The Dancing Plague of 1518

In 1518, the residents of Strasbourg, France, experienced a bizarre and terrifying phenomenon known as the Dancing Plague. It began with a woman who started dancing uncontrollably in the streets, and soon dozens of others joined in. They danced for days without stopping, with some collapsing from exhaustion or even dying. The cause of the dancing mania remains a mystery to this day, with theories ranging from mass hysteria to ergot poisoning (a fungus that can affect the brain). The strange epidemic was a real-life example of a historical mystery that has baffled scholars for centuries.