The Dancing Plague of 1518: The Summer Strasbourg Danced Itself to Death
In the hot July of 1518, in the free imperial city of Strasbourg, a woman stepped into a narrow street and began to dance. There was no music, no festival, no reason anyone could name. She simply danced, and she did not stop. She danced through the afternoon and into the night, danced until her shoes were ruined and her feet bled, danced until she collapsed from exhaustion — and then, after the briefest rest, rose and danced again. Within a week more than thirty others had joined her. Within a month, by some accounts, four hundred people were dancing in the streets of Strasbourg, and the dancing was killing them. A Chronicle of the Impossible What makes the Dancing Plague of 1518 so unsettling is that it is not a folk tale whispered down the centuries. It is one of the best documented strange events of the entire medieval and early modern world. Physicians' notes, municipal ordinances, sermons, and chronicles all record it, and they agree on the essential outline. The first danc...