SCP-049 plague doctor The Great Plague was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history killing tens of millions of people in the eastern hemisphere and reshaping history in the process Cities affected by the plague would often hire plague doctors to come in and treat as many people as possible These doctors would often be inexperienced and lacked professional training and would rarely cure anyone But merely record how many people were affected by the plague in the 1600s plague doctors began wearing special outfits Consisting of an overcoat a mask and a long beaked nose The nose portion would contain herbs spices and flowers Which the doctors believed would prevent the sickness from entering their bodies this basic summary should provide the necessary background info for SCP-049 a highly anomalous plague doctor While it shares some similarities with the historical plague doctor the difference is make it one of the most intriguing of the SCP's An investigation into a string of disappearances in a French town led authorities to a local home Where they discovered a man dressed as a plague doctor along with a number of hostile reanimated corpses The police terminated the hostels while the plague doctor watched and took notes in his journal Afterwards the foundation became notified and took the entity into containment the entity designated: SCP-049 claims to have originated in 15th century, France and speaks a number of languages notably medieval French and English The foundation discovered that although it possesses a humanoid skeletal structure The plague doctor outfit is actually part of its physiology Apparently having grown out of its body including the robes, gloves, and mask Interestingly SCP-049's mask is not the same as the traditional plague doctor mask But is instead reminiscent of a Zani mask from Italian theater SCP-049 is generally cordial and respectful to foundation personnel originally appreciative to be amongst fellow doctors It soon becomes quite clear that 049 is obsessed with discovering a cure for the so called Pestilence also referred to as the scourge and the great dying when asked if it means the bubonic plague It remarks that it doesn't know what that is 049 s most anomalous trait is that its physical touch causes instant termination of biological functions in any living organism This is especially dangerous due to 049's behavior when it believes it detects the presence of the pestilence When it believes an organism to be infected 049 will kill it with a touch and then proceed to experiment on the corpse Using an anomalously expansive doctors bag that's always found on its person 049 will perform a variety of crude surgical procedures including rearranging organs and appendages and introducing strange fluids to the body while not always successful most of the time these procedures will cause the corpse to reanimate the reanimated corpses seem to retain none of their prior memories or mental faculties and possess only basic motor functions These entities are generally very passive if left undisturbed But can retaliate if provoked or if 049 directs them to attack something becoming exceptionally aggressive 049 will write down all the results in its journal in an unknown language Commenting that they are now cured although their biological functions are vastly different than what our science currently understands Sometimes 049 will experiment multiple times on the same corpse Reanimating it more than once it continues to ask for more subjects to experiment on especially humans as It believes it continually grows closer to a perfect cure So, what is the pestilence Well, it's never explicitly explained in the article there are implications and theories we can likely rule out any sort of biological contagion or infection at least as far as we understand it as 049 claims that the pestilence is the only ailment that exists in the world of men One of the popular theories is that the pestilence is death or Mortality as it would be a problem that affects practically every living creature Although the biological functions of the reanimated corpses aren't very well understood by the foundation It's possible that they are biologically immortal effectively cured of death, unfortunately There are a number of holes in this theory based on 049's words When first discussing the plague he tells the doctor to think beyond amateur terms like life and death and to expand his horizons Later when discussing one of the reanimated corpses He explains that the creature is now clean and is unable to spread the pestilence Over all 049 seems to throw around the term death fairly loosely for him to not just say that's what the pestilence is Another theory is that the pestilence is instead aging which does fit slightly better Although it. Perhaps makes even less sense when considering the idea of spreading the pestilence Yet another theory relates the pestilence to SCP 2718 A terrifying Cognito hazard that causes those who believe it to experience an everlasting torture upon death Elimination of this disease would certainly be a noble effort, but it's one of the most highly classified SCPs known to the foundation with even the O-5 council not aware of it It's pretty unlikely then so many individuals would be affected by it Including the head doctor studying 049 whom 049 suddenly decided was infected with it Other theories include human emotion, but testing on animals wouldn't make much sense then entities being on the verge of death, which 049 can detect somehow or Something else mimetic or not properly understood by humans Ultimately, it doesn't really matter what the pestilence is and it's just as likely that 049 is simply delusional as 049 continues to become one of the most popular articles on the SCP wiki Theories and discussions will likely continue to crop up Really what separates 049 from many other dangerous humanoid anomalies is its personality Rather than being some monstrous inexplicable entity that wishes for death and destruction 049 is generally sociable and eloquent and for the most part seems to genuinely want to help humanity Although he did end up killing the main doctor involved in studying him He is regretful that the pestilence apparently took hold in him and was glad to be able to cure him of it Perhaps the pestilence is very real and 049 is one of our best hopes of defeating it Perhaps 049 is like many of the plague doctors of old little more than charlatans It does seem clear though that whatever 049 thinks the pestilence is it believes that it is the cure SCP-049: You see things too simply, doctor! Expand your horizons. Life and death, sickness and health, these are amatuer physicians. There is only one ailment that exists in the world of men, and that is the Pestilence. And nothing else! Make no mistake, they were very ill, all of them. Dr. Hamm: You think you cured those people? SCP-049: Indeed. My cure... is most effective.