Dancing plague of 1518
The Dancing Plague of 1518 was a strange event in Strasbourg, in the Holy Roman Empire (now part of France). It lasted from July to September 1518 and involved between 50 and 400 people dancing for days or even weeks.
The outbreak began when a woman named Frau Troffea started dancing in the street on July 14. She danced for about a week, and soon many others joined in, some dancing uncontrollably with no obvious music.
The cause is not known. The most common modern explanation is mass psychogenic illness (stress‑related hysteria), where fear and stress trigger a group to exhibit the same behavior. Another idea is ergot poisoning from moldy grain, but this theory is debated and many scientists don’t think it explains so many people dancing for so long.
Dancers often collapsed from exhaustion, and some people died of heart problems, stroke, or hunger. Estimates of deaths vary, and the total toll is not known.
Authorities tried various punishments and remedies, but nothing stopped the dancing at first. After some time, they banned public dancing and even music, and urged those affected to visit the shrine of Saint Vitus for religious rituals. By September the dancing stopped.
This event is often called St. Vitus’ Dance. Similar dancing outbreaks happened in medieval Europe, but the 1518 case remains the best known.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 12:36 (CET).