What Happened at the Dancing Plague of 1518?
Source: Dig Labs Project
We analyze the historical records and environmental conditions of the period to find the specific trigger for this mass event.
We invite readers to contribute to this collaborative research page.
We invite readers to contribute to this collaborative research page.
"https://observatory.wiki/What_Happened_at_the_Dancing_Plague_of_1518%3F What Happened at the Dancing Plague of 1518?" by Dig Labs Contributors is licensed by the Observatory under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
For permissions requests beyond the scope of this license, please see Observatory.wiki’s Reuse and Reprint Rights guidance.
Send us a note about this articleDonate to the Observatory
SOURCE
Dig Labs Project
Introduction
In the summer of 1518, hundreds of people in Strasbourg were gripped by a "dancing plague" that caused them to dance for days until they collapsed or died. This historical event has been attributed to various triggers, including ergot poisoning or mass hysteria brought on by social and environmental stress. Understanding this anomaly offers a unique window into the social psychology of 16th-century Europe.
We analyze the historical records and environmental conditions of the period to find the specific trigger for this mass event.