October 28, 2021
ABSURD? IT SOUNDS LIKE HAVANA SYNDROME OR FIBROMYALGA:
Dancing 'Till Death: The Mystery Behind Dancing Manias: Masses of people tumbled through the streets of Strasbourg in 1518, dancing toward their doom. Scholars still struggle to understand why. (Sam Walters, Oct 28, 2021, Discover)
In 1518, several individuals started to dance through the streets of the city of Strasbourg (which is now located in France). This was no parade: They'd contracted a strange and seemingly contagious compulsion to do so, and within weeks, swarms of residents were whirling through town. The dance dragged on, and soon, dancers started to drop dead. One account approximated that as many as 15 people died daily during the dance's peak, according to an article published in The Lancet.Though this story sounds absurd today, the witnesses to these occurrences were already well acquainted with this dangerous dance. Indeed, several similar "dancing manias" and "dancing plagues" transpired in continental Europe throughout the medieval period, ensuring that these events were well within the era's realm of possibility.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 28, 2021 6:41 PM