The Plague That Made People Dance to Death

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]On July 14th, 1518, [music] a woman named Frau Troffea walked into a street in Strasbourg and began to [music] dance. There was no music, no festival.

[00:00:09]She danced through the night. By morning, her shoes were soaked with blood. She didn't stop. Within a month, 400 people [music] had joined her dancing in the streets, in the squares, against church walls. Some [music] died of heart attacks, some died of exhaustion, up to 15 people a day. The authorities decided the cure [music] was more dancing. They built a wooden stage, hired musicians, and paid professional dancers to keep them moving [music] around the clock. It lasted two months.

[00:00:38]It is documented [music] in city council records, physician notes, and cathedral sermons. This is not a legend. Nobody knows why it happened to this day.