Leaping Children of Erfurt: What Caused the Dancing Mania in 1237 That Inspired a Famous Folklore?

Between the 14th and 17th centuries, a social phenomenon known as dancing mania occurred primarily in mainland Europe. While most of them were participated by adults, there are also accounts of children enticed to join in the outbreak.

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/ Edmund Evans)

Dancing Themselves to Death

In 1237, a bizarre mania seized the city of Erfurt in Germany. A group of 100 children spontaneously danced and jumped along the road to the nearby town of Arnstad,t 12 miles (20 kilometers) away. Once they reached their destination, they fell to the ground due to exhaustion.

A chronicle that dates from the time claims that most of the children died after being taken home by their parents. Meanwhile, those who survived fell into a state of permanent mental disorder accompanied by tremors.

This event likely inspired the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a town located north of Erfurt. This folktale talks about a piper whom citizens of Hamelin hired to rid of its plague of rats. The rat catcher was believed to have supernatural powers, with its magical flute giving hypnotic notes that lured the rodents through the city gates to their doom.

When eradicating the rats was completed, the townspeople refused to pay the piper for his services. This angered the piper and came for Hamelin's children as a result. Enticed by the notes of his flute, the bewitched boys and girls followed the piper out of town and vanished.

The plague did not manifest a joyful dance but a compulsive act. The children participating in the strange mania had a sudden and uncontrollable urge to dance.

What Caused the Bizarre Contagion?

In 1888, a native of Erfurt named Justus Friedrich Karl Hecker published a book entitled "The Black Death and the Dancing Mani.". In this book, Hecker collected various accounts of Dancing Mania and related them to the horrific effects of the Bubonic plague, which peaked in Europe in the mid-14th century.

As a medicine doctor, Hecker described the dancing frenzy as a reaction to the Black Death. He noted that the hardships brought by the disease manifested themselves indirectly in the form of collective madness. The pandemic wiped out almost one-third of the global population, so it is no surprise that it has left a devastating effect on the human psyche.

Modern researchers have also attempted to explain this strange phenomenon. One of the most popular theories is that the victims suffered from ergot poisoning. Ergot is a toxic fungus that naturally occurs in rye or wheat. Since ergot is chemically similar to LSD, it can cause hallucinations, convulsions, and changes in behavior.

However, historian John Waller argues that ergot poisoning would not cause symptoms that would last for several days. He also added that people who accidentally ingested a psychedelic substance would be unlikely to all react in the same way.

Another explanation suggests that the dancing mania was the result of a mass psychotic illness, also known as mass hysteria. Outbreaks like these are widespread in a stressful and oppressive environment, which was common during the Middle Ages.