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The Dancing Plague of 1518: Why Did Hundreds Dance Until They Collapsed?
In 1518 Strasbourg, hundreds of people reportedly began dancing uncontrollably, creating one of history’s strangest mass outbreaks. Authorities initially made things worse by encouraging the dancing, while some victims reportedly died from exhaustion.
Centuries later, researchers still debate whether mass psychogenic illness, extreme social stress, or ergot poisoning triggered the bizarre phenomenon.
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The skinny
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