Dancing plague

In the annals of history, there are bizarre and unexplained phenomena that captivate our imagination. One such enigma is the dancing plague, also known as the dancing mania or choreomania. Spanning several centuries in Europe, this bewildering phenomenon gripped communities, causing people to dance uncontrollably.

The Wedding Dance

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The tarantella is named for a peasant woman from southern Italy whose tarantula bite started a contagious dancing fever!

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Explore the British Museum collection and journey through two million years of human history.

Freska Ples mrtvaca, Vincent od Kastva, 1474.Beram, Istra, Croatia 1.7.2014.

Filling a mass grave at night during the Plague of London, c 1665. Engraving, possibly 19th century, showing a group of men with torches in a churchyard, preparing to empty the contents of a covered cart into the ‘Great Pit’ in Aldgate. Credit © Science Museum / Science & Society Picture Library -- All rights reserved.