https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow 400 Dead Due to Dancing! By: Sara and Katelynn en-us 2016-10-19 19:13:07 UTC 2025-11-28 13:28:44 UTC hello@padlet.com saathoffsara https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/131907429 Strasbourg, France is where it all began. In July of 1518, a woman named Frau Traffea was on the streets of France, and began a dedicated dancing vigil that lasted between 4 to 6 days. One woman started it, and others joined her. Within a month, there were 400 people involved. There were reports of people dancing themselves to "death". Most died from pure exhaustion.]]> 2016-10-19 19:20:39 UTC https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/131907429 https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/131907450 Everyone who was involved paid the price. Over 400 people involved died from many different causes, like exhaustion, heart attack, and starvation. This crazy dancing mania took place for 3 months.]]> 2016-10-19 19:20:42 UTC https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/131907450 https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/131907969 One cause may be that the people suffered from famine, diseases like smallpox and syphilis. John Waller thought stress played a big part. "Anxiety and false gripped the region," said Waller. Waller's theory is it was caused by an ergot fungus,  the organic version of LSD. Ergot is extremely poisonous, and it is far more likely to kill people.  ]]> 2016-10-19 19:22:39 UTC https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/131907969 saathoffsara https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/131909973 Many people saw Frau Traffea dancing in the streets, so they decided to join her. By the end of the week, 34 other had joined her, and within a month, the crowd of dancing, hopping, and leaping individuals had swelled to 400. Authorities prescribed "more dancing" to cure the tormented movers, but by summer's end, dozens in the Alsatian city had died of heart attacks, strokes, and pure exhaustion due to the non-stop dancing.]]> 2016-10-19 19:29:50 UTC https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/131909973 https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/132212741 It came to an end in September of 1518. It does not really say how, but I think it just slowly stopped. People stopped participating in it. Another reason I thought was just that so many people died that other people started doing something about it. For example, making them stop, or putting them in jail.]]> 2016-10-20 19:50:58 UTC https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/132212741 saathoffsara https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/132213074 Stopping the dancing would be difficult, but a few things that could be done to stop the "crazy dancing mania" would be tying the dancers to their beds. Getting the dancers off the streets would be difficult, but with some teamwork we would be able to stop the constant dancing.]]> 2016-10-20 19:52:27 UTC https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/132213074 saathoffsara https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/133160650 Author, Wallis Paul. "Mystery explained? 'Dancing Plague' of 1518, the bizarre dance that killed dozens." 13 August  2008. Digital Journal  
13 October 2015]]> 2016-10-25 20:02:34 UTC https://padlet.com/saathoffsara/rainbow/wish/133160650