The Dancing Mania: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Dancing Mania, credited to Justus Hecker, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Dancing Mania by Justus Hecker. Read by Martin Geeson. Numerous theories have been proposed for the causes of dancing mania, and it remains unclear whether it was a real illness or a social phenomenon. One of the most prominent theories is that victims suffered from ergot poisoning, which was known as St Anthony's Fire in the Middle Ages. During floods and damp periods, ergots were able to grow and affect rye and other crops. Ergotism can cause hallucinations, but cannot account for the other strange behaviour most commonly identified with dancing mania. Many sources discuss how dancing mania, and tarantism, may have simply been the result of stress and tension caused by natural disasters around the time, such as plagues and floods…people may have danced to relieve themselves of the stress and poverty of the day, and in doing so, attempted to become ecstatic and see visions. Sources agree that dancing mania was one of the earliest forms of mass hysteria, and describe it as a "psychic epidemic", with numerous explanations that might account for the behaviour of the dancers. Another popular theory is that the outbreaks were all staged, and the appearance of strange behaviour was down to its unfamiliarity. Religious cults may have been acting out well-organised dances, in accordance with ancient Greek and Roman rituals. Despite being banned at the time, these rituals could be performed under the guise of uncontrollable dancing mania. Justus Hecker, a 19th-century medical writer, described it as a kind of festival, where a practice known as "the kindling of the Nodfyr" was carried out. This involved jumping through fire and smoke, in an attempt to ward off disease. It is certain that many participants of dancing mania were psychologically disturbed, but it is also likely that some took part out of fear, or simply wished to copy everyone else. Although dancing mania was something confined to its period, some have identified modern-day activities that display some of its characteristics. It has been suggested that raving, an activity which became popular in the latter half of the 20th century, features characteristics of dancing mania. For example, raves may involve activities that onlookers consider odd (such as partying all night), the use of drugs to bring on hallucinations, and participants who are part of a subculture. (Introduction from Wikipedia, slightly adapted.)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Dancing Mania
• Author credits: Justus Hecker
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 16
• Listed recording duration: 3:05:42

Catalogue topics

• History of Medicine
• Medieval History
• medieval religion
• psychology
• mass hysteria

Track guide

1. 01 - The Dancing Mania in Germany and the Netherlands. Sect. 1 - St John's Dance — 13:55
2. 02 - Chapter 1: The Dancing Mania in Germany and the Netherlands - Sect. 2: St Vitus's Dance — 5:43
3. 03 - Chapter 1: The Dancing Mania in Germany and the Netherlands - Sect. 3: Causes — 7:33
4. 04 - Chapter 1: The Dancing Mania in Germany and the Netherlands - Sect. 4: More Ancient Dancing Plagues — 7:44
5. 05 - Chapter 1: The Dancing Mania in Germany and the Netherlands - Sect. 5: Physicians — 9:14
6. 06 - Chapter 1: The Dancing Mania in Germany and the Netherlands - Sect. 6: Decline and Termination of the Dancing Plague — 13:34
7. 07 - Chapter 2: The Dancing Mania in Italy - Sect. 1: Tarantism — 3:41
8. 08 - Chapter 2: The Dancing Mania in Italy - Sect. 2: More Ancient Traces - Causes — 15:50
9. 09 - Chapter 2: The Dancing Mania in Italy - Sect. 3: Increase — 9:17
10. 10 - Chapter 2: The Dancing Mania in Italy - Sect. 4: Idiosyncrasies - Music — 23:01
11. 11 - Chapter 2: The Dancing Mania in Italy - Sect. 5: Hysteria — 7:49
12. 12 - Chapter 2: The Dancing Mania in Italy - Sect. 6: Decrease — 6:07
13. 13 - Chapter 3: The Dancing Mania in Abyssinia — 17:46
14. 14 - Chapter 4: Sympathy - Sect 1 — 12:07
15. 15 - Chapter 4: Sympathy - Sect 2 — 15:21
16. 16 - Chapter 4: Sympathy - Sect 3 — 17:06

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This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.