It’s a summer day in Strasbourg, France. The year is 1518. A woman named Frau Troffea steps into the city square and starts to dance. There’s no music and yet she twists and turns for hours while onlookers watch, confused. Occasionally, she collapses from exhaustion only to get back up and resume her frenzied dancing soon after. This goes on day after day and soon some 400 others have joined her, many of them dancing themselves to death. The “Dancing Plague of 1518” is believed to have been caused by “mass hysteria” - a psychological phenomenon that causes irrational behaviors, thoughts, and even physical symptoms among a group of people. But did you know, this isn’t the only time mass hysteria has reared its ugly head? Let’s fix that.
Sources:
- https://www.history.com/news/mysterious-illnesses-mass-hysteria
- https://www.britannica.com/event/dancing-plague-of-1518
- https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220512-the-people-who-danced-themselves-to-death
- https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/mass-hysteria
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/
- https://www.history.com/news/salem-witch-trials-accusers
- https://allthatsinteresting.com/mad-gasser-of-mattoon
- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/488986#:~:text=The%20name%20hysteria%20is%20derived,Celsus%2C%20Arataeus%2C%20and%20Soranus.
- https://www.npr.org/2022/11/01/1133375223/the-first-female-crash-test-dummy-has-only-now-arrived
- https://www.rosenfeldinjurylawyers.com/news/do-men-or-women-get-in-more-car-accidents/
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