Dancing Mania

Dancing mania (or choreomania, from the Greek: χορεία (khoreia = ‘dance’) + μανία (mania = ‘madness’) was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 18th centuries; it involved groups of people, sometimes thousands at a time, who danced uncontrollably and bizarrely, seemingly possessed by the devil. Men, women, and children would dance through the streets of towns or cities, sometimes foaming at the mouth until they collapsed from fatigue.

One of the first major outbreaks was in Aachen, Germany, on June 24, 1374; the populace danced wildly through the streets, screaming of visions and hallucinations, and even continued to writhe and twist after they were too exhausted to stand. The dancing mania quickly spread throughout Europe, said to be “propagated in epidemic fashion by sight” by Dr. Justus Hecker.

Having occurred to thousands of people across several centuries, dancing mania was not a local event, and was, therefore, well-documented in contemporary writings. More outbreaks were reported in the Netherlands, Cologne, Metz, and later Strasbourg (Dancing Plague of 1518), apparently following pilgrimage routes.

Paracelsus called this disease Chorea and was opposed to connect it with St. Vitus or any other relation with religion.

Mass Hysteria

Mass hysteria — other names include collective hysteria, mass psychogenic illness, or collective obsessional behavior — is the socio-psychological phenomenon of the manifestation of the same or similar hysterical symptoms by more than one person. A common manifestation of mass hysteria occurs when a group of people believe they are suffering from a similar disease or ailment.

Mass hysteria typically begins when an individual becomes ill or hysterical during a period of stress. After this initial individual shows symptoms, others begin to manifest similar symptoms, typically nausea, muscle weakness, fits or headache.

The features of mass hysteria include no plausible cause found, ambiguous symptoms, rapid escalation of cases – often spread by line of sight – and rapid remission of symptoms. Demographically, cases are higher in females and those with greater use of medical services. Other factors that contribute to the severity of the symptoms and spread are protective clothing worn by emergency services and mistaken or misleading investigations.

Sightings of religious miracles are often attributed to mass hysteria.