Jig of the Damned: The Dancing Plague of 1518 | 358
Hysteria 51
ForthHand Media
4.3 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 20 December 2023
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on Hysteria 51, we're time-traveling back to 1518, and trust us, it's not for the mead or the minstrels! We're diving feet first into one of history's most baffling mysteries – the Dancing Plague of 1518. Imagine this: one day, you're baking bread, and the next, you're busting moves in the streets of Strasbourg without a stop button!
Join us as we shimmy through the theories – from mass hysteria to ergot-fueled rye parties, and even a supernatural dance-off. Was it a curse from St. Vitus? A case of medieval Footloose? Or perhaps, an elaborate 16th-century flash mob gone incredibly wrong?
We'll explore the eerie, the bizarre, and the (unintentionally) hilarious side of this historical head-scratcher. Did the authorities try to cure it with more dancing? Spoiler alert: Yes, they did, and let's just say, their problem-solving skills were... unique.
Websites
Dancing Plague Wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_plague_of_1518
Dancing Mania Wiki - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_maniav
Social Phenomenon Wiki - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_phenomenon
The Public Domain Review - https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-dancing-plague-of-1518/
The Lancet - https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(09)60386-X/fulltext
Science Direct - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160932708000379
History Skills - https://www.historyskills.com/classroom/year-8/dancing-plague/
Musical Credit
"Anxiety" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | In July 1518, Strasbourg, then a part of the Holy Roman Empire, a peculiar and troubling |
| 0:10.5 | event unfolded that has since captured the imagination of historians, scientists |
| 0:16.0 | and storytellers alike. |
| 0:18.5 | This was the dancing plague of 1518, a bizarre epidemic of uncontrollable dancing. |
| 0:27.1 | The story, steeped in mystery and infused with myths, conspiracies, and even paranormal theories, is a rich tapestry of human experience and historical |
| 0:38.4 | enigma. |
| 0:40.0 | Was it a strange sickness? |
| 0:42.4 | Just a weird social phenomenon, or something more sinister? |
| 0:49.1 | Find out this week on Hysteria 51. |
| 0:53.0 | They say I'm disturbed. |
| 0:55.0 | From city to city an incredible hysterical panic spread. |
| 0:58.0 | I think we're getting into a weird area here. |
| 1:00.0 | We use tell me the spools are not crazy. |
| 1:04.0 | This hysteria. |
| 1:05.0 | You can't handle the truth. |
| 1:08.0 | This brain is gone. |
| 1:10.0 | This is Hysteria 51. Here. |
| 1:14.0 | The truth is out there. |
| 1:16.0 | It's alive. |
| 1:17.0 | But you won't find it here. |
| 1:19.0 | They're coming for you. |
| 1:20.0 | Look, there comes one of them now. |
... |
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