The Boogie Woogie Flu Trivia Quiz

Answer: Germany

Like most of the dancing mania plagues, this one started in what is now Germany. Bernburg is a small town that is mostly known for the cruel Nazi mental institute that was housed there during World War II. However, over a millennium before then Bernburg was the scene of the world's first dancing plague.

It affected a group of about a dozen peasants. The peasants broke into a church during the Christmas celebrations.

Answer: The Pied Piper of Hamelin

In the story of the Pied Piper, the piper leads the children of Hamelin out of town by luring them away with his pipe. In the 1237 outbreak, the dancing mania caused several children in the town of Erfurt to dance their way over 12 miles to the town of Arnstadt. All of the children were returned home, but some died soon afterward.

The legend states that the children who lived suffered from tremors for the rest of their lives (which may have been some kind of early onset Parkinson's Disease if true).

Answer: St. Vitus's Dance

The dancing mania was at one time believed to be caused by St. Vitus. In 1278, hundreds of people were afflicted with St. Vitus's Dance. The phenomenon caused the collapse of a bridge because of the weight of all the people dancing on it. Some people died from the collapse, but others were taken to the St. Vitus Chapel and were healed.

The mania has also been blamed on St. John the Baptist.

Answer: Binding them in tight clothing

A common remedy was called binding, which would involve wrapping an afflicted person in tight clothing, similar to a straitjacket or even mummies. Oftentimes, this would be difficult to do to a person thrashing about, so the person would often also be kicked or knocked unconscious. Other failed remedies included locking the person in a dark room, eating a lot of bread and exorcisms.

Answer: Dance marathon competitions

There are a number of theories as to what caused these dancing mania outbreaks, but the actual cause or causes is unknown. One of the most popular theories is that dance mania was caused by stressed-induced psychological problems. Many of the outbreaks occurred around the same time as the Black Plague and many people feared they would contract that, and the stress caused them to dance uncontrollably instead.

Another theory is that the victims of dance mania were intentionally dancing nonstop as part of some kind of unusual religious ceremony, or were possessed by witches.

The Italian dance known as the Tarantella may have originated as part of the dancing mania. It was believed that an outbreak of dance mania in Italy was caused by poisonous tarantula bites. This cannot be true since tarantula bites are not normally poisonous, but that was a popular theory at the time.

Answer: Bored housewives

Paracelsus was a noted physician in 16th century Europe. He traveled to Strasbourg in 1526 after one of the largest cases of dancing mania had ended. While there, he interviewed dozens of people who were afflicted, as well as witnesses, and determined the cause of dancing mania was sexually frustrated or bored housewives looking for something to do. Paracelsus also stated that he did believe some of the victims may have had other illness and joined in the phenomenon to seek attention.

Answer: Frau Troffea

Frau Troffea is said to be the first victim of the Great Dancing Plague of 1518 in Strasborg that spread to other places. Frau Troffea is said to have danced day and night for three days until blood filled her shoes. Eventually, she would fall asleep for a short time, only to resume dancing uncontrollably when she woke up. Over the course of several weeks, over 400 hundred people were afflicted.

Many of them died at an estimated rate of 15 deaths per day. Historians are unsure what caused this plague, but suspect ergot poisoning of the wheat crop, though physicians at the time said the victims were dancing because their blood was too hot.

Answer: Somewhat aware of the dancing but unable to stop it

Most people afflicted with dance mania who lived describe remembering they were moving uncontrollably but were totally unable to do anything about it. They also claimed they had no idea of their surroundings, only of the fact that they were moving. People affected by dancing mania often wound up in places obscure or far away, including other towns, in forests and even in lakes and rivers.

Answer: All of these

Various historical accounts of dancing mania state that adult victims would often rip their clothes and start having sex. This led to the idea that the people were possessed by the Devil or witches. In addition, most victims would scream uncontrollably and very loudly.

Some would also sing, and it was not uncommon for local governments to provide musicians to play music for those dancing. It was also not unusual for unaffected people to dress up in elaborate costumes and join in as if they had dancing mania.

Answer: Red

Bartholomew stated in his research "Rethinking the Dancing Mania" that, when dancers were exposed to the color red, they would begin to dance more furiously, similar to a bull becoming enraged when a red cape is waved in a bullfight (though bulls cannot see the color red). Bartholomew also stated that the dancers also hated pointy shoes, and would dance harder if their feet were touched.