1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: I'm editor Kandis Keen. You're joined by fellow editor Katie 4 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: Lambert Candy. Hi Katie, if you haven't already seen it, 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:24,479 Speaker 1: The Discovery Tale has a new show called Monsters Inside Me, 6 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:27,840 Speaker 1: and it's about parasites and other strange and eerie things 7 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: to get inside the human body and freak havoc. Uh. 8 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,200 Speaker 1: And Katie, as always, I am so glad for your 9 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: historical expertise, but also today especially your health expertise, because 10 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: I've been doing a lot of research on different moments 11 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: in history where people and uh, the places they live 12 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 1: and have been affected by parasites and and and disease 13 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: and and plague. And it's important to understand that if 14 00:00:57,520 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: you have some sort of say, parasitic infection, and if 15 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: I beca's not only your physical well being but your 16 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: mental well being too. And we're going to talk a 17 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:09,119 Speaker 1: little bit about contagion actually, and we're going to lead 18 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: in with an email from the reader who requested this topic. 19 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: And I'm not going to read the entire email like 20 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: I usually do, because he's very knowledgeable and if I 21 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:20,399 Speaker 1: read it would give away the whole story. But I 22 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: would like to thank Ian for his recommendation of our 23 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:28,800 Speaker 1: discussion the dancing plague of fifteen eighteen. And if it 24 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: sounds pretty cool, that's because it is, unless, of course, 25 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: you had the dancing plague. Um. But in July of eighteen, 26 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: there was a woman named Fraud Trofea we think that's 27 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: how you say it. I'm not sure actually, And she 28 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: was in Strasbourg, France, and all of a sudden she 29 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: basically walked out in the middle of the street and 30 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 1: started dancing and she didn't stop. Now, and this is 31 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: centuries before Lady Gaga, so of course people are wondering 32 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: what is causing a woman to dance dance? And it 33 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 1: went on for they say, between four and six days, 34 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: and by the end of the week a whole bunch 35 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: of other people had also caught this mysterious dancing ailment. 36 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:10,240 Speaker 1: And if you read accounts of the dancing plague of eighteen, 37 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: it sounds almost like a fable. Because the town authorities 38 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: thought that the best way to cure people of the 39 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: dancing fever was to encourage them to keep dancing and 40 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: not stop. And again we're giggling because it is so ludicrous. 41 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: They actually erected a special stage, a little platform for 42 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,919 Speaker 1: them to dance on, and they hired musicians to come in, 43 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: and they got professional dancers to dance alongside them to 44 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 1: help pep them up and prop them up when they 45 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: got fatigued. And it turned up to be very serious 46 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:50,639 Speaker 1: because people became so tired from dancing that there were 47 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: heart attacks and strokes and people just dropping out due 48 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:56,799 Speaker 1: to your exhaustion. Reminds me of a dance the Phon 49 00:02:56,880 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. But these people 50 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: and not happy about the dancing like you would think 51 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:05,200 Speaker 1: of them, you know, having a grand old time with 52 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: their their disco fever. But they apparently were really afraid 53 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,640 Speaker 1: and really desperate and couldn't stop. Like it wasn't a 54 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: voluntary kind of thing. It was almost like some sort 55 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:19,680 Speaker 1: of force inside them was compelling them to flail about 56 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:23,320 Speaker 1: with no control over their limbs. And we we have 57 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,959 Speaker 1: descriptions of this particular dancing plague. And there had been 58 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: plagues noted before, but none of which were cited in 59 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: historical records as specifically and as uh with as many 60 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: details as this one, and we know from city council records, 61 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 1: doctors observations, and sermons, as well as a few other 62 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: sources that these people had grimaces on their faces, their 63 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: limbs were flailing about wildly, their facial expressions seemed uncontrolled, 64 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: and they were crying out invoking God's name for help. 65 00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: And also the name of Vitis st Vitus. And St. 66 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 1: Vitus was a real person, Um. He was martyred in 67 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: the three h three A d and Um. The legend 68 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: goes that if someone provoked his wrath, according to Um 69 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: a Discovery News article we were reading, that he would 70 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 1: send down plagues um and force people to dance. And 71 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: there really is such a thing called St. Vitus's dance 72 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 1: is actually known as I think sidon um Chorea, and 73 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: it's caused by a stript to Caucus bacteria that causes 74 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:32,840 Speaker 1: rheumatic fever and basically puts people into convulsions like your 75 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:37,599 Speaker 1: arms and legs and torso will twist and contort without 76 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: your control. And people still get this today. The most 77 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: susceptible to the Korea are girls between the ages of 78 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: five and fifteen who live in developing countries. So was 79 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:55,080 Speaker 1: this St. Vitus's dance or was there something else that 80 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: was causing this this dancing fever. There have been a 81 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:02,919 Speaker 1: lot of theories proposed, and in the nineteen fifties, Eugene 82 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: Backman suggested that the dancers had ergic poisoning. And you 83 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,200 Speaker 1: may recall from an earlier podcast and we talked about 84 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: the Salem witch trials that ergot is a type of 85 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 1: mold that grows on grain, and even after that grain 86 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:21,720 Speaker 1: has been processed and ground and made into bread, it 87 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: still affects people who ingest it. So he was suggesting 88 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: that they had ergot poisoning, But later scholars came along 89 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:32,119 Speaker 1: and said, no, that's not exactly right, because the type 90 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:35,600 Speaker 1: of effects that ergot has are similar to L s D. 91 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:38,919 Speaker 1: So these people wouldn't be flailing around, they would be 92 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 1: in trance like state. They'd be tripping and also maybe contorting, 93 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:46,719 Speaker 1: but nothing like his actual dance movement, No for sure. 94 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:50,320 Speaker 1: Then Robert Bartholome you later proposed that it was a 95 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: sociological phenomenon and the dancers were members of some sort 96 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: of ritualized group and this is how they expressed themselves. 97 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: But I don't think any and gives much credence to 98 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: that view, because again, these people were really unhappy about 99 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:07,080 Speaker 1: what was happening, and they were dropping dead right right. 100 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:09,839 Speaker 1: People kept pointing back to the fact that no, they 101 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 1: looked as though they were dancing against their will even 102 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: though they couldn't stop. So we have a different historian 103 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:19,039 Speaker 1: who's coming out with a book I believe in September 104 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: UM called A Time to Dance A Time to Die, 105 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: and his name is John Waller, and his theory is 106 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: that it was a mass psychogenic illness. And while I 107 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:33,880 Speaker 1: was written before about the dancing plague, and he seems 108 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:37,839 Speaker 1: to be one of the most cided experts at about 109 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,040 Speaker 1: the dancing like a fifteen, I know that all of 110 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,160 Speaker 1: the sources that I consulted, or most of them, I 111 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:44,839 Speaker 1: should say, mentioned his name in some way, whether he 112 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,560 Speaker 1: was running the article or he was an expert consulted. 113 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: But his name is sort of synonymous with his dancing 114 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: plague because he proposed what seems to be the likeliest 115 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: explanation for the madness. It was group beliefs turning into 116 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:02,640 Speaker 1: collective act sction basically is the idea behind it, and 117 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:06,240 Speaker 1: that during to put it at things in context. During 118 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: that time, a lot was going on in medieval Europe, 119 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 1: including lots and lots of famines, um, lots of deaths 120 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 1: that followed, and psychologically the people of the time, we're 121 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 1: not in a good mindset now. Many were suffering from 122 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,720 Speaker 1: malnutrition and people had been reduced to begging in the streets, 123 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 1: and it was it was very hard to cope as 124 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: a community. One could imagine to see your neighbors, you know, dying, 125 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: And basically what happens with that kind of thing is, 126 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 1: you know, one person gets this. It's also known as 127 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 1: mass hysteria, but one person gets the belief and it's 128 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,960 Speaker 1: sort of transmitted through the community much like a virus 129 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:52,360 Speaker 1: would be. Like, you have to think of it as 130 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,679 Speaker 1: sort of a physical epidemic, and it goes from person 131 00:07:55,720 --> 00:08:00,160 Speaker 1: to person as everyone buys into that collective conscious And 132 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:03,640 Speaker 1: if you're looking for some other examples of this type 133 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: of contagion, there are plenty out there. And there's the 134 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: Tanganika laughter epidemic of nineteen sixty two, which is what 135 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: most people, I think talk about when they're talking about 136 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 1: mass hysteria, which is when a bunch of girls at 137 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: a boarding school started laughing and couldn't stop for days 138 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: and it just kept going and going, and it does 139 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 1: seem to be something that happens more often to girls 140 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:29,440 Speaker 1: and the more recent examples. There was also another one 141 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:32,839 Speaker 1: in Chalco, Mexico or six d girls at a boarding 142 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:36,240 Speaker 1: school came down with the same mass hysteria epidemic. Hysteria 143 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: affects men as well, though. There's um a phenomenon known 144 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 1: as cora cora, excuse me, which affects people in Asia 145 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:47,480 Speaker 1: and Africa, where the men think that someone has stolen 146 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:51,439 Speaker 1: their genitalia. And these penis thieves can be just people 147 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:52,959 Speaker 1: who say come up to you in the bus or 148 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: in the street and maybe bump up against you or 149 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 1: asked directions to a place that doesn't exist, and then 150 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 1: the men report feeling their genitalia either shrink or disappear 151 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 1: inside themselves, and you know, they'll start yelling about the 152 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:10,600 Speaker 1: penis thief. And actually several people have been murdered for 153 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:13,920 Speaker 1: the supposed penis thievery, and it's something they can't prove 154 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 1: because you'll go to a doctor and of course someone's 155 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: penis is still there, because this is a psychological kind 156 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:23,440 Speaker 1: of thing, but it has really serious implications because again, 157 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: several people have been killed in two thousand and one 158 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:29,559 Speaker 1: in Nigeria, there were at least twelve murders of suspected 159 00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:33,440 Speaker 1: penis thieves. And while these cases can be difficult to 160 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: study without empirical evidence like you would get from perhaps 161 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:40,600 Speaker 1: studying a parasite, they shouldn't be taken lightly. I mean, 162 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:42,720 Speaker 1: they may be interesting to listen to. I know, I 163 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: was certainly fascinated by the penis they it's exactly and 164 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:49,440 Speaker 1: it's been written up and everything from medical journals too. 165 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 1: I think you had an article from Harper's even it's 166 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:57,560 Speaker 1: it's really gripping. But um, you can see how history 167 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:02,199 Speaker 1: plays into these k pieces of mass hysteria. For instance, 168 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 1: during times of war like h during the time of 169 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:10,520 Speaker 1: the Cold War, when people feared some sort of retaliation, 170 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: they would start smelling noxious fumes around them, especially in 171 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:18,319 Speaker 1: public places, and people would begin to act very strangely. 172 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:21,400 Speaker 1: Groups of people would begin fainting or they would begin 173 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 1: having headaches. And two, study mass hysteria in conjunction with history, 174 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: I think is to more fully understand the minds of 175 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:35,840 Speaker 1: the people who are living in that moment, and culture 176 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:39,760 Speaker 1: definitely plays apart into it. Um. One article was saying 177 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:44,679 Speaker 1: that they should be called sociogenic illnesses because without the culture, 178 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:47,719 Speaker 1: the illness doesn't exist. So without those people in that 179 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:50,559 Speaker 1: place in history, it doesn't exist. Like you know, we'll 180 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:53,959 Speaker 1: talk about say, body dysmorphic disorder in the United States, 181 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:58,040 Speaker 1: but if you're not in a westernized country, that might 182 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:00,680 Speaker 1: not be something that you're worrying about, because that seed 183 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,680 Speaker 1: of fear was never planted, whereas it would never occur 184 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:05,959 Speaker 1: to one of us to worry that our breasts were 185 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:09,360 Speaker 1: going to disappear. But if you lived in another place, 186 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:12,320 Speaker 1: in a different culture, that would be the kind of 187 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: thing that you would worry about. So I hope that 188 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 1: these insights into the sociological, psychological, neurological, biological AM I'm 189 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: missing anything parasitical historical UM and I forgot where I 190 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,520 Speaker 1: was doing with that. So all those all those lists 191 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: of eagles, if you will, yes, all those egles to 192 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 1: to put it um in a non academic way, but 193 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:42,120 Speaker 1: they do, like Katie said, influenced the way that we 194 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:46,840 Speaker 1: conceive of history, and they make something like the very 195 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 1: mysterious dancing plague of fifteen eighteen into an actual thing 196 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:55,200 Speaker 1: that we can study and try to understand. And if 197 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:57,839 Speaker 1: you want to learn more about the Dancing Plague of 198 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: fifteen eighteen, as well as other instance is of mass hysteria, 199 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:04,280 Speaker 1: and where history and medicine come together. Take a look 200 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: at our blog post on the homepage at how stuff 201 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: works dot com, and don't forget to check out Monsters 202 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 1: Inside Me on the Discovery Channel Wednesdays at nine. For 203 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:16,960 Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how 204 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:19,280 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com and be sure to check out 205 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:21,520 Speaker 1: the stuff you missed in History Class blog on the 206 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com home page.