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- [00:02]
Vanessa Richardson
Hi, listeners, it's Vanessa Richardson. Real quick, before today's episode, I want to tell you about another show from Crime House that I know you'll love. America's Most Infamous Crimes. Hosted by Katie Ring. Each week, Katie takes on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. Serial killers who terrorized cities, unsolved mysteries that keep detectives up at night, and investigations that that change the way we think about justice. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous crimes Tuesday through Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hi Crime House community. It's Vanessa. We have something extra special for you on the feed today. We're dropping an exclusive early preview of a new show I think you're going to love. Are you drawn to the mysterious parts of history? Like when in 1518, an entire European city couldn't stop dancing? Or in 1908 when something flattened over 800 square miles of Siberian forest in an instant? If that intrigues you, then you'll love the new show, hidden history with Dr. Harini Bhatt. Dr. Bhatt has spent her career demanding evidence, asking why, and refusing to accept we just don't know as an answer. Every Monday, she goes where history touches the unknown. Vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, paranormal phenomena, and events that science still can't fully explain. Dr. Bot treats these moments like open case files. Not myths, not superstition, just incomplete explanations waiting for a closer look. At the end of every episode, she'll tell you exactly what she thinks happened and ask what if it happened today? We have an episode for you here to listen to now. If you love it, make sure to follow Hidden History on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. We'll also put a link to the show in this episode. Description New episodes drop every Monday. This is Rewind.
- [02:06]
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Rewind.
- [02:09]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Did you know that in 1518, a European city was hit by a deadly epidemic and the epidemic was dancing? To this day, experts still don't know why it happened, but there are plenty of theories, and today, we'll unpack them all. History is so much more than a collection of stories from the past. It's full of intrigue, scandal, and mystery. And on this show, we're getting into all the questions that have yet to be answered. I'm Dr. Haruni Bhatt, and this is Hidden History, a rewind original powered by Pave Studios. As a doctor of pharmacy, I am intensely curious about how the world works, whether it's through science, culture, or history. I've learned that everything is connected. If you can't find the answer, that just means you need to dig a little deeper. On this show, we're exploring real events from history that have yet to be fully explained and examining all the different theories, from science to the supernatural and everything in between, from vanished civilizations and doomsday prophecies to paranormal experiences and unexplained phenomena. I'm looking at it all and I want you to join me today. I'm talking about one of the most terrifying outbreaks in history. It's not the Black Death. It's not the Spanish Flu. I'm talking about the dancing plague of 1518, when hundreds of people in the city of Strasbourg on the border of France and Germany started dancing and the only thing that could make them stop was death. Multiple theories about what caused the dancing plague have been proposed over the years, but I still have a lot of questions, which is why this story is worth a closer look.
- [04:01]
Vanessa Richardson
On this show, we dig deeper. We look closer because understanding comes from paying attention. And when you travel solo, you're doing the same thing. Choosing to see the world for yourself. You're stepping outside your routine, following your curiosity and experiencing places on your own terms. But going solo doesn't mean doing everything alone. For travel that gets the details right, visit go colette.com podcast and use offer code SOLO26 to get $1,000 off select Colette Explorations tours. Colette's small group explorations tours are designed for travelers who value independence and connection. Just 19 travelers on average, you'll explore alongside like minded adventurers while local experts bring each destination to life. Arrive solo, but you're never on your own. Every detail is handled, from logistics to experiences, so you can stay focused on being present and fully immersed. From African safaris to the northern lights in Finland to truffle hunting in Umbria, each journey is built around authentic moments and local insight. It's travel that lets you go deeper without the stress of planning. For travel that gets the details right, visit go colette.com podcast and use offer code SOLO26 to get a thousand dollars off select Colette Explorations Tours Lately I've been trying to take the stress out of getting dressed, just focusing on pieces that feel easy, comfortable and still put together without a lot of effort. That's really what's been pulling me toward quints. Their stuff just fits that effortless everyday vibe. I love their fabrics, linens, cottons, cashmere. They're all the highest quality and they fit feel so good. Their design is also simple in the best way. Clean silhouettes, neutral tones, and pieces that don't require a ton of styling to feel finished. I've been reaching for their staples a lot because they make it easy to get out the door quickly while still feeling like everything's intentional. And the fit tends to feel really natural, like the clothes are made to actually be lived in. I grabbed a few things thinking they'd be just basic fill ins, but they've ended up becoming some of the most worn pieces in my rotation. Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to quince.com crimehouse24.7 for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N c e.com crimehouse247 for free shipping and 365 day returns quince.com crimehouse24.7
- [06:38]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
on July 14, 1518, the sun rose above Strasbourg. The city was a hub of economic, cultural and religious activity, whose cathedral is one of the tallest buildings in the world. And on that summer day, a woman named Frau Troffea stepped out of her home onto the narrow street and started to dance. At first it was more like a shuffle, but as the minutes ticked by, Frau Troffea started moving faster and faster. Her husband tried to get her to stop, to go back inside and calm down, but Frau Troffea just kept dancing until she was so exhausted she collapsed. Her husband brought her inside, made sure she got some rest and probably figured that was the end of it. But the next morning she went right back at it, dancing nonstop until the sun went down. Before long, she was surrounded by curious onlookers who wondered what on earth was going on here, and their first theory was that this was an act of revenge. If I was there at that time, thinking with a modern lens, honestly, the first thought I would have is that this person is going through epilepsy or they're having some kind of seizure. But doing it for so many hours on end is where it starts to look a little bit different, and that's why we need to dig a little bit deeper. We don't know much about Frau Troffea other than she was married. We don't even know her first name. Frau is basically the German equivalent of Mrs. But supposedly she and her husband had gotten into some sort of argument right before she started dancing, and he hated dancing, so people wondered if this was just a way to get back at him. But by the end of that second day, Frau Troffea hadn't stopped. Honestly, would anyone go this far just to annoy their husband? Maybe I would. On the dawn of the third day, her dancing continued. And then on the fourth, and then on the fifth. By the sixth day of this, she was in rough shape, her feet were bloody, she was dehydrated, and she had barely eaten. If she went on like this for much longer, she might not survive. It became obvious that Frau Troffea wasn't in control of her actions, and some people wondered if she was possessed by a demon. At the time, women were believed to have one weaker morals than men, which supposedly made them more susceptible to sin and therefore easy targets for possession. So was she up to some shady stuff and a demon was making her pay the price? I think it's safe to say the answer is no. And most of the people in Strasbourg didn't think so either, although they still thought there was a spiritual explanation for it. But instead of looking to hell, they looked to heaven. They believed she had been cursed by Saint Vitus, the patron saint of actors, dancers and people with the falling sickness, or as we would call it today, epilepsy. People could pray to Saint Vitus to help them with their afflictions or unleash it on their enemies. It was common enough that this unstoppable frenzy was referred to as Saint Vitus's dance. And honestly, if you think about it, it does make sense for the time to immediately, immediately jump to something spiritual or something even demonic, like possession, because that was their science at the time. That is how they viewed the lens. It was through this religious perspective, especially in that area. So you can't fault them for that. Frau Troffea wasn't the first person to be afflicted with a dancing plague. There had been reports of similar cases in that very region going back hundreds of years. After six days of constant dancing, it was looking like Frau Troffea was this plague's latest victim. So around July 20, 1518, her jerking body was strapped into a wagon and she was taken to pray at the shrine of St. Vitus, nestled in the mountains about 30 miles west of Strasbourg. The reports don't say what happened to her after that, though some historians believe that it was a case of no news is good news, since it's more likely that it would have been recorded, reported, if she had died. But this was far from the end of the story. Soon enough, the city of Strasbourg would be consumed in a living nightmare, because just as Frau Troffea's dancing frenzy was ending. It was beginning for hundreds of others by July 21, 1518. So just a week after Frau Troffea started her dance, up to 34 people throughout Strasbourg had been afflicted with the same uncontrollable dancing plague. Initially, they were just curious onlookers, but inevitably, they'd lost control of themselves, too. As the days went by, more and more people fell victim to St. Vitus curse. By July 25, the number had risen to around 50 people. With so many affected, it wouldn't be practical to transfer everyone to the shrine. So the city council decided to do something unexpected. Look for a medical explanation. At this point in time, doctors mainly relied on the wisdom of ancient Greek and Roman thinkers for guidance. And the city's physicians believed that the dancing plague was being caused by overheated blood, a concept from the ancient Greek medical philosopher Galen. So during this time, most of medicine really surrounded something called the four humors. You probably have heard it before. And the four humors was first established by the ancient Greek philosopher Hippocrates and then later refined by actually this guy Galen. And it all surrounded what was called, like I said, the four humors. So those are yellow bile, black bile, blood, and phlegm. And the whole idea is that if you're sick or you're feeling ill, it's because one of those four humors is out of balance. So the whole idea of overheated blood comes from that four humors concept. Is it reliable medicine in today's lens? No, but it is a good thought process. So let's see where it goes. The theory was that blood was connected to happiness and the love of song and dance. The more people had, the more they enjoyed these things. But if there was a blockage somewhere, blood could pool in the body. When that happened, it could overheat the brain and cause erratic behavior, like uncontrollable dancing. Here's what I think is especially interesting, though. If they were completely following Galen's teachings, the doctors would have prescribed bleeding and a cooling diet that could have reduced the blood's temperature. But instead, their solution was more dancing. In this case, it seems like they were relying more on traditional wisdom. The idea was that they needed to be able to let the disease burn out on his own. That's apparently how previous dancing plagues had come to an end as well, including one a century earlier in nearby Zurich, Switzerland. Honestly, it sounds like such a bonkers plan to ask them to continue to dance when that is what is afflicting them. However, if you want to look at it through a modern lens, it's kind of akin. This is not a perfect analogy, but it's kind of akin to when you have a fever. Sometimes you do want to let your fever run its course, because that is actually what's going to make you better by killing off all the bacteria. So I can kind of see how maybe that was the line of thinking that they had. Obviously, this was before germ theory, but maybe that's what they were thinking, like, just get it all out of your system. But did it work? We'll find out. So the city's officials ordered for a bunch of space to be cleared out for the dancers to do their thing. To help the plague burn out sooner, they hired dozens of musicians to play lively songs on tambourines, drums, fiddles, horns and pipes so the party could go on 24 7. City officials even paid people to pick up the dancers anytime they fell over from exhaustion. This plan, as one might imagine, did not work. By August, just a few weeks after Frau Troffea started dancing, the number of dancers had swelled to almost 400 people. For reference, Stroudsburg's population was only 20,000 people. If the outbreak didn't stop soon, it wouldn't be long before the entire city was afflicted. Not only that, but people were starting to die from their bodies giving out. Now, sources differ on what the actual death toll was, although some chronicles say it was as many as 15 people passing away a day. But no matter what, the city council also knew they had to try something else before it was too late. On August 3, they decided to completely ban music and dancing. They took down the public stages, and anyone seen dancing outside in the next two months would be fined. Basically, anyone still afflicted by the dancing plague was quarantined. It was being treated like a contagious disease that spread by sight. But after a week of this, things hadn't gotten any better. The attempt to treat it medically had failed, which made the authorities think maybe it was a spiritual problem after all. Clearly, St. Vitus wasn't happy with the people of Strasbourg. So the city council decided to do everything in its power to appease him. They sent an entire team to build a brand new chapel at the shrine in the mountains and instructed the city guilds to take all the dancers there. Again, this was not easy. The shrine was 30 miles away, over rough roads that went through the woods and up into the foothills of the Vosges Mountains. They only had one shot at this. If it didn't work, who knows what would happen? So the city council pulled out all the stops. Along with a brand new chapel, they commissioned a 110 pound wax carving of Saint Vitus that would be taken to the shrine. And before the dancers were taken there in late August, the entire city would hold a high mask in Saint Vitus honor. But as the day approached, there was a problem. By August 20, the new chapel wasn't quite ready yet. And it wouldn't look good to send the wax carving to a shrine that wasn't sanctified. The city council debated whether they should do it anyway or just place it at the altar of the Strasbourg Cathedral. In the end, they went with a third option. They decided to have the carving melted into a massive candle and sent to the shrine, which would hopefully be less offensive. It was a huge risk, but they couldn't bring the dancers there empty handed. So after the high mass, the candle was strapped into a wagon and the convoy set off. After at least a day of exhausting travel, the ragtag group arrived in the town of Severn, where the shrine was located. But the journey wasn't over yet. The shrine was just beneath the summit of Wittsburg, meaning Wiris Mountain, and it could only be accessed on foot. The dancers and the hundred pound candle were unloaded from the wagons, their bodies still jerking in frenzied movement. They had to be literally dragged up the steep path to the shrine, hundreds of feet above them. Once they were all carried to the top and assembled before the altar, they were given small crosses and pairs of red shoes. Now there is some debate over why the shoes had to be read. Some sources say the victims of dancing plagues couldn't stand the sight of that color. It's also possible that it was meant to mirror depictions of Saint Vitus, who wore red and who was martyred in a cauldron heated by red hot flames. Either way, it shows how seriously the plague was being taken. Dye back then wasn't cheap, especially not red dye. So if possibly hundreds of red shoes were being given out for the ceremony, it shows that the city council was willing to shell out some serious money to make the problem go away. Once the shoes were given out, they were sprinkled with holy water and marked with the sign of the cross. It makes sense. If you think about it. This was a dancing plague. And what better way to heal their affliction than by blessing their feet? After that, the dancers were led in a circle around the altar, which was intended to purify their souls and mimic the movements of the planets and sun through the cosmos. Once that was done, everyone had to donate a penny to the poor, and if they couldn't afford it, the person who brought them there had to give it. And with that, the ceremony was over. The dancers were carried back down the mountain, loaded up in their wagons, and taken back to Strasbourg. The only thing left to do now was wait.
- [19:13]
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- [19:40]
Carter Roy
Carter Roy, host of True Crime Stories. If you listen to True Crime because you want more than just what happened, this show is for you. On Murder True Crime Stories, we take deep dives into history's most notorious murder. But we don't stop at the crime scene. We look beyond the headlines to understand the real story and the people who are impacted the most. Because these cases aren't just mysteries. They're lives, families, communities that were changed forever. Whether a case is solved or unsolved, my goal is for you to walk away understanding why these stories still matter and why they deserve to be told with care. Each episode explores the darkest corners of true crime while keeping the focus where it belongs on the human cost. New episodes drop every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Follow Murder True Crime Stories on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen.
- [20:46]
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- [21:20]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
After the ceremony at the Shrine of St. Vitus, the entire city of Strasbourg waited on pins and needles to see if it had worked. They had reason to be hopeful about 150 years earlier in 1374, another dancing plague in Germany had been cured by priests who had performed exorcism rituals. And there are records of religious intervention working in other cases, too. If they were hoping to prove their devotion to St. Vitus, they had definitely checked that box. But would it be enough to please him? It seems like the answer was yes, because after the ritual, the dancing plague gradually faded away. The survivors came to their senses, regained control of their bodies, and went on with their lives. To this day, we don't know exactly how many people died from the Dancing Plague. As I mentioned, some records say as many as 15 were dying every day. But it doesn't say how long that went on or the total number of fatalities. But either way, it left a profound impression on the people who experienced it. In the years to come, people around the region made sure to keep St. Vitus happy with offerings and donations. In turn, Strausburg prospered. There were several good harvests in a row, and the Dancing plague never returned. Not just in Strasbourg, but across the entire region. In the span of just a few generations, it went from a very, very real fear to little more than a legend. But the dancing plague of 1518 was no folktale. It was very, very real. With accounts from the time describing the horror the people of Strasbourg endured that strange summer. Throughout the years, scientists, historians and all kinds of researchers have tried to understand what started it and more importantly, why it came to an end. So let's dig into it, starting with an explanation based in science and one little fungus that could have been responsible for all the chaos. And this is a classic story. I think anyone who's very curious or even remotely into morbid medical history will know about the dancing plague 1518. So whenever I have read about this, the one thing that always felt weird to me is how it happened in the same place, centuries apart. Like, how does that even happen? Those kinds of coincidences are very rare, and that, for me, is what makes the story the most compelling. For me personally, one of the main theories behind the dancing plague of 1518 and the others before it, is something called ergot poisoning. So what is that exactly? Ergot is a fungus that grows on rye. When it gets damp, if that rye then gets harvested and turned into bread, people can get poisoned by it. In fact, LSD is derived from ergot, and consuming ergot can cause hallucinations and convulsions, which some scholars believe could explain the uncontrollable dancing. And it's entirely possible that hundreds of people in Strasbourg could have accidentally suffered from ergot poisoning, because the key here is that it grows on the damp rye plants. In the years leading up to the dancing plague of 1518, the area was experiencing severe famine brought on by poor harvests. The lack of food sent prices skyrocketing, including bread. People were desperate, dying and hungry. So you can imagine how someone might be okay with eating some food that seemed iffy, as long as it filled their stomachs. It's also worth noting that the dancing plague seemed to escape, especially affect the poor. And there was historical precedent for something like this. In 1458, there was a dancing mania in Germany after a hard winter. And in 1482, there were reports of people bashing their heads into walls, running into rivers, and losing control of their bodies until they died. It's also interesting that after 1518, the area experienced a lot of good harvests and there weren't any more incidents. Instances of dancing plague. Although a few hundred years later, in the aftermath of World War II, there was another terrifying mass outbreak in a small French town whose symptoms have been linked to the dancing plague of 1518. And science shows that this one was very likely caused by ergot poisoning. In the summer of 1951, the town of Poncet Esprit experienced an unusually wet summer, leading to a poor rye harvest. However, they were forced to make do with what they had because the French government was still rationing food while they recovered from the war. So when the village baker got some flour that looked a bit off, he had no choice but to use it. Within 48 hours of selling the contaminated bread, the town was in a panic. Hundreds of people were sick with symptoms like nausea, convulsions and hallucinations. It got so bad, one villager thought they were being eaten by tigers. Another threw himself out a window to get away from whatever he was seeing. One man thought his stomach was full of snakes that were burning him from the inside. Ultimately, anywhere between four to seven people died before the outbreak ended. And while there is some debate about what caused it, ergot poisoning is the likeliest suspect. Although historian Stephen Kaplan wrote an entire book arguing against the ergot theory, he thinks it might have been caused by a harmful bleaching agent that baker used to make his bread extra white. And although it might seem like ergot poisoning could explain the dancing plague of 1518, there are some issues there as well. Because even though it can lead to convulsions, ergot poisoning also restricts the blood flow to the extremities, which would make it very hard to dance for days on end. And that's not the only ding on ergot causing the dancing plague. Both the one in 1518 and all the ones before. They were all contained to a localized area in the Rhine and Moselle valleys around France, Germany and Switzerland. Which might make you think maybe they grew a crop that was susceptible to ergot poisoning. But it's actually the opposite. If you trace the different outbreaks, they go through different climates where farmers grew different plants, which makes most researchers think that maybe the problem wasn't biological, but cultural. And that leads us to our next theory. So, by far, ergot poisoning has been the most popular theory to explain the dancing plague. And honestly, I am a believer of it as well, to an extent. The only thing that doesn't make sense to me is that it's not exactly a thing to have shared hallucinations. You can't have so many people, hundreds of people, all experiencing the same hallucination. Plus convulsing for hours and hours and hours on end is not something that you'll see with ergot poisoning, as we just discussed. So it answers some questions, but not all. And we're going to get into what those other theories might be. These days, the most popular theory is that the dancing plague of 1518 was actually caused by mass hysteria, Meaning it existed because people believed it did. But how could that be? What could possibly make people believe that there's some affliction or curse that makes them dance until they die? Let's start with the science behind mass hysteria. Its official name is mass psychogenic illness, or mpi. It is basically a shared belief that is so powerful it creates physical symptoms. One person in a group starts thinking they're sick, then another and another, until you have an outbreak on your hands, which is what a lot of people think happened in the dancing plague of 1518. Most of the time, MPIs result in flu like symptoms, like lightheadedness, nausea, chest pain, fatigue, and so on. Out of control controlled dancing is not on that list. And yet, for centuries, people in the region around Strasbourg experienced dancing plays. To solve that particular issue, we have to look at how MPIs are triggered in the first place. Most of the time, it starts with something you think could make you sick, like you think you smell gas. So you start feeling sick, and soon enough, other people do too. But the thing is, it doesn't seem like there was a specific trigger like this for the dancing plague of 1518. Frau Troffea just went outside that summer day and started moving. Outbreaks of mass hysteria don't necessarily need one, though. They can be brought on by sociological factors like fear or stress. And back in 1518, there was plenty of that going around Strasbourg. As I mentioned earlier, there was a terrible harvest the year before, and before other dancing plague outbreaks as well. Life was already hard enough back then, and now people were struggling with a deadly famine. Not only that, but they were dealing with the onset of a disease that was brand new to the region. Syphilis. It had first arrived in the region a little over 20 years earlier, in 1495, from soldiers who had been fighting in Italy. Described as bad pox, it started with intense joint pain that turned into blisters and all over the legs and genitals before their bodies rotted away. And although doctors didn't totally understand the science behind it, they thought it had to do with sex because of how it manifested in the genitals. They thought it was a warning from God against fornication and adultery. On top of that, they were also dealing with your standard epidemics like the bubonic plague and smallpox, along with another new disaster disease called the English sweat. So between the famine disease and dying, you can see why it would be stressful to live in Strasbourg during this time. To the people of the city, it felt like God was punishing them, and that was their trigger, the gas that lit the flames of mass hysteria. They believed God was angry with them. So when Frau Trofea stepped out of her house and started dancing, hundreds of others couldn't help following suit. Personally, I think it's certainly possible that the dancing plague was caused by an mpi, although it doesn't explain all the symptoms and characteristics. Because if MPIs usually manifest with flu like symptoms, how come this took the form of uncontrollable dancing? And why did they only seem to happen in this one specific region? Which makes me wonder, could the dancing plague have been started as an actual, actual hallucinogenic poisoning and then turned into a mass psychogenic illness going back to the ergotism theory? Remember that the dancing plague was localized in a region along the Rhine and Moselle valleys, linked by rivers. The printing press was only invented around 1440, so for the most part, information was restricted to a few texts and word of mouth. And there was a long history of dances plagues in the region. Its origins might have gone back to 1021, when 18 people started dancing outside of a German church during mass on Christmas Eve. And even when the priest told them to stop, they Wouldn't listen. In return, he cursed them to dance without stopping for an entire year. According to a local story, the dancers kept going until the following Christmas, when they fell into a spirit sleep that was so deep, some of them never woke up. The story built on itself from there with dancing plays becoming increasingly dangerous until it reached its deadly peak in 1518. Still not buying it. There's actually a modern parallel to something like this happening. Not with dance, but with laughter. What they did to your family. You're lucky to make it out alive. Streaming on Peacock. These men are going to come after me. Taking them out. It's my only chance. Put a bullet in her head. From the co Creator of Ozark.
- [33:28]
Vanessa Richardson
Looks like a family was running drugs execution style. Killing. It's rare for the Keys.
- [33:32]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Any leads on who they might have been running for? The cartel killed my family. I'm gonna kill them. All of them.
- [33:39]
Vanessa Richardson
MIA. Streaming now only on Peacock.
- [33:43]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Zootopia 2 has come home to Disney. Let's go get ready for a new case. We're gonna crack this case and prove we're victorious. Partners of all new friends, you are Gary the Snake.
- [33:55]
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And your last name, the Snake Dream
- [33:58]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Team Hidden Habitats Zootopia has a secret reptile population. You can watch the record breaking phenomenon at home. You're clearly barking at. Zootopia 2. Now available on Disney. Rated PG.
- [34:13]
Jessica Porter
Hi, I'm Jessica Porter and I'm a hypnotherapist as well as a total relaxation nerd. If you're struggling with sleep, I'm here to help. Sleep Magic is my new podcast of relaxing hypnosis, created to be listened to as you drift off tonight with episodes every Wednesday, I'll make suggestions that help you relax really deeply as you fall into a deep, restorative sleep. I'm here to help you make friends with sleep again so you can get the rest you deserve. So search Sleep Magic and find out why. I've already helped over 4,4 million people fall asleep.
- [34:46]
Vanessa Richardson
I'll see you there.
- [34:49]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Let's go to 1962 and what's now the African country of Tanzania. One day, a group of girls at a boarding school started hysterically laughing and couldn't stop. The laughter kept spreading until it affected 95 out of the school's 159 students. And when they were sent home to their villages, some of the adults there started laughing too. For some of them, it went on for an entire week. Although thankfully, nobody died. Investigators couldn't find any biological reason for the laughing epidemic. But like the dancing plague, there were Sociological factors at play specifically around the country's newfound independence. It would be especially stressful for kids in a volatile situation. And in this case, their bodies responded with debilitating laughter. So you can see these kinds of stories aren't just restricted to dusty medieval texts. These kinds of phenomenon are very real and are happening today in places all around the world. There's something really interesting about this story, and we know this even from day to day. Laughter is contagious, and it might make you think about something else that is contagious and that's yawning. If you've ever noticed, when someone yawns, you may tend to yawn too. And science says that's actually a form or a sign of empathy. You're empathizing with that other human being and then you yawn too. And there's actually a fun tidbit, and take it how you will, that serial killers don't yawn when other people yawn. And that is a sign that they lack empathy. So next time you're with your partner or with your friend, just yawn and see if they yawn back, and then you'll know you're in good company. No, serial killers are on the loose. So when I was first thinking about this laughing epidemic in Tanzania, honestly, the first modern peril that came to my mind was Havana syndrome. So many people probably listening to this have heard about it. Just to summarize, it was essentially happening to all these US diplomats around the world, where they're experiencing this very intense high pitched sound that was causing them to have severe migraines and nausea and all of these different various physical symptoms that was extremely debilitating. I think there's still an active, ongoing investigation from the FBI and other forms of institutions in our government to see if this is actually a medical condition or mpi. So maybe we'll do another episode on that later, if you're interested. But before we close the book completely on this one, I want to circle back to the beginning, to the first possibility we mentioned, that the dancing plague of 1518 was caused by demonic possession. Because even though it was written off at the time, there are other stories of deadly dancing outbreaks where the devil was to blame. This particular story, I'm about to tell you, is my favorite in this entire episode. This final story comes from the Swedish folktale of Hurgiloten, which roughly translates to the hare's tune or the devil's fiddle. The oldest version of the story comes from 1785 in the village of Hurga, as the legend Goes. One Saturday evening in the summer, a group of people gather for a party in a barn. They eat, they drink, and of course, they dance. But as midnight approaches, it's time to go home. Church rule says there's no dancing on Sundays. Most of the partygoers start heading home as the musicians pack up their instruments. However, some of the people aren't ready to call it a night just yet. They want to keep the party going. And as the clock strikes midnight, a stranger appears with a fiddle. The remaining guests are excited to keep dancing, so they don't question it and happily take him up on his offer. But they should have been more careful, because if they looked at him a little closer, they would have noticed that the mysterious musician had hooves instead of feet. Unbeknownst to them, they had just made a literal deal with the devil. And just as you'd expect, he could play the fiddle like nobody's business as he played his tunes. The music had the partygoers in a trance. Their feet moved on their own. They were exhausted, desperate to stop. But they couldn't. Finally, after hours of this, the church bells rang on Sunday morning. The barn doors swung open. But the curse didn't end. Instead, the devil led the people to the top of a mountain, where they danced in a circle around a tree until the only thing left of them was their heads rolling around on the ground in time to the music. Morbid. Sounds like the folktale version of a dancing plague, doesn't it? But instead of divine retribution, this was the work of the devil. Although in both cases, it was a warning against what was perceived as degenerate behavior. Be on your best behavior, or you'll be consumed by your vices. Now, it doesn't seem like the Swedish legend is based on any actual dancing plague. It's really more of a cautionary tale than the retelling of a historical event that was warped out of proportion. But is it possible that the stories of the dancing plagues in the region around Strasbourg made it all the way to Sweden? I'm certainly not ruling that out. And even though a supernatural explanation for these cases might seem less believable to us now than they would back then, it's important to remember the cultural context when religion was science. To a large degree, this was their way of explaining the impossible, of diagnosing a problem and trying to find a solution, at the end of the day, that's what makes these stories so relatable. To me, confronting the unknown is terrifying, no matter what century you live in, whether it's A dancing plague, a laughing epidemic, or response to a gas leak that never existed. It shows how important community is in times of need, that when we don't know what to do, we look to our friends and neighbors for answers. But sometimes we don't get them. And when that happens, our minds and bodies can react in ways that we never expected. So let's take a look at the theories we explored today. Does it feel like we found the answer? Or is there something out there that could still explain it? Something that we would never expect in this case? I'm going to say that the consensus explanation that the dancing plague of 1518 was caused by mass hysteria is also the scariest. You can avoid eating contaminated food, you can even adjust your behavior to avoid a curse. But when it comes to mass psychogenic illness, there's not much you can do to protect yourself, your mind and body, weaponize your own belief against you, blurring the line between fiction and reality until a perceived threat is made very real. And once it has you in its grip, there's no letting go. Before we get out of here, I want to introduce you guys to a segment where will be doing at the end of each episode called if It Happened Today. As the name suggests, I'll be looking at the event in question and asking what would it be like if it happened right now? So let's imagine that on a summer day in 2026, a young woman steps out of her downtown apartment and just starts dancing. Your first thought would probably be, this girl's on something and you wouldn't be alone. It's actually been pointed out that the dancing plague has a lot of similarities to modern rave culture. The dancing plague has even been called the world's longest rave. And think about it. People at raves go long stretches without food, water or rest while they dance. Their movements aren't graceful or coordinated. Of course, there are plenty of ravers out there who aren't on drugs. And soon enough people would realize this girl on the street isn't on them either. So maybe you'd think, as more people join in, is this a flash mob? Some sort of protest? Maybe an event put on by an online streamer? I'm sure it would come off as all fun and games with bystanders live streaming to TikTok and every social media app until the dancers start collapsing. Doctors would take some of the dancers in for testing just to find that nothing is physically wrong with them. And all of a sudden it would be all over the Internet. Endless Reddit theories, blog posts, and speculation. Maybe some fringe religious groups would take it as a sign that the apocalypse is here. One thing's for sure, there would be plenty of opinions on it. But eventually, with what we know about mass psychogenic illness now, someone would realize the truth. The question is, would anyone believe them? If we're actually thinking about it with a modern lens, like if that happened today, I think the best analogy is Havana Syndrome. If the Dancing plague happened in 2026, I'm pretty sure scientists would label it as mass psychogenic illness. In other words, mass hysteria. In our current landscape, it's easy to go online and find a viewpoint that supports your thinking. It can be a good way to seek out a community of like minded people or fall into a dangerous echo chamber. Back in 1518, the ceremony at the Shrine of Saint Vitus helped the dancers feel like something was helping them, that they had found the solution to their curse. They united around a common cause and found a way through. But could that happen today in 2026? You tell me. Would we be able to harness the fear that started our dancing plague and work together to end it? Or maybe we succumb to it one by one, until the whole world is one big deadly party. Thanks so much for joining me for this episode of hidden history. I'm Dr. Harini Bhatt. Join me next time as we explore another unbelievable story from the past. What did you think of the dancing plague of 1518? Any burning theories of your own? Let me know in the comments and I might talk about it in a future episode. And be sure to subscribe. Subscribe on YouTube or rate review and follow if you're listening on audio so we can keep building this community together. I'll see you next week for another episode of Hidden History.
- [45:05]
Vanessa Richardson
Thanks for listening to Hidden History. Follow Hidden History on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen. New episodes drop every Monday.
- [45:15]
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- [45:46]
Vanessa Richardson
thanks for listening to today's episode. Not sure what to listen to next? Check out America's Most Infamous Crimes, hosted by Katie Ring from Serial killers to unsolved mysteries and game changing investigations. Each week, Katie takes on a notorious criminal case in American history. Listen to and follow America's most infamous crimes now wherever you listen to podcasts.