The Fatal Dancing Plague of 1518
In July 1518, a woman named Frau Troffea began dancing fervently in a street in Strasbourg. Within a month, hundreds of citizens joined her, dancing uncontrollably for days without rest. Many reportedly died from exhaustion, strokes, or heart attacks before the mysterious mass hysteria finally subsided.
An Uncontrolled Outbreak in the Streets
In mid-July 1518, in the bustling city of Strasbourg—then part of the Holy Roman Empire—a woman recorded as Frau Troffea stepped into a narrow street and began to dance. She had no musical accompaniment and showed no outward signs of joy, yet she continued to twist, twirl, and step for days on end. Even when sheer physical exhaustion caused her to collapse, she would rest briefly only to resume the compulsive movements upon waking.
Within a week, dozens of other Strasbourg residents had joined her in the open air, caught in the same relentless physical compulsion. Observers noted that the dancers did not appear to be celebrating; their faces displayed distress, fear, and pain as their bodies moved involuntarily. By August, the phenomenon had expanded dramatically, with historical chronicles estimating that up to 400 citizens were eventually swept into the frantic, unbroken dancing across the city's public spaces.
The Flawed Medical Response
Alarmed by the rapidly growing disorder, the Strasbourg city council consulted local physicians and magistrates to find an explanation and an immediate remedy. The medical establishment rejected astrological and demonic explanations, determining instead that the affliction was a natural illness caused by 'hot blood'—an imbalance of bodily humors that overheated the brain and compelled the limbs to move.
Operating on the humoral logic of the period, the doctors advised that the only way to cure the sufferers was to let the illness run its course through continuous exertion. Rather than restraining the dancers or prescribing bed rest, city authorities decided to facilitate the activity. The council cleared two large guildhalls and the grain market to give the dancers room, even commissioning a dedicated wooden stage.