People Danced Themselves to Death During the Dancing Plague of 1518

Historians and scientists are still baffled by the mysterious illness

Dancing mania by Pieter Breughel the Younger, shows the dancing frenzy which often affected medieval Europe. Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

Frau Troffea, a housewife in Strasbourg, burst into a spontaneous dance on a hot summer day in July 1518. She kept dancing although there was no music, much to the amusement of her neighbors and the annoyance of her husband.