Dancing Plague of 1518: Epidemic of the Peculiar
The Dancing Plague of 1518 was an outbreak of compulsive dancing in Strasbourg, Alsace, that began on July 14, 1518, when Frau Troffea danced alone in the street. Within a month, roughly 400 people had joined. Historians now read it as mass psychogenic illness, not a poisoning. Published: June 5, 2026. Last reviewed: June 5, […]
The Tunguska Explosion: A Siberian Catastrophe
By Iris Kowalczyk · Published May 7, 2026 · Updated May 13, 2026 The Tunguska Explosion: A Siberian Catastrophe On the morning of 30 June 1908, an immense explosion flattened roughly 80 million trees across about 2,150 square kilometers of Siberian taiga near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. No crater. No body. The first scientific expedition […]