DANCE UNTIL YOU DROP — LITERALLY! When French Residents Had the Uncontrollable Urge to Dance In July 1518, a strange mania seized the residents of the French city of Strasbourg (which was then part of the Holy Roman Empire). Hundreds were struck with the sudden and uncontrollable urge to dance — seemingly for no reason. These citizens would dance for days until collapsing from exhaustion, unconsciousness, or, in some cases, death! This plague kicked off when Frau Troffea made her way into the streets and began to twist, twirl, and shake. She seemed unable to stop and kept dancing until she dropped from exhaustion. Many would assume that after collapsing, she would’ve stopped, but once she rested, she resumed the compulsive, frenzied dancing. It continued for a week, and other residents eventually joined her. Civic and religious leaders theorized that more dancing was the solution. So, they constructed a stage and gathered musicians to accompany the dancing and professional dancers to help the residents continue dancing. Yet, this only exacerbated the contagion, and by August, the dancing plague had claimed at least 400 victims. The local physicians declared the dance a natural disease from overheated blood. So, the only cure was for residents to dance themselves free of it. But it wasn’t long until the dancing plague took its toll. Many dancers would collapse from exhaustion or unconsciousness, and some even died from heart attacks and strokes. The strange dance mania didn’t end until September, when the dancers were whisked away to pray for absolution. Many explanations for the dancing plague were blamed on demonic possession or curses, but investigators in the 20th century believed otherwise. They suggested that the affected residents may have consumed bread made from rye flour contaminated with the fungal disease ergot, which produces spasms and hallucinations. But, the most widely accepted theory is that the dancing plague was a mass psychogenic disorder. These outbreaks can occur under certain circumstances of extreme stress and generally take shape based on local fears. A series of famines and diseases like smallpox and syphilis tore through Strasbourg, which may have triggered the stress-induced hysteria.
Packard Secured William’s Disability Benefits It’s no secret that our Social Security Disability Insurance system is flawed. It can take hours of frustrating phone calls, stacks of paperwork, and months of waiting to successfully file a claim — even if you have proof that you’re disabled. Worse, this doesn’t only apply to regular workers. Without a lawyer, even disabled veterans face an uphill battle! William Bower, an Army sergeant, discovered this truth the hard way. The Army retired William due to his injuries, and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) declared him 100% disabled. He assumed filing a Social Security Disability (SSD) claim would be easy, but he was wrong. “I tried filing on my own, and I was denied twice. I pretty much literally got screwed over by Social Security,” William recalls. “It was blatant. They were leaving out information that I was submitting and just railroading me in the process.” After a year and a half of back and forth, William was tired of fighting. The stress of his medical appointments and mounting expenses kept him up at night. So, he looked for the best-reviewed SSD attorney in his area — and found us. “I spoke to the paralegal at Packard, Edna, and sent her the documentation I had. Of course, she told me my case was amazing, and she had no idea why they would have denied me the first time around. … They filed my appeal for me, and the process was actually pretty easy once Packard took over,” William says. Our team quickly secured a court date for William, but we didn’t stop there. We kept pushing, and our efforts paid off! William’s judge agreed to review his case early, and she awarded his SSD benefits two months before his court date. “I was finally able to step back, get some breathing room, and get ahold of my life,” William says. “My hat is off to Packard, and it always will be. Retaining them was worth every penny!” William truly deserved those SSD benefits, and we’re proud to have helped him through the process! If you know someone who has been treated unfairly by Social Security, please send them to us. We would love to help them out in the same way. VICTORY FOR A DISABLED VETERAN
It is not unreasonable to imagine how the constant fear of death could form panic that led to a mass psychogenic event. But, whatever the cause of this strange phenomenon, the dancing plague remains one of the world’s most interesting mysteries.
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