In July 1518, in Strasbourg, a woman stepped into the street and began dancing uncontrollably. Within days, between 50 and 400 people joined her, dancing day and night. This was not an isolated event.
Between the 14th and 17th centuries, mainland Europe witnessed numerous outbreaks of what became known as dancing mania. Participants, both adults and children, would dance in large groups until they collapsed from exhaustion, injury, or even death.
Dancers Who Couldn’t Stop
These dancing outbreaks varied in size, from small groups to thousands, and often spread from city to city. One major outbreak took place in 1374 in Aachen, in the Holy Roman Empire, and quickly spread to other regions like Cologne, Metz, and Flanders.
Reports from the time describe people dancing through streets and squares, sometimes singing, screaming, or laughing. Some wore colorful clothing, others carried sticks or garlands, and many acted in ways considered bizarre or extreme, including jumping, leaping, or making obscene gestures.
Panic, Remedies, and Music
At the time, many believed the dancing was caused by a curse from saints like St. Vitus or St. John the Baptist. Some people organized pilgrimages, prayed, or sought exorcisms to end the outbreaks.
Musicians were often hired to accompany the dancers, under the belief that music could cure them, but this sometimes made things worse by attracting more dancers. In Italy, a related condition called tarantism saw people dance the tarantella in an attempt to cure themselves of supposed spider bites.
Mystery Without Answers
Historians have proposed various theories over the centuries: ergot poisoning from moldy grain, mass psychogenic illness, social stress from wars, plagues, and poverty, or even secret religious rituals.
Despite detailed records, no single cause explains all the outbreaks. Dancing mania appeared unexpectedly, spread rapidly, and vanished, leaving behind one of Europe’s most peculiar and best-documented historical mysteries.
In 1518, a woman in Strasbourg began dancing in the street, soon joined by hundreds.
They danced for days without rest, some collapsing or dying.
But this was only one of many outbreaks of dancing mania that swept Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/dedzwY4zTL
— Detective Tiger's Stories (@TigerDetective) July 22, 2025