CLASSIC - Dancing Plague, to Gulf War Syndrome, To Long COVID

When Life Gives You Lemons · Feb 11, 2026 · 31m · transcript

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A woman dances through the streets of 1518 Strasbourg until she collapses. Decades later, veterans return from the Gulf War with symptoms no one can neatly explain. Today, long COVID lingers, a modern mystery that feels unsettlingly familiar. We connect these threads to ask a bigger question: how do we care for people when causes hide in the fog?

We dig into the dancing plague’s competing theories—from ergot-tainted grain to mass stress shaped by famine, fear, and faith—and how ritual cures like red shoes and shrine pilgrimages reflected the beliefs of the time. Then we map…