Dance ‘Til You’re Dead! The Medieval Bad Trip That Killed Hundreds

This isn’t about that night you dropped too much MDMA at the club. And no, it’s not a Yeah Yeah Yeahs track either (even if “dance, dance, dance ’til you’re dead” would’ve been a fitting soundtrack). This is the true story of how, in 1518, the city of Strasbourg, France, became the stage for a bizarre phenomenon later dubbed the “Dancing Plague,” where hundreds were seized by an unstoppable urge to move. Around 400 people were caught in the frenzy, and many died from sheer exhaustion after weeks of nonstop dancing.

As unbelievable as it sounds, it wasn’t the first time. Records point to a similar outbreak in Erfurt, Germany, back in 1247, along with later cases in 1374 across what is now Germany, the Netherlands, and northeastern France.

Several theories try to explain the “Dancing Plague” or “Dance Fever.” One suggests it was a form of social and political protest against local authorities and feudal oppression. At the time, people outside the noble and wealthy classes faced brutal inequality, and some believe the dancing was a desperate way of expressing frustration.

Another theory says the outbreak was a kind of mental illness or collective psychosis, triggered by stress, anxiety, and fear. In a world where disease and death were daily realities, many lived in constant worry; a pressure cooker that could have led to a mass mental breakdown.

Then there’s the trippiest theory of them all: that the “Dancing Plague” was sparked by accidental consumption of a psychoactive substance, maybe even a precursor to LSD. Some historical reports describe people in trance-like states, with hallucinations and delirium, suggesting they might have been under the influence of something mind-bending.

This last theory argues the plague may have been caused by eating rye bread contaminated with ergot, a fungus that produces ergotamine—a compound structurally similar to lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25).

Ergotamine can cause hallucinations, convulsions, and other symptoms that match up eerily well with descriptions of the “Dancing Plague.” And since rye was a staple food of the time, it’s easy to imagine widespread exposure.

The ergotism theory gains more ground when you consider that Strasbourg and the surrounding region had endured poor harvests and famine in the years before the outbreak. In desperate times, people may have eaten contaminated rye bread without realizing it, sparking the strange epidemic.

Still, this explanation has its holes. Even though ergotamine is chemically related to LSD, an acid trip usually lasts less than 24 hours; hardly enough to explain people dancing for weeks. Plus, outbreaks didn’t always line up with the floods or damp seasons when ergot thrives.

So while the ergotism theory has never been proven (and probably never will be) it remains one of the most compelling explanations for this strange and tragic event in history. And it’s backed by respected voices in the psychedelic world, like ethnopharmacologist Dennis McKenna.

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This article appeared first on El Planteo.

Photo: Michael Wolgemut, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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