In 1518 a large group of people suddenly started dancing and couldn't stop until they dropped or died

I know someone who is a retired book dealer who specialised in horror, and is a world class expert on the genre and he said that it was one of the scariest things he’d ever seen, and the scene where they appear in the second story window surprised even him.

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yassssssss.

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where is that from?

But it started with one woman dancing, they say?

(This was where I first saw it, of course.)

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Can’t help wondering if this inspired Hans Christian Andersen:thinking:

The film The Red Shoes definitely conveyed the creepy vibe during the ballet:

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The concept behind The Rite of Spring, developed by Roerich from Stravinsky’s outline idea, is suggested by its subtitle, “Pictures of Pagan Russia in Two Parts”; the scenario depicts various primitive rituals celebrating the advent of spring, after which a young girl is chosen as a sacrificial victim and [is forced to dance] herself to death.

29:30

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Mistery solved!

scooby doo lets do this GIF

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Maybe more of an early ‘Improv Everywhere” thing, then!

(Edited to fix an auto”correction.”)

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The gif? Buffy the Vampire Slayer; the episode is called “Hush”, and there’s almost no dialogue.

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They shoot horse, don’t they?

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Most likely wheat fungus ergot - close to LSD… flour contamination.
Middle Ages rave…

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I am very suspicious about any of these “it was drugs, dude!” stories in history.

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That’s probably a safe stance to take, statistically speaking. But considering that it was at a campground populated by the preeminent ergot connoisseurs of the modern world that I first saw the slogan “Drop till you dance” on the back of an old air cooled minivan, I do have to give that one credence. Especially when it’s continuous dancing in villages that all ate from the same pile of wheat.

I also recently learned that there are a couple ergot derivatives currently in use for both Parkinson’s and prolactin suppression. Not that that proves anything about these cases of course, but I’m still just shocked and fascinated by that fact.

Hang on, a couple of the good episodes of Buffy are being conflated here.

The image is of Sweet, the demon that caused people to sing, and dance themselves to death, in the musical episode, “Once More, with Feeling” (S6:E7).

The creeptacular Gentlemen were from from “Hush” (S4:E10) where everyone’s voice had been taken away so they couldn’t call for help as the Gentlemen and their straitjacketed minions pursued them to cut out their hearts.

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I had forgotten about “Sweet”, but why the article reminded specifically of “Hush” was the creepiness of the silence, while all the horror was going on.

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I highly recommend reading this list of mass hysteria incidents late at night to really creep yourself out. It seems like human brains can be infected by wetware computer viruses.
List of mass hysteria cases - Wikipedia

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