WEBVTT - Ep 40 Dancing Plague: Worst Dance Party Ever 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:02.560 It was a week before the Holy Festival of Mary 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:07.080 Magdalen on July fourteenth, fifteen eighteen, that Frau Trafea began 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.040 her dance. One can picture her in the shadows of 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:13.800 one of Strasbourg's half timbered houses, white linen cap limp 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.200 with sweat, and her skirt and apron swaying as she 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:19.880 jumped awkwardly from foot to foot. Despite pleas from her 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.400 husband to desist, Frau Trafea went on dancing into the 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:25.920 evening in front of a crowd growing all the time 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:29.240 in size and bewilderment. As the shadows of buildings and 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.920 onlookers lengthened and she could barely raise her limbs, Frau 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:36.960 Trafea collapsed into sleep. The repose only lasted until she 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:40.239 had recouped enough energy to restart her dance. Early the 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:43.920 next day she resumed. Frau Trafea went on dancing for 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:46.760 a third and then a fourth day. At this point 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:51.559 the authorities intervened. She danced interminably, apparently heedless of the 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:55.120 terrible bruises, bloody sores, and lacerations that must have formed 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.840 on her feet after so many days of near constant movement. 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.120 We don't know what frautraff you thought, or what she 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:03.920 said while she danced, whether she screamed for help or 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.200 maintained a troubled silence. We can be fairly sure though, 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:09.160 that she was in genuine distress. 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:55.440 Oh spooky, so spooky. 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.240 So that is from the book called The Dancing Plague 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:04.600 by John Waller, and that's the subject of this episode 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:06.800 of this podcast, Will Kill You. 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:07.360 Yep. 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.359 Yeah. Hi, I'm Erin Welsh. 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:11.160 And I'm Erin Alvin Updike. 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:12.120 Welcome. 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:18.320 I'm so excited for today's episode. I know, I've been 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:20.280 like barely able to contain myself. 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:23.160 It's really exciting. I mean, we've been wanting to do 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:27.720 another medical mystery type thing since encephalitis lethargica. Yep. But 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:30.520 and so I'm really excited to do this because a 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.080 lot of people have asked us about it or like 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:35.320 sent us email saying, hey, have you read this? Have 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:35.960 you heard of this? 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:38.880 Yeah? Which, okay, let me tell you. I have to 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:41.240 tell you the thing that I'm There's several things that 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:44.000 I'm most excited to talk about. But one is the 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:47.280 fact that so we're doing the format of this differently 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.720 than our normal episodes. It'll be more similar to the 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:54.240 format of art encephalitis lethargic episode, but even a little 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:54.760 different than that. 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:56.560 I feel like, just join us for the ride. 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:01.840 Yeah, it's gonna be great. But Erin, I know absolutely 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:06.720 nothing about the dancing plague. Oh really, Like I had 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:10.639 never ever heard of it until you suggested this a 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:12.560 very long time ago, and then we've had a lot 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:15.080 of people, you know, message us like, hey, can you 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:16.960 do the dancing plagu Can you do the dancing plague? 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:23.200 I I know literally nothing about that, and I was 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.560 so careful, like you told me the hypotheses to research, 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:29.519 so that's what I researched, and I was very careful 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:34.160 to never google anything to do with the dancing plague. 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:36.280 Oh so good. Oh so this is gonna be a 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.600 very interesting episode. It's going to be so. 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.560 Fun because I have these things that I researched that 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:43.720 I'm like, I have no idea how this ties in. 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:46.120 I can make some guesses based on the fact that 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:50.080 it's called a dancing plague, but like, oh my gosh, 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:52.080 I just can't wait to hear all about this and 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:54.240 then just do some hypothesizing with you. 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:59.760 Yes, okay, So to ease this conversation along. Yeah, should 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:03.120 we pour ourselves a quarantini? Quarantini? 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:04.080 I think we ought to. 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:09.720 Okay. This week's quarantini is called Boogie Fever, of course, 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:15.760 and it has tequila the dancing juice. Yep, it has 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:17.839 guava juice. 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:19.440 Because it's pretty and dasty. 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:24.800 It has lime juice, sparkling water mint, and then garnish 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:26.320 it with a flower because it looks pretty. 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:26.839 Why not. 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:31.000 Yeah, it's also delicious. 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:33.920 So we will post the full recipe for that quarantini 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:37.240 as well as our non alcoholic placy Bata on our website. 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:39.040 This podcast will kill you dot Com and all of 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:42.080 our social media channels, so make sure you check those out. Perfect, 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:46.160 and we have new merch if you haven't seen our 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:50.920 awesome water bottles, they are very very cool and new 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:52.760 smelling soap which smells so good. 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.120 Yeah, check it out. And our shirts should be stalked 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:57.159 at the point. 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:00.000 Yeah yeah, if not now, very so. 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:01.800 I think in January yeah yep. 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:05.400 Okay, so oh we got some gifts from people, but 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:08.360 I haven't opened them. Yeah, open them because it's Christmas. 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:14.960 Oh okay, oh my god. Okay, So Kimberly Baxter sent 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:21.040 us these adorable little knit microbe Oh. 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:24.960 My gosh, that's right, she knitted little h one n one. Yeah, 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:25.920 they're a little swag. 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:31.600 They're so cute and the little beads are hes and ends. 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:33.479 Oh my gosh, oh, thank you. 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:36.480 Kimberly's so so adorable. 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:40.280 And then also, this is a long belated but Nick 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:44.599 Davis sent us an amazing box full of quarantiny supplies 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:46.360 and accustomized quarantiny. 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:50.559 That's incredible, it's so incredible. We so much. 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:53.200 We're thrilled. We haven't been in the same place to 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:55.880 drink it together yet, but rest assured we will. 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.080 Yes, absolutely so, thank you so much. 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.400 Thanks Kimberly, you're too nice to us. 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:06.320 That's Christmas ever. Yeah. 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.120 Oh okay, I think that's all of our business now. 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.080 Excellent. I guess we should jump right in. 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:19.280 Yes, let's dance right in. Should we take a quick break. 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:44.720 First, let's do it. Okay. So you heard from our 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.320 first hand account a little bit about the fifteen eighteen 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:52.359 dancing plague in Strasbourg. But there's so much more to tell. Okay, 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:57.120 so let's pick up where we left off in the beginning. Okay, 0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:58.760 but before I start, I want to say that this 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:02.640 story you're about to hear here almost certainly happened. Like 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:07.600 the events, the baseline events really did happen, no matter 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:11.040 how bizarre it sounds. But what's less clear, and the 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.880 point of our episode today is why it. 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:17.320 Happened, right, Like, what the heck happened to? 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:18.080 Right this happen? 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:18.440 Yeah? 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:20.800 What's going on? Okay, So let's set the stage a 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:24.040 little bit. So Strasbourg is in present day France, sitting 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:25.960 close to the German border. Back then it was part 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:29.640 of the Holy Roman Empire, and it looks really lovely 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:31.720 in pictures. It's like a little close to the mountains. 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.440 Maybe we should add it to our TBWKY vacation destination. Yes, 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:39.240 and the dancing plague that we're going to focus on, 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:42.960 because spoilers, it's not the only one who is the 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:46.120 one that happened in fifteen eighteen in this town. Okay, 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:49.880 what were the early fifteen hundreds like in Strasbourg? 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:52.720 Probably dirty and smelly like everywhere. 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:57.440 Exactly grim, just really grim. As you may remember from 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:02.080 our syphilis episode, that disease by this point was sweeping Europe. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.480 So like the late fourteen hundreds, early fifteen hundreds is 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:09.000 when it kind of went everywhere. A plague like the 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.360 actual bubonic plague would swoop in every few decades to 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:15.680 carry off some proportion of the population. And then what 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:19.280 goes better with plague and disease and syphilis than famine? 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:23.280 Of course, death was around every corner, and to deal 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:26.280 with this constant threat of death, many people turned to 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:31.560 religion because science as an explanation for things that happened 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:36.280 to you wasn't really happening yet, like it wasn't enjoyed yet. Yeah, 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:41.080 and at this time, the religion that dominated this region 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:46.640 was a super fiery, demon fearing Bible beating Christianity with 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:50.280 a very stark hierarchy. So if you were part of 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.040 the clergy, you held the power and the answers and 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.760 the wealth, and the people like peasants and so on, 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:59.640 they turned to the Church for guidance and they would 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.960 do this especially so during trying times, which is like 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:05.800 all the time in the fifteen hundreds. Okay, so what 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:09.679 was going on in Strasbourg around this time? Specifically in 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:13.560 fifteen fourteen, there was a terrible winter that frosted and 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.480 blunted the crops and led to many people just straight 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.319 up freezing to death, oh my gosh. And then two 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.600 years later, a horrible harvest and another bitter winter led 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:27.480 not just to people dying of freezing to death, but 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:32.000 also a huge amount of resentment and unease, resentment particularly 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.520 towards the church. So prices for grain had more than 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:38.160 doubled over the past few years, and people were getting 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:42.640 resentful of the Church's demands for tithes and fees and whatnot. 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.719 And there were active rebellions actually to try to overthrow 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:49.880 the church or the clergy, oh, which is kind of interesting, 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:52.360 but none of them succeeded, all right. So then in 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.720 fifteen seventeen, which is the year before the Dancing plague, 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.040 that year was dubbed by one chronicler as simply the 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:02.760 bad year. So imagine this one year in the sea 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:03.760 of bad years. 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:07.520 So it was very bad, very bad. 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:12.840 There was malnutrition, starvation, smallpox epidemic, the English sweat so 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.560 the sweating sickness, which is another historical medical mystery. We 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.960 touched on it a bit in the hauntavirus episode, yeah, 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:23.160 but we didn't really go too much into it. So 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:26.240 that would dominate the region in Strasbourg that in fifteen 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:30.280 eighteen or fifteen seventeen. So, needless to say, many people 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.560 in Strasbourg had their faith severely shaken, kind of felt 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:37.000 they were being punished for something. Okay, So now we 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:41.000 arrive in fifteen eighteen Strasbourg, things don't look so great, 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:45.079 even though it's July and probably gorgeous weather. Except it wasn't. 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.920 It was unbearably hot. It was like very hot and 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:53.480 very dry. So when Frau Trafea started her dance, rumors 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:57.160 of the devil's involvement circulated, but they were quickly overruled 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:00.720 by the majority, who believed that her uncontrollable dance resulted 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:05.240 from like a divine retribution, so punishment for faithlessness and 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:09.000 immoral behavior and sin and blah blah blah, and so 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:09.800 a lot of this. 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:12.800 It had to do with God, but it wasn't demonic 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.839 possession specifically, right, okay. 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:17.440 Right, So it was more of like this is you 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:23.280 are being punished by God, okay. And this was probably 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:27.720 fortunate in a way that it wasn't viewed as being 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:31.120 satanic or a demonic possession, because then she would probably 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:32.600 have been burnt at the stake or something. 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:33.160 Okay. 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:39.640 Yeah, And so under this punishment Frau Trafia danced for 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.760 six days NonStop, basically only to sleep and then eat, 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:47.480 and then kept dancing and dancing against her husband's wishes 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:50.920 and insistence. And it's funny because like the first chronicler 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.360 that really came, the first well known chronicler that wrote 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.640 a lot about the dancing plague came to Strasbourg I 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:00.240 think around seven six or seven years or no, seven 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:03.680 or eight years after fifteen eighteen, and it was his 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.240 name was Paracelsus, and I've talked about him before as 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:11.320 like a medical historian chronicler, and he hated women, and 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:15.199 so it's really like very interesting. He's like, oh, well, 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:17.640 these women are just dancing because they're like loose women 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:19.800 and loose morals and blah blah blah blah blah. They 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.079 want to listen to their husbands exactly. He was like, oh, 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:28.640 she she only started dancing to infuriate her husband. Whatever. Anyway, 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:33.200 as Frau Trafia danced, more and more people arrived to 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:36.080 gawk at her, and then, as I said in the firsthand, 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.000 the medical authorities intervened, and what that meant was that 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:44.000 she was ruled to be sent to Severn severnez seven 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:46.920 in which is like a nearby place in the mountains 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:51.280 where there was a shrine to Saint Vitash and the 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:54.440 other name that was given to this dancing plague besides 0:12:54.720 --> 0:13:00.439 choreo mania choreo from like dance choreography and stuff, meaning 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:06.600 like yeah, woh uh huh, all right, this is Saint 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:10.880 Vitas's dance. Okkay. So who was Saint Vidas and why 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:16.520 would our dancing queen be sent to his shrine? Okay? So, 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:19.680 Saint Vidas was a Sicilian martyr who didn't die after 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.680 being burned in a cauldron of lead and tar or 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:26.280 after being attacked by lions, and he didn't succumb to 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.280 the temptations of a bunch of seductive dancers to go 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:30.959 back to Roman gods. 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:35.560 Sorry, he was burned in a cauldron of lead and tar. 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:40.200 Die Okay, I mean it was like the year three hundred, 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:43.920 so okay, okay, citation needed now. 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:47.880 He was a super popular saint. Actually, people prayed to 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:51.760 him to be healed from epilepsy and also people struggling 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:56.240 to conceive. Back then, people viewed saints not just as 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:59.280 being able to heal them of various things, but also 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.559 as have the power to inflict punishment in sort of 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:07.000 the opposite way that they would heal. So if Saint 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:10.640 Vitas could cure epilepsy, he could also cause it. 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:12.400 Oh interesting. 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:18.520 So Saint Vitas somehow became associated with these outbreaks of spontaneous, 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:23.040 uncontrollable dancing sometime during the fourteen hundreds, and the only 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:25.040 way to stop the dancing was to go to his 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:27.720 shrine and ask for help or be ordered to the shrine. 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:31.480 And so that's how Frautrafia found herself there. Unfortunately, we 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:34.120 have no idea what happened to her after that, in 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:38.440 in all likelihood she stopped dancing and returned exhausted to Strasbourg. 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:43.000 But whatever happened to her was overshadowed by what was 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:46.680 happening all across the town, which is that people had 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:50.360 started to dance. At first, it was just dozens of 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:55.320 people this frenzied sort of like it was actually dancing, 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:59.520 like it was described as dance, huh. And they would 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:06.000 move to music in a circle until they until they dropped, 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.720 basically like they would dance from as soon as they 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:10.520 woke up to as soon as they to the when 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:12.280 they just collapsed from exhaustion. 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:17.520 So they're not just like flicking about their dancing. 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:22.240 Right, they're actually dancing, okay. Frautrafia being the first one, 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:26.120 happened in mid July, and then within a month it 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.160 had turned to hundreds of people. 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:29.280 Okay. 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:32.560 By the end of the plague, around four hundred people 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:36.880 had this uncontrollable dancing. This isn't a town of twenty thousand, 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:40.960 which is like, okay, not a small amount. 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:42.840 No, that's I mean, four hundred people in a town 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:45.000 of anything is a lot to be dancing. 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:47.480 And they like they. 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.960 According to chroniclers, did not want to be dancing. 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.160 They did not want to be dancing so well, a 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:55.680 lot of chroniclers described them as sort of being in 0:15:56.640 --> 0:16:01.400 like a trance like state or or or at least 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:05.440 that's our modern interpretation of it. Okay, like their minds 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:08.440 were lost to them is sort of what would have 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:14.400 been described. And it's not like they were like they 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:16.480 weren't entirely lucid, it appears. 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:19.560 Right, so okay, yeah, my gosh, this is so bizarre. 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:24.160 It's so bizarre, and not everyone escaped, like not everyone 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:26.840 would just dance and dance and then get tired and stop, 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:31.760 like This was a relentless entrance dancing that people could 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:35.160 not seem to stop, no matter how much they wanted 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:38.760 to or how much they they were threatened with fines 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:40.120 or losing their dignity. 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:42.600 Can I ask a question, yes, of course, and you 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:44.960 might be answering this, but I need to just know 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:49.240 this now. Were they all dancing together? Was it like 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:55.600 one so Frau Trophia started this and then the next person? 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.920 Were they in the same vicinity as her? How did 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.520 next people start? And then was it like four hundred 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:05.560 people all in the same area that were dancing. Was 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.399 it one giant dance party that no one wanted to 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:08.919 be a part of? 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:12.560 I mean kind of yes, actually the to the one 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:15.199 giant dance party. So I don't know exactly, and I 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:17.479 don't know if it's if it's in any chronicles exactly 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:19.919 how the next people got started. It's just sort of 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:23.399 like more people started to dance, okay. And so at 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:28.640 the very beginning it was viewed as a medical condition, 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.000 which is kind of interesting because they when they referred 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:33.959 to it, they use the word for plague rather than 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.040 the word for curse, which would have implied like a 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:37.000 spiritual condition. 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:40.680 Yeah, and the. 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.439 Town council, or what was in effect of the town council. 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:46.280 They decided, Okay, this is a medical condition, we're going 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:49.320 to treat it medically. And they treated it with like 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:50.440 like needs. 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:53.080 Like oh, so, like, let's dance. 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:59.400 They constructed a wooden stage, they hired musicians, they brought 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.879 in dance and they were like, just keep dancing, just 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:07.560 get it out of your system. Stop it. Are you 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:12.280 seriously serious? And then they're like, I get it. 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:14.640 You just need to dance it out. You just will 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:15.240 make it happen. 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:17.840 I mean I kind of like that attitude, just like 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:19.159 dance it just come on. 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:22.000 I can relate to needing to dance it out. 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:28.080 I relate. But pretty soon, like within a few days, 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.760 they're like, oh no, oh no, this is bad. This 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:34.280 is not what we should have done. Like more people 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.680 were joining in, more people were dancing, and then people 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:38.760 started to die. 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:43.480 People died, people died people dancing. 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:47.919 Yes, oh my gosh, Aaron. So at the there was 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.200 one It's it's hard to say exactly how many people died, 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:55.520 but one chronicler wrote that at the peak of the epidemic, 0:18:55.760 --> 0:19:00.199 fifteen people died every day. What and so that that 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:05.480 has to be an exaggeration because the plague affected around 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.840 four hundred people, and so if it if it every 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:11.560 day like that would imply multiple days. That would be 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:12.720 like hundreds of people dying. 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:14.680 Yeah, how long did this whole thing last? 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:15.960 Around two months? 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:22.480 Two months? That's yeah, that's like at least what sixty, No, fifteen? 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:27.560 I can't do that math, Aaron, fifteen times sixty, that's 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:28.359 a lot of people. 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.720 Like, not everyone who dance died, for sure. Yeah, And 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:36.719 so another person just wrote many people died, Okay, So 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:39.720 and I think that like, if you're in the fifteen 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:41.960 hundreds and you're a chronicler and you say many people 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:45.200 died and you've seen things like plague and smallpox, it's 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:45.960 a lot of people. 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:49.600 Yeah, okay, so well we don't know. Yeah. 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:56.400 So then after it became pretty clear that hiring musicians 0:19:56.480 --> 0:20:00.520 and constructing a dance hall and like encouraging this was 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:03.600 not going to work and actually was being more causing 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:04.400 more problems. 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:07.560 And this was all happening because the first person, she 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:09.640 was kind of in like a town square type area. 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:11.560 It sounded like like everyone came to watch her. 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:14.560 Yeah, she was dancing outside like she was visible dancing 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:15.280 public dancing. 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:18.439 Yeah, public dancing, and then everyone like other people. This 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:21.000 all started and then they were like, well, let's cure 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.320 this by having a giant dance party. So then they 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:25.560 brought in all these things and then it just kept 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:29.600 escalating from there. Yes, okay, just making sure I understand. Ooh, 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:30.560 this is good, Aaron. 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:33.840 I mean, and these are like people who didn't look 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:38.200 like they were enjoying themselves, like they had blister bloody feet. 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:42.439 They were Rory Gilmore wasn't enjoying herself at the end 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:44.520 of the twenty four hour dances on either, but. 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:47.439 She wasn't and there are a lot of parallels with 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:52.080 that and this so welcome on this episode of this podcast, 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:55.959 We'll Killing Gilmore Girls Edition. Yeah, it is sort of like, 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:58.800 it's really funny that there are a lot of comparisons 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:02.400 made between these like dance plagues and like rave culture 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.159 and the dance marathons of especially like the early nineteen 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:07.520 hundreds or the first I. 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:11.040 Didn't Dance Marathon you see LA dance Marathon? 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:12.640 Did you last? Yeah? 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:15.040 I did. It was great, It was really I enjoyed 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:17.840 it a lot. My little brother came, we all did it. 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:25.240 It was so so after obviously this wasn't working, this 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:27.480 public dancing. They were like the town was like, okay, 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:30.920 we've made a huge mistake and we are now outlawng dancing, 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:34.040 and if you are seen publicly dancing, you'll be fined. 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:36.119 And so it was just sort of like we're going 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:39.480 to try the opposite now, okay, And that didn't really 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:44.520 work either, shocking people still dance. People were still being 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:48.280 infected by this dancing craze whatever, and so eventually they 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:52.439 resorted to shuttling people either by wagon or by like 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:55.480 or on foot to the shrine to Saint Vitus in 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:58.920 the mountains, which is around thirty miles away, okay, and 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:04.560 it kind of seemed to work. Like they're at Saint 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:07.760 Vidas they were prayed over, they were given red shoes, 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:10.960 like there was like some strange order for like a 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:15.239 bunch of red shoes Dorothy, Dorothy and snow white and 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:18.119 blah blah blah, like it's a very Yeah, there was 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:20.880 something about the color red that was associated with like dancing, 0:22:21.520 --> 0:22:24.479 uncontrolled dancing and this like fervor. I don't know all 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:28.680 right anyway, and so yeah, it kind of like this 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:33.440 is kind of an abrupt end. But basically they went 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:37.600 to the shrine. They most people recovered, but the trauma, 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:40.080 you know, stayed with them for a long time. And 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:42.919 for the people that had to witness this, and it 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:46.040 didn't really fade into memory. People made drawings, they made paintings, 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:48.760 they wrote stories. And you know, we're still talking about 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:52.359 it today, huh. And I think you know that brings 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:56.080 me to you because we're still talking about it because 0:22:56.080 --> 0:23:00.440 there it seems like such a bizarre event and hard 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:06.160 to envision people having uncontrolled dancing until they died. Yes, 0:23:06.440 --> 0:23:09.679 and there have been several different hypotheses as to what 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:12.440 caused this, like and we'll talk about them all. There's 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:17.119 yes burgut, poisoning, conversion disorder, mass hysteria, and probably a 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:19.000 couple others that I'm sure you're gonna tell me about. 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:24.280 So let's hear it from you, Erin, tell me about 0:23:24.280 --> 0:23:25.920 these things. Let's all his mystery. 0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:28.639