TO ‘dance the night away’ is when someone has so much fun they dance all night long.
To dance the life away, however, is when someone has no control and dances themself to death.
As scary and weird as it sounds, what if we told you that it’s contagious too?
VERDICT:
TRUE
In July 1518, residents of Strasbourg, France (Holy Roman Empire then), were struck by a sudden and seemingly uncontrollable urge to dance.
The hysteria kicked off when a woman known as Frau Troffea waltzed into the street and began to move around in what many would call a dance.
She doesn’t stop. She can’t stop.
People of the town watched in horror as she danced in the summer heat without stopping for a beat. And it went on for nearly a week.
Soon after, one by one, random folks would join the ‘party’. Before long, she had some three dozen others in her troupe, all dancing in a trance-like state.
They were all shaking, twirling, flailing, swaying… dying.
Bear in mind, this was way before Coachella.
Baffled with no other possible explanation, physicians concluded that the phenomenon was due to “hot blood” — when the blood on the brain is overheated.
The cure? More dancing.
They believe those affected need to keep moving to get the mysterious disease out of their system.
A stage was constructed and professionals, from dancers to band members, were brought in.
As many die from exhaustion, heat stroke and heart attacks, many more become afflicted, joining the march of the black parade.
The morbid performance went on for two months with over 400 affected and ended when the ‘dancers’ were whisked away to a mountaintop shrine to pray for absolution.
The Strasbourg dancing plague was well documented in historical records and not the only known incident as similar ones took place across Europe though not as severe.
Modern-day experts have several theories regarding the cause of the manic dance revolution.
Some said it was a fungal consumption that caused hallucinations, some said it was hunger-induced hysteria, some blamed it on the supernatural while others claimed it was the work of a cult group.
But to this day, the actual cause is still unknown.
Flash mob gone wrong, maybe?
Reference:
https://www.britannica.com/
https://web.archive.org/web/
https://publicdomainreview.
https://www.thelancet.com/
