The Dancing Plague of 1518 The Plague That Made People Dance to their Deaths Detail from a 1642 engraving depicting people suffering from the dancing plague — Source : Wikimedia Commons You might find it hard to believe, but this is what happened in the small city of Strasbourg in 1518; people danced themselves to death in what’s known as the Dancing Plague of 1518. How Did It Start? It all started with a woman named Lady Troffea(or Frau Troffea)kicking off her break-a-leg dancing in a busy street of Strasbourg (then Holy Roman Empire, today Modern France)in July 1518. Seeing her energy, onlookers started clapping and cheering at her high spirits. But the Lady Troffea dance-a-thon was not a case of euphoria , as it soon became apparent. The woman twisted, twirled, and gyrated for six days straight (stopped in the evening and continued again in the morning). Thirty-four locals joined the “party” within a week. Physicians, who had no clue, suggested the people be allowed to d...