In July 1518, Frau Troffea stepped out into the streets of Strasbourg and began to dance a fervent dance. She danced through the day - and through the night.

In fact, she wouldn't stop dancing for somewhere between four and six days - and during that time 34 other people would join her. Over the course of the month, some 400 people would dance in the streets of Strasbourg.

But this wasn't fun.

They couldn't stop. They writhed in pain, they screamed for help, they begged for mercy. But still, they danced.

We explore the Dance Plague of 1518, and the wider world of Mass Psychogenic Illness!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_hysteria
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/lod/vol3/dancing_mania.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20121013075434/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/08/01/dancing-death-mystery.html
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160932708000379?via%3Dihub
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Shoes_(fairy_tale)
http://hca.gilead.org.il/red_shoe.html
http://thewisdomdaily.com/a-twisted-tale-of-a-town-that-was-whipped-into-a-fatal-dance-frenzy/
http://www.thepostmortempost.com/tag/frau-troffea/
https://listverse.com/2016/11/07/10-twisted-facts-about-the-dancing-plagues/
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The Dancing Plague of 1518!

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