Hmm, I think, like you said Andrew, this tale probably grew in the telling. However, I know for a fact if I started dancing in the street people would just run away rather than join in 🤔
Ha! The great thing about punk clubs (especially in the 90s when I was going) is how small they were. You really couldn't rear back to do any real damage, so it was a lot safer.
Guess it's hard to say now, but seeing how we have records of similar mass hysteria events, e.g. the laughing epidemic at a boarding school in Tanganyika (had to look it up to refresh my memory), there's probably a mixture of real events and exaggerations.
And the cure was to throw them in the river! Dancing madness was, in the humoral science of the time, attributed to a hot melancholy, an affliction of dryness.
I read about this in a book about unexpained incidents sometime back:
I cannot think of anyone who can dance for 24 hours, but it comes from someone who has never danced so take it with a big grain of salt. So, I have three explanations:
1. Can we apply the below quote to this incident?
History isn’t what happened but what gets written down, - Casey Cep, Furious Hours
2. A story turned into an actual event for some reason?
3. A minor incident became a tall tale, as you said.
Yeah, I think it just kinda snowballed. People were rewarded (socially) by telling better stories, so folks just embellished whatever started as the kernel.
The real tall tales are in the TV series called The Ancient Aliens. I am not trying to say that they are entirely wrong, as some things cannot be explained easily. However, that does not mean that there are aliens involved. My issue with the series is that it starts with the premise that Aliens did it and then creates a story around it to explain it. I sometimes watch it to see what our ancient civilizations were able to accomplish without modern equipment and technologies and also to see what tall tale those folks will come up with. They discount human ingenuity and forget that if we cannot do something without modern equipment today, there are other ways. It would be a method or technology that got lost over the centuries.
Yes, that show is silly. It does encourage some folks to think, but it confuses far more folks by not making clear the difference between fantasy and reality.
If they just were dancing, they got off easy. Most other plagues killed you on the spot then.
Unless it's like new country music.
AI absolutely nailed the image for this one.
I think you've got the right explanations. The further back in history (the fewer pieces of evidence that exist) the greater the exaggerations.
That said, if 400 people did dance for days nonstop... boy do I want to hear the music they danced to.
Sam, I would hope it was punk-adjacent, but then again, when you're on powerful drugs, it might not matter so much.
AI sure did try to nail the image, but it had a LOT of help from yours truly this time! Lots of prompting and correcting went into this puppy.
Hmm, I think, like you said Andrew, this tale probably grew in the telling. However, I know for a fact if I started dancing in the street people would just run away rather than join in 🤔
Ha! The great thing about punk clubs (especially in the 90s when I was going) is how small they were. You really couldn't rear back to do any real damage, so it was a lot safer.
But out in the street like that? Yikes.
It wouldn't surprise me if it was just an exaggeration.
Me neither. I think some weird stuff happened - don't get me wrong! but it was like small scale weird stuff.
Love this bit of history. If this is what mass illness looks like, I'm not so opposed.
I thought about you and meant to tag you! Glad you saw this one. :)
I love how we online writers dip in and out of each other's lives, not just in inboxes but also in our thoughts.
How did you know I was thinking about more coffee just now?!?
Get out of my head!
:-p
You and Sadbook really do think alike sometimes. Makes me smile... https://sadbook.substack.com/p/phone-line (Maybe you are eating the same grains. ;-) )
Almost certainly not because of the telephone!
Guess it's hard to say now, but seeing how we have records of similar mass hysteria events, e.g. the laughing epidemic at a boarding school in Tanganyika (had to look it up to refresh my memory), there's probably a mixture of real events and exaggerations.
The Tanganyika laughter epidemic could be another interesting one to write about.
And the cure was to throw them in the river! Dancing madness was, in the humoral science of the time, attributed to a hot melancholy, an affliction of dryness.
I don't *think* they threw anyone into the river at Strasbourg, but folks certainly did this in plenty of other spots.
https://youtu.be/h1sRBeparVY
Life in 1518 probably sucked. People just wanted to chill.
I might go a few steps beyond "probably." It was wretched!
I read about this in a book about unexpained incidents sometime back:
I cannot think of anyone who can dance for 24 hours, but it comes from someone who has never danced so take it with a big grain of salt. So, I have three explanations:
1. Can we apply the below quote to this incident?
History isn’t what happened but what gets written down, - Casey Cep, Furious Hours
2. A story turned into an actual event for some reason?
3. A minor incident became a tall tale, as you said.
Yeah, I think it just kinda snowballed. People were rewarded (socially) by telling better stories, so folks just embellished whatever started as the kernel.
The real tall tales are in the TV series called The Ancient Aliens. I am not trying to say that they are entirely wrong, as some things cannot be explained easily. However, that does not mean that there are aliens involved. My issue with the series is that it starts with the premise that Aliens did it and then creates a story around it to explain it. I sometimes watch it to see what our ancient civilizations were able to accomplish without modern equipment and technologies and also to see what tall tale those folks will come up with. They discount human ingenuity and forget that if we cannot do something without modern equipment today, there are other ways. It would be a method or technology that got lost over the centuries.
Yes, that show is silly. It does encourage some folks to think, but it confuses far more folks by not making clear the difference between fantasy and reality.
This one sent me on a deep dive to a few other examples, though it seems this is the largest
(or most exaggerated) account. It did lead me to be reminded of this band from my teen years. Sludgecore pioneers! https://youtu.be/JcmPmHmmXGw?si=aHnczfKIvedit6ZQ