Today’s Dancing Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
The Dancing Plague (or Dance Epidemic) of 1518 was a case of dancing mania that occurred in Strasbourg, Alsace (then part of the Holy Roman Empire) in July 1518. Around 400 people took to dancing for days without rest, and, over the period of about one month, some of those affected died of heart attack, stroke, or exhaustion.
The outbreak began in July 1518, when a woman, Mrs Troffea, began to dance fervently in a street in Strasbourg. This lasted somewhere between four to six days. Within a week, 34 others had joined, and within a month, there were around 400 dancers, predominantly female. Some of these people eventually died from heart attacks, strokes, or exhaustion.
Historical documents, including “physician notes, cathedral sermons, local and regional chronicles, and even notes issued by the Strasbourg city council” are clear that the victims danced. It is not known why these people danced, some even to their deaths.
As the dancing plague worsened, concerned nobles sought the advice of local physicians, who ruled out astrological and supernatural causes, instead announcing that the plague was a “natural disease” caused by “hot blood”. However, instead of prescribing bleeding, authorities encouraged more dancing, in part by opening two guildhalls and a grain market, and even constructing a wooden stage. The authorities did this because they believed that the dancers would recover only if they danced continuously night and day. To increase the effectiveness of the cure, authorities even paid for musicians to keep the afflicted moving.
Historian John Waller stated that a marathon runner could not have lasted the intense workout that the men and women died from hundreds of years ago.
Culled from: Wikipedia
Graciously suggested by: My Awesome GF Paula
Morbid Mirth Du Jour!
So I am kind of obsessed with the skeleton calendars produced by the Antikamnia Chemical Company in the late 19th/early 20th century. I keep thinking someone will surely release reproductions of them as prints so that I can have my favorite (Sep/Oct 1897 as shown below) on my wall. I did find a few on Etsy, but not the ones I want. I’m still looking, but I did stumble across a beautiful “reproduction” of one on Ebay.
First, here’s my favorite – the most beautiful baby that has ever existed. If anyone finds a print of this, please let me know!
And then here’s the original of the “reproduction”:
