What The Ghost? - The Devil's Dance
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The Devil's Dance: A Tale of Stress and Trauma
Medieval Europe was a difficult time and place to be alive, but it's far from the only culture to be struck by severe ongoing hardship. While stress and trauma may well have been necessary conditions for the dance, it's hard to believe that's the whole story. But could fungus poisoning really keep you dancing for up to 20 miles? Although ergot might have been partly responsible in some cases, dancing mania affected areas that didn't grow rye at all. And in the middle of a medieval famine, if you didn't grow a crop, you didn't eat it.
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