Dancing Plague of 1518

● A retelling of France’s oddest dance party

SCRIPT:

INTRO

<< Super Cool Awesome Intro Music Thing - post in the clear then fade under>> (0:8)

Welcome to the show. I’m Mady Ahmad with the GF media, here to walk you through stories
from the wacky, wonderful world of history your school textbooks might have missed. Speaking
with me today is fellow Golden Fleece staff writer Abrielle Anderson. (0:12)

BODY

<< BED - Funky Medeival Background Music 0:12 - STOP when prepared story-telling ends
and questions/discussion begins >>

Our story today of the Dancing Plague of 1518 starts in the city of Strausburg… a part of
modern-day France that was at the time a piece of the Holy Roman Empire. Abrielle, what
comes to mind when you think of the quality of life in the Middle Ages? (0:12)

● Discussion w/ Abrielle

<<AMBI - Cool Swooshy Transition Sound as discussion ends 0:2>>

<< BED - Funky Medeival Background Music - STOP when prepared story-telling ends and
questions/discussion begins 0:48 >>

It was pretty grim. 1517 was curtly and hilariously known as “the Bad Year” for its particularly
devastating string of events which made it stand out amongst the backdrop of decades of
starvation, corruption, disease, and death that came before it. Crops froze and died, the clergy…
those meant to be the people’s lifeline to God, were reportedly unscrupulous, abusive, and
drunken, hail the size of apples reigned down from the sky, smallpox and leprosy broke out, as
well a new disease called the English sweat whose symptoms included persistant and extreme
perspiration over multiple days until you died your unfortunately damp death. So, essentially
what we have here is the equivalency of a filled out bingo card for medeival turmoil’s greatest
hits during the year prior to the plague’s outbreak. Perhaps this seemingly never-ending string of
suffering had taken a bit of a toll on the community’s mental health. (0:48)

● Discussion w/ Abrielle

<<AMBI - Cool Swooshy Transition Sound as discussion ends 0:2>>

<< BED - Funky Medeival Background Music 0:50 - STOP when prepared story-telling ends
and questions/discussion begins >>
In the roasting-hot summer of 1518, a woman named Frau Troffea rushed out into the streets, her
heels clapping against the coarse dirt roads and dress twirling in the wind as she twisted, shaked,
and spun to music that wasn’t there. Her dancing was described as fervent and seemingly
involuntary. The streets stained red from the blood which oozed from her blistered feet. A
puzzled crowd formed around Frau as her husband pleaded with her, but nothing could stop her
exhausting routine. Until she passed out from exhaustion. But the moment she recovered, Frau
got up and began dancing again! After six days of dancing through day and night, she was taken
to a shrine of St. Vitus, the saint patron of dancers, because the local religious leaders theorized
her condition was a case of divine intervention. Though the final fate of OG Dancing Queen Frau
Troffea is unknown, the day after she was taken to the shrine to give penitence, at least 34 more
Strausburg citizens had joined in on her exhausting routine. (0:50)

● Discussion w/ Abrielle

<<AMBI - Cool Swooshy Transition Sound as discussion ends 0:2>>

<< BED - Funky Medeival Background Music 0:17 - STOP when prepared story-telling ends
and questions/discussion begins>>

When a bizarre incident of one woman’s insatiable desire to dance turned into a growing mania,
a council of Magistrates called on local physicians for help. They concluded that the disease was
being caused by “hot blood” from the heated weather which elicited mad and uncontrollable side
effects. What was the council’s plan of action to treat the plague? (0:17)

● Discussion w/ Abrielle

<<AMBI - Cool Swooshy Transition Sound as discussion ends 0:2>>

<< BED - Funky Medeival Background Music 0:38 - STOP when prepared story-telling ends
and questions/discussion begins >>

More dancing of course! A stage was constructed for the afflicted, who now numbered over 50,
to dance on. Bands were hired to play music to accompany the dancing, and professional dancers
were brought in to encourage the afflicted to keep going. The professional dancers forced those
who passed out to get back up on their feet as the musicians would up the tempo. Naturally, this
only exacerbated the problem, and things quickly turned even more horrifying on the stage
which now filled hundreds of dancers. As John Waller describes in his book about the plague,
“Chroniclers tell us that those who were momentarily roused from their trances screamed for
help from bystanders, God, and the saints.” In their madness, about 15 people died a day from
sheer exhaustion, strokes, and heart attacks. (0:38)

● Discussion w/ Abrielle

<<AMBI - Cool Swooshy Transition Sound as discussion ends 0:2>>

<< BED - Funky Medeival Background Music 0:45 - STOP when prepared story-telling ends
and questions/discussion begins >>

Unwilling to let their town be claimed one by one by the world’s deadliest jitterbug, the Council
formed a new plan, once again turning to the wrath of the Holy as an explanation. All dancers
were sent back to their home and music was banned. This was not enough to stop the plague
however, as it continued to spread even within the confines of private homes. In the mean time,
the Council was constructing a 100 pound wax replica of St. Vitus in an attempt to please him.
The afflicted were then hauled off in wagons to the nearby shrine of St. Vitus. They were also all
given red shoes to put on their bloodied feet because a sweet new pair of kicks never hurt
nobody! Once at the alter, they gathered in a circle and each offered a penny to the Saint before
being escorted back to town. Miraculously, this method of treatment worked and most ceased to
dance. (0:45)

● Discussion w/ Abrielle

<<AMBI - Cool Swooshy Transition Sound as discussion ends 0:2>>

<< BED - Cool Mysterious Detective Sounding Music 0:28>>

With no clear explanation for what caused the dancing mania, many theories have arose over
time. A common one is that the afflicted had ingested the hallucinogenic fungus ergot from
which LSD-25 is synthesized. Frau Troffea and others could have easily came in contact with
ergot since it grows on damp wheat and rye. It produces spasms and hallucinations similar to
those described in accounts of the plague. (0:13)

● Discussion w/ Abrielle

The most common theory is that the plague was mass psychogenic illness, a condition in which
many individuals exhibit the same bizarre behavior which spreads in an epidemic pattern. This
mass hysteria could have been a result of the psychological damage and distress the citizens of
Strausburg suffered from the ruthless years of mass death, poverty, and starvation they had
endured. (0:11)

● Discussion w/ Abrielle

Now having heard some theories, what do you think caused the Dancing Plague of 1518? (0:4)

● Discussion w/ Abrielle

<< Super Cool Awesome Outro Music Thing - post in the clear then fade under>> (0:8)

TOTAL TIME OF STORY: 4 minutes

TOTAL TIME OF DISCUSSION: 6 minutes