Summer Smith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
somethingwithturquoise) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2024-11-08 07:56 am
somethingwithturquoise) wrote in fandomhigh2024-11-08 07:56 am
The Weird, Wonderful, and WTF World - Friday, First Period [11/08].
"Hey, everyone," said Summer, smiling beatifically at her students as they found their way to class that day, "we're meeting in the Danger Shop this week, as you can all tell, because I wanted to delve into a few historical WTF moments, but I really didn't want to risk being responsible for some fucked up butterfly effect nonsense in a different direction, so we're playing it safe by keeping it all contained in the wonderful world of highly interactive virtual reality. And while this place may look a lot like Fandom Island, we're actually here in Alsace, which is in modern day France, and the year is 1518. The Ottoman Empire just got themselves a new head honcho, Martin Luther's causing a big old stir with his 95-Problems-But-A-God-Ain't-One, and a whole bunch of ships are really about to fuck up the rest of the world with their exploration, trade, and genocidal colonial ways.
"But then there's also this."
On that cue, a woman emerged from one of the houses and started dancing in the street. A few of the people milling around seemed to notice, watched her for a bit, and then also started dancing. There was no music, only dancing.
"This," Summer continued as the villagers danced around them, "is the start of the infamous Dancing Plague of 1518. It was the Ultimate non-stop dance competition, because these people started dancing following Frau Troffea here's lead in July and it did not calm down until September. These people were literally dancing until they dropped, claiming 400 victims by the end of it, of people collapsing from exhaustion and dying, likely from strokes or heart attacks. And here's the thing: no one knows why. Not then, not now, perhaps not ever.
"Authorities opened guild halls to better accommodate the dancers, thinking they just needed to get the dancing out of their system, and when that didn't seem to help, of course then the religious wingjobs got involved. An attempt to ban dancing did absolutely jack shit, as did a ban on music. The people just kept needing to dance! And dance they did! Eventually, rumor started circulating that the dancing was likely a punishment from some dude named Saint Vitus, and once people started performing certain rituals and going to his shrine, the dancing seemed to eventually stop.
"And, I mean, a bunch of people at the time blamed demonic possession or 'hot blood,' but also, like, Vitus was the patron saint of comedian and epilepsy, so that also kind of makes you wonder. And modern theories for how this happen involve food poisoning....pretty much they got high on 'shrooms that were growing on the rye to make their bread big time....or possibly stress induced mass hysteria, because the people of Alsace were going through some pretty rough times. In fact, there are seven other dancing mania cases reported in the area around that time, too; this one is just the most well known.
"So this class is mostly just to introduce you to a weird moment in history and to sort of talk about our own speculations and ideas. Like, I know I personally have experience a mass hysteria not of dancing but similar in nature when these giant heads from space showed up and threatened to blow up our planet and we all sort of just started a whole cult around them. Maybe it was something like that! We're all from such different places that there could be some really interesting theories to go around.
"Alternately, maybe it really was just feeling the groove. Do you think you'd end up dancing for weeks, even months, until you dropped? Are you willing to test it by trying to join in the dance today?" She grinned faintly. "Wouldn't you be curious to find out?"
"But then there's also this."
On that cue, a woman emerged from one of the houses and started dancing in the street. A few of the people milling around seemed to notice, watched her for a bit, and then also started dancing. There was no music, only dancing.
"This," Summer continued as the villagers danced around them, "is the start of the infamous Dancing Plague of 1518. It was the Ultimate non-stop dance competition, because these people started dancing following Frau Troffea here's lead in July and it did not calm down until September. These people were literally dancing until they dropped, claiming 400 victims by the end of it, of people collapsing from exhaustion and dying, likely from strokes or heart attacks. And here's the thing: no one knows why. Not then, not now, perhaps not ever.
"Authorities opened guild halls to better accommodate the dancers, thinking they just needed to get the dancing out of their system, and when that didn't seem to help, of course then the religious wingjobs got involved. An attempt to ban dancing did absolutely jack shit, as did a ban on music. The people just kept needing to dance! And dance they did! Eventually, rumor started circulating that the dancing was likely a punishment from some dude named Saint Vitus, and once people started performing certain rituals and going to his shrine, the dancing seemed to eventually stop.
"And, I mean, a bunch of people at the time blamed demonic possession or 'hot blood,' but also, like, Vitus was the patron saint of comedian and epilepsy, so that also kind of makes you wonder. And modern theories for how this happen involve food poisoning....pretty much they got high on 'shrooms that were growing on the rye to make their bread big time....or possibly stress induced mass hysteria, because the people of Alsace were going through some pretty rough times. In fact, there are seven other dancing mania cases reported in the area around that time, too; this one is just the most well known.
"So this class is mostly just to introduce you to a weird moment in history and to sort of talk about our own speculations and ideas. Like, I know I personally have experience a mass hysteria not of dancing but similar in nature when these giant heads from space showed up and threatened to blow up our planet and we all sort of just started a whole cult around them. Maybe it was something like that! We're all from such different places that there could be some really interesting theories to go around.
"Alternately, maybe it really was just feeling the groove. Do you think you'd end up dancing for weeks, even months, until you dropped? Are you willing to test it by trying to join in the dance today?" She grinned faintly. "Wouldn't you be curious to find out?"
Talk to the Teacher - WWWTF, 11/08.
Re: Talk to the Teacher - WWWTF, 11/08.
Dancing all night? Maybe. More than that? Definitely not.
Re: Talk to the Teacher - WWWTF, 11/08.
Re: Talk to the Teacher - WWWTF, 11/08.
Stewart would be all over that, right?
"It does sound like something that might happen here."
Re: Talk to the Teacher - WWWTF, 11/08.
"Gross." And, because of who she was talking to, she added, "And not in the good way. But, yeah, exactly the sort of thing I'd expect from this island, although hopefully not for a while, because Christmas stuff is coming up soon, too, and I just...that's so much. I'm digging the current comfy vibe it's been putting out, though, that can stay."
Re: Talk to the Teacher - WWWTF, 11/08.
It did. The blanket supply was good though.
"More cozy and no forced dancing."
Somewhere, some sentient mistletoe was probably getting ideas.