An unusual phenomenon that took place during the Middle Ages has not yet found a clear and reasonable explanation. This is the dance plague that raged in Europe from the 14th to the 18th century.
Most often, when discussing this unusual phenomenon, they talk about an incident that occurred in 1518 in Strasbourg. In the middle of a city street, a woman named Troffea suddenly started dancing. She jumped through the streets of the city throughout the day, until her strength was exhausted in the evening and she fell, completely exhausted. After such a dance marathon, Troffea slept for several hours, but even in her sleep her muscles continued to twitch, as if she were continuing her crazy dance in her sleep. On the third day of dancing, it turned out that her shoes were literally soaked in blood, but, despite the terrible fatigue and unbearable pain, she could not stop her crazy dance. The unfortunate woman was sent to one of the temples, hoping for help from the holy place, but it was too late, and soon the woman died.
Within a few days, another 34 residents of the city joined this endless dance marathon. A month later, the "dance fever" has seized more than four hundred people. People danced non-stop and soon died.
The attitude of the inhabitants of Strasbourg to the dancers was different: some laughed, the second thought that these dancers had gone crazy, and others were afraid that the curse would fall on their head. But everyone was surprised that the distraught people danced not a waltz, not a tango, not a macarena - their movements more resembled an involuntary convulsion, it seemed that the limbs of the dancers were moving independently of the wishes of the people themselves. All this madness continued for several days. Some fell unconscious, others died of exhaustion or heart attacks. It was believed that in a normal state, a person can withstand such physical activity (without food and water) for no more than 3 days, and people infected with the "dancing plague" withstood the dancing marathon for up to 6 days, going into some kind of strange trance. From the side to all who have seen people with bloody feet twitching in some mystical dance,it seemed that these dancers had gone mad. But what was most striking was that the number of infected people was increasing every day.
The disease affected more and more people and the reasons for its occurrence remained a mystery. One thing was clear - the disease was contagious. The authorities made every effort to find out the reasons causing the "dancing plague". Numerous assumptions have been made: the curse of God, the influence of demons, a new disease that people who have "hot blood" are prone to. At the same time, they were looking for ways to treat the new disease.
Doctors believed that the most effective treatment for a strange disease could only be forcing the sick to dance even more. For this, numerous dance halls with live music were urgently equipped. All the "dancers" were sent to these adapted rooms. Some halls were equipped next to holy places. After a while, it became clear that the decision was wrong: the situation in the city was getting worse every day. More than 15 dancing people were killed every day. Then the authorities took the opposite decision - they banned any music and dancing, imposing large fines for violations. An exception was made for weddings and some religious ceremonies (only stringed instruments were allowed and there was a complete ban on percussion instruments). These measures did not work either. It remains to admit that Strasbourg was cursed. To avoid great sacrifices, it was decided to expel the "dancers" of their city. Many infected with the dance plague managed to take refuge in the church of St. Vitus. There is evidence that those who were sheltered by the temple soon recovered completely.
But the case in Strasbourg was not an isolated one. The "dance plague" swept across continental Europe. The number of patients has reached several thousand! As a result, mass hysteria arose, and the fear that reigned in European cities contributed to an even greater spread of the disease.
The first medieval physician to describe the new disease was the alchemist Paracelsus. To describe the phenomenon of the "dancing plague", he used a new term - "choreaomania". Paracelsus approached the explanation of the causes of the disease from a different angle than his colleagues. He found out that the first infected, Frau Troffea, was very fond of dancing, but her husband categorically forbade her to do it. Paracelsus suggested that she began the crazy dance to annoy her husband. The famous physician pointed out three main causes of dancing illness: first, due to social instability; the second - people who joined the dance marathon had problems of a sexual nature; the third - it is possible that people began to dance in order to get physical activity.
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Paracelsus' version was partially confirmed. The phenomenon of the dancing plague occurred immediately after the terrible epidemic of the Black Death. Therefore, the new disease may have become a response to previously received stress from a terrible epidemic. Modern doctors know that some mentally ill patients experience involuntary contraction of the leg muscles. Stress could not only cause fear of an epidemic, at this time society experienced significant social stratification. The fear of falling below the poverty line led to tremendous moral stress among ordinary people.
In Italy, it was believed that the cause of the "dancing plague" was the bites of tarantulas, so the Italians called this disease tarantism. The victims of the new disease tried to be treated by plunging into sea waters: many drowned. This version of infection raises great doubts, since the poison of the tarantula is not dangerous to humans.
Medieval healers did not abandon their attempts to cure patients afflicted with "dance mania". One of the methods was tying the sick person: he was swaddled like a baby, not giving a chance to move his limbs. Some of the victims demanded that they be tied tightly around their stomachs or beaten on it: supposedly, this helps them to protect themselves from insanity and brings relief. According to the method of treatment developed by Paracelsus, those who fell ill with the "dancing plague" were locked in a dark room, starved to death, given only bread and water, and in monasteries they beat the unfortunate patients, pursuing, as it seemed to them, good goals.
Not receiving any positive results, the patients tried to feed. And indeed the madness passed, but for a short time, and then the patient began his crazy dance again. The sick claimed that during the seizures they were not at all aware of what was happening around them, but were forced to move until they were completely exhausted.
"Dance mania" did not pass by the children either. About a hundred children "danced" on the streets of Germany, and fell to the ground from fatigue and exhaustion. Some of the kids were rescued and returned to their parents, but there were also victims among the children.
This dance mania is often compared to the dance of St. Vitus. The saint was considered the patron saint of all dancers, but this disease was not a dance, most likely a crazy and uncontrollable dance, making the victims shake and jump in some kind of crazy fit.
Today this disease is called chorea and attempts are made to treat it. But the reason for its appearance is still not clear. Perhaps science is not yet ready to give any explanation for this strange phenomenon.