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The Dancing Plague | A Comedy Podcast
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Imagine walking down the street, turning the corner, and you're suddenly looking at hundreds of people dancing like crazy for no apparent reason whatsoever. That's what happened in 1518. Learn along with John and Greg as Kevin gives the deets on the Dancing Plague. Also, John records from the road, and Greg's newborn granddaughter makes an appearance. She's already better at this than us.
https://bio.site/historydefeatsitself
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Transcript
Beard Grooming Gone Wrong
00:00:00
Speaker
Oh, did you trim your beard? No, it looks like it's straighter. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It looks like it's flatter on the bottom. I did. I mean, I didn't. I paid somebody to do it because I and that's what they did. Okay. How much did that cost? It's a lot.
00:00:16
Speaker
So did they use like one of those fucking hedge trimmers? Just get over here. No, it's crazy. So she like she literally she lays me back in the chair and then she like she just sits there like with the like a regular clippers and she just like she goes across and then she like looks at it and then yeah.
00:00:33
Speaker
She didn't get, like, one of those paper cutters. That would have been... That would have worked. It would have been a lot more efficient, too. Oh, my God. Let me tell you, I... Can we get back to how to get rid of my beer belly? Well, we already told you.
Introducing 'History Defeats Itself' Podcast
00:00:54
Speaker
History Defeats Itself is a comedy podcast. Kevin, John, and Greg are not experts, historians, or even all that smart.
00:01:07
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Beastie Defeated. My name is Kevin. Greg is still talking. Thank you for joining us. We are a comedy podcast that wonders why we as humans never learn from our history. Of course, as usual, I am joined by two men who
00:01:27
Speaker
Both are hoping this podcast goes quickly so they can get ready for their midnight showing of the Barbie movie, John Banks and Greg Mitchell. How are you guys? Is this the first time you've been joined by two men? Did I say it was the first time? I think he was just asking. He was getting clear. No, you didn't imply one with the other. That's a weird question. You said I'm joined by two men. I just wanted to know if that's the first time.
00:01:55
Speaker
No, this is our 115th episode. So I've been joined by two men 114 times.
The Joys and Jokes of Aging
00:02:03
Speaker
How many times? You know, how many times did I fuck two men? Whoa. I don't know. It sounded like that's what you're getting at. Kevin, this is this is for children. This is a family podcast all of a sudden.
00:02:17
Speaker
You know, it's supposed to be a safe space. John is coming to us on location in Eugene, Oregon. I know. How is Eugene? I love Eugene. And to the listeners in Eugene, you have a very lovely city. Hmm. It's not how many listeners we have. It's going to be funny if someone was like outside the door going. Oh, I did. I actually got stopped today and someone commented on the T-shirt, so.
00:02:45
Speaker
Not that they knew what the podcast was. They're just like, I like your t-shirt. I go, it's his podcast. And I don't care. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and the doctor was like, I like your shirt. And I was wearing that. I didn't even realize that. And I was like, yeah, I don't usually wear inappropriate shirts like this to the doctor. I wore my shirt to the gym today.
00:03:06
Speaker
I always get comments. I don't think it's inappropriate. It's not like fuck off. It is a man on the toilet though. Everyone sits on the toilet, Kevin. That's true. Everybody poops. They wrote a book. Everybody poops. We talked about that. I still haven't finished it, John. Sorry.
00:03:22
Speaker
I mean, you can literally finish it while you're shitting like it's not it's a quick there is there's kind of a plot twist That is a little that is a cute little baby You can see that a baby has joined us. She is so tiny. Oh my gosh She looks very happy doing this right now. Yes, you're so so happy. It's not weird
00:03:52
Speaker
No, it was the baby's not weird. What you're doing with the baby's weird. You guys, I had you had to see her. She is very she's smiling. No. I seriously think she pooped. This is going to be very entertaining for the people who don't watch it on video. OK, I'm holding I'm holding my granddaughter. OK, you guys say hi and shut up. Hi and shut up. Hi and shut up. Thanks, Jen. Bye, Nova.
00:04:20
Speaker
I remember saying shut up to my kid when he was a baby so many times. I didn't say it to Nova. I said it to you. Oh, I misunderstood. OK, sorry, we're back.
00:04:34
Speaker
So how's life as a grandparent, having a baby in the house? It was great. I just got to hold her for a second and show her to you guys. So what's it like now feeling as old as you look? Because I would imagine that was a pretty nelling the aging coffin for you, having a grandchild. No more denying.
00:04:54
Speaker
Yeah, is it weird that my kid is only like two years older than your grandkid? Well, you started super duper duper extremely exceedingly late. But we're more talking about how old you are. Oh, we are? I'm not that old. I mean, I guess like if 42 is old, guilty.
00:05:14
Speaker
If 42 is old, then I am fucking ancient. Yeah. I'm a few years past old. It's really hard to answer questions from you assholes because they're asshole questions. They are asshole questions. Okay. All right. Before we lose all of the
The Dancing Plague of 1518
00:05:29
Speaker
listeners, let's get started. Okay. It's my turn. If my granddaughter interrupting the show loses listeners, fuck them.
00:05:35
Speaker
All right. I was more talking about the lack of entertaining conversation between the three of us. I didn't think that was bad. She was the star to us. She's very cute. Very cute. Very cute. Oh yeah. Follow us on social media. Okay. The red question. I have a question. Oh no, I'm off threads. I don't have time to keep up with it. It's so much. It's all follows on threats. Do you guys like to dance? Yes.
00:06:05
Speaker
I'm sorry, I grew up in a religious town where dancing was prohibited. Until Kevin Bacon came. Until Kevin Bacon. And John Lithgow, he tried. He tried to stop us. Oh, he tried, man. Kevin danced. And so we all danced. Well, good. And then we fucked, because that's where dancing leads. You and John Lithgow? Yeah.
00:06:25
Speaker
That's why you don't want to dance. Surprisingly generous lover, you know, like you wouldn't have thought that from his movies. I do like I'm a terrible dancer, but I do love to do it. All right. Have you ever felt the uncontrollable urge to dance? No, I mean, yeah, sometimes the rhythm is going to get you.
00:06:46
Speaker
So is that the song that gets you? Is that what is that glorious? The Miami sound machine. I forgot about them. I don't want to. Yeah. Sorry for all the members of the Miami sound machine who are listening. I should have given you no choice and you just have to fucking move to the music, man.
00:07:04
Speaker
It's true. Tonight, we're going back in time way, way, way back to the year of our Lord 1518. Wait, before we go back and we're doing it, if we're doing a time machine, shouldn't we just go back and kill Hitler? Just good point. If we have the ability to travel through time. Yeah. Why do we want to learn about dancing? Why are we using it for that? I don't know. I thought that'd be fun. I thought this would be funnier. No, OK. I'm sorry. 1518. The year just got started.
00:07:34
Speaker
Which was the site, oh, I'm sorry, way back in the year of our Lord 1518, as I said, in a city called Strasbourg in the Holy Roman Empire, which was the site of what became known as the Dancing Plague. Oh, no. Oh, shit. In July of that year, a woman named Frau Trofea began to dance fervently in a street near her home.
00:08:01
Speaker
No music, no obvious reason, she just danced. This wasn't a joyful jamboree. It was more like a marathon and she couldn't stop running. Not much is known about our girl Frau Trofea, but records show that she danced for nearly a week straight. Local residents were- Did she stop the poop?
00:08:26
Speaker
I actually have a lot of the same questions that you guys asked me about the marathon. That makes sense. How does she pay for pizza? Yeah, she paid. Local residents were obviously perplexed by this and it became even weirder when it started to spread during the week that Frau danced, 34 others joined her. In a month that number rose to around 400.
00:08:53
Speaker
People rarely stopped to eat or drink and they didn't seem to notice a fatigue or a pain in their feet or anything like that. They just danced. It sounds like it sounds like drugs. It was like cream cheese on a bagel. Turns out it was cocaine in the water.
00:09:15
Speaker
I remember hearing about the story, so it's gonna be really interesting to hear your take on it, Kevin. My take? I read about it. Oh, did you read a book? I didn't read a book. I read an article. I read the gist of an article, basically. I read the headline. Kevin Dances. I did call you in our most recent newsletter, the Cliffs Notes of HDI.
00:09:39
Speaker
Does that make you feel better? I thought it was funny. To make fun of me? Yes, actually, yes, a lot. I feel like it's an insult. It is an insult. Okay. 100%. Do you feel insulted? Yeah. You know what happens in our society when one man makes fun of another man that's a little insecure? A duel. There's something called toxic masculinity going on? No. Definitely a duel. We have to have a duel now. Yeah. We'll prove who's the more toxically masculine.
00:10:07
Speaker
We both have to draw John's beard in 10 seconds and see who's is better. I am not an artist, so I'm gonna lose that battle.
Medieval Misdiagnosis
00:10:16
Speaker
Well, this is a work of art, so this face, so don't worry about it. You can just charcoal my face and slam my head into a piece of paper. I've noticed your beard has gone a little bit grayer, John.
00:10:30
Speaker
Quite a bit grayer. Does that happen when it goes to Oregon? I don't think it's going grayer. It's been pretty gray the whole time. There's different lighting because he's got hotel lighting and hotel lighting is very good. You just turned to the side and I saw the black streak. There's black. Now that's the beard I remember. There's black. OK, good. There we go. I'll talk to you. Congratulations.
00:10:52
Speaker
So this unexplained booty moving caught the attention of the authorities, but they quickly realized that they had no fucking clue what to do about it. So that's not what you can do. How quickly did like two guys walk up and not even say anything and wait like a second. Go can't do anything about this. So they looked at him and then just went, this is weird. I'm out. I'm going to go make bread because it's the 16th century and that's pretty much what I know how to do so.
00:11:19
Speaker
And they gotta be witches. Yeah. Somebody grab a bucket, a duck and let's find some water. Well, if you find a duck, you're gonna probably find water. Yep. It's true. That's ideal. So they enlisted the help of local physicians, which as we know from previous episodes, isn't always the best decision. This was, this was, uh, what would that be like?
00:11:45
Speaker
God, it would be like 300 years before H.H. Holmes. So it's like 300 and no. Yeah, more. Yeah. Like almost close to 400 years before H.H. Holmes. So you're not going to get the best care. So you didn't you didn't even you didn't need the bone saw. All you had to do is like have a rock. Yeah, you didn't even get a bone. They could have invented bone saws. Yeah, exactly. They did not like heat or make the metal. So they're just basically like here. Here's a rock. You're a doctor. Do people do people have to get referrals for that?
00:12:15
Speaker
They had like PPOs. It's like, uh, it's like, did you bring your insurance? Oh yeah. That's not covered here that we don't take, we don't take blue cross blue shield. Unfortunately. But you know what? I'll give you a free, I'm going to hit you ahead with a rock anyway. Business is slow right now and I got a lot of rocks. So they're stacking up.
00:12:34
Speaker
So the physicians got together and decided that the they came up with they decided on a cause for this happened again. This was in Stroudsburg in the Holy Roman Empire. I believe it was actually in the part of what is not now modern day France. So then the population was pretty big, I guess, to draw from. It wasn't just like a little tiny hamlet. Dunno.
00:13:01
Speaker
Because, you know, 30 people are dancing. And if there's more than one doctor. You know, gathering around and thinking about what they should do, it seems like, you know, then the town is the town, you know, town's going. Got to go down. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I got a cobbler. Maybe a city. There's a cobbler. Yeah. Probably got a blacksmith. I guarantee you got a blacksmith. You got a baker. There's a guy got a baker that's fucking making bacon baguettes. Mm hmm. Well, maybe we eat this baguette is very good for you. Maybe we'll stop the dancing.
00:13:30
Speaker
There's a potato farmer. Now I want a bacon baguette. That sounds amazing. Oh, yeah. I said baking as a bacon baguette. I was like, that's even good. That's even better. That's way better. Yeah. All right. So the physicians got together and decided on the cause. Hot blood. Oh, I wanted to kiss.
00:13:56
Speaker
Damn it. Fever on the brain. I do have a lead in for you next, don't worry. So fever on the brain and they decided that the only cure was to gyrate this fever away.
00:14:08
Speaker
So they encouraged the dancing. So the authorities had a stage constructed and brought in a band and professional dancers to encourage dancing away the hot blood. They even brought in strong men to hold people upright as they got tired to ensure that they danced out all their sicknesses. So
Fatal Consequences of the Plague
00:14:28
Speaker
is that song hot blooded the true story of this story? I think you should check it and see. Yeah.
00:14:36
Speaker
Who is that? I can't think of that. Who's the band foreigner? Thank foreigner. Yeah. Is that foreigner? Yes. I've been listening to a lot of eighties on eight lately. You have cute.
00:14:48
Speaker
So the higher ups of Strasburg soon realized that they had made a mistake because people started to die. As were wont to do. It was 1518 so the records are sketchy at best but some reports say that up to 15 people per day died mostly from strokes and heart attacks. That's a lot of dying.
00:15:12
Speaker
It's a lot of like on the dance floor. Yes. But if I'm going to go, I want it to be I want it to be while I'm dancing. You think they were listening to like Rick Astley? Never going to give you up. Never going to let you down. I feel like they were listening to the other Rick Astley song. I'm unfamiliar with that one. It's hot blooded. Oh, it was a cover. It was a cover of foreigners hot blooded.
00:15:40
Speaker
So I would imagine the band would be like a like a guy with a ukulele, maybe like a violin. Some spoons. I don't know. Well, there's probably like these people were not, you know, accordion. They were not having a good time dancing. So they were probably like, like all those minstrels are playing and stuff. And these people are like, fuck, this sucks.
00:16:04
Speaker
All right. So of course we know now that intentionally increasing your fever is not the best idea. You know, usually you want to go into like a, you know, tepid pool of water to try to bring that fever down, not just define your tepid. What I hear you saying is they should have been playing smooth jazz and slow dancing like junior high kids.
00:16:30
Speaker
Save room for Jesus. So they realized that the hot blood theory, the hot blood theory was probably wrong. They pivoted and they came up with a new theory. This is where I'm asking for guesses.
00:16:45
Speaker
No, OK. I'm well, based on previous information, I'm going to go with a stone them. So no, no, that's a cure. No, no, no. They decided that they decided that the the hot blood theory was wrong. They were wrong about that. So they came up with a new theory. Oh, what do you think it was that they thought was causing this? The devil, Satan. Yeah. Lucifer witchcraft. The dark prince, Kenny G.
00:17:15
Speaker
Kevin Hart. You're you guys are being mad. Yes. Holy wrath. Oh, Liam. Wrath like Ghostbusters. They decided it was the work of Saint Vitus. Are you familiar with Saint Vitus? If he's not the one that you drink in March for, then no, I don't know who he is.
00:17:35
Speaker
Not St. Patrick. It's the only saint I know. St.
St. Vitus: A Saintly Blame?
00:17:41
Speaker
Vitus was a Catholic saint who pious 16th century Europeans believe had the power to curse people with a dancing plague. Oh, come on. What? You know, if you're pretty on the nose, right, Greg? Yeah. I mean, if you're going to get a fucking ability to curse people, is that the one you want?
00:17:59
Speaker
So I just want to, this is, I get a little confused, right? So there's only wrath.
00:18:08
Speaker
And then there's like evil. So how do you pick a lane? Right. Like, how do you know? They are pretty close to each other. Are you being punished by God because you've done something bad? Are you being punished by the devil because you did something good? And are you being punished by the devil or are you just being used by the devil? Right. Listen, listen, it's it's it's very thin lines here, little thin margins. You know, like, I mean, let's think about this like it's like a Venn diagram. So there's overlap.
00:18:38
Speaker
I mean, no matter what you're suffering, right? So you're suffering no matter what. It just depends on which side you want to be on, you know? I want to be on John Banks' side. More than grow a beard, you son of a bitch. I have a beard. That's the weird part. Does John's setup look easy? Is he doing this because he wants to look taller? He looks big, you know, because his computer's so low. It's like a crotch shot.
00:19:03
Speaker
He gave me one of those earlier. It was it was disturbing. I don't think he has a ton of control over that, Kevin. So maybe don't make fun of him. He is traveling after all. And he did make the podcast. So why are you writing them so hard? Listen, listen, I do appreciate that, John. And Greg, you are very sensitive. Are you like, Greg's right. He's a change. He's a change man to become a grandfather. I am not. I'm not overly sensitive. I just fucking hate you, Kevin. He really ratcheted up his crotchiness.
00:19:32
Speaker
John said the same thing to me earlier that he really hated me. I asked if he wanted me to die in my sleep and he said, no, I don't want you to go peacefully. That's true.
00:19:49
Speaker
We decided we decided that the worst way to die was that the lower half of your body was was on fire and the upper half of your body was was drought was drought. You're drowning. You're drowning from the top up. You're upside down and freezing water with your legs on fire. Yes. That's the worst way to go. Yeah, that's pretty good as your brain is just not going to be able to cancel out that pain. It's so confused. Can a shark not you?
00:20:18
Speaker
At the same time, it's like a, it's like a little, not like, not like your head, just knowing on your arm, you know, not enough to kill you, you know? Right. And you see like your favorite food in front of you and like I'm eating it. John's, John's got some Terra Masu floating in front of him. Being Kevin or eating Terra Masu. And he, so he's like psychologically damaged too.
00:20:41
Speaker
You're eating it and spitting it out as if you don't like it. Yeah, that's right. We have no appreciation for it. And we're burning books. That's John's ultimate death.
00:20:59
Speaker
Alright, so they decide... Kevin's death is his bangs being clipped off. That's where all my power is. That's your life source. Like Killy's heel. Yeah. They're all wispy in the water and at least he's taking comfort in his bangs as he dies and then we cut him. My death is that I melt like that Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
00:21:25
Speaker
That is a bad way to go. That's not a great way to go. Do you remember watching that movie when you're a kid and go, man, that's fucking horrific. Yeah. Yeah. Same with Temple of Doom had some moments that were scarring for young people to the heart. That was the heart thing. Oh my God. The heart thing was terrifying. What about Bambi? Bambi was not great. That is a shitty way to start a movie. Murder.
00:21:48
Speaker
Well, it gets your attention. It does. And you know, you got to make kids tough, you know? It's true. Well, no point in sugarcoating anything.
00:21:59
Speaker
So they decided it was the work of St. Vitus, as we talked about. That sounds like an oral hygiene disorder. You got the Vitus. St. Jujivitus. Dad, I'm kind of buzzed.
00:22:19
Speaker
One must floss with a horse, or the hair of a horse, to prevent St. Vitus. That sounds actually like a pretty good dental floss back in the day. I thought that actually would be pretty solid.
00:22:34
Speaker
So the leaders did what any logical leader would do. Murder. The band dancing in music and forced the inflicted up into the hills. You can't do that, man. Where they were made to wear red shoes sprinkled with holy water, walk circles around wooden figurines of the saint and pray for reprieve. That's a lot of work, man. You can't just banish your problems. They don't just disappear.
00:22:59
Speaker
That's science. That's how you get it done. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, so here. So the dancers slowly began to end their gyrations over the course of a few weeks. And by September, the plague had ended. So now what do you say, Greg? It worked. It worked. My hat's off. That was smart. Now you guys know what to do anytime you have any sort of issue. The worst part is that reinforce their fucking stupidity, though, because anytime they had a problem, they're like, OK, let's paint their shoes red and sprinkle some fucking holy water on there and send them off.
00:23:28
Speaker
Yeah, you know, that's all your problem. Kind of still do that sort of shit today in in religious circles, right? I do that with all my bills. I do. That's how I that's how I treat my my recurring case of gonorrhea. So. Redshares all cases of gonorrhea recurring dessert. Does that gonorrhea recur if you keep having sex with the same crack or keeps coming back? OK, the crack or the gonorrhea? Yes.
00:24:00
Speaker
All right, so it's been it's been 500 years since people got their groove on for no apparent reason. Obviously, most of us are logical enough to dismiss the St. Vitus theory. So what the hell what the hell caused this?
Modern Parallels to Mass Hysteria
00:24:16
Speaker
What do you guys think?
00:24:17
Speaker
Okay, so what I'm going to say is two things. Okay. Sometimes when we, when we share these types of topics, it's easy for us to look back with hindsight being 20, 20 and going, Oh, those Ignoramus, Ignorami people, they were just, they just didn't know anything and they just guessed and they're so fucking stupid. But if you look at the problems we have today, we might be a little bit more sophisticated, but as a whole, we're dumb as fuck still.
00:24:46
Speaker
And we have a podcast about that very thing. A hundred years from now, when people are doing the history, yeah, I know. And a hundred years from now, when people look back at our podcast archives and the historical records, those three white guys, they didn't know what the fuck they were talking about. They were talking about that before we were almost like, I wonder, like when, when we're old and our son is like,
00:25:14
Speaker
What is he going to say? Like, dad, you can't say that. You know, like what's going to be the thing that I'm like, what? I thought I thought I was okay with saying you can't have banks. He's not going to have hair when he's old, but he's going to look at these videos and be like, God, you're so pasty white. I don't look pasty white right now. I think pasty white by the time. Yeah, it's going to be super in 30 years.
00:25:41
Speaker
It's kind of there now. There was some kind of psychological disorder that was like a mass like hysteria and it's like when people start to it's kind of like when people look at each other and start yawning. I hate this term but put a pin in that because we're going to get to that in a second. About yawning? No, about mass hysteria.
00:26:04
Speaker
The first theory that they came up with was ergotism. And this is from WebMD, also called St. Anthony's fire. Ergotism is when a person or animal was also called St. Anthony.
00:26:21
Speaker
Let me finish the sentence and you fucking understand it. I like that. Also called St. Anthony's fire. Ergotism is when a person or animal eats food that has been contaminated with a fungus called sea purr purr purr purr. The fungus is most commonly found in rye, but it can affect other grains and grasses as well. The main symptoms
00:26:41
Speaker
Wait, wait, like seriously. Wasn't that one of the same things that happened with the witch trials in Salem? Wasn't that like, I think the same thing. It was like, there was like a fungus in the rye and they believed- Oh, like an ergotism thing? Yeah, it could be. It could be. Yeah.
00:26:56
Speaker
Um, the main symptoms of ergotism are gangrene, uh, which is where your limbs can swell up and fall off. And the other, another main symptom is convulsions and hallucinations as the fungus produces a chemical similar to LSD. Yes. Oh, I was right. Drugs. Yeah. Yeah. We could have saved ourselves a lot of time. We've been like, John, you're right. That's good night. Money and drugs are always the answer.
00:27:25
Speaker
But the theory is- It wasn't St. Elmo's fire, by the way. I just, I mean, we gotta go back and correct you. What did I say? I said St. Elmo's fire. Yeah, you're right, John. He didn't say St. Elmo's fire. No, because that's not what it's, it was called St. Anthony's fire, damn it. I think Anthony Michael Hall was in St. Elmo's fire. That's where you can confuse Kevin. Yeah. You're confusing the character with the actor. Maybe next time don't do your research on Wikipedia. I should consult you two idiots. No, don't do that.
00:27:56
Speaker
No, no, I will check Wikipedia for you and filter it in a way that you won't come off stupid. It is called St. Anthony's Fire, not St. Elmo's Fire. I just think you're wrong. OK, that you can you can think whatever you want the movie. I never saw a movie called St. Anthony's Fire. You saw the movie St. Elmo's Fire. Was it about gangrene? And that's besides the point, buddy. OK. Fair enough. Another thing when you get attacked, you have to attack back.
00:28:24
Speaker
Isn't that what that's? That's humane nature. Yeah, I was just asking. You should. So so the theory of the ball, the theory of ergotism is not really accepted anymore. Observer said that the people didn't look didn't look like they wanted to be dancing and ergotism shouldn't allow someone to be able to dance consistently for days. Oh, God damn it. It's not drugs. So wait a second. If you look at somebody and they look like they don't want to dance, aren't they just like everybody?
00:28:56
Speaker
They're dancing, but they don't want to. They're just like, nope. They're like three people on the planet that like dancing. You guys both said you did. So you're two of them. I was kind of misleading. I wasn't being true. I wasn't being true to myself. I like dancing. I think it's fun. Courtney, Courtney will dance like any if she needs base, if there's base in it, she's dancing. That's how she is.
00:29:22
Speaker
Well, Jennifer needs cocaine. A little different than base.
00:29:29
Speaker
Similar results though. Yeah. I was however concerned about the possibility that the three of us could have ergotism. I want you guys to listen to the rest of these symptoms. Headache. Oh, wait a second. Wait, wait. This is, did you research this on WebMD? Cause every time I read that fucking website, I'm convinced that I'm going to die. So listen to this. This was, this is exactly from, uh, from WebMD. Okay. Headache. Nausea. Stomach issues. We've all got me for old pale skin. Okay. That's me. Jesus.
00:29:58
Speaker
Weakness, that's John. Excessive sweating. Excessive sweating is Greg. That's Kevin again. Smelly poop is Greg. That's me. Difficulty speaking, John. Greg. Oh. Temporary blindness. I blind my right eye. Salivating a lot. When I'm hungry. I'm drooling right now.
00:30:19
Speaker
So I'm pretty concerned for what happens when you start talking about a steak. Do they just can't help it on WebMD? Do they say it, if three people share these combined symptoms, there's concern. I just, one of the things that really made me laugh is that WebMD said smelly poop.
00:30:39
Speaker
Cause I'm like, does poop, I mean poop pretty much regularly smells. It's way, you're supposed to be some fucking really good publication. Why do you use the word poop? You could say excrement or like, yeah, like why do you say poop? It said poop or the average reader is just like us. We're just like fucking dumb. What's fecal matter mean again?
00:31:07
Speaker
Someday we're going to find out WebMD is just like Wikipedia. Like just people just update shit. And you're trying to figure out why fecal matters. John, I hope you're high. No, Damon. So the other and most likely theory is Greg mass hysteria, motherfucker.
00:31:29
Speaker
Uh, yes. Uh, a term that used to be called mass hysteria. Apparently that's not appropriate anymore. It's now called mass psychogenic illness. Do who are we offending by seeing masses? I don't know. Previously known as I don't know. I don't, I don't think so. The Greeks were really offending the Greeks. You know, what's funny is when you said the Greeks done that last episode and I think he meant the Romans about sex about anal.
00:31:59
Speaker
Yeah, you're definitely talking about the room I mean the Romans too, but it's the Greeks because it's actually that's slang Greek is slang for anal They don't call it Roman they call it Greek it's a good point yeah That's complimentary
00:32:18
Speaker
That is all country. Like, you know, like there's no, there's no sexual act called the American, the whole country in your butt. No, Americans just fucked the world. There you go. I guess that's, yeah, that's what, that's what we should call climate change. Just call it the American, the American. Well, it's not just us. That's true. China's doing pretty good fucking job at it too. We really kicked that shit off. Well, we don't care. Yeah. China doesn't seem to care either. Yeah. The people probably do.
00:32:48
Speaker
as opposed to government. I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. So mass psychogenic illness or mass hysteria, as we know it, it involves many individuals suddenly exhibiting the same behavior.
Mass Psychogenic Illness Theory
00:33:00
Speaker
It spreads broadly and rapidly.
00:33:02
Speaker
and is generally caused by psychological stress. And at the time, the people of Strasburg were experiencing famine. There were new diseases popping up and they couldn't grow all just gone to a dance workshop that all just. So they just invented clogging. And Kevin Bacon just got there. They just discovered dancing with the stars and they were very excited.
00:33:29
Speaker
They're excited to show off some new moves. They wanted to get on that show so bad. That was their ticket out of Strasburg. That's where Tekko Carlson filmed his season. There you go. Stroudsburg. Then they were also very superstitious, which is not surprising for the time. So all these things combined. What's that? I said I share that with them. I'm superstitious. Oh, that's right. All these things combined with the religious fears.
00:33:57
Speaker
and the lack of education, you can kind of see how the mass hysteria could happen. And the fact that the inflicted people were put in the middle of the town with musicians in a stage helped the spread of the hysteria. There was a thought at the time that some people were dancing intentionally out of fear that St. Vitus might become angry with them as well if they didn't start dancing. So that could be powerful.
00:34:24
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Especially when you're that religious and if I saw Kevin dancing, I'd probably shake my booty a little bit, too. Really? Yeah, you're kind of a leader. Well, that's what you're and you're very sexy when you dance. Not you are at any other time. Very attractive. I am very attractive. You walk like a baby giraffe, but you dance like heaven. You get the hips. You get the hips of an 11 year old boy. My hips don't lie. My hips don't lie. I don't know what they say. They're not telling the truth.
00:34:55
Speaker
Can you hear my dog barking? Yeah. I was going to ask whose dog was barking, but I remembered that John Banks is an organ. That would be my dog and it's a, there's thunder. So that's what he does. Um, okay. I don't blame him. That's shit scary.
00:35:10
Speaker
So also the perhaps if the dancers weren't displayed the way they were, then people might not have been seeing it the same way and worrying about their own potential curse. So maybe it doesn't spread that way. Well, if people didn't see the dancing, they probably wouldn't start dancing. That's what that's kind of what it's saying. If that first person just stayed at their house, then we wouldn't have an issue. She did dance outside of her house, though.
00:35:34
Speaker
But I mean, and then the the the authorities are the ones who said, hey, let's put all these people in the center of town. We'll build them a stage. We'll get, you know, we'll get. I don't know. I mean, they just wanted a party, though, at that point. They didn't realize it was going to lead to damage. They're just like, you know, they just want to say, dude, we can have an incredible party with this. Are you kidding me? They got some. They're like. The Holy Roman Empire is throwing a kegger.
00:36:03
Speaker
Yeah, they made some sick flyers for that, too. The keg back then was just basically an open barrel that you scooped your beard, your spine in. Just stuck your head in there. Just got waterboarded in. I'm going to do a headstand. Oh, God, I'm drowning. Blip, blip, blip. You must be a witch. He's a course late witch. Who wants this double barreled beer bong? We're going streaking in the quad.
Cultural Impact of the Dancing Plague
00:36:32
Speaker
So the dancing plague of 1518 remains a mystery. There are books and documentaries about it. There's a Kate Bush song called the red shoes that I think we should pause right now and listen to it together. OK.
00:36:47
Speaker
And Florence and the Machine have a song called Choreomania that was inspired by these events as well. This thing gets two songs. Two. And we don't even have one. You said you knew this story, Greg. So you read about it. I did.
00:37:05
Speaker
You know, I mean, it's, it's definitely still something people talk about when he says he read about it. He means he listened to that Florence and the machine song. I have a terrible memory. I read about it. And as you say things, I go, Oh yeah, that's kind of right. Kind of sucks. Your memory does suck. And I remember finding it kind of intriguing because I like mass hysteria shit.
00:37:28
Speaker
It's interesting. It's definitely it's definitely a behavior radically and it's kind of contagious. I like that. I definitely like, you know, there's like when a lot of women used to like a lot of like teenage girls used to cut themselves. That was always done. It was always pockets. So like one teenager would start cutting themselves and then the rest would. So it would be like an isolated areas. John is a comedy show, buddy.
00:37:49
Speaker
No, no, but I'm I'm just I'm just saying not that people don't do this, but I'm saying that basically it was like that that was a form of social contagion. So it's like we we will mimic each other, healthy or unhealthy. John still waiting for everyone else to grow a beard like that. I mean, I've been I've been waiting and I mean, well, Kevin can't know he's got it. He's got excuse. I got to hit puberty first. You'll get there, buddy. It's weird. He's going bald, but he can't grow a beard.
00:38:18
Speaker
You're not, Kevin. You're not going bald. I'm getting there. We're all getting there. On a long enough timeline, we're all going bald. I already got there, man. I got a grand kid.
00:38:33
Speaker
So the story, the story was interesting to me because for the reasons that we were just started talking about, because even though it's ridiculous, it's not that far from how we behave today. I really would have loved if you would have said this story was not interesting to me, but I don't know why this was a terrible, terrible decision. We're going to do a do over.
00:38:54
Speaker
But Greg took my favorite two topics, you know, seat belts and H.H. Holmes and skinny yippin. Oh, wait. That was gonna be my next one.
00:39:05
Speaker
But we act impulsively, make irrational decisions all the time. I mean, we talked about Salem witch trials. That'd be one thing. McCarthyism is kind of the same thing as the Salem witch trials. Trump is prohibition invasion of Iraq. Like there's all sorts of shit that kind of like like we just we do that mass hysteria thing all the time. I mean, QAnon, like, I mean, the fact that we that we just follow, you know what I mean? And just blindly follow other people based on Earth. Like who the fuck? Yeah.
00:39:36
Speaker
So anyway, that's, uh, that's the story of the, uh, the dancing plague of 15, 18. And, uh, all I can say is I'm glad that we'll, you know, people still do this shit. Cause we're never going to run out of topics for the show. Please world, keep on doing fucked up shit so we can keep going with the podcast. But maybe send us some Twinkies in the mail or something like that. You've got Twinkies on the brain. You really do. I like them.
00:40:02
Speaker
You know, you really? Yes. I like I like the thought of a Twinkie, like the idea of a Twinkie. But actually, every time I eat a Twinkie, they're always disappointing. The execution. That's how I feel about Taco Bell. You just say things to be mean to us. Kevin, no, I don't like Taco Bell either. He's right. I loved Taco Bell. And and now like, like, Sheena and I, you know, sometimes we'll be like, oh, we should get Taco Bell. Yeah, let's do it. And then we eat it. And we're just like, that's fine. It's not what happens with donuts, too. Yeah, I love. I love donuts.
00:40:32
Speaker
Yeah, I know a weakness of properly. There are no tiramisu. Oh, you and your fucking tiramisu. It's goddamn delicious. It's heaven. It's heaven on Earth. Cheers. We're going to cheers to Frau Trofea. Oh, it's not easy. It's not easy to start a two month dance party on your own. So may she rest in peace or dance in peace. Whatever she wants to do.
00:40:56
Speaker
Oh, wait, did she die? I know 15 people were down a day. Did was she one of the ones? No, they don't know. They don't know. Well, she's probably died since. I'm pretty sure she's died now. Yeah. Yeah. She's dead now. Unless that dancing fucking really helped her out. She was she was H.H. Holmes first victim. She was in really great shape by the end of that week. Fucking killer abs. Just kill her body. Killer bunions. Don't look at her feet. A lot of bunions. Hard to keep a runner. Hard to maintain interaction by looking at those feet.
00:41:26
Speaker
Thank you guys, John, enjoy the next two weeks of your journey and we'll see everybody next time.