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The Dancing Plague of Strasburg apparently started when a woman, Frau Troffea, began to dance fervently in a street in Strasbourg. Within a week, 34 more people had joined, and within a month, there were around 400 dancers. Most of these people eventually died from heart attack, stroke, or exhaustion.

Apparently the local authorities were so concerned about the dancers that they provided musicians in the belief that the people would be cured by the dancing itself.

Reasons for the dancing plague vary from mass psychogenic illness (MPI), a manifestation of mass hysteria that is often preceded by extreme levels of psychological distress, to ergot, a mould that grows on rye. Ingestion of ergot in bread made from the affected rye can lead to delirium, hallucinations, and seizures, as well as other symptoms.

When did this take place - July 1518...