Weird History (Bonus): The Town That Danced Itself to Death

Crime Salad

Weird Salad Media

True Crime

4.4 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 July 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the summer of 1518, the people of Strasbourg started dancing… and just didn’t stop. No, seriously—they danced for days, some even to their deaths. Was it a curse? A case of mass hysteria? Or just some really bad moldy bread?

In this fun bonus episode, Ashley and Ricky are taking a little break from true crime to bring you something weird from history. Don’t worry—our regular weekly crime episodes aren’t going anywhere. We just love strange stories and history… and we love you.

Thanks for listening and keeping things crunchy!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everyone. Before we get into today's very weird, very real story, we've got something new to share. So if you've been listening to Crime Salad for a while, you know that we usually focus on true crime cases, murders, disappearances, all that dark stuff.
0:25.7	But lately, we've been craving something a little different, not crime exactly.
0:31.0	Not always tragic, but still dark and strange and sometimes downright unbelievable.
0:35.8	So we're starting this new series under the
0:38.0	crime salad umbrella and we're calling it weird history because why not keep it creepy and crunchy?
0:44.6	Yeah, exactly. We're testing this thing out every week along with our normal episodes. This is just
0:51.2	kind of like a bonus episode on your feed. And we'll be diving into
0:54.5	some of the strangest moments in history. Stories that might have been forgotten, misunderstood,
1:00.0	or just flat out sound fake. But they are 100% real. It's still us just with more weirdness,
1:07.2	more side eye, and maybe a few medieval curses thrown in for good measure.
1:12.5	Yeah, and we want to know what you think. So if you're into this, shoot us a message,
1:17.2	leave us a review, or tag us on social media. We're testing this thing out, so your feedback
1:22.4	means everything. And just a warning, things might get weird. Yes. So let's do it.
1:29.7	So this is going to sound fake, but I promise it's very real.
1:33.1	In the summer of 1518, in the city of Strasbourg, a woman stepped into the street and started dancing.
1:41.4	No music, no band, no party, just one woman dancing. And then more people
1:47.4	joined her and more until dozens of people were dancing through the streets nonstop.
1:53.1	Some danced until they collapsed. Some danced until they died. And you'd think this was like
1:58.5	a flash mob out of 2013. But this was 1518, and they didn't stop, not for water, not for sleep, and not even for death.
2:08.9	Yeah, this bizarre, deadly Danzov became one of the strangest medical mysteries in recorded history.
2:16.2	Today, we're going back 500 years to find out what the heck happened in Strasbourg
2:20.7	and whether mass hysteria, moldy bread, or something even darker was to blame.
	...

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