Strange Illnesses and the Folklore Surrounding Them

As winter approaches every year, we are plagued with the flu and the common cold. However, we always know they are coming, and many of us try to prepare ourselves for them as much we as possibly can. No one could have ever prepared or expected some of the plagues and illnesses that have occurred that were much stranger than the flu or the common cold.  

Imagine you have lost all control of your body and have found yourself dancing uncontrollably, unable to stop. That is what those affected by the dancing plague experienced. Some Christians believed Saint Vitus was the cause of this strange illness due to the folkloric belief that Saint Vitus would curse anyone that angered him with a dancing plague. Obviously, some kind of illness must have been the real cause. Many people believe starvation drove the dancing people insane, but how did starving people have the energy to dance for days? Would that be impossible without some kind of disease or chemical altering their body chemistry? Could the dancing plague have started with one or two people suffering from some kind of disease or poisoning? Could the rest of the dancers that later joined them have done so out of hysteria? How this happened may always be a mystery.

A nervous system disorder, Saint Vitus’ Dance, also known as Sydenham’s Dance or Sydenham's chorea, acquired its name from the folklore of Saint Vitus' dancing curse. It occurs after rheumatic fever, which is caused by the bacteria Streptococcus. It causes the victim to suffer from involuntary movements. This disease probably was not one of the possible causes the dancing plague.   

Another strange illness is the glass delusion that some mentally unstable royals and scholars began developing in the middle ages. They believed their bodies were made of glass and could actually shatter if they were not extremely careful. King Charles VI may have been the very first of many to suffer from the glass delusion. 

In those days, many of the treatments for psychiatric conditions were barbaric and unhelpful, such as bloodletting. Another terrible treatment for mental illness was trephination, which was performed by drilling a hole into the mentally ill person’s skull to remove the demons that were believed to cause mental illness. This treatment would be terrifying to anyone, especially those who thought they were made of glass. Some doctors had patients with glass delusion beaten to try to prove to them that they were not going to shatter like glass.

In more recent times, we have not had any royals claiming to be made of glass, but there have been cases of non royals claiming to be made of glass that have occasionally surfaced. One has to wonder why glass? Glass has always been thought of as magical. Mirrors are made of glass, and we can use them to see our reflection in them, as if we are staring at the glass version of ourselves. Breaking a mirror is commonly thought to bring bad luck in folklore.

Just as strange as those who believe they are made of glass, are those suffering from a mental illness called Cotard syndrome who believe they are actually dead like zombies of folklore. It is hard for anyone not suffering from this affliction to fathom, but those with Cotard syndrome believe their body is dead and rotting away and that they no longer exist. Sometimes patients believe they are lacking blood and organs as well.

The next time you are dealing with a cold, be glad you are inflicted with that instead of one of these strange illnesses and hope that you never are.