Episode 94: Dance! Dance, dance, dance!: Mass Hysteria, Dancing Plagues, and Outrage Culture

In the sixteenth century, Frau Troffea stepped out of her house into the streets of Strasbourg and started dancing. She didn't stop even though her feet grew bloody and her body became physically exhausted until many days later when she was taken to the shrine of St. Vitus. While she was dancing, others joined in and at one point up to 400 people had been afflicted by the "dancing plague". In this episode, Marc and Kristina wrap up their discussion about crowd behavior by talking about the extremes. They discuss the reasons why psychologists and historians think the dancing plagues happened, what other mass hysterical events have occurred over time, and how mass hysteria may manifest today. If you'd like more content, please join the patreon at patreon.com/genxtemporaneous.

Sources

Waller, John. 2009. The Dancing Plague: The Strange, True Story of an Extraordinary Illness. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks.

“What Is Mass Hysteria?” 2018. Www.medicalnewstoday.com. July 27, 2018. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322607#Recent-instances-of-mass-hysteria.

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/marc-snediker/support