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Check the Claim: Was there a medieval dancing plague?

SKILL: Check the Claim

DIFFICULTY: Simple

SUBJECT(S): History

Students will check the claim using a keyword search to learn that there was indeed a dancing plague in Strasbourg in 1518 (and that it might have been the worst dance party in history)

Related Lesson

Lesson 3: Check the Claim (sign-in required)

Link to Example

Weird History (YouTube)

Background

Strasbourg is a city in France located on its border with Germany.



About the Example

This short from the Youtube Channel “Weird History” claims that in 1518 a mysterious dancing plague broke out in Strasbourg causing up to 400 residents to compulsively dance, with some dying of exhaustion.

By checking this claim using a keyword search (“Strasbourg dancing plague”) we find many professional sources reporting on this story, including the web version of Encyclopedia Britannica, BBC and even Snopes.

By reading more we learn that this event did occur as described, and was one of several documented dancing outbreaks in Europe between the 10th and 16th centuries. 



Activities 

  1. Show students the YouTube short and have them summarize the main claims and secondary claims. 
  2. Ask students to check the claim using a Google keyword search (“strasbourg dancing plague”). 
  3. Have students click into the Encyclopedia Britannica article. Guiding questions:
    • Is the claim mostly true or mostly false? Explain your answer.
    • What additional information did you learn about the event?


Related Resources