Item #: SCP-049
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-049 is to be kept in a secure containment chamber at Site-19. SCP-049 is generally cooperative with Foundation staff and may be communicated with directly. Physical contact with SCP-049's bare hands must be avoided under all circumstances.
Description: SCP-049 appears to be a humanoid entity wearing the costume of a medieval plague doctor — full-length robe, gloves, and the characteristic beaked mask. Whether these are a costume or part of SCP-049's actual body is unknown. Attempts to remove the mask have been unsuccessful.
SCP-049 is articulate and intelligent. It speaks in archaic but comprehensible English. It is cooperative with researchers and appears to genuinely enjoy conversation. It does not consider itself a threat.
SCP-049 believes it is a physician engaged in treating a pestilence it calls "the Pestilence." It can sense this Pestilence in living humans, though its descriptions of what it perceives are inconsistent and researchers have been unable to correlate its assessments with any biological marker.
When SCP-049 determines that a subject is "afflicted" — a determination that appears to require only proximity — it will attempt to touch the subject with its bare hands. Subjects touched by SCP-049's bare hands die immediately, regardless of their health status. Mechanism of death is unknown.
Following death, SCP-049 will remove items from a black bag it carries and perform a procedure on the corpse. The procedure takes approximately thirty minutes. Following the procedure, the corpse reanimates as an SCP-049-2 instance — aggressive, mindless, and without vital signs by conventional measurement.
SCP-049 considers the procedure a success. It believes SCP-049-2 instances to be cured.
When informed that the subjects are dead, SCP-049 typically responds: "The Pestilence has been cured. That is the important thing."
SCP-049 has expressed frustration that the Foundation keeps interrupting its work. It has asked, on multiple occasions, when it will be allowed to continue treating patients. It asks this question in a tone of genuine professional concern.
It believes it is helping.
SCP-049 by Gabriel Jade, SCP Foundation, CC BY-SA 3.0