History That Hits

The Dancing Plague: When a Town Danced to Death


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In July 1518, a woman named Frau Troffea stepped into a narrow street in Strasbourg and began to dance. She didn't stop for days. Within a month, 400 people had joined her in a bizarre, involuntary dance marathon that physicians and authorities were powerless to stop. This episode examines the historical evidence, competing theories, and what this strange event reveals about the power of collective belief and mass psychology.

This episode was generated with AI assistance.

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