The Dancing Plague of 1518
In the summer of 1518 a woman began dancing in a Strasbourg street and could not stop. Within weeks hundreds had joined her, and the city's first remedy was to hire musicians and build a stage so they could keep dancing.
7 established, 2 disputed, 1 debunked, 2 unresolved. We do not pick an answer; the evidence places each claim. How we decide
40 citations from 5 independent sources - 35 echo the same voices and count once. Graded B1-D1.
Added 3 Jul 2026 - updated 29 Sept 2026
What the four states mean
- Establishedsupported, uncontested
- Disputedcredible sources disagree
- Debunkedrefuted by the evidence
- Unresolvedno settled answer
Established 7supported, uncontested
In mid-July 1518 a lone woman began a dancing vigil in a Strasbourg street; within a week another 34 had joined, and one chronicler asserts that 400 people had experienced the madness by the end of August.▰▰▰▱▱ likely4 points
Supports- Perched alongside the Rhine River on the western edge of the Holy Roman Empire, Strasbourg was a busy trading city, its fairs frequented by merchants from across the continentJohn Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- Some time in mid-July 1518 a lone woman stepped into one of its narrow streets and began a dancing vigil that was to last four or even 6 days in succession. Within a week another 34 had joined the dance. And by the end of August, one chronicler asserts, 400 people had experienced the madnessJohn Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- The Imlin family chronicle records that within a month the plague had seized four hundred citizens.Ned Pennant-Rea, 'The Dancing Plague of 1518', The Public Domain Review (2018) analysis
- By August, the dancing epidemic had claimed as many as 400 victims.What Was the Dancing Plague of 1518? (History.com) summary
The dancing plagues were independently described by physicians, chroniclers, monks and priests, and the municipal orders Strasbourg's authorities wrote during the 1518 epidemic can still be read.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 points
Supports- The dancing plagues were independently described by scores of physicians, chroniclers, monks and priests, and for the 1518 outbreak we can even read the panicky municipal orders written by the Strasbourg authorities at the time of the epidemicJohn Waller, 'Looking back: Dancing plagues and mass hysteria', The Psychologist (British Psychological Society) analysis
- Numerous accounts of the bizarre events that unfolded that summer can be found scattered across various contemporary documents and chronicles compiled in the subsequent decades and centuries.Ned Pennant-Rea, 'The Dancing Plague of 1518', The Public Domain Review (2018) analysis
The authorities prescribed more dancing: they cleared two guildhalls and the outdoor grain market, built a wooden stage opposite the horse fair, and paid for musicians and professional dancers to keep the afflicted moving.▰▰▰▱▱ likely3 points
Supports- Instead they prescribed ‘more dancing’. To this end they cleared two guildhalls and the outdoor grain market and they even had a wooden stage constructed opposite the horse fair.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- And to facilitate this supposed cure, the authorities next paid for musicians and professional dancers to keep the afflicted moving.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- set up platforms in the horse market and in the grain marketDaniel Specklin, sixteenth-century chronicle, quoted in The Public Domain Review primary
Physicians declared it a natural disease caused by 'hot blood'. After dancers began to die, the governors treated it as a curse from an angry saint, banned gambling, gaming and prostitution, and sent the dancers to a mountaintop shrine in the Vosges.▰▰▰▱▱ likely4 points
Supports- Having excluded astrological and supernatural causes, the members of the medical fraternity declared it to be a ‘natural disease’ caused by ‘hot blood’John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- Only after those with weak hearts or prone to strokes began to die did the governors rethink their strategy. Deciding that the dance had nothing to do with putrefying blood cooking normally moist and cool brains, they now saw it as a curse sent down by an angry saint.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- Hence, a period of organised contrition was instituted: gambling, gaming and prostitution were banned and the dissolute driven beyond the city gates. Soon after the dancers were despatched to a mountaintop shrine in the Vosges mountains to pray for divine intercession.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- if honourable persons wish to dance at weddings or celebrations of first Mass in their houses, they may do so using stringed instruments, but they are on their conscience not to use tambourines and drums.Sebastian Brant, Strasbourg ordinance, quoted in The Public Domain Review primary
There had been as many as seven epidemics of uncontrollable dancing before 1518, and every one of the ten or so outbreaks between the late 1300s and 1518 happened along the Rhine and Mosel rivers.▰▰▱▱▱ likely3 points
Supports- In fact, there had been as many as seven epidemics of uncontrollable dancing in various parts of western Europe before 1518, from Saxony and Maastricht to Basel, Zurich and Strasbourg.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- Every one of the ten or so outbreaks between the late 1300s and 1518 happened along the Rhine and Mosel rivers.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- In 1374, for instance, the crazed dance gradually spread out from an epicentre around Aachen, Liege and Maastricht to neighbouring towns such as Ghent, Utrecht, Metz, Trier and, eventually, Strasbourg.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
By the late fifteenth century, curses such as 'God give you St. Vitus' were well known in the Rhine region, and a Rottweil law expected a person cursed in St. Vitus's name to develop 'a fever and St. Vitus' dance'.▰▰▱▱▱ likely3 points
Supports- by the late fifteenth century, phrases like ‘God give you St. Vitus’ and ‘May St. Vitus come to you’ were well-known curses in the Rhine region.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- A law from the late 1400s on the statute books of the town of Rottweil, southeast of Strasbourg, tells us that if someone ‘cursed’ another in the name of St. Vitus, ‘the cursed person’ was expected to develop ‘a fever and St. Vitus’ dance’John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- He referred to the 1374 outbreak as ‘S. Veitstanz’, or St. Vitus’ Dance.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
Paracelsus, who visited Strasbourg eight years after the plague, said it all started with one woman, Frau Troffea, and described her dancing as a deception distasteful to her husband. He classed such dancing as chorea lasciva, caused by voluptuous desires.▰▰▱▱▱ likely5 points
Supports- The physician and alchemist Paracelsus visited Strasbourg eight years after the plague and became fascinated by its causes.Ned Pennant-Rea, 'The Dancing Plague of 1518', The Public Domain Review (2018) analysis
- According to his Opus Paramirum, and various chronicles agree, it all started with one woman. Frau Troffea had started dancing on July 14th on the narrow cobbled street outside her half-timbered home.Ned Pennant-Rea, 'The Dancing Plague of 1518', The Public Domain Review (2018) analysis
- In the view of Paracelsus, Fra Troffea’s marathon jig was a ploy to embarrass Herr TroffeaNed Pennant-Rea, 'The Dancing Plague of 1518', The Public Domain Review (2018) analysis
- In order to make the deception as perfect as possible, and really give the impression of illness, she hopped and sang, which was all most distasteful to her husband.Paracelsus, Opus Paramirum, quoted in The Public Domain Review primary
- This type of dancing mania was classified by Paracelsus as Chorea lasciva (caused by voluptuous desires, “without fear or respect”)Ned Pennant-Rea, 'The Dancing Plague of 1518', The Public Domain Review (2018) analysis
Disputed 2credible sources disagree
Ergot, a mould on damp rye, poisoned the dancers and caused the outbreak.▰▰▰▱▱ roughly even chance2 against4 points
Supports- In the 1950s, Swedish pharmacologist Eugene Louis Backman floated the idea that a psychotropic fungus called ergot was to blame for poisoning the town's crops.What caused Strasbourg's dancing plague of 1518? (National Geographic) summary
- Several modern historians have argued that the dancing plagues of mediaeval Europe were caused by ergot, a mind-altering mould found on the stalks of damp rye, which can cause twitching, jerking, and hallucinationsNed Pennant-Rea, 'The Dancing Plague of 1518', The Public Domain Review (2018) analysis
Against- While seductively simple, this hypothesis is also untenable. The chemicals contained in ergot do not allow for sustained dancing. They can certainly trigger violent convulsions and delusions, but not coordinated movements that last for days.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- However, rye was not a key food source everywhere choreomania events were recorded, making the ergotism theory incomplete, says John WallerWhat caused Strasbourg's dancing plague of 1518? (National Geographic) summary
The dancing plagues were instances of mass psychogenic illness.▰▰▰▱▱ unlikely2 against3 points
Supports- But scholarship in the fields of psychology, history and anthropology provides compelling evidence that the dancing plagues and the possession epidemics of Europe's nunneries were in fact classic instances of a very different phenomenon: mass psychogenic illness.John Waller, 'Looking back: Dancing plagues and mass hysteria', The Psychologist (British Psychological Society) analysis
Against- We get so caught up in trying to figure out how the choreomania happened that we tend to ignore the much more interesting question of what these mania meant in their own time,What caused Strasbourg's dancing plague of 1518? (National Geographic) summary
- are not petrified entities that can be plucked unchanged from their niches and placed under our modern microscopesJohn Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
Debunked 1refuted by the evidence
The dancers of 1374 and 1518 were members of a heretical dancing cult.Refuted by
First, in lucid moments the dancers implored bystanders and priests to come to their aid.
refuted3 against4 pointsThe claim rested on- It has been suggested that the dancing maniacs of 1374 and 1518 were members of a heretical dancing cult.John Waller, 'Looking back: Dancing plagues and mass hysteria', The Psychologist (British Psychological Society) analysis
Refuted by- First, in lucid moments the dancers implored bystanders and priests to come to their aid.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- On the contrary, they expressed fear and desperation. Second, the authorities consistently saw the afflicted not as heretics but as the victims of diabolical possession or divine curse, and treated them accordingly.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- Never were they hauled before the inquisition.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
Unresolved 2no settled answer
How many died is unknown: the chronicles say dozens died of exhaustion, and one account has as many as fifteen dying each day at the height of the outbreak.▰▰▰▱▱ likely3 points
Supports- And before long, the chronicles agree, dozens were dying from exhaustion.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- At its height, as many as fifteen people were dying each day. The final toll is unknown but, if such a daily death rate was true, could have been into the hundreds.Ned Pennant-Rea, 'The Dancing Plague of 1518', The Public Domain Review (2018) analysis
- Other historians are more equivocal about whether the evidence for such a deadly outcome really exists, with one underlining that many of the chronicles and archives that describe the dancing epidemic were in fact written in decades or centuries that followed, and thus might be less than reliable.The Strasbourg Dancing Plague of 1518: Myth or Reality? (Paris Unlocked) summary
Why large dancing epidemics stopped after 1518 is not settled; the Reformation's attack on saint worship probably had something to do with their decline.▰▰▱▱▱ likely2 points
Supports- After 1518 there were no more large outbreaks of the dancing madness on European soil. The Reformation’s attack on saint worship probably had something to do with its decline.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
- There are also several reports of compulsive dancing after 1518.John Waller, 'In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518', Endeavour 32.3 (2008) analysis
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