The Dancing Plague in 1518 ~ Mass Psychogenic Illness

I recently learned about this most interesting phenomena. In 1518, there was a dancing plague where people, mostly women, literally danced until they dropped. The dancing epidemic, was documented by physicians, court clerks, and the Magistrate. However the number of deaths, if any – is unknown.

The dancing started with a single young woman who went out and started dancing fervently in one of the court yards in Strasbourg, Alsace, which is modern day France. Soon others joined in and one by one, the number of dancers increased to several hundred. Because it went on for so long, it started to alarm the authorities, and they attempted to intervene.

Some sources say that hundreds danced until they dropped dead. Others say there were no deaths at all, and claim there were fewer dancers. Regardless, what was the cause of all the dancing? They did not know what to call it. The term mass hysteria was first coined – but immediately drew criticism because the prefix hyster refers to the womb. So instead they called it Mass Psychogenic Illness or MPI.

The diagnosis was probably never confirmed. There were other theories about the cause. Some believed they had ingested ergot or some other plant with hallucinogenic properties. Others questioned whether it was food poisoning.

In the end there seemed to be some agreement that the dancing epidemic was stress induced. It might have surfaced due to religious oppression and all the strict legalism that was required of people.

It sounds like it might have been one of the very first protests. It certainly got the attention of the authorities. They tried valiantly to stop them, to include dragging some of them out of the court yard. After that, they banned dancing for a period of time.

If nothing else – it left them scratching their heads over it for centuries. It was a craze long before ecstasy and rave parties. But maybe it lingered in the air for all those years.