https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danci ng_Plague_of_1518 what

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>>19157023
Hysteria?

>>19157023
They said it was mostly women, so could it have been something that women were more exposed to than men? I don't really know anything about ergot poisoning, but did women back then handle grain more than men? The wiki article says the dancers mostly died of heart attacks and strokes, while the wiki article for ergotism makes it seem like it's a more long lasting, degenerative thing. Did people back then even know about ergot fungus or whatever? The area was also supposedly affected by starvation and disease, so maybe they ate the fungus infected grains because they had nothing else.

I'd be interested to have a better description of exactly what sort of "dancing" they were doing. What kinds of dance even existed at the time? Were they waltzing or just kind of spasming out there in the road? If it was an actual, known dance, it would be a lot different than them just sort of undulating out in the open. Maybe it was some sort of parasite that the people got from eating something, maybe something that normally isn't eaten but they decided to eat it anyway because they were starving.

>>19157023
http://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/abr/abr104.htm

>>19157023
Ergot poisoning

It causes psychedelic hallucinations similar to that of LSD or mushrooms, but is deadly. I specifically remember one bad shroom trip where I was involuntary dancing, never experienced it with LSD though

>>19157301
this. also, according to wikipedia, the dancing was encouraged as the only way to resolve the situation. music and conditions provided by officials.