history

What Caused the Dancing Plague of 1518?

šŸ’” The Answer

  • In July 1518, a woman named Frau Troffea began dancing uncontrollably.
  • Within a week, dozens of others joined in the compulsive dancing epidemic.
  • Some individuals danced until they collapsed from exhaustion or died.
  • Modern theories suggest mass psychogenic illness as the likely cause.

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