The Dancing Plague of 1518

One afternoon, my Pandora station played the old 80's hit "Saftey Dance"

After 30 years, I decided to look into the lyrics.
Perhaps I am wrong, but I think the real message is clear to me.

I am currently creating evergreen podcasts about unique topics in history. This seemed like a great issue to research.
The video is an experiment. A podcast is meant to be heard, not watched.
I'm not sure the video helps, but it was a fun experiment, none the less.

It's only ten minutes. If you watch, I hope you enjoy.

The Dancing Plauge of 1518

safety!
Safety-dance!
Ah we can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind
Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're are no friends of mine
I say, we can go where we want to, a place where they will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind,
And we can dance
We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind
Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're are no friends of mine
I say, we can go where we want to a place where they will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind
And we can dance.
Dances!
Ah we can go when we want to the night is young and so am i
And we can dress real neat from our hats to our feet
And surprise 'em with the victory cry
I say we can act if want to if we don't nobody will
And you can act real rude and totally removed
And i can act like an imbecile
I say we can dance, we can dance everything out control
We can dance, we can dance we're doing it wall to wall
We can dance, we can dance everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance everybody takin' the chance
Safety dance
Oh well the safety dance
Ah yes the safety dance
Safety
Safety-dance
We can dance if we want to, we've got all your life and mine
As long as we abuse it, never gonna lose it
Everything'll work out right
I say, we can dance if we want to we can leave your friends behind
Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're are no friends of mine
I say we can dance, we can dance everything out of control
We can dance, we can dance we're doing it wall to wall
We can dance, we can dance everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance everybody's takin' the chance
Oh well the safety dance
Ah yes the safety dance
Oh well the safety dance
Oh well the safety dance
Oh yes the safety dance
Oh the safety dance yeah
Oh it's the safety dance
It's the safety dance
Well it's the safety dance
Oh it's the safety dance
Oh it's the safety dance
Oh it's the safety dance
Oh it's the safety dance
Songwriters: Ivan Doroschuk
The Safety Dance lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

was that the one with the ergot fungus?
theory that the Salem witch trials were caused partly by ergot sufferers.

sometimes this world seems like a minefield with threats and hazards around every corner.

originally posted by: ElGoobero
was that the one with the ergot fungus?
theory that the Salem witch trials were caused partly by ergot sufferers.

sometimes this world seems like a minefield with threats and hazards around every corner.

Ergot fungus is one of the theories for sure.

I mention this with incredible skill and compelling music!

Fascinating Leder. After reading the link you provided while listening to your podcast I found another link to Tanganyika_laughter_epidemic
en.wikipedia.org...

Makes me wonder about just how much we do not know about humans. Weird stuff like this. Mass delusions, drugs in our food or air we breathe. Lifes stresses pushing and pulling us in ways we don't even know are happening. Makes me wonder about our world today.

We seem to have two political perspectives that from one level has one side pointing to the other and screaming ''crazy, your delusional, your brainwashed'' while at the very same time the other side points back and says the very same thing.

Is it unreasonable to think of some of these extreme positions in the same light as the dancers and the laughers? Some kind of mass delusion? Me no you no you not me. I dunno, just kind of off in rumination this morning Led. Thanks to you and this left field tale you have brought us.

Edit to add, or maybe ''right field''. Crazy huh?

I don’t believe ergot was the cause of this. Ergot contains Lysergic acid which is very dysphoric and isn’t going to make people go wild dancing in the streets. Hiding under a table naked talking to themselves, maybe.

originally posted by: underwerks
I don’t believe ergot was the cause of this. Ergot contains Lysergic acid which is very dysphoric and isn’t going to make people go wild dancing in the streets. Hiding under a table naked talking to themselves, maybe.

Ummm...oh...I don't know about that...or...rather I possibly might...

All of those times that I "experimented" with Lysergic acid diethylamide ...I never once felt like hiding naked under the table talking to myself...

Nor...however...did I dance wildly in the streets...it was more in between those two extremes...I really did enjoy those..."experiments"...





YouSir

originally posted by: YouSir

originally posted by: underwerks
I don’t believe ergot was the cause of this. Ergot contains Lysergic acid which is very dysphoric and isn’t going to make people go wild dancing in the streets. Hiding under a table naked talking to themselves, maybe.

Ummm...oh...I don't know about that...or...rather I possibly might...

All of those times that I "experimented" with Lysergic acid diethylamide ...I never once felt like hiding naked under the table talking to myself...

Nor...however...did I dance wildly in the streets...it was more in between those two extremes...I really did enjoy those..."experiments"...

YouSir

Two different substances. The D that LSA is lacking makes all the difference in the world.

originally posted by: underwerks

originally posted by: YouSir

originally posted by: underwerks
I don’t believe ergot was the cause of this. Ergot contains Lysergic acid which is very dysphoric and isn’t going to make people go wild dancing in the streets. Hiding under a table naked talking to themselves, maybe.

Ummm...oh...I don't know about that...or...rather I possibly might...

All of those times that I "experimented" with Lysergic acid diethylamide ...I never once felt like hiding naked under the table talking to myself...

Nor...however...did I dance wildly in the streets...it was more in between those two extremes...I really did enjoy those..."experiments"...

YouSir

Two different substances. The D that LSA is lacking makes all the difference in the world.

Ummm...why...thank you sir...I'll have to do some more...ahem...research...

This does bring to mind however the "zombie fungus" Ophiocordyceps unilateralis...(I googled it)...that controls an ant species and causes them to complete the fungus life cycle...

I wonder if this dancing plague might have had a slightly similar causation from ergot or some other fungus that required this behavior to complete it's life cycle...

However...this begs the question...why hasn't it happened before this...or subsequently...?

Strange also that the other people affected/infected displayed this behavior after close proximity to the original dancer and then passed their behavior on to others as well...

Fun stuff to think about...





YouSir

The St Vitus Dance ... St John's Dance ... or Late Medieval Dancing Mania, etc., strange, strange stuff with no easy explanation.

Though it IS easy, centuries later, to vaguely pronounce the answer as "mass drugging" or "hysteria" and belittle their experiences and records.

My own thoughts are that it was, as reported, weird as heck... and likely more tied to "spiritual energies" rather than chemical or purely psychological sources.

What IS "mass hysteria" anyway?

I hope everyone posting theories has done so AFTER watching the video....

ahem....

a reply to: LedermanStudio

I watched the video. The dancing did not seem drug induced.

It reminded me of other outbreaks I had read about.

Indian Ghost Dance United States History
This started in 1870 and continued on and off until 1890, starting with the Paiutes and spreading to the other tribes in the midwest. The dance assumed many mystical properties and turned into a religion.

"When the dance spread to the Lakota, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agents became alarmed. They claimed that the Lakota had developed a militaristic approach to the dance, and began making "ghost shirts" they believed would protect them from bullets."

The US govt was unable to stop it. Tension rose and finally culmination in the Wounded Knee massacre.

Another thing it brought to mind was the Dance Marathons of the 1920s and 1930s.

"Dance Marathons (also called Walkathons), an American phenomenon of the 1920s and 1930s, were human endurance contests in which couples danced almost non-stop for hundreds of hours (as long as a month or two), competing for prize money."

a reply to: toms54

Thanks for watching. I've wondered about a few of the items you listed.
The breif time that I spent researching, the less concensus that seems to be found.