Topic: Exhaustion

1 chapters across the catalog

32: Nocebo
40:27 - 42:46

32: Nocebo

Dancing Plague of 1518, Strasbourg France

The "Dancing Plague" of 1518 in Strasbourg, France, saw 400 people dance uncontrollably for a month, leading to numerous deaths from heart attacks and exhaustion. While theories ranging from spider bites to ergot poisoning were proposed, it remains a primary historical example of mass psychogenic illness. The hosts note that modern mass communication could scale such hysteria.