What Made Hundreds of People Dance Until They Died?

July 1518, Strasbourg. A woman named Frau Troffea stepped into a street and started dancing. She didn't stop — and within a month, hundreds of her neighbors had joined her. Some of them danced until their hearts gave out. This video lays out exactly what Strasbourg's own physicians and city council documented that summer, the competing theories (ergot poisoning vs. mass psychogenic illness), and why the city's own "cure" — hiring musicians and building a stage — may have made it worse. Based on historian John Waller's research and E. Louis Backman's historical survey of dancing manias. 00:00 Frau Troffea starts dancing 01:36 The city tries to dance it away 03:19 The death toll 04:52 The shrine of Saint Vitus 06:10 Was it ergot poisoning? 07:38 The mass psychogenic illness theory 08:52 My take 09:48 How it ended #history #mystery #untoldhistory