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In 1518, the residents of Strasbourg, a town in the Holy Roman Empire, now modern-day France, began dancing and could not stop. It began when a woman named Frau Troffea began dancing in the town square in grotesque, uncontrollable movements. Over the following weeks, more and more people throughout Strasbourg began dancing still with no evident cause. 

 

1518 Stasbourg existed in a time of no modern medicine, a heavy religious worldview All whilst surrounded by political instability and fear. These people were encountering modern problems without modern solutions.

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By August 1518, roughly 400 people had fallen victim to the mass hysteria. Dancers began dying of exhaustion, strokes, and even heart attacks. At the time, theories as to why these people were dancing relied on the early scientific and religious mindset that was commonplace throughout their culture. Doctors turned a theory of an imbalance of the four humors and diagnosed the afflicted with hot blood. The clergy, looked to religion and assumed a curse from St. Vitus.

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In response, town authorities thought they could cure people by encouraging the dancing itself - hysteria often begs for attention and recognition. Musicians and dancers were hired to perform in order to let the body finish dancing. When this failed, the townfolk made a pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. Vitus in search of answers.