During the Bubonic Plague, doctors wore these bird-like masks to avoid becoming sick. They would fill the beaks with spices and rose petals, so they wouldn’t have to smell the rotting bodies.
A theory during the Bubonic Plague was that the plague was caused by evil spirits. To scare the spirits away, the masks were intentionally designed to be creepy.
I’ve only ever seen illustrations of these masks before. Looking at the real deal in a photo is about a zillion times creepier than I thought it would be.
Does Tim Burton know about these? What am I saying, I’m sure he does…
(via cempai)
