deprive Man of His Reason, Such as St. Vitus' Dance, Falling Sickness, Melancholy, and Insanity, and Their Correct Treatment. Essentially, according to a piece entitled "The Medieval Dancing Plague of St. Vitus Dance," "Paracelsus suggested that a person’s 'laughing veins' could provoke an intense ticklish feeling. This would cloud judgment and provoke extreme motions, until the 'frenzied blood' was finally calmed."

Mass hysteria


Weekly Wrap Up: “Never Has a Nation So Small Inspired So Much in ...obamawhitehouse.archives.gov

Back to John Waller, who posited that there may have been a few things at play. Due to the stress of the times (various disease outbreaks, lack of funds) and the quick jumping to conclusions that this MUST be some kind of divine or demonic possession, people just got stressed out. The more stressed they got, the more likely they were to just…kinda…join IN. It was a strange combination of superstition meets hunger/disease…hence, ya know, DANCING?

To this day, as mentioned, the mystery is really not solved. But then, neither is the mystery of why socks always get lost in dryers. Some things, we just may never know.

choreomaniadancingdancing plaguediseaseergot fungusfungihistoryholy roman empirejohn wallerlsdmass hysteriamysteriesparacelsusstrasbourgstresssuperstition

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