Ever felt like you just couldn't stop dancing? Your favorite song's playing and you've gotta leave but you just can't bring yourself to stop flailing your arms with glee? Well, MAN UP. Because it could be way, way worse. In Strasbourg, France in 1518, the people came down with a serious-ass illness: The Dancing Plague.
And I thought my weird Uncle Frank was the only one who couldn't stop dancing at inappropriate times.
It began when one woman started to dance uncontrollably in the street for days. After a week she was joined by a crowd of more than 30, and within a month there were 400 people who just couldn't stop boogying 24/7. Awesomely, local physicians prescribed... wait for it...
more dancing as the cure.
I've got a fever and the only prescription is more frenzied hysterical dancing!
Town officials opened two guild halls and a market for people to dance in, built a stage, and even hired musicians to accompany the madness so the afflicted could dance it all out and cure themselves sooner.
There are more dehydrated freaks in this guild hall than the rave tent at Coachella!
The french nutcases danced so hard that several even died from heart attacks and exhaustion. No one's sure what caused the dancing bug, but one historian suggests mass psychogenic illness (pretty much mass hysteria) as a result of excessively hard times in the region-- horrible and unusual weather, a sinking economic situation, disease, lack of food, spiritual maladies... sounds a bit familiar, actually. Moral of the story? If you notice people dancing in the street, blame the Tea Party.
We're going to drive you crazy. No seriously. Did I just see your leg twitch? Did you just shake your hips? YOU'RE GOING TO DIE.
Happy April Fool's Day! Shockingly, this story is 100% real. Remember kids, when an out-of-breath dude with a goatee and wide-leg black pants asks you if you want a light show, just say no. You could die.
-The Rad Historian
